What Democratic Senators Should Do

The Republicans in the Senate seem intent on blocking any health care legislation. With Lieberman flip-flopping on a Medicare buy in option it seems that 'reform' is off the table (I say 'Republicans' intent on blocking because, of course, there's not any real chance that even a single Republican will vote for any of the discussed bills). All that's left is a massive handout to insurance companies by mandating that individuals buy their products.

But Democrats can't pass a bill without 60 votes for cloture, what should they do besides continue to negotiate with Lieberman?

What the Democratic Leadership in the Senate should do is actually make the Republicans filibuster something.

Make them stand on the Senate floor and speak 24 hours a day for a few days. Would this help pass a public option? Probably not. But, it would help with the public relations battle that the Democrats are managing to lose through their own incompetence.

The reality is that the Public Option is very popular. Highlighting the Republican obstructionism to a program that has passed Congress and is supported by a majority of voters in a majority of states isn't going to hurt.

In addition it's clear that the Democrats are losing their base on this issue. By forcing an actual filibuster for a few days the Democrats could place more of that blame where it belongs: on the Republicans opposing any progress.

A filibuster by the morons who generally stood by and allowed this health care crisis to worsen year after year would be a clear reminder to the American people of why they can't get adequate healthcare.

The Democrats have a popular agenda. The public option and the jobs bill are supported by the American people. It's an amazing political climate where the party that supports the legislation the people want passed can manage to drop in popularity while the party that opposes that legislation rises. It's even more amazing that that situation is somehow not surprising at all.

What the NFL should do.

The NFL is changing. With labor contracts expiring the NFL, players and owners are engaging in negotiations. Looks like the old revenue sharing system is already a casualty. The salary cap could be the next to fall.

You know what the NFL should do? The NFL should keep the structure it has. It's a no brainer, everyone should be on board. Any owner who disagree is a moron, I'm looking at you Jerry Jones.

The NFL has been an incredibly successful business. This MSNBC article from a couple years ago illustrates how the NFL has soared as a business enterprise, even have other sports have sputtered.

Players, owners, coaches, agents, tv, radio, merchandise stores . . . the list of those individuals who profit from the NFL is extensive, and so is the profit. FANTASY football has been estimated to have as much as a $4 billion impact on the economy and is played by 30 million people. You read that right, fantasy football.

Polls demonstrate the continued rise of NFL's popularity over the last 20 years. And, that polling started in 1985, a time when the NFL was already popular. (also, look at the rise of fall of the NBA in that poll, the NBA's popularity has plummeted 10 points in the last ten years).

I honestly cannot fathom the mental processes that would cause the people in positions of power in the NFL to decide now is the time to tinker with the system. I could go on and on about the details of the NFL system that make it better than other sports, and why that is. But, all of that would be my opinion. Lets forget the reasons why the NFL's system is so great, because that's making the issue too complicated.

Lets simplify.

NFL = most successful sports entity in the country

NFL = is *increasing* in popularity and profit

That's it. That's all you need to know. Let. it. be.

That's what the NFL should do.