A Good Day (and Night) for GW

I can't think of a day recently that has gone as well for President George W. Bush. From the outstanding performance his nominee for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court managed in the Senate over the past several days to an outstanding speech tonight in Jackson Square in New Orleans, it was a great day by all measures for the President.

Judge John Roberts proved time and again over the hours of "inquiry" before the Senate Judiciary Committee he is one of the most impressive jurists ever to be nominated to the nation's highest court. It will be interesting now to see how the votes will fall in committee and in the Senate as a whole. If it is a straight party-line vote, it will make it easier for the President to nominate whomever he chooses to replace Sandra Day O'Connor -- surely the American public will not believe Judge Roberts is in any way out of the mainstream, nor deserving of a unanimous no vote from Democrats.

Add to that, the response to the President's speech on rebuilding the Gulf states after Katrina. It appeared on television he received nearly unanimous support from the persons who were displaced by the storm. He gave them hope, leadership and confidence when they most needed it. If he can follow-through, the "Bush is to blame" crowd just lost all credibility.

It will be interesting to see how the mainstream press plays-up these events. No doubt some, especially liberal Democrats, the leftist blogocracy and a few liberal pundits will try to pooh-pooh these things and derail the momentum, but that will only serve to further highlight the disconnect between themselves and reality. The public is catching on -- and none too soon.

UPDATE 1: (Fri 9/16 at 10:50am) It seems as if the last paragraph was right on the money. Right away AP tried throwing cold water on the speech. I loved Jason's reaction at Polipundit on the AP story: "...the actual story quickly degenerates into a revolving conundrum of liberal emoting and partisan-Democrat talking points...". Also, the Democratic "leadership" in Congress jumped on the anti-Bush bandwagon out of the box, led by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. The lib's playbook is as obvious as Ohio State's under Woody Hayes in the '50's and '60's (off-tackle right, off-tackle left...): "Bush is at fault, Bush is incompetent, Bush can't ever hope to get it right...". In reality, if Bill Clinton delivered the same speech last night, the Dems would be hailing it as the greatest speech since the Sermon on the Mount(Oops, can't use religious metaphors. Secular humanisim and all, you know...) "I Have a Dream".

UPDATE 2: (Sat 9/17/05 at 7:30am): As for how well Judge Roberts did, Beldar does some LLL Dem projecting.

Missing In Action Again

There's a Hurricane hitting the United States and where is George W. Bush? He's off rubbing elbows with foreigners at the United Nations. This man never learns, does he? Two weeks ago he was out west meeting with a veterans group when Katrina came ashore. Now he's in New York while North Carolina is threatened. Can't our President prioritize any better than that? I mean, leaving the emergency management to state and local authorities -- has he no shame? Everyone knows the President must call every shot. No one can exist without guidance from Washington. And where's FEMA when you need them? They're in Louisiana and Mississippi and Aladambama, for heaven's sake! Can't they get better organized than that? Didn't they learn from their previous mistakes? What buffons! Fire them all! Impeach Bush! When will the cavalry arrive to save the day? We're waiting!

In case you didn't GET IT, the above bloviating is a parody. Unfortunately, it's not inconceivable these days that such idiotic ranting might just appear on a leftist blog -- or even in the MSM -- or be spoken by a liberal Democrat politician.

By the way the local emergency management folks, mayors, county and state officials are doing the jobs they're supposed to do, thank you very much. They'll put in a call for help if and when they need it, and not blame others for their own errors. It will be a marked difference from two weeks ago, but the mainstream press won't make a big deal out of it. Just watch them and see. I hope I am wrong.

Twisted Logic

Two of the most elaborately twisted notions have been and are continuing to be trumpeted as conventional wisdom by liberal Democrats, the left-wing blogocracy and the MSM. It's time to address these things clearly and nuke the CW. To wit:

1 - The observation: The vast majority of victims of Hurricane Katrina were poor black people. The conclusion: This shows we've not been doing enough to help stamp out poverty in this country. Sample of an actual quote: "...which is why we need to do some work on the income disparity, asset building. There's a whole group of things we need to do to help with that problem." - former Senator John Edwards, on Hardball with Chris Matthews. Response: Collectively, we have spent over 6.5 Trillion dollars (GAO figures) in the "war on poverty" since 1964. HELLO!!! It's NOT going to help throwing MORE money at the problem. Let's figure out how to help the poor access the main stream rather than teaching them to keep putting their hands out. Part of the problem that so many poor folks stayed behind is they've been taught to wait for Government to help them, rather than learning self-reliance and how to be self-sufficient. In fact, the conclusion really is: This shows we've been doing too much to teach people to be dependent on Government, and keep them in a perpetual state of poverty.

2 - The Observation: The the levees were insufficient and were a disaster waiting to happen. The Conclusion: The feds screwed-up by not paying attention to a potential problem (that EVERYONE knew about) and not allocating enough money to fix it before it became the disaster that's been waiting to happen all these years. Sample of an actual quote: "...the culprit is not the president but government-wide resistance to investing long-term in projects such as flood control." That quote comes from Michael Parker, former assistant secretary of the army for civil works. Response: In fact, the Environmental movement in this country prevented the Army Corps of Engineers from "fixing" or "preventing" this problem, beginning years ago. See here and here The lawsuit by an environmental group called "Save Our Wetlands" in 1975, prevented the Army Corps of Engineers from building a series of floodgates which could have prevented exactly the kind of flooding which occurred after Katrina. In fact, the conclusion really is: The insistence by environmentalists of valuing "wetlands" over humans has proven deadly in this case.

They can pretend all they want that their version of the "truth" is correct, and that only their agenda will serve the people. Unfortunately, there are obviously no mirrors in the "reality based" community, or else they'd be able to see their own agenda for what it really is -- a poison pill for America's future.

Intellectual Elite? Riiiiight!

According to the Raleigh News and Observer, this past weekend an inebriated UNC-Chapel Hill student, cited for his rude public behavior, walked 50 feet and did the same thing again -- and was arrested again. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different result. Don't you know his parents are proud of him for the "recognition" he has received at college. Guess you could say he wanted to "leave his mark" when he left. Only in Chapel Hill.

Announcer-Cheerleaders

Being a follower of the Carolina Panthers has its ups and downs. As the 2005 regular season approached, Panther fans were getting jazzed-up for great things -- after all, with healthy players back, a good draft and a Super Bowl appearance two years ago, greatness seemed their due. It still could be, but you still have to play one game at a time. Sixteen times. Before the playoffs. Before the Super Bowl.

Last Sunday, the Panthers opened at home against the New Orleans Saints. If you read the sports pages or saw the reports (or even the game) on TV, you know the Saints won 23-20. A downer for the Panthers and their fans. Congratulations to the Saints on the win. Their fans deserved it.

What? Come again? Their fans DESERVED it? That's like rubbing salt in an open wound if you're on the Panthers bandwagon. Well it was the theme of the day on the Fox Sports broadcast of the game. Obviously, if you are a mindless sports announcer like Ron Pitts and Tim Ryan on FOX sports, you truly believe that was the case. Otherwise, why would Pitts and Ryan -- especially Ryan continue to sing that song all game long?

I can understand saying the Saints players may want to play extra hard to show their support for the folks back in N'awlins, and to try to bring some joy to them in an otherwise tough time. But just say so and get off the dime! Quit reminding us of Katrina at every turn -- which it seemed painfully obvious they were trying to do.

Granted, such talk would be understandable if they were on the Saints Radio Network, since they'd be paid to promote the local team. But not on a supposedly "independent" telecast. I may be wrong, but I don't think Fox has an ownership stake in the Saints. Maybe I'm wrong, but I also don't recall hearing where Fox Sports said its announcers should blatantly favor one team over the other on their broadcasts this season. Maybe I missed that.

Pitts and Ryan could not have sounded more caught-up in the "let's help the Katrina evacuees by being pro-Saints" mindset if they'd have said such things as (these are made up, but not far off what was actually said!):

"He must be thinking of the folks back home with that catch..." or
"Everyone in America's probably hoping the Saints can win..."

It was ALMOST that bad. Truth be told, they really said things like: "This could bring a big lift to the people back home." and "You gotta love the way the Saints are playing so hard for their fans." I almost threw a shoe through the tube.

I sure hope the Fox Sports "suits" were paying attention. These two hopefully won't get to broadcast any more Saints games this year. And a note to other FOX announcers: How about laying off the "let's help cheer-up the Saints fans" kool-aid. IT'S A GAME!!! These guys get PAID to play it. They're really NOT playing it for their fans, they're playing it to keep themselves EMPLOYED. Oh, and by the way, at least half of your audience is pulling for the OTHER team.

Silver Lining in a Black Cloud

The North Carolina Tar Heel football team opened on the road at Georgia Tech Saturday, but fell to the favored Jackets 27-21. Tech has a solid team, give them credit, and Chan Gailey and his staff had them well prepared to go against Carolina. But, despite several series where the Yellow Jackets moved the ball well, toward the end of the first half and for the last half of the fourth quarter the Tar Heel defense rose to the occasion, stopping Tech in its tracks consistently. The tough play on D helped boost the offense to three -- and nearly four -- scores in just ten minutes of game time.

Unfortunately, there were too many mistakes on offense -- 3 interceptions, a few dropped passes, some missed blocking assignments, and other procedural matters which should be cleared up in practice. However, the Heels did have two shots to win the game in the last 3 and a half minutes, and any team would love to have similar circumstances.

Matt Baker will be better than he was against Tech, and once he gets used to game speed, he'll become more comfortable. For a guy who supposedly can't run, he did a pretty good job of avoiding the rush and finding the open receiver. He even scored the first TD for Carolina on an 11 yard QB draw.

James "Cooter" Arnold and Barrington Edwards looked good in the early going running the ball, but both were stymied in the second half. For Carolina to win more than a few games this season, those two will need to kick it in to the next gear.

Carolina's defense gave up a lot of yards again, but played well enough to keep the Heels in the game. They also forced Tech into several straight "three and outs" during the comeback in the second half. This defense is better than last year's. If the offense can keep them off the field better (by keeping drives going) than they did today, the numbers will look better.

This year's special teams seem to be as solid as they've ever been.

The old saw is the biggest improvement in a season comes between the first and second games. Let's hope that's true. It will be needed next Saturday when Carolina hosts Wisconsin. Looking forward to meeting up with other former Carolina Lettermen for Lettermen's Day at Kenan Stadium -- that's always fun.

Not So True After All (Lying Liars, Part Deux)

Before we get too far afield, we should commend the Washington Post for blowing apart (pun intended) the recently trumpeted "truth" that the Bush Administration "cut" funding which would have reinforced the levees surrounding New Orleans, and thereby caused the flooding of city in the aftermath of Katrina. Some key points in Thursday's Page One article:

"But overall, the Bush administration's funding requests for the key New Orleans flood-control projects for the past five years were slightly higher than the Clinton administration's for its past five years. Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, the chief of the Corps, has said that in any event, more money would not have prevented the drowning of the city, since its levees were designed to protect against a Category 3 storm, and the levees that failed were already completed projects." [Emphasis mine]

Kudos also to the New York Times, which leads today with this factual presentation of how the relief efforts were snagged by political decision-makers, who simultaneously "begged" publically for the exact help they were keeping away.

Partisan Amnesia (or More Lying Liars)

New York Senator Hillary Clinton claims the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina show the Bush Administration has undermined the productiveness FEMA had shown under her husband's administration. Todays Issues and Insights column in Investors Business Daily points to how well disgracefully inept FEMA handled the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

For supporting documents on just how "well" FEMA handled Floyd, see here and here. For an opinion on the long-term usefulness of FEMA see here.

Not OK to be Non-PC

Perhaps the more stories we hear about the rediculous application of "Political Correctness" in a time of dire emergency may begin to help tip the balance back the other way. Surely we cannot survive being any more PC than we already are.

One of the most asinine revelations in the aftermath of Katrina is the story of professional firefighters volunteering their services to FEMA and being made to undergo the (apparently) standard battery of post-hire seminars reqired in normal times before NOT being allowed to do the job they normally do -- save people. "Lundy and Calhoun's first task was an eight-hour course on sexual harassment and equal opportunity employment procedures..." It's sheer idiotic bureaucratic BS.

We owe a sarcastic "thank you" to the wacko left in this country, and the spineless twits in Congress whom they've pressured into coming up with laws that require such pap in the first place. Then again you'd think FEMA would at least be able to understand the difference between permanent employment and voluntary help in a crisis. They ought to fire the idiots who thought of this step in the process. Sounds just like the TSA's not being able to "profile". Wow, I hope you feel safer in the case of disaster or if you are going to fly. I sure don't.

Political Opportunism - Part 3

Quick... name the two biggest political stories of today. Right, Hurricane Katrina and John Roberts. What, other than the coincidence they're in the news at the same point in time, do they have in common? Nothing, you say? As Ed McMahon ,might have told Johnny Carson, "Wrong-oh, M-S-M Breath". Leave it to the DemocRATS to figure how to use an act of nature against a nominee to the Supreme Court. It's all in black and white on Boston.com (the web site of the Boston Globe):

"The scenes of devastation featuring primarily poor African-American residents in New Orleans have highlighted the widening gap between rich and poor, said Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts.

"With Roberts having urged a narrow interpretation of civil rights laws in the past, Senate Democrats will link the scenes of economic hardship with the constitutional and legal issues that surround efforts to address racial and economic inequalities, he said."

Do Senator Kennedy and his Democrat colleagues automatically believe ALL poor people are black? Does he only see things as black and white and as opportunities to divide rather than unite?

What. A. Load. Of. Crap.

Come Again?

If anyone can provide the proof of this "rumor", let me know. Heard yesterday that North Carolina Governor Mike Easley and his family spent the Labor Day Weekend at their beach house in Brunswick County -- and got there and back by state helicopter. This was just days after Easley warned state residents of dwindling fuel supplies and pleaded for voluntary conservation methods. Not only that, but he asked state agencies to shut-down all "non-essential travel" using state vehicles. Sounds like it was too much for him to ask his family to conserve.

Political Opportunism - Part 2

Raleigh News-Talk radio station WPTF has been saying all day that some North Carolina politicians are talking about eliminating the State tax on gasoline -- for a month. Meanwhile, the price of gasoline is already dropping due to market forces. Again, LET THE MARKET FORCES HANDLE IT!!!! Not that I believe the state should charge THAT MUCH per gallon of gas in tax, but artificially lowering the price will drive up demand in a time where supply is still tight, thereby driving up the price again. Really, these politicians need to understand how economics works.

Political Opportunism - Part 1

Former Vice Presidential candidate and former Senator John Edwards continues to see "Two Americas". In today's Raleigh News and Observer, Edwards is quoted as applying his 2004 campaign theme to the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, "We see the poor and working class of New Orleans who don't own a car and couldn't evacuate to hotels or families far from the target of Katrina... We see the suffering of families who lived from paycheck to paycheck and who followed the advice of officials and went to shelters at the Civic Center or the Superdome or stayed home to protect their possessions... We have been too slow to act in the face of the misery of our brothers and sisters. This is an ugly and horrifying wake-up call to America." So what does he plan to do about it? Start a lecture series on the subject at the UNC Law School, where he is the current Director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity. I'll bet that really cheers-up the folks who lost everything in the storm, huh? You can hear them now, "Man, that John Edwards REALLY CARES! He's worried about ME! Now I don't have to go through this ALONE!"

We Need a New Chief

As if he needed more distractions in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush must now find a replacement for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who passed away Saturday night at his home in Virginia.

Naturally, leftist lunatics wouldn't like it (leading most Democratic Senators to also howl) so it stands to reason Justice Antonin Scalia would make an outstanding choice as Chief. That's also my personal preference -- and then Mr. Bush could fill Scalia's seat with someone like Edith Jones or Edith Brown Clement or Michael Luttig.

We'll see how this plays out. As it stands, I'd think someone needs to be appointed Chief (and approved) before the October session begins.

UPDATE: Monday morning, President Bush announced he was shifting the nomination of Judge John Roberts from the Sandra Day O'Connor vacancy to the vacancy of the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, as the new Chief. Good move. If he's confirmed before October 3rd, we'll have a full complement of Justices to begin the "Roberts Court" (O'Connor will stay on until her replacement is confirmed).

Not Solving the Problem 102

The first semester course in marketplace economics (see post below)obviously is beyond the level of Governor "Easy" Mike Easley and Attorney General Roy "I wanna be like Mike" Cooper in North Carolina. The Governor is fanning the flames of panic by saying North Carolina might "run out of gas". He's asking "all North Carolinians to conserve gas", has suspended all "non-essential" state travel (using government transportation), and has implored the state's citizens to "carpool" and "limit non-essential road trips".

Meanwhile, Cooper said yesterday he wanted to know about "price gouging" spotted by consumers, and warned that his staff would "look into" those reports. Fortunately, he may not have dozed off in economics class as much as it appears Easley did. To his credit, Cooper did note the current gas price increases "were probably not illegal". Nonetheless, it makes consumers believe there MAY be some shenanigans going on, which further stirs the pot. Except for a few odd-ball cases when the fuel price is way out of line with what other stations in a general area are charging, it still doesn't mean there is anything going on except the marketplace finding its equilibrium price.

Needless to say, it would be best if public pressure on these two state officials does not cause them to make a bad situation worse: The Governor COULD declare a "disaster", which would allow Cooper to go after "price gougers". That would set into motion an artificial marketplace where demand would continue to rise, prices couldn't change enough to slow the demand, and a shortage would definitely occur. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Not Solving the Problem 101

Liberal politicians are calling for all sorts of "remedies" to the current gasoline "crisis" -- which has been caused by a natural disaster's interruption of the petroleum supply lines, and NOT caused by the evil petroleum pals of George W. Bush.

In no particular order, Florida Senator Bill Nelson (D) is calling for a "price freeze" on gasoline. New York Senator Chuck Schumer (D) is calling for the President to empty the petroleum reserve (a 60 day supply) to help ease the crisis. New York Senator Hillary Clinton (D) is calling for a congressional hearings (and likely prosecution) of "price gougers". Wow, the left REALLY CARES!!!!

Get. A. Grip. First, note that none of these "ideas" will help get more gasoline into the pipelines coming from the Gulf Coast. Only the repair of any damage to the Gulf Coast refineries and breaks in the pipeline system, plus restoration of power in any of those immediate areas now without it will fix that. Secondly, building more refineries elsewhere would be an enormous help in easing the east coast's dependence on one primary supply area -- not to mention easing the supply problems faced in summer months by refiners having to make a laundry list of different blends of gasoline to meet environmental dictates in different areas. More refineries = better ability to handle demand. To that end, the EPA chief yesterday relented and will allow a temporary elimination of the requirements for certain blend fuels in certain areas, so that gasoline already available can be shipped around the country to areas where demand is most critical. HOWEVER... I digress. Back to the "CRISIS"...

A self-fulfilling prophecy is helping to add to the fuel crisis. All of this talk of a "gasoline shortage" by the media (to be perfectly clear, it is a SUPPLY CRISIS) is also causing normally rational people to hurry out to the gas pumps to fill up, thereby pushing up demand (which is also increasing the upward pressure on prices). Now back to Bill Nelson's idea:

Believe it or not, freezing prices when demand is soaring will cause the demand to further rise. Tinkering with the marketplace's natural regulation of price due to fluctuation of supply and demand will cause more problems. Left alone, and IF the news media had been honest (portrayed the actual "crisis" properly or at least sought out an economist without an agenda to explain what was going on) and politicians stopped trying to fan the flames of a trumped-up crisis to get back at Bush, here's what would have happened:

1 - News comes that pipelines are shut-off by storm, and people can expect supplies to run low -- but things are being done to help alleviate the problem in the short-term (EPA rescinds blend requirements temporarily, refineries in other areas will help direct fuel to areas running low). Price starts to rise because people will go fill-up cars (natural reaction to the news of a pending shortage), raising demand in the face of shortage, but as the prices rise, maybe some will not fill-up ALL of their cars or fill all of their gas gans at home hoping to "stock-up". Remember, they're told it will likely be a TEMPORARY situation.

2 - People who think the price is too high won't use as much (may decide to car-pool, ride the bus if possible, quit driving as much by planning their trips out to the store, etc.). This will help slow demand, thereby putting a natural brake on the upward price pressure.

3 - The pipelines go back on at a lessened capacity. More supply will help ease price pressure as well, but people will likely continue to keep their tanks full, which keeps some demand pressure on the available supply -- prices stay up.

4 - Other measures help ease the crisis on supply, lessening demand as well, as people breathe a sigh of relief... prices start to come down.

5 - Supply lines are back up to 100%. Prices will continue to fall to an equilibrium level below the level they were before the crisis.

Don't expect the actual cycle to be this simple. Panic puts additional pressure on the supply as people think they better get it at whatever price before it's all gone!!! If you add price controls to the mix, the demand (at whatever that price) will be artificially high, which will cause the supply to run lower and lower. In reality, higher prices have a downward pressure on demand, as it becomes too expensive to use as much as you're used to using.

Let's hope the Left's effort to paint Bush as the cause of all this doesn't continue to spiral out of control and cause us to do irreparable harm to our economy.

As for Schumer's idea, the President has already said he will make available some of the petroleum reserve to help out. BUT THIS IS A DELIVERY crisis, not a shortage of crude oil. This will have no effect at all on alleiviating the supply line problem.

Hillary's idea will put artificial pressure on the marketplace. The natural pricing pressure from artificially increased demand -- in this case, from the "we have a CRISIS here" mentality -- and a temporary shortage in the supply (30 million gallons a day less due to the pipeline problems), pushes the price up. But scared operators (who don't want to be prosecuted for "price gouging") will artificially keep the price lower than the marketplace would equalize it, thereby working like price controls to cause the supply to dwindle quicker and pose a bigger problem.

In case you are wondering, this is not some pirated piece. I do have a degree in Business, and I DO understand the marketplace and supply and demand. I also have spent 28 years in the media and understand the pressure to focus the story on the unusual and/or in the worst light.

It remains to be seen whether sanity wills out or not.

Lunacy on the Left

Former Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal has lashed out at President Bush in an online screed based in Germany. This should come as no surprise to anyone, as the European left has as much disdain for President Bush as the American left does -- possibly more. In fact, the German environmental minister lashed out publically against the President and the people of the United States earlier this week, saying the failure of the US to sign the Kyoto Protocol is the primary reason Katrina caused such devastation to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. They really love US over in Germany. Let something of this magnitude hit THEM, and see how fast they'll be calling on the United States to help -- and no doubt criticizing us for not helping faster.

Now the American left is getting excercised over how much "Chimpy McBushitler"'s War on Terror has caused us to: 1) have too few National Guard members available in Louisiana to help, 2) diverted funding from fortifying New Orleans' levees to Homeland Security, 3) prevented us from paying attention to immediate domestic needs, 4) was out of touch with victims' needs, and on and on.

Yet, not one of our so-called intellectual elites who so easily cast blame has offered one scintilla of a positive idea on how to make things better NOW and in the future for the thousands millions affected by Katrina. Much easier to point fingers than reach out a helping hand, I guess.

GWB as GOD?

You knew it wouldn't take long in this highly-charged climate of political rant-o-rama, but I don't think anyone would have bet on this popping up so fast. But considering the source, it is not that surprising, I guess. But let's get one thing straight from the start: Mississippi Governor Hailey Barbour and President Bush had as much to do with Katrina as RFK, Jr. did. For that matter, "Global Warming" might even create COOLER temperatures in equatorial oceans due to melting of polar ice, right? Even if Kyoto was approved by this President, it wouldn't have had any effect at this point, so to blame Barbour and Bush for Katrina is the height of idiocy. Quite aside from the fact that posting that sort of political ankle-biting while rescue operations are going on and people are still missing is beyond the pale.

Let's also remember that the vast majority of "bad" hurricanes occurred long before we ever heard the words "Global Warming". In fact the hurricane experts are saying "Global Warming" has NOTHING to do with the current (or past or future)hurricane cycle.

Back Again

Sorry, I have been knee deep in back to school the past week, and have been negligent in blogging. Will try to get back on track in the next few days. Thanks for coming by.

'Noles Win Battle with NCAA (For Now)

Florida State University, which had been one of eighteen schools in the cross-hairs of the National Collegiate Athletic Association over its use of Indian "Native American" imagery and nicknames, got the all clear from the collegiate sports governing body earlier this week. Of course, it probably didn't hurt that the President of the University, T.K. Weatherell, was willing to sue the NCAA over the inclusion of his school in the organization's "red"-list.

Let's see how long it takes for Utah (Utes), Illinois (Fighting Illini) and North Dakota (Fighting Sioux) -- all of which have some sort of arrangement with their respective tribal namesakes or their descendants -- to seek similar head er, redress.