Archive for April, 2010

This is an interesting article from Politico.com about how Republican candidates are more likely to display the American flag on their campaign websites.

Not sure if there is anything to make of this, other than “things that make you go, hmm.”

The world of golf was put back on its regular axis with Phil Mickelson’s triumph at the Masters. The world watched as Tiger Woods returned to golf following months out of the game as he has weathered scandal.

I’m sure many people were rooting for Tiger to win it all in his comeback debut. But I had a feeling of relief when the hard-working every-guy Mickelson sunk his birdie on the 18^th green to seal his third Masters win.

I actually feel like golf will return to some normalcy now. And we’ll all be better for it.

The Arizona Republic reports that it costs taxpayers an average of $100,000 per City of Phoenix employee. That’s not to say that some City of Phoenix employees don’t deserve to be paid appropriately for their work, they should. The rub is paying full-time employees for things that could easily be outsourced – like auto repair. How many companies do you know of that employ their own auto mechanics? Yeah, yeah, I’m sure Swift Transportation or Knight Transportation does, but that’s apples and oranges.

There is nothing wrong with sending cars that need to be serviced or repaired to a private auto shop. It would save taxpayers money, and the private company would have incentive to do a good job for a good price because they would want the repeat business.

The second rub is that we have City of Phoenix employees making more money than comparable jobs in the private sector. That doesn’t seem to make sense.

City Councilman Sal DiCiccio has been one of the few voices trying to educate people about what is going on, and he’s taking on some powerful interest groups, including the employee unions. It’s refreshing to see someone on the council who has the courage to take on the establishment and actually stand up for the average taxpayer.

Here is an interesting excerpt from the Republic story:

“Public-sector employees should not get paid more than their boss, the taxpayer,” DiCiccio said. “It’s skewed so far it’s almost embarrassing.”

The councilman has upset Mayor Phil Gordon, some council members and labor groups by proposing to outsource certain “non-strategic” city jobs to the private sector. For example, Phoenix spends $31 million a year to have city mechanics repair vehicles, he said; only $10 million is outsourced. He would like to see more work sent to private mechanics.

Luis Schmidt, a spokesman for the union that represents mechanics, said outsourcing those jobs could put police officers, firefighters and other employees who drive city vehicles at greater risk. Schmidt argues that city mechanics are better trained and more accountable than their private-sector counterparts.

So DiCiccio has upset the Mayor, other council members and the unions. And the mechanics union spokesman says police and firefighters would face greater risk if their vehicles were repaired by mechanics in the private sector. Seriously? That has to be one of the most absurd arguments I’ve ever heard.

We need more Sal DiCiccio’s standing up for the taxpayers. As a resident of Phoenix, I offer my personal thanks to the Councilman.

Bart Stupak will announce today that he will not seek reelection in November. After this so-called pro-life Democrat pulled a Judas on the issue of life, and providing the final votes needed to pass Obama’s government takeover of health care. This is what defines cowardice: selling out your principle, and then running away from defending yourself.

His seat is likely to go Republican, increasing the chances of a GOP majority in the House after the November election.

All I can say is good riddance. One less unprincipled Member of Congress to worry about.

Baseball is America’s pastime. Every April, millions of fans all over the country have high hopes that their favorite team will make it to October. Losses are excused as early season jitters, wins are inflated to grandiose predictions. Fans from young kids to old men argue and cajole about who the best teams are and who the best players are. And every baseball fan has a favorite player.

Unless you happen to be Barack Obama. In a stunningly embarrassing moment on TV (video below) during the National’s home opener against the Phillies, Obama talks about being “a Southside kid” and long-time White Sox fan and is then asked who his favorite player was growing up. The stammering becomes awkward as it is obvious he can’t name anyone, and then tries to shift to “I liked a lot of Cubs too.” He completes his verbal gymnastics by saying he grew up in Hawaii and was an A’s fan.

I know it may sound petty, but for crying out loud, you can’t foist yourself as a regular guy from the Southside of Chicago, talking about how big a fan you are of the White Sox – even implying you’re a White Sox kid – and be literally stumped to come up with ONE name of a player. It is offensive to real baseball fans.

Of course, I’m not sure why I’m so fired up about this… this is the same guy who, standing in the heartland of America’s field of dreams (for you non-baseball fans, that’s Iowa), tried to connect to the farmers during his campaign by asking, “Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?”

I didn’t even know what arugula was at the time. To make matters worse for him, they don’t grow arugula in any real quantity in Iowa, and there are no Whole Foods stores in the entire state.

This pattern of politicians pretending to be something they’re not when it comes to everyday life is exactly what drives people crazy. Hey, we may disagree on policy, but don’t just make stuff up to make yourself “more real.”

And please, stop being a poser with America’s favorite pastime.

The only Diamondbacks game I got to last year was the second to the last home game, so I was determined to start the season right by taking my 11 year-old son to Arizona’s home opener.

It didn’t disappoint. Between a towering home run by Mark Reynolds, a two-run inside-the-park round-tripper by Stephen Drew and a masterful performance by Dan Haran on the mound, it was a great day – not to mention the fighter jet flyover to start the game.

There is nothing quite like sharing opening day with your son, particularly when he has a big smile on his ice-creamed smeared face after enjoying a Cold Stone Oreo Overload washing down a 2 lb bag of peanuts.

Yes, it’s only the first game, but the D-Backs are showing some real promise this year.

Here’s to getting to a few more games this year.

We celebrate the most holy of days today, the day that marks when our Savior overcame the bonds of death and rose again.

So most people got my April Fools joke, but some thought I really had jumped into the cesspool of campaigning for a seat in the swamp. (OK, that language is a little harsh, but you get the point)

As one person said, it’s flattering that people would think that I was serious.  That’s true, it is flattering.

I am terrible at practical jokes, so I’m pretty proud that I actually pulled one off.

OK, so I initially decided that I wasn’t going to run. Then the world jumped in, and it got me thinking about the votes it will take to win the primary, and I realized I probably have more people in my blackberry contacts from CD3 than is necessary to win.

My wife started rethinking it as well, and after a fair amount of discussion, and a consultation with the kids, we decided there’s no time like the present!

So, I’m jumping in – I know the water is warm, probably too warm with all the bodies in the pool – because I want to make a splash.

April Fools!