The Government geek in me ...

From President Obama's remark of support for same-sex marriage to presumptive Republican candidate Mitt Romney's alleged bullying of a gay classmate, it's fair to say campaign season is in full swing. If you are like me, you look forward to campaign season the way an 18 point buck looks forward to first day of deer hunting season. In American we are more jaded than Buddha when it comes to politics and our political system. But for a politically oriented person like myself, reading about a country going through democracy for the first time is as refreshing as a Swedish massage. Egypt had their first televised presidential debate yesterday. Let that sink in for a minute ..... a TV event so ubiquitous in the U.S. happened for the first time ever in Egypt in 2012. It took a moment for me to wrap my mind around the thought of people being excited to watch a televised presidential debate instead of frantically looking for the remote and a basic cable channel showing "Storage Wars". A country with a political history stretching back thousands of years is, for the first time ever, going to be able to freely choose its leader. Just imagining the excitement in the Egyptians' minds puts me in full Mastiff slobber mode. A lot of the credit for democracy blooming in the land of the pyramids has to go to George W. Bush. As unpopular as some of his policies were at the time, with respect to the Middle East they paid off in the form of several new democracies toppling authoritarian regimes. Even though W's justification for invading Iraq was as flimsy as balsa wood, demonstrating the possibility of democracy in Iraq emboldened other Arabs to unleash the power of the people. Will these new Arab democracies survive? No one knows, but for a little while they existed and people power is more difficult to bottle back up than a genie (For the record, I prefer my genies to look like Barbara Eden over ballon-sized Robin Williams). For a government geek, it doesn't get much better!

Poor taste moment of the week: This week is Teacher Appreciation week. I am a teacher, appreciate me!! Now!! That's not the poor taste moment of the week. That distinction goes to my district. We were notified by email at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday that after much discussion, all teaching staff would receive a 0% raise. Today our superintendent sends out an email thanking us for all our hard work toward improving the lives of our students and families. Patronizing? You be the judge. Poor taste? Uh-huh.

The NBA play-offs have seen some pretty gruesome injuries in the first round. D-Rose's ACL blow-out was the most significant for his team, but the exploded knee Baron Davis endured was Saw II gory. Davis tore his ACL, MCL and part of his patella tendon. The close-ups on TV made me grab my knee even though I was lounging comfortably in my favorite chair. I can remember a few other time the scenes on TV caused a spasmotic reaction due to an injury hundreds of miles away: Joe Theismann's broken leg, Tim Krumrie's broken leg, Dave Dravecky's broken arm. Any I left of the list? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

 The Reds were off yesterday. Bryce Harper makes his first appearance at GABP. The kid is the real deal, which means he'll play for the Nationals until the Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers or Angels figure out a way to pay him. The Nationals have whispered their way to a solid ballclub. Their starting pitchers (Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Edwin Jackson, Jordan Zimmerman and Russ Detwiler) all have ERA's under 3.49. Injuries have hampered their offense, but when healthy the aforementioned Harper, Adam LaRoche, Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman give them four pretty solid hitters. Don't be surprised to see the Nationals hang around the playoff race all season and contend for the NL East crown if the Phillies slip up. Free Agent - Firework Friday at the ball park tonight ... and maybe after for some lucky devils!!!

The Barclay's Premier League wraps up Sunday. Arsenal travels to West Brom, whose manager Roy Hogdson was just named the English national team coach. The Gunners have struggled like the economy the past few seasons against the Baggies and need three points to guarantee a Champions League spot (and the $20million that comes with it!!) next season. I wish I could make a positive prediction on the game instead of sweating bullets for a couple hours on the Sabbath. I'm going to hope for the best and cross everything I can on my body.

That's all folks!!! Enjoy the freaking weekend!!!