The big local news is that Jerry Frautschi has revived the Edgewater Hotel. After the city reneged on its commitment to help the project financially, Jerry and a group of investors moved in to save the project with what amounts to a charitable contribution. Reports are that Frautschi, frustrated with the inability of any level of government to accomplish anything, will soon announce that he's also going to pick up the tab for a public market, high-speed rail, and universal health care on the Canadian model.
In national politics, Mitt Romney cut a swath through the world demonstrating his foreign policy acumen by insulting London's handling of the Olympics, accidentally letting it slip that he met with British intelligence officials, igniting a firestorm in the Middle East by suggesting the Israeli capital be relocated to Jerusalem, and then igniting another one in the same region by telling Israelis that they are more successful because of "cultural differences."
When asked to clarify that last statement, a Romney spokesperson said, "What the Governor was trying to say is that we all know that the Jews are good at making money... What?"
Along those same lines, a Romney foreign policy advisor was quoted as saying that Romney believed that, "We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special." That kind of talk always reassures people when you're talking about Europe; plus, you gotta love the George Dubya syntax.
Romney's bizarre remarks may have been calculated to overshadow his problem with dancing horses. Though in the vicinity, Mitt said that he wouldn't stop by to watch his dressage horse compete in London, claiming that Rafalca was really his wife's thing, and he didn't even know what time the dancing was scheduled to start.
The campaign issued a statement saying that while his wife's dancing horse was at the Olympics, Mitt would be doing manly, blue-collar stuff, like watching NASCAR with several car owners or buying a string of bowling alleys.
In same sex marriage news, Dan Cathy, the president of Chick-fil-A, went way beyond his core competencies the other day when he said that we are "inviting God's judgment" when we say "we know better than you what constitutes a marriage."
I have no doubt that Mr. Cathy knows all about what God wants in a chicken sandwich, but why he felt the need to speak out -- or for that matter why the press felt the need to quote him -- on the subject of same sex marriage is not clear.
But it did spike chicken sandwich sales among right-wing icons like Sarah and Todd Palin, who showed up at Chick-fil-A to show their support for God, discrimination, and high cholesterol fast food.
In sports, it's all Olympics all the time. If there's a story out there where the second cousin of an Olympic athlete once had a cancer diagnosis that proved false yet it taught her the value of living every day to the fullest and not compromising on your dreams, then by God, NBC will be there to show it to you. And everyone will cry.
Is it just me or is there a lot more crying at the Olympics than there used to be? People cry when they win gold. People cry when they win silver but should have won gold. They cry when they blow the routine and ruin their team's chances and realize that they'll spend the next four years at a gulag in Siberia (well, okay, that's something worth crying about). They cry when the judges screw up. And, now, they cry when they got caught throwing games, as some badminton players were the other day.
This last revelation made my older brother feel so bad that he called to tell me that he threw a badminton game to me in 1968 when I was nine years old, because I wouldn't stop playing until I won a game, and he wanted to go to the movies. I was so touched by his incredible story of sacrifice that I wept. Then I called the International Badminton Federation (which actually exists) to report him. He'll never play badminton again and the International Croquet Federation is investigating.
That's all I've got for now. Have a good weekend, kids.
