Notre Dame Football, Unhappy Arabs and Other Non-Related Thoughts

Fox Sports reports that Notre Dame University paid $6.6 million to fire its football coach several years ago.  You have to wonder if this fiasco won’t end up as a case study in the Business School at the University.  Probably not.

The Washington Post reports that the Arabs in the Middle East are unhappy with the speech that Mr. Obama gave on the outlines for a peace settlement of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.  We already know everyone else is unhappy.  The conclusion can only be that a position that pleases no one must probably be the right one.

The Fix, our favorite political commentator and blogger from the Washington Post reports that Tim Pawlenty will enter the Presidential race on Monday.  There was no explanation of what he has been doing these last several months, that was not running for President.  The good news, he is not the most objectionable politician contemplating a Presidential run from Minnesota.

The WSJ reports today that the Fitch rating service has downgraded the Greek sovereign debt by three notches.  Really.  That is what it says.  See the report here.  This is truly amazing news, no one knew that there were still at least three notches left in the Greek bond ratings.

In Salon today is an editorial on a proposed North Carolina law that would severely restrict the ability of cities to offer free broadband.  Here is the salient point.

The basic argument for the bill -- made most convincingly by North Carolina telecom lobby counsel Marcus Trathen here -- is that it's "unfair competition" for local governments to offer better service at lower prices than the private sector, which is also a compelling argument for banning governments from setting up "public" schools that educate children for "free."
The scary thing is that while the author is using hyperbole to make his point, the hyperbole about public schools is really a forecast of future arguments.