PROPER APPLICATION OF PEPPER SPRAY

Much has been said lately about the use of media-named "Pepper Spray" on the "Occupiers."

Up until now, I have been pretty indifferent to that debate.

Since the SuperCommittee has now mailed it in, I have a "Pepper Spray" position. Any Pepper Spray not applied to the entire supercommittee is being wasted.

There should be a special concentration for SuperKyl, who promised Sunday to legislate around the promised "across the board" cuts.

HIGH RISK STAFF WORK

Some human being actually scheduled Michelle Obama at a NASCAR race!

This was either brilliant or stupid, but nothing in between.

Stupid Theory: Nimrod staffer sends First Lady to a venue where she's sure to get booed by apparent rednecks.

Brilliant Theory: Gifted Staffer sends First Lady to a venue where she's sure to get booed by apparent rednecks, thus doubling her resolve to get out the base in 2012 and reminding her life is not all dirty overalls and vegetable gardens.

You can have one theory but not both.

NOT ALL INSIDER TRADING IS ILLEGAL: EVAN RICK PERRY'S RIGHT ONCE IN A WHILE

A well organized argument from one of my favorite bloggers.

This is perhaps a better explanation than the bell-shaped curve why Congress no longer looks like America financially.

WARMING UP TO JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE

I guess Justin Timberlake is some kind of star. The only thing I knew about him until yesterday was that he was a pupil of Butch Harmon's.

Last night, he escorted Battalion Instructor Kelsey de Santis to a Marine Corps ball, not just a photo-op.

Well played, Timberlake. Well played, Marine.

HAPPY VALLEY: ONE MORE WORD ON PENN STATE AND I'M DONE

Perhaps here's one thing anybody with experience dealing with productive, presentable predators (the most dangerous kind) will agree upon: The actions and manipulations of a skilled predator force difficult choices and often mistakes upon those around them.

The redheaded assistant coach failed an easy test. For some of the others, it was much more nuanced, much like a predator's spouse or children often face.

INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR CHILD SEXUAL ASSAULT WITNESSES

In case you happen to witness, say, a ten-year-old in, say, a shower at Penn State being sexually exploited by, say, a retired assistant coach, here are some tips:

1. Yell "Hey, Stop That!" at the top of your lungs and don't stop;

2. If you can safely take custody of the kid, get him someplace safe, get clothes or covers on him and tell him repeatedly he's safe now;

3. Call the police and wait with the child while they arrive;

4. Cooperate with the investigation;

DO NOT:

1. Call your Daddy and ask what to do (If you're an adult and you don't know what to do, it's a sure sign your Daddy hasn't done a very good job imparting values to you.);

2. Wait a day and tell the head football coach;

3. Continue working there without assurances that the problem has been severely dealt with.

BONUS TIP:

read "Blind Ambition"

AR-CAIN DEVELOPMENTS: GLORIA, WHAT KEPT YOU?

I have been deeply troubled that we have had a female victimization theme going on and Gloria Alred was somehow not involved.

Thank God. Gloria has found a victim and can now be on television. All is now right with the world.

(Yes, this is pink)

ST. LOUIS BASEBALL: HMMM, THAT'S STRANGE

Conventional wisdom has been for years that the advantage in a short series goes to the team with the three best starters and the best closer. The Redbirds have caused us to put that nugget back under a microscope.

At the end of the day, the Cardinals won the World Series because their 11 pitchers, taken as a whole, were better than Texas' 11 pitchers. Now that's an interesting thought in a team sport.

VETERANS' DAY PARADE

Our organizers had the choice of two Saturdays, November 5 or November 12. They chose wisely and we had decent weather, always a crapshoot this time of year.

I couldn't be more thrilled that our terrific organizers have revived this tradition in our town. Still, beyond any control of the organizers, I saw some disturbing trends. Fewer and fewer of the adults are saying a simple "Thank you" to the war vets who pass by them. In fact, most of the younger adults are just helping their kids fill up candy bags. What is fundamentally a patriotic parade has turned into Halloween on steroids. Wake up, parents! Teach your kids a little something.

It's great that "Miss This" or "Little Miss That" ride in the parade and wave. I wouldn't have it any other way. It's also great that the local car dealers put the nice cars out for the "Misses" to ride in. Would it kill one party or the other to have a sign on the side of the car other than "Call Sam Jones to buy this car @ 555-5555"? Again, a simple "Thank You" would have been nice.

We had multiple bands this year. That was great. All of you who want to write letters to the editor about the bands who weren't there, please don't. High School Bands have Saturday commitments. Hard choices have to be made. The bands who weren't there are neither unpatriotic or disloyal to their community so, with all due respect, please put a sock in it.

During the parade muster, I had an extended opportunity to study the 9/11 memorial truck. I wish the opportunity had been shorter. That is tough duty.

For all of you who thanked the WWII and Korean War guys, thank you. For all of you who taught your kids to thank those guys, God Bless You.

Our Mayor and both organizers used a fixed position this year. This allowed them to shake every hand that came off of the parade route. "Attaboys" to all three.

The Saturday of Veterans' Day weekend next year is Nov. 12. Save it next year....and teach your kids to thank veterans in the meantime.

QUINCY UNIVERSITY: HOW TO MANGLE A PERSONNEL DECISION

Don O'Brien wrote a fine piece about the way Head Coach Bill Terlisner was not retained. Click on Don's name to read the piece.

Pretty obviously, the Athletic Director did not want to be bothered with Football morale issues during basketball season. The Athletic Director is, of course, the basketball coach. I can't add much to what Don wrote about the cruelty, to Coach T. and to the kids, inherent in this crude maneuver. In addition to being pointless, it was gratuitously hurtful to Coach and many of his kids.

If you guys just had to fire the Head Football Coach, how about a nice buried-at-Thanksgiving joint press release. Then, again, it seems the modern personnel approach at QU, generally, not just in sports, is best summed up as "Mind over Matter".

That is, the U. doesn't mind and their employees don't matter.

But I would like to go a step beyond OB. I contend that the non-renewal was a bad decision on the merits. The guy was required to play his home games in a Hell Hole that was suitable for condemnation. He was required to play 12 "money" games (Read: sacrificial lamb) and he had to recruit with no facilities to show recruits. He still has no decent practice facility. Since he can't practice at his game site, he has no meaningful home field advantage.

For his part, Coach's program provided better than one tenth of the student body. As a public prosecutor for years, I can tell you that his kids were low maintenance in the community. Very few of them got in any serious trouble with the law. On a per capita basis, football had fewer bad actors than several other men's sports programs and, I'm guessing, the general student body.

Some would argue that the University's extending football as a program explains the "one tenth of the student body" thing. They would be wrong. Coach T's attitude towards the soft walk-on player explains the large number far better than the U's merely deciding to have a football program. If a player truly wanted to show up here and show his stuff, working his way into some playing time, Coach T. would give him a shot. Too many guys who came in as grunts ended up with actual playing time to deny it. If a guy simply wanted to suit up and be in the team picture just to say he played college football, Coach T. was tolerant (if a little ironic) about that. In short, Coach T's attitude to both players and ceremonial roster spots encouraged people to attend QU.

The coach wasn't going to remind anybody of steely-eyed coaches like Bear Bryant or Bill Curry or Nick Saban. He has a unique physical presentation and a singular way of using the English language. But, if anyone had taken the trouble to actually listen to what the man said, he always reflected the grasp and values anyone would want in a coach. Nobody could break down a game into simple analysis better than Coach T.

They will get another coach and maybe even one who wins a bit more (although keep in mind they are again going "up in class" as they say in horse racing.) They will never get another one who gains as much net revenue for Quincy University or one who has such a zero percent chance of embarrassing them on moral or leadership grounds.

So I'm taking a step beyond OB. They way the U ditched Coach T. was terminally nasty, agreed. My view is also that letting the man go will make the University weaker. They may find a coach who wins more but they will never find anyone who adds more to the university through its football program.

Bad Move x 2

CRACK SENTENCING: AN ECONOMIST'S DREAM

I hope the guys who write the "Freakonomics" books are reading this blog.

Today the law of sentencing crack cocaine offenders changes and is adjusted retroactively. Oversimplified, the idea is to remove classicist and racial implications by allowing for the lack of purity in crack cocaine as opposed to powder. A street crack dealer may have caught four times as much as polite, suburban dealer of powder cocaine, even though the street guy may have about one fifth of the psychoactive material.

I'm not knocking the change in law. It was a decent correction and probably a worthwhile cost saving.

Still.....it would be an interesting exercise to see how many of these "unjustly" oversentenced, oppressed minorities go back to selling recreational street drugs of some kind. Stay tuned, those stats just cry out to be kept.

Instead of crunching the numbers we could be "cracking" them sometime soon.