Saw this cartoon posted today.  It really speaks to me, as someone who came to California seeking prosperity!

For those of you who follow the "View from the Street," take heart. We're still blogging away during this busy Election Year.  In addition to the posts in this space, we've been invited to appear on Fox & Hounds Daily - the online site for Politics and Business in California. We'll be posting there - along with our one-of-a-kind posts here  - daily during Election Season.

In the meantime, check out the latest piece about California's ridiculous new rule that members of the State Assembly can no longer text while in the Legislature.  Let us know what you think, does a rule like this make a bit of difference to the Special Interest influence-peddling in State Capitols across the Nation?

http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/blog/jennifer-kerns/6563-no-texting-while…-legislating

Tomorrow, we'll be back to our snarky, regular programming.  See you then!

Now that the SuperBowl is over, the inevitable hangover of life without Football is setting in for football fanatics everywhere... especially we fabulous ladies who enjoy the sport nearly as much as our male counterparts.  Having suffered myself from an early end to the College Football playoff season in January, I myself have been coping for the past month with how to keep myself occupied for the next 9 months... 

For those of you whose NFL season has now ended, you're welcome to join me in my misery, which is already in progress, and perhaps together we can make constructive use of our remaining time until the Season begins again.  Here, a few Off-Season Bucket List items that are totally fabulous, completely do-able, and will help pass the time in no time at all!

Carry a Baby to full term

Win a Primary Election

Train for a Marathon

Become a Wine Sommelier

Get your cute Football Jersey wardrobe for next Season in order: Now that Football season is over, they will be on sale, ladies!

Attend cooking school (go to SurLaTable.com for fun lessons near you!) and brush up on some deelish Tailgating recipes for next season

Write a Novel

Travel around the World in a Hot Air Balloon 3 times
(source: Around the World in 80 Days)

Recover from an ACL tear to the Knee

Complete a 12-Step Program

Get your Teaching Certificate in California

Lose 72 pounds
(based upon WeightWatchers.com recommended monthly weight loss guidelines of no more than 2 pounds per week/8 pounds per month; don’t try this without first consulting your Physician)

Get your Pilot's license

Learn how to Skydive

Become a licensed Feng Shui consultant

Complete a 6-month deployment to Afghanistan

Buy the 9-month-long "Dessert-of-the-Month" club membership on Amazon.com (although, that probably defeats the above weight-loss goal)

Complete a course to become a licensed Astroturf dealer

Become a licensed “Green/Sustainable Building Advisor” in California

Take your money out of a rotten Federal bank, and deposit it into a 9-month CD

Become a Paralegal

Get a new Job

Celebrate running 110 miles… (if you simply run 5 miles per week, every week, ‘til then)

Film a major Motion picture and get it “in the can” for Hollywood

Become a Licensed Nutritionist/Dietician

Spring forward on daylight savings time (this cannot come soon enough, IMHO...)

Adopt a Pet from a local Shelter – and have them fully trained in Obedience school

Go SHOPPING, shopping, shopping... for a new Spring, Summer, and Fall wardrobe

and last, but definitely not least...

Attend Beermaster classes and learn how to brew your own beer for the Season Kickoff!

Have other ideas?  Submit YOUR suggestions to keep your  forlorn Football friends happy in the comment space below…

Forget the Swine Flu.  The Democrats in Washington these days have a rampant case of Foot-in-Mouth Disease.

Whether you're an African-American or an innocent developmentally-disabled child, the Democrats have some choice words for you.

How do they hate thee?  Let us count the ways...

- During a private Caucus meeting with the Democratic members of Congress, Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel called a group of Congressmen "F*cking Retards."  When asked by parents of special needs children to apologize, Rahm refused.  Former Presidential candidate Sarah Palin (and mother of a Down Syndrome son) asked him to apologize.  He refused.  Yesterday, he finally accepted a meeting with the CEO of the Special Olympics. But he still refuses to apologize publicly.  If he were a Republican, he would have been run out of town.

- Last year, on the nationally-televised Jay Leno Show, then-candidate Barack Obama described what he felt like when he went bowling:  "It looked like the Special Olympics."  The implication, of course, was that he looked "retarded" while bowling.  He later apologized, but only after pressure from the Shriver family - including many of whom had endorsed him.

- This week, Obama's Education Secretary Arne Duncan made a gaffe of Hurricane proportions when he said that "Hurricane Katrina was the best thing that ever happened to the Education system in New Orleans."  Two days later, after outrage from educators in New Orleans, Arne Duncan apologized and quickly suggested that he had used a poor choice of words.  If he were a Republican, he would have been run out of town.

- The "poor choice of words" excuse seems to be making the rounds these days.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was outed in the new book "Game Change" for his opinion that Barack Obama would be more electable because he did not have the typical "negro dialect." He finally apologized, saying it was a "poor choice of words."  Not a poor choice of thought, mind you, but a poor choice of words.  If he were a Republican, he would have been run out of town.

- In the book "Game Change,"  the authors reported that Bill Clinton suggested last year to then-Senator Ted Kennedy that "A few years ago, [Obama] would have been serving us coffee."  It was a statement so offensive, that Ted Kennedy ultimately endorsed Obama over Clinton's wife, Hillary.  In the month since this report came out, Bill Clinton has neither denied the statement nor offered an explanation of it.  If he were a Republican, he would have been run out of town.

What's even worse than these statements is the Media's soft condoning of such statements. Had ANY of these things been said by a Republican, they would have had a clock in the corner of the TV screen, counting down the hours since the apology, and the hours left until that official resigned.

You see, kids, it doesn't matter if you're rude, crude, politically incorrect, or racist... As long as you're a Democrat, you're like that tree that falls in the forest that nobody hears. Or, maybe nobody wants to hear.

It reads like a wish list for a "wild Frat Party."

Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show that Nancy Pelosi spent $101,000 on booze during a flight last year while hosting a congressional delegation.  Nope, you didn't read that wrong, I didn't put too many zeros in.  That's $101,000.

An article published in World Net Daily provides details of boozy trips taken on U.S. Military-provided jets at a total cost of $2.1 Million.  Which means the $101,000 receipt was just one - one! - of the tabs Pelosi ran up as she jetted the world at Taxpayers' expense.  Documents obtained from the Pentagon indicate that Pelosi seems to use the Air Force as "her own personal airline."

So, while you and your families were tightening your belts at home and wondering how to make ends meet during 2009, these Fat Cats were brunching, lunching, and boozing at your expense. 

What a bunch of entitled, elitist pigs.

To see a copy of the in-flight receipt, read the full story here:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=123472

We've all been there, fastened securely in our seats, trying to send off one last text message before the flight attendants close those doors... and finally succumbing once we hear that trademark sound of the doors clamping shut.  Cell phones in the "off" position.  It's all part of the deal of flying, right?

If you think for one minute that Pilots are doing the same, you're dead wrong.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB ) released their final report today on the Continental Airlines commuter flight that crashed over Buffalo, New York last February.

And the report is shocking.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christine-negroni/pilot-texting-on-fatal-co_b_443794.html

The report shows that co-pilot Rebecca Shaw - a young female co-pilot who was heard on the black box fretting about the rocky flight and suggesting she didn't fly well in icy conditions - actually sent Text messages from the cockpit.

Minutes later, that flight went down in flames in the suburbs of Buffalo, NY - killing ALL of the passengers on board.

To be fair, there were many other things that went wrong in the cockpit that night.  According to the NTSB, the pilots had both taken lengthy commutes prior to beginning their shift in the cockpit, they were not sufficiently trained for the icy conditions, and they were discussing personal matters below 10,000 feet - a practice which breaks the FAA's rules of maintaining a "sterile environment" in the cockpit during landing.

But the fact remains that amid the other calamaties on the flight deck that night, the co-pilot was "Texting while Flying."  I'm willing to stake my life that other Pilots are doing it as well.  My only question is, are they willing to stake the lives of others on a simple Text message?  I hope not.  It's bad enough people are Texting in their cars.  But in a live Airplane is absolutely, utterly Dead Wrong.

If you'd like to contact the FAA to request that stronger guidelines be issued to Pilots, please call: 1-866-TELL-FAA and tell them to put an end to "Texting while Flying."

I thought our readers would be interested in the inside scoop from Scott Brown's own Pollster, who published this piece this morning outlining "Scott Brown's 12 Keys to Victory:"
http://blog.pos.org/2010/01/scott-brown’s-twelve-keys-to-victory/
 
Scott Brown’s Twelve Keys To Victory
By Neil Newhouse
Editor's Note: Neil Newhouse served as the pollster for the Brown for Senate campaign and the National Republican Senatorial Committee in this race.

The Scott Brown victory was indeed the perfect storm – a terrific and engaging candidate, a tremendous campaign team, an issue environment that was strongly tilted away from the national Democrats, an abbreviated campaign timetable, and a somewhat disengaged opponent.

In addition to the #1 factor, which is Scott himself and his ability to connect with voters, following are the ten OTHER keys to Scott Brown’s victory:

1. Scott Brown.
This was his victory.  Simply put, a terrific candidate.  Never underestimate the impact of an articulate candidate with a compelling message.

2. The truck.
Scott’s pick-up truck and the ad showing him driving it around the state helped give depth to the image of him as a “regular guy” as well as reinforced the fact that he was actually out there campaigning, asking people for their support.

3. Coakley’s ill-timed vacation.
Nailing into voters’ minds the thought that Coakley believed she had the race wrapped up, she went on vacation in December.  Voters noticed and later told us they believed she intended “to back into the seat.”

4. Not “Kennedy’s seat.”
This “Nashua moment,” courtesy of David Gergen at the January 11 debate, became a rallying cry for Scott and his supporters and helped frame the election as between the political insiders and the people, which was only exacerbated over the final days as Martha Coakley brought in name Democrats to provide her a lifeline.

5. Coakley’s negative advertising/Scott Brown’s response.
Anticipating a negative onslaught from the Coakley campaign, Scott’s internal ad team (hats off to Eric Fehrnstrom) cut a perfect Brown response ad aimed at Coakley for turning to a negative campaign.  So, whose image changed after the negative ad and rebuttal went on the air?  Coakley’s.  It took just three days for her image to fall from +24 to “one-to-one.”

6. Brown’s Intensity Advantage.
Over the last ten days of this race Massachusetts voters fell hard for Scott Brown.  His “very favorable” image increased ten points over the last week or so of the campaign, while Coakley’s image intensity was flat-lining.

7. Independent women.
These voters were a tough sell for Scott Brown, supporting Coakley by ten points just ten days ago.  But all that changed after the January 11th debate and subsequent negative Coakley advertising onslaught, as these voters went into the final days giving Scott a two-to-one advantage.

8. DC Fundraiser?
Seriously, Martha Coakley’s image was already imploding after the January 11th debate and the launch of the negative advertising, and yet the decision is made to send her to DC on January 13th for a PAC  fundraiser?  With health care lobbyists?  Where she watches as an aide pushes down a reporter trying to ask a question?

9. “Bloody sock.”
Curt Schilling a Yankee fan?  Good joke. This, coupled with her tone-deaf shot at Scott for his grassroots campaigning at the New Year’s Day Bruins game at Fenway Park reinforced her elitist image.

10. Ayla and Arianna.
The two Brown daughters were stars in the campaign in helping get Scott’s message across and in deflating the over the top negative attacks against Scott.  Ayla’s recorded phone calls were mentioned by voters as helping convince them to support Scott.

11. Fund-raising.
This is one for the record books.  The daily totals were staggering.  And, the campaign clearly understood the nexus between Scott’s visibility on conservative-tilted national news programs and the ability to raise money on-line.
With Republicans completely out of power, Scott’s on-line success suggests that the huge Democratic advantage on-line can be overcome by an energized national conservative base.

12. The Brown Team.
There was an amazing combination of political expertise brought together for this abbreviated race.  For a state so bereft of GOP officeholders, it’s a gold mine of political talent.  It was a seamless and self-less effort made possible by the NRSC and Mitt Romney’s on-the-ground team that made the difference here.

Last night’s Republican win in Massachusetts is, in a word, phenomenal.  The New York Times is showing a “before & after” map this morning, illustrating just how Blue the state’s map was just one short year ago, and just how Red that map is today.

Given this sea change in such a short period, politicos will no doubt be sifting through the voter data over the next day or two to tell us what all of this means.  In the meantime, here are a few observations from the Street:

•    During last year’s Election, Obama won by a whopping 45% in Massachusetts.  In 364 days, the state has taken a direct 180 degree turn.  What a difference a year makes.

•    While this Election was certainly an absolute referendum on the Obama Administration, the Election wasn’t just about Healthcare.  Political insiders have told MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell that the strongest issue in Scott Brown’s internal Campaign polling, was (wait for it…) TERRORISM.  Yep, Terrorism.  Not Healthcare.  Voters were extremely concerned about the Administration’s bungling of the Khalid Sheik Mohammed trial being moved to civilian courts and the Administration’s rush to provide top-notch attorneys to Terrorists who should actually be tried as enemy combatants.  Perhaps this can be explained by the fact that TWO of the airplanes used in the 9/11 Terror attacks departed from Boston that day.  Whatever the case, the fact that Terror became an issue in this Election is truly significant.

•    You’d probably never guess what else this liberal-State Electorate supported in overwhelming numbers:  Waterboarding.  Yes, you heard correctly.  Brown’s own internal polling showed that voters in the Liberal state of Massachusetts overwhelmingly support Waterboarding to gain intelligence from Terrorists.  This Electorate included MANY Independents, so we’re not just talking about a bunch of Dick Cheney Republicans here.  This is a clear backlash to the Obama Administration’s handling of Terror suspects, and in my view is perhaps the biggest story to come out of the campaign.  As a National Security chick, I hope it gets discussed more over the next couple of days.

•    Obviously Scott Brown’s victory was a statement against the establishment. But Republicans need to be careful.  This means Republicans, in some cases. During his Victory speech, Scott Brown never mentioned – not once – the word “Republican.”  By no means should Republicans be dancing in the endzone – yet.

•    In fact, Brown mentioned the word “Independent” at least a dozen times, signaling that although he may caucus with the Republican Party, give the Republican response to the State of the State Address next week, and so forth… he may seek to at least project the appearance of a more “independent” candidate.

•    In fact,  Brown had no strong Party structure behind him. His Victory Party was not organized by the Massachusetts GOP - heck, there is hardly even a Massachusetts GOP!  By no means in Brown a “Party guy” in the old sense of the word.

•    The same goes for the Tea Party Patriots.  According to all reports, there was no real grassroots boots-on-the-ground Tea Party movement for Scott Brown during the campaign, either.  Most of the groundwork was performed by Mitt Romney's team, having served there in the Governor's office.  There is one exception, and that is the Tea Party Express/Move America Forward PACs, which came in with significant TV buys for Brown in the final few weeks.  But as for the true “grassroots” movement that the Tea Party Patriots so proudly boast about, I’m not sure you can call this a “Tea Party victory,” either.

•    There’s another interesting theme at work among the three Republicans who have won recently: Scott Brown in Massachusetts; McDonnell in Virginia; and Chris Christie in New Jersey.  They ALL ran during Special Elections.  This means the Candidates campaigned for shorter periods of time (this means fewer opportunities for mistakes), and that there is an advantage to Republicans running during these pressure-cooker moments (i.e., when the 60th vote on Healthcare hangs in the balance; when Virginia held a Special Election to backfill the Governor’s post; and when Governor Chris Christie was elected in a Special Election in New Jersey).  Which all the more proves my favorite Skull & Bones theory: that there is” opportunity in Chaos.”  That seems to ring all the more true when it comes to Republicans this Election season. Now, if we can just keep that chaos going…

•    All in all, this is a HUGE victory for Republicans. The simple fact that a great many independent and super-Liberal , old-guard Massachusetts voters actually walked into a polling place, crossed over, and checked the box that had an “R” next to it…  well, that trumps all.  In fact, it is Wicked Awesome if you ask me.

Today, on this Martin Luther King holiday, take a moment to watch Dr. King's historic address in Washington, D.C.:
http://www.mlkonline.net/video-i-have-a-dream-speech.html

I Have a Dream
Martin Luther King, Jr’s Address at the March on Washington
August 28, 1963, Washington, D.C.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. [Applause]

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

This week’s “Sunday Best” award goes to… Will Smith.

No, not that Will Smith.

This weekend, the Capitol community laid to rest one of its finest : Chief of Staff Will Smith.

Will was the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back – even though you probably should have been lending him yours.  As Chief of Staff for one of the leading Legislators in California, Will always took time out of his busy schedule to help people with whatever they asked for – in my case, the State Capitol Permits for the historic Tea Parties of 2009 and urgent Press Conferences on California’s State Budget.

My favorite memory of Will’s gracious spirit occurred when I was holding a Press Conference on the Capitol steps to protest Tax increases.  The group I was with wanted to use a special prop for the Press Conference and, as Mother Nature would have it, we found ourselves caught in gale force winds that day.  In the hour leading up to the Press Conference, the prop kept blowing over. And over. And over. No matter how many times we set it upright, it would blow over again.  Worried, I searched everywhere for something that would hold down the prop.  Sandbags. Weights. Something.  But I was out of time. We would have to take our chances.  

Just as the Press Conference began, the wind began to pick up again. But somehow, the prop wasn’t falling over as it had before. How could this be?  Wondering if someone had heard my cry for heavy sandbags, I quietly walked behind the staging area so I could get a glimpse.  And there stood Will and his staff, grinning, and holding onto the prop for dear life so it wouldn’t blow away. That was Will's way.

But Will wasn’t just a “nice guy.”  He was respected in the Capitol.  And he used his power artfully.  I once got into a debate with him about something in the Capitol. As it happens with many debates in the Capitol, I can’t even remember the topic now.  But at the end of our heated discussion, Will said two words that diffused the debate and brought the discussion to a diplomatic halt.  He said, “Fair enough.”  Fair enough?  Wow. There was something about it that was so… so... Will.  In just two words, he was able to completely disagree, yet communicate that he wasn’t about to ruin a working relationship (even with little 'ole me) over the subject matter.  Fair enough.  It is a phrase I found so powerful, that I have begun to use it over the past year to diffuse tense political situations.

I fully realize my memories of Will pale in comparison to the depth and length of the memories that his close friends and family share. Nevertheless, this week I found myself wallowing in worldly pity that "one of the good guys" was taken too soon. But, listening to the events of the night of his death,  the calm that now surrounds his family, and the indelible impression he made on so many in the State Capitol, it is clear now that Will’s life played out precisely how God intended.  Maybe God needed Will to resolve a political dispute in Heaven.  Maybe God needed another angel in Haiti this week.  Maybe He just needed another player on that big Basketball team in the sky.  True, it is sad for us who have been left behind, but God apparently needed Will more than we did.

Fair enough.