Who is Ryan Miller?

Does anyone really know? His play has both stunned the Sabres faithful with amazing saves and then left us scratching our heads, wondering "two goals in 35 seconds?"

The Buffalo Sabres were defeated by the Florida Panthers last night. Yes, the Florida Panthers. A team struggling to stay relevant. They acheived this victory over a team that at one point in the season was letting in the fewest goals in the league.

Which brings us back to our starting goaltender, a man recently signed to a long term contract. The team is not getting timely saves from their goaltender, and more troubling is he's being outplayed by backup goalies.

This is not say the rest of the team escapes judgement. The very sight of Max on the ice twirling around defenders only to shoot the puck at their shins angers me. Derek Roy is not following up on a breakout season last year, same can be said for Jason Pominville. Problems all around.

Next up, another Florida team hungry to get on a winning track. Great.

the Bush legacy

Can it just be said that the presidency was not meant for George W. Bush? On paper, the Bush era will go down as one of the most contentious periods in political history. I still remember watching his first innaugural, seeing thousands of furious protesters hurling objects at the presidential motorcade.

Then we had 9/11. Truly a new day of infamy. Could Bush have prevented this moment? Maybe not. Could he have used the goodwill of the globe to wipe out Al Qaeda? Absolutely. Instead he secured his legacy with a gut reaction. Oh, then we had Katrina, etc etc.

Maybe history will focus on the prescription drug benefit or the behind the scenes effects of the "surge," or his down home charm.

Or not.

frustrated

Yes, I know my hometown team the Buffalo Sabres have an Eastern Conference best 74 points but its hard to summon up anything other frustration after they yet again blew a lead to the New Jersey Devils last night.

It seemed like the only player pouring his heart out there was Chris Drury, the rest of the team looked lost and confused going into the third period; now becoming the death knell of this team. And then there's Ryan Miller. How can someone look so brilliant one moment look completely average the next? He seems shaky and too emotional to be in net right now.

This team is obviously going to make the playoffs, they probably will finish first. However, its difficult to look ahead and see us beating teams who are just hungrier. Then again, this could all be paranoia.

Atlanta is next and I am sure they are licking their chops.

The second Clinton era

Hillary Clinton leads all Democratic challengers and while it is way to early to start playing "All Hail," its worth a look. What would a second Clinton era look like? For one thing, it could prove to be quite uneventful, which is not always a bad thing.

There is a good chance her first order would be to return the country to a fiscally stable position. Hillarycare you say? That is so 1993. Clinton is as much of a pragmatist as her husband and will learn when to play her cards. Expect a rollback of the Medicare benefit along with tax cuts making their way through a Republican congress.

The trickier question, or maybe not so tricky, is her stance on foreign affairs. Will she lead American down the path of more imperial nonsense, better yet would she adopt a less muscular version of the Bush/McCain doctrine of preemption. Based on her statements on Iran, the answer is a resounding yes, which would make her a quick footnote in presidential history.

Also, can this woman inspire anything at all? Her words instantly lull those uninterested in politics to sleep, she could be the most uninspiring President since Carter spoke of malaise. Again, this might be refreshing to some tired of Bush's grand language.

The woman is smart and cunning and knows the limits of the electorate. If she wins, expect either a dull (good) four years or a robust eight years (not so good). Either way, Bill will be back.

Cheney to America: you are all wussies

During the VP's interview with Wolf Blizter, our vice president desperate to feel manly, called the entire country weak saying:

"we would simply validate the terrorists' strategy that says the Americans will not stay to complete the task ... that we don't have the stomach for the fight. That's the biggest threat." (courtesy CNN)

It is a truly bizarro world we have created when we have a sitting vice president who says terrorists win if we end occupation of a country in which no terrorism existed prior to our invasion and occupation.

We might me getting to the point in which reporters, once timid now pulling off the gloves with this administration will start the well deserved verbal abuse:

"Mr Vice President, you are seriously delusional."

are you liberal enough?

Obama dips his toe in the political waters, and the Nation audience is already all over him, in particular a comment from ZERO:

"He is pro-corporate."

So, therefore he is pro economy, pro money, pro commerce. the shame.

trade and the truth

When I was left leaning John Stossel made my blood boil. No longer as he takes head on the hand wringing of trade protectionists in a new piece here, courtesy of realclearpolitics.com, my favorite part:

"Then I thought about my local supermarket. I buy stuff from the Food Emporium every week. I spend thousands of dollars a year there. But the supermarket never buys anything from me. Not one thing. And yet that is no problem. It's better than no problem -- it's fantastic! Imagine if I could only buy from the store to the extent that it needed my services. I'd starve. That would be barter, and mankind dumped barter for the money economy eons ago precisely because it is so inconvenient."

the Atlantic

The highly respectable Atlantic has a cover feature on presidents and their lies. You need a subscription (damn!) but here's a summary:

George Bush is a different kind of liar because he's also delusional. To quote his dad:

"SCARY, real SCARY!"

Mr. Obama

Barack Obama is running for the presidency.

and the Newsweek cover comes to fruition, wow.

Seriously, what does a Obama presidency have to offer the country other than platitudes.

minimum wage

The folks over at Think Progress have a post on the effects of increasing the minimum wage in the state of Illinois, too bad its bad for the country and its electorate, as William Niskanen of the Cato Institute made clear in a post in June of 2006:

The employment of the least-skilled members of the labor force—often new entrants—would be reduced.

The non-wage benefits and working conditions of those who keep their jobs at the higher wage would probably be reduced.

Most of those who keep their jobs at the higher wage would be secondary workers in non-poor families

If liberals aim to lift people up, this is not the way to do it.

Kemp-Roth 1981

Today marks the anniversary of a hallmark of conservative/libertarian thinking, reduction in the tax burden of the electorate. Here is an article from 2002 by excommunicated conservative Bruce Bartlett on the effects of Ronald Reagan's signature piece of legislation.