Vacation Time

I'm in the middle of a brief return to civilization. Our annual Christie Lake vacation is on. We had to return for Evvy to take a test and Joe's "graduation" from elementary school.

I generally don't like to be away from my office for a week, but I've been so busy lately that I welcome the rest.

There seemed to be less traffic at the border this year. I don't know if I just got there at a slack time or if the economy has caused people to cut back. The price of gas is nearing $3.00/gallon again. That could be a factor.

Actually, the price of gas has been increasing pretty steadily for weeks now. Funny how there has been virtually no news coverage of the increases this time around. The last round of increases led to constant news coverage and Congressional inquiries. I wonder what's different now?

Sports Lessons And Thrills

I, like most Americans, really enjoy sports. This past week in sports was really a good one for me.

First, the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup. I'm from Pittsburgh and I have followed the Pens since they were established in the 60's. The young Pittsburgh stars overcame the talent and experience of the Detroit Red Wings in a great seven game series.

The Pittsburgh win reinforced one of the great lessons of sport for life; namely: that hard work and a will to succeed can carry you past long odds. On paper, Detroit should have handled Pittsburgh, but the Pittsburgh players did not throw in the towel.

The best thing about the series, though, was the great time I had watching the games with my son, Joe. We rooted for the Penguins, complained about the "home-town" calls that went against them, and jeered the traitorous Marian Hossa (the Arlen Spector of the NHL). We waived the "Lets Go Pens" towels our crazy aunt sent us from Pittsburgh and we tried to stay in the same seats we had when the Pens scored so as not to jinx them. It was great fun.

There was a second sports lesson for Joe and his little league team-mates from major league sports. The Yankees trailed the Mets 8-7 with two out and two on in the bottom of the ninth. A-Rod popped up to the Mets second baseman. Inexplicably, he dropped it. Jeter and Teixeira scored and the Yankees won.

The lessons? Teixeria was on first. The pop-up was "certain" to be a routine last out. Many ballplayers would have just jogged around the bases and called it a night, but Teixeira followed the rules of coaches everywhere and ran hard. Because he did, he was able to score the winning run.

There were a couple of other lessons, too. A-Rod, angry at his pop-up, did not run, instead, he smashed his bat on the plate. When the second baseman dropped the ball Alex looked foolish. And the second baseman? Well, he forgot a basic baseball rule. Use two hands to catch the ball. You never know who is watching.

GOP "Re-Takes" Control of NY Senate

In a surprise move, two Democrat State Senators (Hiram Monseratte and Pedro Espada) gave control of the State Senate back to the GOP by voting to organize with the Republicans and elect Dean Skelos as majority leader.

"Deposed" Democrat majority leader, Malcolm Smith declared the move illegal and he vowed to fight to give New Yorkers the government they voted for. Speaker Silver also indicated that he would work to get the Democrats back into control of the State Senate so that the agenda the people of New York voted for could move forward.

I'm glad that the GOP is back in control. The "agenda" that Smith and Silver were promoting was not what the people had in mind. Still, I'm a little disheartened by the fact that that at least one of the defectors (Sen. Monseratte) has been indicted for campaign finance violations and charged with assaulting his former girlfriend.

I understand the value of GOP control of the Senate. I just wish our new allies were better people. I'd prefer to get control of the Senate back by running good people who have good ideas. These guys are opportunists at best. I would not be surprised that they go back to the Democrats if they get a better offer.

Will Dick Cheney Be "Outed" From GOP?

Former VP Dick Cheney made news when he expressed support of gay marriage stating that gay couples should have "any kind of arrangement they wish." This position is at odds with that of most conservative Republicans, whose causes Cheney usually champions.

I wonder how long it will take for liberal pundits to ask if Cheney will be "thrown out of the GOP"? Obviously, he won't, and its because no one in the GOP expects absolute ideological purity from every single Republican on every issue of the day.

In fact, in the same remarks, Cheney noted his respect for Federalism regarding the issue saying:

"I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish," he said, adding that regulations on marriage have traditionally been handled at the state level rather than the federal level, and should remain in states' jurisdictions. "Different states will make different decisions and I don't have problem with that."

I bet some liberals may want to change their views on the issue just so they don't have to admit they agree with Cheney on something!