Monday Morning Notebook (04.05.V4-3)

*The US is getting ready to end combat missions flying over Libya in the next few days. Is this a "mission accomplished" moment like we had in Iraq, only to be followed by escalating violence, or is the current President really ready to walk away from this fight and wash his hands of whatever the results are of the ongoing civil war in that North African nation? Barrack Obama should be credited with preventing a near certain mass murder in Benghazi, and NATO forces, including the US I would assume, will continue to moniter and enforce the UN sanctioned 'No-Fly Zone.' The ultimate effect of this effort on the ground is far from certain in Libya however. Muammar Gaddafi and the Rebel Forces in Libya are basically fighting to a stand still and neither will seem to be able to 'finish the job' of disposing of the other.

*After watching the Philadelphia Flyers-New York Rangers game yesterday, I can't help but feel that the Flyers are really on their heels backing into the playoffs. Something doesn’t quite seem to be clicking right with that team right now, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a tough time getting out of the first round, especially against a team with a tough goalie like the Rangers or the Buffalo Sabres. I feel the Washington Capitals will win the #1 overall seed and be the team to beat in the East. They have been on fire since adding a few pieces at the trade deadline, and have the most complete healthy team in the Conference right now.

*The Budget Showdown will be dragging on in Congress for another week of D.C. melodrama. Will this be the week that Senate Democrats, President Obama, and whatever caucus Speaker of the House John Boehner can muster will come to an agreement on the temporary budget for the remainder of the fiscal year through September, so that they can get onto bickering about a long term budget solution for the future years? A Government Shutdown, such as occurred in 1995, is looming if a temporary solution cannot be reached. Of course most of the 'essential' functions of the Federal Government would still be funded, but it would be a black eye in the face of a spawning economic recovery. Something that is important to note: this fight is not the Big One. The argument (and an ongoing simultaneous debate that will also focus on the Country’s Debt limit) that occurs this week will not do one single iota to fix our Nation’s long term fiscal crisis. The real strong leadership that the American people crave will be those who dare to crack open the “untouchable” issues of Social Security and Medicare. The current debate over non-defense discretionary funding will do nothing to alleviate the big picture issues surrounding those programs, and can only hurt us in the short term economic forecasts, because cuts in spending will mean cuts in jobs. It is that simple folks. The British are learning this to their peril as their economic recovery sputters out in the face of large cut backs in spending in the name of fiscal austerity. There is some simple math out there that shows that cutting government spending reduces the employment situation for workers on the ground. Eric DuVall of the Tonawanda News breaks this down very precisely and succinctly in his editorial piece yesterday:
“This might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. The Republican Party’s official position on job creation is this: If the government lays off workers on a mass scale, it will help employment.
How is this possible? Someone in the House GOP caucus has missed their calling as a fantasy novel writer, for starters.” Read the rest here

*It became official over the weekend, the New Jersey Devils will be missing the NHL’s postseason for the 1st time since 1996. Count me as one who will certainly not weep for the absence of the Devils in this year’s playoffs. They are the organization that is more responsible, in my eyes, than any other for bogging down the game with their neutral zone shutdown “swamp hockey” that became the trendy defensive style of play from the Mid 1990’s to the early 2000s. They may have won 3 Stanley Cups in 9 years with this accursed style of play, but have only won 2 playoff games beyond the 1st round since they hoisted the Holy Grail against the Anaheim (then Mighty) Ducks in 03. So this has been a team and a style of hockey in decline for the better part of a decade now. Hopefully 2011 will be remembered as the year swamp hockey was finally laid to rest.

*Former President Bill Clinton has suggested in public that the world should furnish arms and supplies to the Rebel Forces in Libya. Privately I guarantee he knows that something of that sort is already going on. This entire intervention in Libya has a very Clintonesque feel to it, and with his wife represented in the Administration as Secretary of State, it seems very likely to me that she is pulling some of the old levers that Bill left behind in the International Community. To think that the two are not cooperating and interconnecting their influence and powers to get Gadaffi out of Libya would be foolish indeed.

NHL Injury Updates and thoughts on NATO

The Washington Capitals announced today that Captain Alex Ovechkin will be out 7-10 days with an undisclosed injury. The team has also been missing Mike Green with a concussion, but he should be back within the week.
Brooks Orpik should be returning to Penguins practice soon from a hand injury. The huge news for the Pens is that Sidney Crosby has been skating and working out with no return of symptoms from his concussion. There are also whispers in the Burgh that Evgeni Malkin is making 'amazing' progress rehabing from his knee surgery.
The Conference leading Flyers will be missing chief pugilist Chris Pronger with a broken hand till early April. Jody Shelley also went hard into the boards and is suffering with facial injuries.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are missing foward Ryan Malone who hopes to get back at some point in the playoffs.
The Detroit Redwings have been dinged up for months, but the vet heavy squad expects to have pretty much all hands on deck come playoff time.
The Wings primary rival, The Chicago Blackhawks, lost leading scorer Patrick Sharp to a 'lower-body' injury for the next two weeks.
The Vancouver Canucks lost Center Manny Malhotra for the rest of the year with an eye injury that required surgery. The Nucks have also has a boatload of blueliners go down.
Finally: The Edmonton Oilers have lost Ryan Whitney for the season with an ankle injury. But the last place squads loss has been the world's gain as @ryanwhitney6 has officially surpassed @BizNasty2point0 as the most amusing hockey player to follow on twitter.


NATO was set up as a defense pact by Western Nations during the Cold War in order to coordinate and provide symmetry for the defense strategies of Western Europe and the United States. Its mission was very clear: to keep the West safe despite its disadvantage in conventional forces by leveraging its members advanced weapon systems in a unified manner. Now the Cold War is over two decades gone, and the once elite status of NATO membership has given way to a sprawling bureaucratic nightmare of cross purposed nations. It is a relic that has outlasted its political usefullness and is only strategically valuable for the command stucture it gives its member nations in joint military operations. If the combat in Libya has proven one thing, its that NATO has become unruly and redundant and needs to be consigned to the dustbin of history next to the Warsaw Pact.