Superconference watch: Breaking news

It has now been confirmed: Pittsburgh and Syracuse have been added as new members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. This is way beyond shocking given that the conventional wisdom was that the ACC was just sitting on its hands as superconference talk heated up again with Texas A&M recently saying adios to the Big XII--which is really the Big XII minus II. (other rumors involved NC State, Virginia Tech, FSU, and Clemson being courted by the Southeastern Conference and that the ACC really wanted UConn and Rutgers)

Texas has been the spark for most of this. There's been talk of the Longhorns going independent. It was that kind of talk last year that prevented the Pac-10 from becoming the Pac-16 coupled with UT wanting their own network, which the now Pac-12 shied away from because it wanted all of its member schools to have a channel more like the Fox-owned Big Ten network.

All I had been hearing for the past month in wake of TAMU's jump to the SEC was that the ACC was in danger of being raided by the SEC and/or the Big East. The talk, as recently as last week, then moved to whether Texas, Kansas, Missouri, or some combination of the three would be added by the ACC. As it turns out, the ACC has once again raided the Big East, which was on pace to become a basketball superconference upon adding Mountain West defector TCU next year.

Another Earth review

The movie was less about parallel worlds than the protagonist Rhoda coming to grips with what she did as a teenager. She killed a former Yale professor's wife, son and unborn daughter and put him in a coma for months while driving drunk after leaving a high school graduation party. She was set to go to MIT. Instead, she spent four years in jail for the deaths. After she leaves jail, Rhoda gets a cleaning job at a high school. She also cleans ex-professor John Burroughs's house. An essay contest is held for people to win a trip to Earth 2. The SETI spokeswoman ends up talking to an alternate version of herself. Rhoda decides to give her ticket to Earth 2 to John.

I was surprised at how little dialogue there was throughout the movie.  I was expecting the filmmakers to do more with Parallel Universe Theory, but there was no view of life on Earth 2, just a view of the duplicate planet in the sky. I would be creeped out by a spitting image of myself (like Rhoda did in the end) as opposed to other intelligent beings from another planet.

Stars: 2.75/4

Tea party vs populism

From the beginning, I've been very uneasy with the Tea Party. Two years ago, they were being bandied in the media as a populist movement that was upset with bailouts and stimulus. I began disbelieving the populist moniker once:

1. Dick Armey, a person who has represented three of the banks that went bellyup and a big backer of repealing Glass-Steagall Act 12 years ago, joined the cause
2. Sarah Palin and Rick Perry waved the flag and were not be called on their corporatist leanings
3. it was revealed that the Koch brothers are once again AstroTurfing--this time they are hijacking populism to promote corporatist causes
4. various Tea Party leaders openly said that they wanted their groups to advance conservative causes

The first three points are exactly why my respect level for the Tea Party is BELOW ZERO. As for the final point, the Tea Party is doing nothing but ruining populism. Real populism should do the following things instead:

1. shatter and fight the current left-right paradigm. The Tea party openly embraces it
2. destroy the wretched system that only benefits a few and leads to the middle class being destroyed. The Tea Party has decided more often than not that the Republicans should be pushed even further to the right

Accepting corporatist nonsense like blaming the Community Reinvestment Act and anyone who isn't financially secure for today's financial crisis will lead to a scary path that our children will wonder why this generation let America descend to third-tier status, never mind second-tier.

As for other populists, especially those on the left, they are either small in number, feel powerless, or are silent on what's going on. That is unacceptable because they should not only be trying to put the Tea Partiers in their place, but they should be prodding President Obama to stop leaning on corporatist shills like Geithner and Summers. The Tea Party is as organic as GMO fish genes in a tomato so if other populists do not stop the Koch-backed frauds from spreading their lies and venom, them there is no hope for either populism taking hold in America or an overhaul of the two-party system.

More Than Friending: How Can the Social Web Go Beyond Facebook?

More Than Friending: How Can the Social Web Go Beyond Facebook?

Facebook alternatives for anyone who cares

Can Civil War II be Averted?

It is quite fitting that today marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War's beginning. The nation is crumbling from within--mounting debts, crumbling infrastructure, political rifts. Despite calls for civility in the aftermath of the attempted assassination on Representative Gabrielle Giffords, the cooling off period is long over. Wedge issues are back in vogue and an ideological war based on the dreaded "blue states-red states" divide seems inevitable--maybe as soon as 2016. I say five years from now because Barack Obama's name will not be on the ballot. By that time, things could be so bad that only a legitimate third party or independent campaign could prevent the United States from descending into total chaos.

Otherwise, this is the scenario that could lead to a Second Civil War: Yet another close presidential election with possibly a split Congress. The race for the White House could be a repeat of 2000, except this time the election is decided in Congress instead of the Supreme Court. The winning candidate is assassinated in 2017 by a wingnut who was more ideological than the losing candidate. Rather than condemning the killing, supporters of the second-place finisher applaud the gunman on the ground that the winner cheated. Soon, riots erupt nationwide and nothing gets done in Washington. Eventually, dueling governments each claiming to be the "legitimate American government" declare war on each other.

The Whig: Guest Post: Failures of the Two Party System -- Non-voters, Independents, One Party States, and Third Parties

The Whig: Guest Post: Failures of the Two Party System -- Non-voters, Independents, One Party States, and Third Parties

My thoughts exactly

A real immigration option

It's almost been a year since Arizona passed SB 1070, the harshest immigration law in the land. That law addressed a long neglected issue, but it was as inflexible as the bankruptcy law that Congress passed in 2005.


The Mexican government has no right to complain about SB 1070 when it: 1) has done nothing to alleviate poverty in its own country, 2) cannot even control its own country from brutal, thuggish drug cartels, and 3) hypocritically treats migrants from its south harshly. So, Felipe Calderon needs to mind his own business before he opens his mouth about someone else's immigration policies.


The antidote to all of this is this: Fixing the nation's immigration policy is well past due. There is no reason to force law-abiding citizens to wait years upon years to become U.S. citizens. The way to do this is a merit-based system that will reward those who show a willingness to become American in character. The reform effort would apply to all nationalities in a significant effort to avoid being prejudiced towards a significant ethnicity or nationality. In the case is of a guest worker program, a national agency would be created to work with businesses to determine how many migrant workers are needed. Then, the workers would be brought in to work for however long employers need them. Once the work period expires, the workers will be sent back home. What we need to advance America in the 21st century isn't cheap labor but brilliant minds from all over the world.


Tamar Jacoby raised some excellent points last June 21 when she suggested that immigration reform is in danger of being as much of a wedge issue as abortion where the opposing sides have no room for compromise. The politicians in Washington must not let that happen at all.

The Post-Lowe Era Strategy

Good riddance

This is more of a repudiation of Lee Fowler than it is Sidney Lowe because the latter’s record in the NBA suggested that he just wasn't college coaching material. A 79-228 (.257) record is horrible at any level, and a sub-.300 record gets you passed over for most jobs worth anything. Obviously, Fowler missed that sign. Furthermore, the fact that he embarrassed the NC State name with way handled the coaching search was bad enough, but knowing that the one guy--Sean Miller--who actually wanted to come to Raleigh never received a phone call JUST INFURIATES ME TO NO END! As a result, those are five years that we will never get back especially now that Miller is married and is committed to rebuilding Arizona.

When Lowe was being described as the NC State version of Matt Doherty less than midway throughout Season 2, I didn’t want to believe it. When the team tuned him out like it did at Cameron last month when it scored fewer points in the entire game than Duke did in the first half that was the ultimate sign that Sidney would be tagged with that dubious tag. He may get another gig at the NBA as an assistant coach, but he is damaged goods when it comes to being head coach.

What’s needed

Debbie Yow is doing the right thing in closing off the coaching search to the media. Anybody wanting stuff leaked should be stomped out of town. In addition to having someone who’ll take challenging Duke and UNC seriously, we cannot have coaches like Bruce Pearl and John Calipari because…the local daily clearly hates us and the weekly is little better (read Bob Geary’s post on State basketball following the team’s awful showing in Greensboro to get my point). People say things go in cycles but the relationship between Wolfpack Nation and the N&O is irreparable.

We need to adopt an “us against the world” attitude since Duke and Carolina have their allies lined up in the press so when we get back to the top, we can ignore them and the national media. It worked for the Pistons in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s and it can work for us since all everybody seems to do is kiss up to the schools in blue.

Finally

Sidney Lowe is out as Wolfpack head coach. Press conference to follow.

Some food for thought as I wait for the inevitable announcement from Raleigh

I recently stumbled upon this tidbit about DJ Kool Herc's situation, which pointed me to this article where Dres of Black Sheep put the hip hop community on blast for not helping pay for Kool Herc's medical bills even though the "Godfather of Hip Music" has no insurance. It was only after this act of shaming that today's rappers got on the ball. The delayed reaction is basically the community forgetting where it came from. The link at the end of the post points out that many of the genre's founding fathers are in the same boat as Kool Herc. As for Dres, he never got enough money back in the day to quit his day job.


Black Girl Pain...: Hip Hop Benefits don't include Health Insurance......: "By now everyone has heard about DJ Kool Herc and how he needs money for an operation for kidney stones (I believe). Twitter and many hip hop..."

From Jared Brooks, producer of the David Glenn Show

• There were no traffic issues at the RBC Center Wednesday night
• The arena was 2/3 empty three minutes into the game
• Fans booed over the team's lack of rebounding

Given the apathy these days in Raleigh, it's only a matter of time...

After the Wolfpack's 92-78 loss to Duke, the only thing that needs to be said is that Sidney Lowe had better find a way to go 11-5 in the conference or otherwise win the ACC title because if he doesn't, he will be out of a job come March 14. Ten wins will not cut it (just ask Virginia Tech, who were sent packing to the NIT last March despite a 10-6 ACC record) because this team has no quality wins.