"But there's a lot to be learned from the rule sets of sports, and the last minute action they create.
Since the 1950's true filibusters (i.e. Standing on the floor and talking for ever), have been used, more often than not to delay the inevitable, or to block last minute action that the minority party does not like.
The last-minute actions taking place in Washington show how much Northrop has gained and Lockheed has lost.
Such last-minute actions make it harder for shareholders to separate publicity and manipulative announcements from proposals that will actually help a company.
Among a flood of last-minute actions by the Clinton administration late last week was a proposal to allow the Hopi Indians to gather hatchling golden eagles from nests at a national monument in Arizona for an ancient sacrificial ritual.
Within days of taking office, he froze a series of last-minute actions by the departing Bush team and ordered regulators to write tough new rules on automobile emissions and fuel economy.
With an eye toward possible reversals, the new administration is reviewing all of Mr. Clinton's last-minute actions, including rules that banned logging and road building across nearly a third of the nation's national forest land and orders that created more than a dozen national monuments.
Some Democrats said Mr. Bush had stepped into a trap left by Mr. Clinton, whose last-minute actions forced the new administration to grapple immediately with many charged issues it might otherwise have delayed, especially those involving labor and the environment.
In some cases, Commissioners were given no advance notice whatsoever of these midnight regulations…These last-minute actions, which did not enjoy the support of the majority of Commissioners at the time they were taken, should not bind us going forward.
Though you may be tight on time, Weltman says you shouldn't skip one more important step: "Contact your CPA or other tax advisor immediately to discuss whether these or other last-minute actions make sense for your tax situation," she says.
