Home From the Holidays

It's good to be back at work, well except for this crummy cold. We're very lucky though. We got to make it back to my wife's family in Tampa and mine in Belleville, Illinois. What a great trip, except for the drive back from Illinois last night. One driver went flying past us in Missouri...a few seconds later, he was spinning around in the ditch. What's the hurry, idiot?

Here's my take on a few stories that have developed over the past few days. What's more odd (or is it "odder"?) The cable channels scurry after a man locks himself in the bathroom (doesn't EVERYONE lock the door?) on the flight headed to Detroit where a possible terrorist tried to blow up a plane on Christmas. It turns out the man, who also apparently came from Nigeria, just had "stomach issues". Oops. And Florida Gators' Coach Urban Meyer had to quit for health reasons. Now, he's not quitting. Or maybe he is. He is just taking some time off. For now. Oops.

State Senator Jerry Behn, a Republican from Boone, is out of the race for governor. I'm not sure most Iowans knew he ever was IN the race. He endorsed former Governor Terry Branstad. So the race is down to Branstad, Chris Rants, Bob Vander Plaats and Rod Roberts. Selfishly, four is a lot easier to cover than five, and, of course, far easier than it would have been if Christian Fong and Paul McKinley stayed in the race. I will be curious if we will still have four R's in the race a month from now after candidates turn in the financial reports that show how much cash they've raised (or haven't raised).

Former Des Moines school board member Jonathan Narcisse is "exploring" a run at governor. Who saw that coming? He has been traveling the state with Rants talking about issues. Will Narcisse go through with this or will he just travel around and rip on his fellow Democrat, Governor Chet Culver? Will he actually try to primary Culver, which would probably require a ton of money? Or will he try a run as an Independent?

Two Republicans say they want to run against Democratic Secretary of State Mike Mauro. The only thing I can remember since Mauro has been in office that has at all been controversial is that he was Sec of State when the feds released the critical report of how the office spent money from the Help America Vote Act. The findings, though, found fault in the way Chet Culver ran the office when he had the job before he became governor. However, Republican challenger George Eichhorn has made the report an early campaign issue.

In tv, we have to work holidays (well, I didn't this year:) But I've had my share. The U.S. Senate did some holiday working, too, on that health care overhaul. If this is the best plan to help Americans, why did they have to hurry to get it done and risk keeping the politicians away from their families over the holidays? Was the support for it that tenuous that Democrats couldn't risk waiting until after New Year's to vote on the bill? Ahh, democracy.

ETC...
My hometown St. Louis Rams look better and better...well, better and better at getting the top draft pick next year. Their loss today gives them 14 losses so far. A 1 and 15 season looks like a real possibility. I'm so proud!

And my St. Louis Cardinals should tell Matt Holliday to forget it. I'm tired of the drama. Get someone else to help the offense. Well, unless Holliday will sign for reasonable money. Then, go ahead and sign him:) But if Mark DeRosa is really considering a 2 yr/$12 million offer from the Giants, then match it and sign him, regardless of Holliday. Do it!