et ceteras

Shhhhh

That is the advice MSM members have given each other about covering Tuesday night's special elections in New York and Nevada, and apparently they have heeded it. Although a few pundits acknowledged that the elections were held and were won by Republicans, very few news shows or newspapers have bothered to inform their customers. So in case you are one of the scores of millions who don't know about the results, here they are: In New York's 9th Congressional District, career businessman Bob Turner defeated career politician David Weprin; and in Nevada's 2nd, Mark Amodei trounced Kate Marshall.

NY-9

Both of the above results should cause the White House in particular, and Democrats in general, to be worried about their chances in 2012, but the one in New York is especially ominous for them. Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans in that district by more than three to one, and prior to Tuesday it had been more than 90 years since a Republican won a congressional election there. Yet not only did Turner win, he did so by a comfortable, eight-point margin while running as an unapologetic conservative.

Turner was openly pro-Israel, pro-military, pro-life, pro-traditional-marriage, and pro-business; just as he was openly anti-government, anti-spending, anti-tax, anti-amnesty, and anti-Obamacare. He openly called for the elimination of both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture, and for a reduction in the size and scope of the Department of Education. He advocated a 35 percent reduction in aggregate federal spending, which would be unprecedented to a head-spinning degree. Yet he won handily, and in a blue district to boot. Even though he is a Catholic and his opponent a Jew, and even though Jews usually vote almost 90 percent Democrat, he got nearly half the Jewish vote across all lines of the Judaic spectrum -- Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox, or secular and religious, however you want to slice it.

There is no way for Obama & Co. to spin this as a positive.

Global Warming

It is no secret that I am a skeptic when it comes to global warming. I absolutely do not believe that there is such a thing as man-made global warming, and for that matter, I also do not believe that global warming of any kind is happening right now. If it were, they would have kept calling it global warming instead of slyly changing the phrase to "climate change" a while back. By "they," I mean liberals, environmental extremists, journalists, so-called "moderate Republicans"...they are all pretty much the same.

But I digress. What I wanted to do was point out a few things from this week that do not jibe with the notion of global warming. One of them is the fact that even though it is still summer, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the mountains of southern Colorado. Another non-jibing item is that abnormally low temperatures are gripping a large swath of the country. Yet another one is Nobel-winning physicist Ivar Giaever resigning from his post with the American Physical Society, in order protest that organization's unscientific and politically driven position on global warming theory.

Lee Roy Selmon

My September 4th and September 6th posts were about Lee Roy Selmon, the Hall of Fame football player who passed away after suffering a stroke. After publishing those posts, I heard some stories about him on sports radio that I feel I should share.

University of South Florida Athletic Director Doug Woolard, talking about his many business interactions with Selmon over the years, mentioned that they talked extensively about their families each time. Woolard said this was true for every meeting, no matter what the meeting was scheduled for, and he noted that Selmon was always the first one to ask, "How's your family?"

Dan Sileo, host of the morning drive time show on 620 AM, said Selmon was so sincere that he made everyone he came in contact with, even in a room full of people, feel as if he or she was the most important person in the room. He remarked that Ronald Reagan was the only other person he has met who had that gift. Sileo also said that every time he conversed with Selmon, he was so impressed with his character that he left the conversation feeling compelled "to be a better man."

And finally, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Shelton Quarles said that Selmon told him, "It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice."

Selmon's viewing was one week ago today, and a large, public memorial service was held for him the next day in Tampa. One day later, another funeral was held for him in his home state of Oklahoma. I will say it again: What a tragic loss his passing was.

College Football

Central Florida is the most underrated team in America. By far. And they absolutely should be ranked.....The most valuable player last week was not Denard Robinson. It was the collective unit known as Denard Robinson's receivers. Their spectacular catches during Michigan's fourth quarter comeback against Notre Dame obscured the fact that Robinson's throws were God-awful wounded ducks that he should be embarrassed of.....Auburn continues to master the art of winning nail-biters in the last minute. I shouldn't complain, since they have not lost a game since 2009, and since they defeated a ranked opponent last week despite losing 16 starters from last year's national championship squad -- but I really wish they would win just one game by a comfortable margin so I wouldn't have to experience ulcers and palpitations every Saturday.....And lastly, a prediction: Oklahoma will defeat Florida State in Tallahassee on Saturday night. If Auburn can't win the national title this year, I want Oklahoma to win it and dedicate it to Lee Roy, their greatest alumnus.