It’s been a tough few weeks for Boston. That my favorite hockey team could give them a little civic joy makes me happy. I’m a giver.

NUMBER 4:

The NY Knicks got tossed out in the second round of the NBA playoffs. It just wouldn’t be fair for their corporate brothers to do better. Remember, both teams made deep runs in 94. And by “deep runs”, I mean the Rangers won the Stanley Cup and John Starks is still trying to make a basket.

NUMBER 3:

Sam Rosen said “this one will last a lifetime”. I don’t think he meant it as a curse but you can’t argue with Sam, so there it is.

NUMBER 2:

Damn it Henrik! Or Daniel, whichever the hell one you are…HIT SOMEONE! And for God’s sake stop DIVING Kesler. Schneider? Luongo? God I miss Lundqvist!

There’s an outside chance that this loss with lead to John Tortorella being fired by the Rangers. There’s an even smaller chance that he’ll be hired to coach the Vancouver Canucks. Do I want to see Torts coach a soft and defensively irresponsible team? Yes, yes I do. Very much so. Anything that makes it possible for the stars to align this way is ok with me.

THE NUMBER 1 REASON I’M OK WITH THE RANGERS LOSING TO THE BRUINS:

Whoever wins the Cup will have to know they did so in a year that didn’t have the full compliment of games and every one will point and laugh at them for as long as they live because this won’t really count so take your stinky “win” and choke on it!

Statistically speaking, the firing of a federal employee is a rare event. A Cato Institute study showed that in one year, just 1 in 5,000 non-defense, civilian federal employees was fired for cause. A widely cited analysis by USA Today found that in FY 2011, the federal government fired just 11,668 out of 2.1 million employees (excluding military and postal workers). That’s a “separation for cause” rate of 0.55 percent, roughly a fifth the rate in the private sector.

And the firing of employees who fit Lerner’s profile is rarer still. Lerner is very much a “white-collar” employee, and the same analysis found that blue-collar employees (such as food-service workers) were twice as likely to be fired. Lerner is a twelve-year vet at IRS, and before that was associate counsel at the Federal Elections Commission for many years. But fully 60 percent of federal employees fired were in their first two years on the job. Lerner has averaged $185,000 in salary from 2009 to 2012, but only 0.18 percent of federal employees making more than $100,000 were let go for cause. Most relevant of all, Lerner is a lawyer, and just 27 of the government’s 35,000 lawyers lost their jobs in 2011 — six fewer than left federal employment via the Big Sleep.

Civil Service reform and federal employee unions are two issues ripe for the picking. Government workers used to get greater job security in exchange for lower pay. Now they have the best of both worlds and it’s the public who gets the worst of all worlds…lousy service, petty tyrants who are unaccountable to anyone and we have the privilege of paying for it all.

According to the CBO, when it comes to pay, federal workers with the highest education and skill levels are the only cohort who make less than there private sector counterparts in total compensation.

The Republicans could increase pay for high-skilled workers by reducing compensation to private sector levels for low-skilled workers to private sector levels. It might help win some votes in Northern Virginia and at the least create a wedge for Democrats.

As far as reforming the civil service rules themselves, the GOP could have some fun by making FDR their spokesman in the cause.

Civil Service protections and collective bargaining for federal workers don’t prevent the politicization of the bureaucracy, they ensure that it’s near impossible to do anything about it.

The GOP is trying to find some populists issues to run on? Here you go guys. You’re welcome.

   Ramalah 2000

      London 2013

Sure there were some nice moments, like the next to last episode–Neil Gaiman’s “Nightmare in Silver”– but even that was but a shadow of what it could have been. It needed more Ewok, in the form of Warwick Davies (who played Wickett in Return of the Jedi) as but on the whole…it’s been an awful run.

Last night was supposed to be the big payoff of the first 7 episodes of the Clara Oswald companion era. We’d learn who this “impossible girl” really was and how she fit into the Doctor’s life.

First of all, the set-up of an “impossible girl” is hard to buy in the Whoverse. The show is 50 years old and even if, like me, you’ve only paid attention to last incarnation of the series starting back in 2005, you know it’s impossible for anything to be truly impossible. The Doctor and his friends rebooted the entire universe from the big bang on for goodness sake. Now you want me to believe one girl is “impossible”? No sale.

In drama you want to continually raise the stakes and put ever great obstacles in your hero’s way. Clara is at best a curiosity, an adorable one to be sure (more about that in a moment) but it’s something you’d expect the Doctor to take in stride. Recall how David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor described his own existence, “Not impossible. Just… a bit unlikely”.

Or consider this exchange with Rory Williams, who was erased from history but shows up as a Roman soldier in The Pandorica Opens.

Rory: But I don’t understand. Why am I here?

The Doctor: Because you are. The Universe is big. It’s vast and complicated and ridiculous. And sometimes—very rarely—impossible things just happen and we call them miracles. And that’s the theory. Nine hundred years, never seen one yet. But this would do me. Now get upstairs. She’s Amy and she’s surrounded by Romans. I’m not sure history could take it.

Yet somehow The Doctor is suddenly undone to the point of near madness because he ran into Clara at the Dalek Asylum and in Victorian England?

As I said, meh.

Which brings us to the big moment…Clara it turns out (there be spoilers beyond here)

entered the Doctor’s time-stream to undo the damage the Great Intelligence was doing to him and the history of the Universe as they knew it. Or something.

Here’s where my big problem with this episode comes in….why did Clara sacrifice herself for The Doctor? In the episodes leading up to this dramatic bit of self-sacrifice Clara is never given a reason why she’s so connected to The Doctor. Sure she’s spunky (grabbing the space moped to retrieve him in “The Rings of Akhaten” was bold) but willing to walk to what she thinks is sure death? Not really.

We could have believed it from Rose because it was clear by the end of the first season they were in love with each other.

We could have believed it from Martha because she loved him but he didn’t love her back. She was desperate to win his approval, respect and affection.

Donna would have done it because he rescued her from the smallness of the life she was living. She would have wanted to prove she was worthy of the gifts he had given her.

Amy would have sacrificed herself for The Doctor because in many ways he raised her. She was The Girl Who Waited, he was her “raggedy man” who kept her company as a child. She would have done anything for him (anything short of hurting her true love, Rory).

Clara? Yeah, she’s game for sure; she seems to enjoy the adventures and all. And as someone who always wanted to travel, he’s certainly given her that in spades. But beyond that what exactly does she know or care about The Doctor? We’re sort of told it but we never actually see it. We’re just supposed to accept there’s a great bond between them because it’s a necessary element of the story.

In fact, why does the audience care if she lives or dies? We don’t know that much about her. She’s rather disposable at this point. She’s more a plot device than a character. It’s just too soon to put her in existential danger or to ask her to believably make the kind of sacrifice this episode called for. Clara hasn’t seen enough of The Doctor in action to develop an understanding of his importance to the Universe. She hasn’t been with him when he faced any real moral dilemmas (say what you want about Spaceship UK but Amy got an early look at the power and arrogance of the last of the Time Lords). So why is she so willing to sacrifice herself for him?

Had she died my main reaction would have been, “Oh too bad, she’s a great looking girl. Hopefully the next one will be just as good looking”.

Mostly this is a criticism of the timing. The number and kinds of episodes Clara has been simply didn’t lay sufficient groundwork for her to rise to this kind of occasion or for me to care if she succeeded or failed. Unlike previous companions who started off in one place (a goofy party girl, a love struck young professional, a woman who wouldn’t take a risk or “the girl who waited”) and developed into a hero not just because the situations The Doctor placed her in but what he brought out in them. I’m not even sure how I’d describe her in those terms. The Clara of The Bells of Saint Johns is the Clara in The Name Of The Doctor. Sure she’s been a few places, seen a few things but mostly the same woman.

Head producer/writer Steven Moffat probably should have gotten rid of Amy and Rory at the end of the previous season and given The Doctor and Clara more time to develop a relationship that would have given depth to the season long (well, half-season long in this case) arc. Instead we have a primary character we don’t really know or care about put in a position to do things we haven’t seen her prepared for. It’s just feels faked and rushed and simply designed to feed the lead up to the 50th anniversary episode in November.

Like with so much of the backend of this season, there were moments that were fun and interesting in this episode but not enough cohesion to make it really good, let alone great.

The revelations about the corruption and abuses of power within in the Obama administration has shown one thing very clearly…Obama has not taken care that the laws of the United States be faithfully executed.

There will be calls from the right for impeachment proceedings but we all know that is not and should not be on the table.  Simple math shows that the President will not be impeached and convicted. In fact trying to do so is folly. He will become a martyr to the left and his ultimate acquittal will only vindicate his history of abuse.

What can be done however is a full stop, nothing passes, nothing moves from the House of Representatives until substantive progress is made on rooting out the malefactors who have turned the executive branch into a hyper-partisan, unaccountable, enforcement arm of the Democratic Party. Yes, elections have consequences and Democrats have every right to guide policies to their liking, they have no right to use the power of government to impede the legal political activities of opponents or do enforce laws in ways that give their political allies an advantage.

We’ve rightly heard over the last 3 plus years that the House alone is insufficient to move forward any entitlement reforms that could possibly pass. It is insufficient to repeal of ObamaCare. The House alone cannot do any of the things conservatives would like to see happen while the Democrats control the Senate and the White House.

What we’ve also been told however is that the House can stop new bad things from happen. Now is the time to exercise that power.

This is a partial list of what I think must be cleared up before the GOP passes any more legislation:

• Understand why an IRS official who her superiors knew was targeting conservative political groups received six-figure bonuses for her work and is now charged with heading the IRS implementation of ObamaCare.

• Ensure that the people who targeted the President’s opponents have been removed from the government?

• Protections must be put in place and demonstrated to be effective to ensure that the IRS is no longer engaged in partisan warfare against citizens who may not share this President’s poitical views.

• HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebeilius must be full investigated for her extra-legal fundraising activities from organizations and companies she is empowered to regulate under the Affordable Care Act.

• There must also be a full accounting of Sebelius’ prior violation of the Hatch Act, which appears to have gone unpunished.

• There must be a full investigation of the AP subpoena issue, including the actions of the Attorney General and the handing of his alleged recusal.

As I said, this is just a partial list of issues that must be addressed and corrective action taken before the House of Representatives does a damn thing.

Debt ceiling hike? No. Maybe in exchange for something concrete like Sebelius’ resignation or a delay in the implementation of ObamaCare until these investigations are complete and corrective actions are made.

Budget? Sure, as long as it doesn’t include any funding for ObamaCare and the IRS’ role in implementing it.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform? Hell no. At this point does anyone trust the IRS or Department of Homeland Security under this President to actual enforce any provisions other than giving the maximum number of illegal immigrants legal status as quickly as possible? Do you really think the IRS is going to disqualify illegals from legal status over unpaid back taxes?

Nothing moves Mr. Speaker. Nothing.

This will not be a political popular stand, at least at first. People will think it’s simply partisan gamesmanship. It will be up to Republicans to explain the stakes here and make the case for your actions.

In the past I’ve opposed government shutdowns because there has been no identifiable path to winning and because yes, when you know you can’t win, you have to live to fight another day. But if stopping this country from sliding into a 3rd world banana republic where the politically powerful can crush their opposition by using the power of government isn’t a hill worth fighting on what is? If the GOP won’t make this stand, what exactly is their purpose?

Shut it down Mr. Speaker. Shut it down.

I looped Robert Carruso in on the conversation because he actually has worked in these areas and as expected had good information on the process.

Fast forward to today and Yahoo! is in the process of digitizing the emails and organizing them as if they were in your inbox. It’s a brilliant idea and makes them very relevant to a big story. They are about 25% of the way through the emails but we get our first hint of how State got involved.

An email from Tommy Vietor (Then a member of Obama’s NSC staff) seems to be the first inclusion of State into the conversation (email on 9/14 at 6:21pm):

I know you’re trying to move these fast so here’s an initial round of edits. One small tweak in sentence 3 of bullet 1 for added clarity. Denis would also like to make sure the highlighted portions are full coordinated with the State Department in the event that they get inquiries.

It’s possible that “Denis” is White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, though that’s just a guess. It maybe someone else on the White House NSC staff.

Neuland’s first contribution to the list is to question why the CIA is pointing to Ansar al Sharia as being involved (9/14, Neuland email 7″39 pm).

asked why Romney didn’t fight back summer Bain stuff, Stu Stevens says they were trying to put Obama team on offense on welfare, china

Natural conservatives! MT @pewhispanic: 2nd gener #Hispanics more liberal, Dem-leaning than their immigrant parents pewrsr.ch/YWSXds

— Mark Krikorian (@MarkSKrikorian) May 14, 2013

Among Hispanics, there is somewhat less support for an activist government among the second generation than Hispanic immigrants, although a clear majority of both generations prefers a larger government with more services to a smaller one providing fewer services. But more of the second-generation Hispanics identify themselves as liberal on political issues than do first-generation Hispanics. Generational differences are pronounced on attitudes about social issues. Second-generation Hispanics and Asian Americans are more liberal than the first generation on attitudes about homosexuality and abortion. Compared with the general public, second-generation Asian Americans are more liberal on both issues. Second-generation Hispanics tend to be more accepting of homosexuality than the general public; their views on abortion are similar to those of the general public.

This is the point in the program where Team Amnesty tells you the GOP kick-ass messaging team will kick in and with a little outreach, someday we’ll turn all those liberals into card carrying conservatives. Yeah, about that. Seems the RNC’s director of Hispanic Outreach for Florida*, Pablo Pantoja, just became a Democrat. He was upset over the news of Jason Richwine’s Harvard Ph.D dissertation. No word yet on whether Pantoja was so shocked at the despicable comments of former NAACP Chairman and Obama supporter Julian Bond he immediately abandoned the racist Democrats.

And a friendly reminder for all.

“Earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty.”- @marcorubio 10/24/10 ace.mu.nu/archives/33934…

— DrewM (@DrewMTips) May 14, 2013

*Thanks to Andy for pointing out Pantoja was the RNC’s Hispanic point person for Florida.

Penguins in six.- Check

Senators in five.-Check

Bruins in seven-Check

Rangers in six- Che….stupid Rangers. My own damn team screws me from running the board. 

As for my Western Conference picks from Round 1, well, let’s just move on to Round 2

   VS.  

The Senators did exactly what I thought they would against the Canadiens…beat the living crap out of them. The Senators are a big, nasty and abrasive team. The Penguins have more skilled players than anyone else in the league but they are also North-South players who come fast and hard.

In other words, this is going to be a mean, hard fought series that comes down to a battle of attrition.

I give the Penguins a big edge up front and a slight edge on defense (Bruce Orpik is back and still a mean son of a bitch). The Senators have a slight edge in goal as long as the Penguins play Vokun and a huge one if the Penguins decide to go the circus route and play Fleury.

Prediction: I want to say Senators but I have to look at the talent and go Penguins in 7.

 VS. 

I didn’t have either team making it this far, in fact, pre-season I didn’t have the Sharks making the playoffs.

The Sharks are an enigma to me and I don’t think I’m alone, so I’ll focus on the Kings. After losing the first two games to the Blues, the Kings took 4 straight to advance. It’s all very reminiscent of last year’s run by the Kings. I think they found their grove and will make relatively short work of the Sharks.

Prediction: I want to say Kings in 4 but that seems rude so I’ll go Kings in 5.

 VS. 

Original Six match-up? Yep

Two of the greatest logos in sports? Oh yeah

Last time they will meet in the playoff unless it’s for the Cup because of realignment? Sure, let’s throw that cherry on top of this

So clearly this is going to be a great series, right? Um, probably not.

The Blackhawks are the class of the Western Conference and the Wings are in a strange spot of rebuilding on the fly. They needed a big push to even make the playoffs and did an amazing job to get by a much better Ducks team in the first round.

It’s hard to think of the Wings as a Cinderella team but they kind of are. Alas, the clock is about to strike midnight and the Blackhawks aren’t Prince Charming.

The Hawks just have way too much of everything (except goaltending but it’s not like the Red Wings have a lot more). The thing is they don’t need Crawford or Emery to be Henrik Lundqvist, they just can’t suddenly turn into Marc-Andre Fleury.

Prediction: Like Fox Mulder I Want to Believe! I just don’t think the Wings have any more magic left in them. I’ll be generous and say Hawks in 6.

And last but certainly not least…..

 VS. 

I correctly predicted the Bruins over the Leafs in 7 but I said if it went that long it meant that Boston wasn’t quite right. This is a team that should be better than it is. Granted, in the playoffs it’s not about style but results. Still, if you nee 7 games, 2 last minute goals and an OT winner to move on, you’re not exactly dominating.

The Rangers on the other hand went 7 games against the Capitals but they lost games 2 and 5 in Overtime before shutting out the Capitals in Games 6 and 7. Clearly the Rangers are a team that is finding it’s game  while the Bruins are still looking for it.

The Rangers got their swagger back with the trade deadline pick-up of Ryan Clowe. He’s been in and out of the lineup and if he can’t go, he’ll be missed against the big, aggressive Bruins. Still, the team has gotten its “jam” as Torts calls it back. Early in the Caps series they were losing the battles along the boards but they cleaned that up in their back to back shutouts. I worry about the streaky nature of the Rangers on faceoffs but they’got better as the series went on in that area too.

But as everyone predicted, the Rangers big trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets really paid big dividends…Derek Brassard had NINE points (2 goals/7 assists)  in games 3 through 7 against the Caps (after being held pointless in the first two games of the series), Derek Dorsett has been a big part of that jam the Blue Shirts were lacking (and he’s chipped in offensively), plus John Miller has been a more than serviceable number 5 defenseman.

Oh, perhaps you were thinking of that other trade between the Rangers and Blue Jackets? About that….

I can’t imagine that both Brad Richards AND Rick Nash will remain invisible for another whole series, so the Rangers offense should be…better (as low a hurdle as that is). Defensively, the Rangers are far superior to the Bruins as a whole unit. And in goal, the Rangers have the hottest player (in more ways than one, amiright ladies?) in the league.

Prediction: Close games but I’ve got the Rangers taking it 5. Yeah, that scares me but there it is.

Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems; some of these same voices also doing their best to gum up the works. They’ll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave and creative and unique experiment in self-rule is somehow just a sham with which we can’t be trusted.

“We” can be trusted but a government run by a leftist like Obama clearly can’t be.

If that simple message is part of the environment leading up to the 2016 GOP primary and general election, one potential candidate is clearly poised to capitalize on it like almost no other possible contender.

Libertarian Hulk Smash Bloated And Corrupt Government

Second look at Stand with Rand?