Monday Musings

As an alumni and ardent Jayhawk supporter, I suppose I could revert to blaming President Obama for selecting Kansas to win it all and (jinxing) us. It might work, had KU not shot the ball the worst I've ever seen them shoot, in a losing effort to VCU. Credit to the Rams, who deserved to go to the Final Four.

With this past weekend washed out by work and agony, I didn't have much time or energy to keep up with the newsworthy stories. Apparently, the Administration and its cohorts are now calling the war in Libya, "kinetic military action." Huh? As if this professorial Administration needed to play linguistic poker with the American public any further.

I think I know what we're doing in Libya. We're essentially saying to the rebels opposing Quaddafi, go ahead and use our air strikes and missile cover to advance, but if you don't do it in 90 days, we're peacing out, regardless of who is still in power after the 90 days. Of course this all comes without thought or reflection of what might happen if either Quaddafi or the rebels (who we really know nothing about) keeps or gets control over Libya.

President Obama is going to address the nation tonight on the topic of Libya. Speculation is running rampant as to what he might say. My guess is he'll say with our support, the rebels have made progress in overthrowing Quaddafi, but it isn't regime change the United States is after. He likely won't mention the fact that just last week he claimed U.S. involvement in the conflict would use up a matter of "days, not weeks" with the conflict now looking like it will last at least three months.

What I am especially interested in is whether or not he addresses the fact that he didn't do so much as to make a phone call to anyone in Congress on this matter. Since actions speak louder than words more often than not, under this Administration, an international consensus to use military force trumps domestic constitution.

Blockbuster, Inc. announced it will be shutting down 128 store locations nationwide by April 1. The corporation had a good run, but the writing was on the wall when it refused to see the value of both Netflix, Inc. and Coinstar, Inc.'s Redbox LLC. Blockbuster's demise is a product of our fantastic free market system. If Blockbuster had adequately slimmed down the number of its stores at the outset of Netflix and Redbox entering the market, while offering its own adequately competitive home delivery system, there is no question that they wouldn't be facing turning their Chapter 11 into a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing.

Census data from the 2010 Census is showing some telling numbers about the larger population states. Many Americans have been moving to the South, specifically the Atlantic Southeast. There are many reasons for this, but its not a stretch to believe that high costs of living in more populated coastal states are the major culprit. What is ironic to me, is the fact that big states, specifically California and New York have seen the "gap" between the "rich" and the "poor," "widen" the most over the previous decade yet the policies put into place by largely Democratic majorities in those states can very well be the cause of the "gap's widening."

Major League Baseball is in its final days of Spring training, and Thursday will be Opening Day 2011. I firmly believe this will be one of the best seasons the MLB has seen in a decade, I expect there to be a lot more parity this season, with many more teams being in "contention" after July's All-Star break. It might be smart of the American public to get into baseball this season now more than ever, as it increasingly looks like there might not be NFL football come September.

I'll close with a Monday Musing from my favorite economist Thomas Sowell: Intolerance may not promote progress but it can promote survival. An intolerant Islamic world may outlast the Western world that seems ready to tolerate anything, including the undermining of its own fundamental values and threats to its continued existence.