First Defeat for Democratic Congress?

Democrats today quickly rushed the vote to override President Bush’s veto yesterday of the War on Iraq spending bill that included a timetable for troop withdrawal. Perhaps, that vote was a little too quick as House members failed to overturn the veto.

While more people voted to override the veto than to sustain the veto, 222-203, the vote failed in securing the required two-thirds majority, killing the bill.  Both parties are playing political games with a hot potato. In the end, no one wins and the American public becomes more disinterested with the government leaders.

Some have warned Democrats to be careful with how they approach this issue, including Ted Koppel who on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” said what they do now could be their problem in 2009.

The Associated Press follows that with this line, “The situation has Democratic lawmakers in a difficult position. Because they control the House and Senate, the pressure is mainly on them to craft a bill that Bush will sign, and thus avoid accusations that they failed to finance troops in a time of war.” 

It’s time for compromise on Iraq, one that includes funding the troops as well as benchmarks for improving conditions. But neither side seems willing to reach the middle ground. Where is Henry Clay when you need him?

When a coach violates the rules, who should pay the price?

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports today that West Virginia University’s men’s soccer program was placed on probation from unethical conduct stemming from a former coach.

According to the report, the NCAA has placed the Mountaineers on two-years probation and bared the team from off-campus and international recruiting during that time frame. The school had placed limitations on recruiting, but those were extended by the NCAA.

The violations stem from former coach Mike Seabolt who told international players to falsify information regarding professional experience, provided free housing, and encouraged players to practice or participate with an off-campus team that he was affiliated with. WVU’s compliance director Brad Cox blamed Seabolt who was let go in 2006 for the violations.

Marlon LeBlanc was named the head coach prior to the start of the 2006 season.

This, along with other violations the NCAA issues, raises an interesting question. Should coaches who are accused of violations and are fired or resign to take other positions take the punishment with them? In other words, should the punishment follow the coach and not the school.

In this situation, it appears that it was the coach and not the school that was involved in the violations. Yet, the school will pay the majority of the punishment in recruiting limitations. Though Seabolt is limited on what recruiting he can initiate at Missouri State University, where he currently coaches, West Virginia is left to clean up the mess.

Now you can take two lines of thought here, I believe.

The first is that the school, in this case, West Virginia, hired Seabolt and is this responsible for his actions while an employee of the university. Therefore, WVU would be responsible for any all infractions created by the former coach.

But, is that fair to LeBlanc and current team members who were not involved in the situation. The same can be said at Oklahoma where Jeff Capel has to live with some of the punishments handed down because of Kelvin Sampson’s recruiting violations. Though much of the punishment followed Sampson to Indiana, Oklahoma still reduced scholarships as a punishment.

That leads to the second argument which is that if the coach leaves, if the coach is the primary guilty party in the violation, then the school he moves to should carry the punishment. The flip side to that argument is that you are then punishing an institution for something that it had no involvement in other than hiring of a coach.

Perhaps the best solution is to punish the coach where applicable and punish the school where applicable. In this case, it appears, that Seabolt should have received the largest sum of the punishment. He told players to lie about professional experience and attempted to recruit players for an outside team.

If anything, West Virginia should be punished for providing free housing to students. That could be rectified through back payments by athletes and the reduction in scholarships.

The NCAA should take a look at punishment for violation and look at a more equitable way to punish violators to where it’s fair for all parties involved.

Registration complete

Just a few minutes ago, I finished my registration for Asbury, which all but means it’s a done deal. I’m taking 12 courses my first semester, which my adviser said could be a lot, but we’ll play it by ear. The courses I’m taking are:

Church History I

Christian Formation: Kingdom, Church, and World

Introduction to the New Testament

and an in-depth course on Matthew

But this whole registration process has been kind of weird for me. It’s all online. Now, I’ve ordered pizzas online. I pay my bills online. I get horrible directions from Mapquest online. But, registering for classes online that was a new one for me.

When I was in college, we used the old phone dial system, which created more aggravation than trying to make sense of your Geology II professor.

The only thing that I need now is a job to pay for rent, food, my truck payment, computer, gas and current student loans. Oh, and a place to stay.