Winter Wonderland

Yesterday was the shortest day of the year. Funny. Work didn’t feel any shorter. Oh well. In the spirit of the season, here are your Christmas quick hits.

After almost a year of futzing around, the Senate is finally ready to vote to continue wrangling. In a brilliant display of politicking, Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson held Democrats hostage until they offered him billions of dollars in healthcare-related bribes in exchange for his 60th and final vote to break the Republican-led filibuster. In addition to Lieberman’s objections, Nelson claimed the language in the Senate bill restriction abortion was not strict enough, favoring instead the language used in the House version. But his hold-out was somewhat of a red herring, if you’ll pardon the cliche expression. Public funding for abortion has never been part of the bill, and Nelson is well aware that the “Blue Dog” coalition of Democrats in the House will refuse to vote for final passage if their version of the abortion language is not included. So it was never necessary for both versions of the bill to have the same abortion language. However, due to the way the Senate functions, Nelson was able to hold the entire process hostage until Democratic leaders payed his ransom.

Following a final vote Thursday morning, the House and Senate versions of the Healthcare reform bill with go to conference committee where they will be spliced together to form one bill messy piece of legislation, which will then be returned to Congress for yet another vote before reaching the President’s desk. That of course means Congressional Democrats will get yet other opportunity to fail at something they’ve been attempting to accomplish since before man landed on the moon. Failure is still very much an option.

Republican Senators have been complaining since the weekend about the bribes offered to Ben Nelson in exchange for his vote. Right. Like they somehow weren’t aware of the way Congress works. Some of the grumbling is due to the fact that they will no longer be able to hold up this round of voting. And the rest might be more credible if those moaning loudest about corruption of the process weren’t busy taking full advantage of said corrupt process for the past ten months. Chief sourpuss South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, while complaining bitterly about all the “pork” being written into the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus bill) this past February, inserted hundreds of millions of dollars of his own “pork” into a bill he never intended to vote for. On some level it feels as if the criticism of Nelson’s deal is a little bit of sour grapes. Truth is, any one of 40 Republican Senators could have gotten the same deal Nebraska received - maybe even better. I’m sure there would have been some premium attached to the only Republican vote for a Democratic bill. Instead, the GOP opted for a policy of “just say no.” It remains to be seen where that will leave them as the economy picks up in the coming months.

The Department of Transportation has issued new rules regarding air travel delays. Among them is a mandate that passengers onboard an airplane stranded on the tarmac must be allowed to return to the gate and deplane if the problem preventing take-off lasts longer than three hours. The changes come in response to horror stories reported earlier this year about passengers being stuck on airplanes without air conditioning and overflowing toilets for up to eight hours, while the airlines did nothing but make excuses as to why it would be impossible for them to reform their practices. Amazing how the impossible becomes possible when lawsuits are threatened.

The World Conference on Climate Change in Denmark wrapped up last week with a global agreement to..., well..., work toward an agreement. Sigh. Ten years ago in Kyoto, world leaders decided that over the next decade they would determine a target for reduction of greenhouse gases and a global temperature rise limit, and fold them into a binding treaty they would sign this year in Copenhagen. Ten years later, nothing has been resolved. Lofty goals have been set, and promises have been made, but no one is winning to codify anything in writing. So, after two weeks of haggling, world leaders finally agreed that they couldn’t agree, and vowed to do the same thing they vowed to do ten years ago - keep talking. What’s the definition of insanity? Repeating the same action while expecting a different result? Head, meet wall.

In what was perhaps the most bizarre story of the week, authorities in Poland awoke last Friday morning to discover the infamous iron sign above the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp had been stolen. Police did manage to recover the sign two days later, cut into three pieces and stuffed in the back of a car. Five men have been arrested in connection to the theft. I guess I didn’t realize there was a market for concentration camp signage.

Around the NFL, Week 15:

The Colts won again, and the Saints lost their first. That, in combination with my three point elimination from my fantasy football league playoffs totally killed my weekend. New Orleans can make it up to everyone by being the last team standing on February 3rd.

Despite the Colts perfect record, the San Diego Chargers might be the best football team this week, and going into the playoffs. They are certainly the only team in the AFC capable of knocking off Indianapolis.

After their loss to previously one-win Tampa Bay, I’m almost ashamed to admit I purchased a Seahawks jersey during my trip out there two weeks ago. I mean come on! The Bucs? Even losing to Cleveland or Kansas City would have been more respectable.

Six months ago the Chicago Bears traded one Kyle Orton to Denver for Jay “the Messiah” Cutler. Every single pundit waxed poetic about how the Bears were now an instant contended and that the Broncos obviously got the short end of the stick. Turns out Denver scored a fairly consistent passer and a playoff spot, while Chicago wound up with the league interception leader and a share of the NFC cellar with Detroit. Oops.

The bloom is off the rose in Minnesota. The Vikings dropped another game to a mediocre team, Adrian Peterson was less than impressive - again, the defense gave up big plays to a backup quarterback, and the legendary quarterback is feuding with the coach. Don’t be surprised if this team is picked off before the conference championship.

The Cincinnati Bengals lost wide receiver Chis Henry last week after he fell from a moving vehicle and later died from his injuries. Even though they lost to San Diego on Sunday, they played inspired football in Henry’s honor, and will be a serious contender for the title in the weeks to come. These are not the same old Bengals.

My Super Bowl picks for Week 15; New Orleans Saints vs. San Diego Chargers.

Finally, Merry Christmas everyone! Or, Happy Holidays. Whichever is more applicable. And, between stuffing yourself with Christmas pudding and stuffing the trunk of the car with presents, don’t forget to spend a little time with the people you care about. Those are the things you’ll remember long after you’ve worn holes in that new sweater grandma gives you.