Why is Michelle Obama's brother still men's basketball coach at Oregon State?

Earlier this week Minnesota men's head basketball coach Tubby Smith was fired. In each of his six years with the Gophers, his team had a winning record. Smith took the Gophers to the NCAA "Big Dance" three times and to the NIT twice.

At Oregon State, Michelle Obama's brother, Craig Robinson, is the men's head basketball coach. In five years with the Beavers, Robinson can boast of just one season with a winning record along with one .500 performance. OSU under Robinson has had three post-season appearances--all in the little-cared for College Basketball Invitational, which accepts teams with sub .500 records. In 2009 Oregon State won the tourney--which the Beavers entered with a 13-17 record.

Still, CBS hired this at-best mediocre coach as a studio analyst for this year's NCAA tournament, where he has never coached even as an assistant. Why was he there? Because of his famous sister of course--and perhaps CBS is trying to curry favor with the White House.

Perhaps?

The Beavers limped to a 14-18 season this year, and with a 4-14 Pac-12 record, they shared last place with Washington State.

Attendance is down at OSU home games.

As for the players, at least they can enjoy annual White House dinners where they can meet the president. A White House visit, sans a meal, is usually an honor usually reserved for teams that have won championships.

Oh, will the 2013 OSU visit be cancelled because of the sequester cuts?

And what if the Beavers stink up the gym again next season? One columnist wrote last month that Robinson is unlikely to be fired because of his powerful brother-in-law.

He's probably right.

Technorati tags: newsDemocrats Obama Barack Obama college education sports

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ILL-inois: Union goons exempt from state anti-stalking law

It's not just Pennsylvania that exempts Big Labor from its anti-stalking law, but union-worshiping Illinois allows the goons to stalk folks like me.

More from Katie Packer-Gage in the State Journal-Register:

I was very troubled to learn recently that despite having made stalking illegal in Illinois, elected officials in the state have afforded union bosses an exemption.

Yes, that’s correct; during labor disputes, Illinois’s law against “aggravated stalking” does not apply to union organizers (Public Act 097-0468). This leads to a simple and logical question: is it ever acceptable to engage in stalking? Apparently, the answer in the Land of Lincoln is yes.

For anyone who engages in aggravated stalking in Illinois, it is a Class 3 felony with a “second or subsequent conviction” serving as a Class 2 felony. The penalty for the crime is serious and it should be. That’s what makes the exemption for organized labor — a special interest — so outrageous and inexcusable.

But unfortunately, Illinois is not alone; it is joined by California, Pennsylvania and Nevada. These states have placed the interests of Big Labor bosses above the safety of average citizens.

Related post:

Pennsylvania anti-stalking law doesn't apply to unions

Technorati tags: government illinois politics Politicsunions news organized labor jobs economy law legal business

This afternoon: Teachers union to ruin Chicago rush hour

As they did several times when they were on strike last fall, the Chicago Teachers Union will hold a rally and march in downtown Chicago later today. This one, to protest school closings, will start at 4pm--just in time for rush hour.

Lovely.The mob of teachers blocked traffic at those autumn rallies.

As for the school closings, Chicago's population declined by seven percent between the 2000 and 2010 census.

Technorati tags: education labor unions politics news Illinois chicagoillinois politics chicago politics

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Obama economy: Student loan write-offs soar

The irony is that most of these students voted for Obama. How's that working for them?

From Reuters:

Banks wrote off $3 billion of student loan debt in the first two months of 2013, up more than 36 percent from the year-ago period, as many graduates remain jobless, underemployed or cash-strapped in a slow U.S. economic recovery, an Equifax study showed.

The credit reporting agency also said Monday that student lending has grown from last year because more people are going back to school and the cost of higher education has risen.

"Continued weakness in labor markets is limiting work options once people graduate or quit their programs, leading to a steady rise in delinquencies and loan write-offs," Equifax Chief Economist Amy Crews Cutts said in a statement.

Technorati tags: news democrats college government college education

CBS poll: Support for gun control drops

The Democrats thought they had a winner when they lined up in favor of gun control.

From CBS News:

Soon after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced an assault weapons ban would not be part of a gun control bill, a new CBS News poll shows support for stricter gun control laws overall has dropped since the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Currently, support for stricter gun control laws stands at 47 percent today, down from a high of 57 percent just after the shootings. Thirty-nine percent want those laws kept as they are, and another 11 percent want them made less strict.

Technorati tags: news government 2nd Amendment gun control gun rights

(Video) Not shovel ready: CNN reports rips high-speed rail boondoggle

"Keep in mind," Anderson Cooper said yesterday on CNN about Obama's beloved high-speed rail, "billions in federal tax dollars have been spent so far with very little to show for it. 360 has been investigating some of these projects like the billions spent in California without one shovel being put into the job."

If CNN wants more viewers, it needs to do more reports such as this one.



After billions of so-called investments, those billions have only made slow trains just a little bit faster.

Technorati tags: politics news Democrats trains economy stimulus rail public works infrastructure high speed rail california politics california

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