Monday Morning Notebook (03.07.V1-4)

*On the international scene, Libya remains the global hotspot that everyone is watching, but nobody is doing much of anything about. Muammar Gaddafi, the long standing tyrant, remains in security control of Tripoli, with his blue shirted thugs enacting violent repression against protesters. Those in revolt from his regime remain in power in Benghazi and the Eastern side of the Country, and the two forces are conflicting in the lightly populated, but oil rich, middle sections of Libya. There is little doubt that Gaddafi has initiated violent assaults upon his own people using terrible weapons of mass warfare to quell internal discord. The international community has done little to stop him from doing so, outside of sending much needed humanitarian aide to the Eastern border of the Country where streams of refuges are fleeing the violence. This inaction by the rest of the world may be a course of prudent wisdom from an international affairs standpoint, but it certainly leaves those seeking a more free and fair society in Libya at the diabolical whims of a violent madman who will stop at nothing to retain power. The situation has reached a point where it is already functioning as a low level civil war, and if we have learned anything from misadventures in Iraq, it is that these sectarian styled conflicts are not often resolved quickly or peacefully, and outside intervention may do more harm than good at this point.

*Ryan Callahan had the game of his life on Sunday afternoon as the New York Rangers whitewashed the Eastern Conference leading Philadelphia Flyers, who all of a sudden seem eminently beatable after dominating the first five months of the season. Goalies in Philadelphia tend to thaw out as the birds return and the flowers bloom, and April, May, and June are the harshest months for Orange and Black clad netminders. Henrik Lundqvist meanwhile remains a rock solid rubber stopper for the Blueshirts and hasn’t let up more than 3 goals since January 25th, the thinking here is that he may be able to vault the Rangers into darkhorse Cup contenders this Spring.

*The US Senate will take up two proposed bills to provide funding for the rest of the federal government's fiscal year, the GOP passed House Bill, and the New Democrat compromise plan. Both cut billions from President Obama's budget, but neither is predicted to bridge the 60 vote threshold needed to get out of the Senate. They are however expected to lay out the groundwork for future debate and compromise.

*The New Jersey Devils continue their most unlikely of quests for the 8th and final playoff spot in the East, which if they could claw their way into, would be one of the most incredible in-season turn around stories in the history of professional sports. I still believe they will burn out from playing each and every game as if it is the 7th of the Stanley Cup finals, and the law of averages states that they inevitably will start losing some of these 1 goal decisions. The authoritative statistical probability website, Sports Club Stats, still only has them listed as being a 1.8% chance to make it into the playoffs this season, but if they can complete this absolutely astronomical turnaround, the Devil will be a very scary matchup for one of the top 4 seeds in the East.

*Speaker of the House John Boehner is putting together his legal options to challenge Obama's plans to not enforce DOMA laws. This little culture war salvo is a bit unexpected given the current focus on fiscal issues and the laser-like focus on job creation promised by GOP leadership.

*It seems like Mario Lemieux was once again right, and the NHL and pompous Canadian media blowhards were wrong in regards to a situation with the League. After Mario blasted the league for not throwing the book at Trevor Gillies and the New York Islanders in the wake of an absolute travesty of a contest on February 11th which saw Gillies concuss young forward Eric Tangradi with a blindside elbow to the head, continue to pound on him as Tangradi lay helpless on the ice, and mock him from the runway as the training staff attended to the injured skater. Tangradi has yet to return to action, but after the league mandated 9 game suspension, Gillies was back at it again on Wednesday night. He saw less then 4 shifts and 2 minutes of ice time before he once again took a blindside flying elbow to the head of Minnesota Wild forward Cal Clutterbuck, who is now out with a concussion “upper body injury.” What did the league determine was just reprieve for a thug who obviously didn’t learn his lesson the first time around? 10 games measly games this time was what they saw fit to lay at his doorstep for his grevious misdeeds. He should have been gone for the year, and possibly all of next season as well. There is totally no place for him in this league. For those who claim the game of hockey is nothing but a circus freakshow on skates, all they have to do is point to Trevor Gillies being back out there on March 26th against the Philadelphia Flyers and I will have absolutely no rebuttal.

*Both sides in the debate over the State budget and the future of public sector unions remain entrenched in their hardline positions. Governer Scott Walker continues to insist upon stripping the unions of their collective bargaining powers and forcing them to recertify every year. Democratic State senators stay in self imposed exile so that legislation remains at a standstill in Madison.