The SoapBoxers

There is a place dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds for gardeners all over the world. Heirloom seeds are handed down from generation to generation on small farms for unique types of flowers, vegetables and berries. They are different from the mass produced seeds that you can pick up at any garden center or super store like Walmart, Kmart, Home Depot, or Lowes. Heirloom seeds are not hybrids, the seeds of the plant can be harvested to be used again next year.

There is nothing wrong with hybrid seeds. Hybrids have made food available in a greater abundance than the world has ever seen. Heirloom seeds allow the gardener to be freed from the need to return each year to the box store. In addition, the maintenance of these seeds and plant provide the basis for all hybrid development. If there were to be a disastrous year for the seed industry, having this repository of the basic plants will be invaluable in restarting and creating food and flowers.

The place is called the Seed Savers Exchange. They have a farm located outside of Decorah, Iowa. As the name suggests, they continuously look for sources of heirloom seeds, and exchange with those gardeners to broaden the inventory that they keep in protected storage to preserve garden biodiversity. They exist through several avenues of funding, including memberships, donations and direct sale of the seeds. There are reportedly only two organizations currently perusing the protection of our crop heritage, the Seed Savers exchange and a similar organization in Norway.

The farm is open to visitors and has several active gardens to tour and walking trails, along with a store where seeds, books and experiences can be exchanged. Walking those gardens is especially pleasant during the late summer, when the season starts to cool in far northern Iowa. There are numerous herbs, flowers and vegetables. Although they host activities all year, the beginning of September brings the Tomato Testing event. The gardens add a twist as the plants are not grown to harvest the fruit, but to harvest the seed. The onions are huge, but the seeds are what are prized. The squash, zucchini, cucumbers, bean and peas are over ripe, but perfect.

The whole idea is to preserve. Pursuant to this mission, the people at the exchange teach. They have pamphlets and books to teach anyone how to grow their own garden anywhere. The customers exchange stories; what works, what does not, what has been tried, and what would be interesting to try. This effort has apparently gotten some well deserved attention. The President of the United States, Mr. Barak Obama, is planning a visit to the farm. The people of Decorah are excited about his visit, as are the people who work and the farm. It is worth the effort to visit, if not in person, like the President, then on line, where much of what is available at the farm can be viewed and purchased.

In last week’s article (read it here), I mentioned that both Rachel and Brendon were on the eviction block, with the power of veto to still be played. Bad news for all of us Brenchel haters….Brendon won the power of veto, which meant he’d remove himself from the….oh wait, he’s a completely moron and removed his bigger moron of a fiancé off the block (Yes, I’m a Brenchel hater). Danielle replaced Rachel with Jordan, who really had no shot at being evicted.

After voting, Brendon left the house, and the next HOH was played. Pretty non-eventful HOH, with Kalia winning the head to head trivia competition….I never really had an opinion on Kalia until she won HOH and immediately became Danielle’s muppet. I know Kalia said several times she’s making her own decisions as HOH, but I just don’t believe that’s true.

Earlier this week, Kalia revealed her eviction nominee plans, which included nominating Rachel and Jeff for eviction. As you can imagine, Jeff wasn’t a big fan of hearing it, and vowed that if he won the power of veto, or got evicted and got to come back as part of the “twist” that he would target Kalia. Undeterred by Jeff’s promise, she did in fact nominate Jeff and Rachel with the power of veto to still be played.

At the power of veto competition, Jeff and Rachel competed against Adam, Kalia, Shelly, and Jordan. Jeff eventually won…..thankfully! Back inside the house in the HOH room, Kalia was scrambling for a replacement nominee…..and enter Lawon. Pretty much a floater from the beginning, he told Kalia that he would go up as the replacement nominee, and also swore that he’d be back in the house with a “special power”…..which is in relation to the “twist” where one evicted houseguest gets to rejoin the game.

At the eviction ceremony, Lawon was indeed evicted, and the summer twist was announced. Lawon would face off against a former evictee (Brendon, Cassi, Dominic, or Keith) who received the most votes from “America”. Of course, it was Brendon…which is disappointing because the thought of him being back in the house with Rachel makes me want to puke.

It will come as no surprise that Lawon was terrible in the competition against Brendon (throwing 14 balls into a hole, in short summary)….and that means Brendon is back in the house…..BOO!

The moral of this week’s recap is….LAWON, you idiot! This could go down as the worst Big Brother move in history! You basically evict yourself, thinking you’re going to come back with a special power?!?! Really? Did you really think you’d automatically be back in the house THAT easy? Hope you learned your lesson….have fun by yourself the rest of the summer.

For those of you that are concerned with my DirecTV Sunday Ticket situation (read it in the link above), I’m getting nowhere with my demands. I’m beginning to wonder how far I need to go with my threats to cancel…..and hopefully they don’t call my bluff. They can’t lose MY business, right……?

For as long as I’ve been born the United States of America has had a policy of not negotiating with terrorists, even in a hostage situation. The thinking is that rewarding people who take hostages will just entice them to take more hostages. It’s a pretty common and widely accepted theory in psychology – we see it’s applications on things a lot more prevalent than hostage-taking; reward the dog for sitting down and the dog is more likely to sit when you want it to. Go pick up the baby when it cries and the baby will learn that crying leads to parental attention. In the same way, our current broken political system THRIVES on 11th-hour “crisis” situations.

The recent debt crisis is a glaring example of the extremism in politics, and in my opinion it is closer to a hostage crisis than we’ve ever been. Hostage situations almost always arise from the routine; it’s easier to both take hostages and shock and terrorize people when you disrupt their daily lives in everyday situations. In that same way, this debt crisis arose from something that’s so routine it’s been done 102 times before and never with stipulations attached. In the same way our financial system was shocked when it was held hostage despite the wishes of the majority of US citizens. After George Bush cut taxes in the biggest revenue loss in US history, despite having some of the lowest tax rates in the industrialized world, congress was so concerned that they … that’s right, raised the debt limit with nary a debate.

Had we handled raising the current debt ceiling the same way that was done George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, and every other president this would have been done weeks ago with almost no attention from the public. What was different this time? Well, just factually speaking, this was the first time the “Tea Party” had any kind of say in congress. This was the first time that Obama didn’t have a majority in both houses. Those are the only significantly relevant issues that apply to this specific debt increase. As a percentage of GDP, we’ve had more debt – this was back in World War 2, and we’re fighting 2 wars right now, both started by George W. Bush.

The combination of the Tea Party influence and Obama not having a free pass in both houses gave Republicans a prime opportunity to hold the possibility of a default over Democrats’ heads. As usual, the Democrats had no spine and caved in and as usual the Republicans went against the wishes of a majority of Americans to push a horribly misguided philosophy of “trickle-down” economics that has been proven to not work.

All through this situation I heard Republicans pandering to the camera and saying how they wouldn’t let Obama and the Democrats raise taxes on America. Yet from the moment this situation was labeled a crisis the Democrats did not want to raise taxes on 98% of Americans, only on the richest 2%. Your average Republican will immediately knee-jerk and come back with “but … but … but … if taxes are raised business won’t hire people.” I will point out that corporate tax revenues are at an all-time low (mostly thanks to loopholes).  I will also point out that despite corporate profits being up 22%, the unemployment rate has only slightly improved and that’s not counting the hundreds of thousands who have simply stopped looking. All that is in addition to payrates for the average American decreasing, in relation to inflation. The bottom line: The Democrats wanted to raise taxes more or less on just those very people benefiting from the 22% increased profits, and the Republicans held our economy hostage because they opposed that. Once again, I will point out that the Republicans are getting lots of campaign finance from the very companies that have flourished the past decades, and it has been Republicans in the past to oppose campaign finance.

Back on the 2010 campaign trail all we heard from Republicans was how we needed to turn around the economy by creating jobs, specifically by making it easier for business to hire people by lowering taxes and creating more loopholes. Yet, they were so concerned about the jobless rate that as soon as the debt ceiling deal was done, Eric Cantor called for the Summer recess for congress despite the fact that the FAA was shut down due to disagreement over the ability to make it easier for FAA employees to unionize.  Think about it this way: After crying for weeks during the debt limit crisis that they weren’t getting their way, Republicans were so concerned about the average American that they were letting millions in non-controversial tax revenue go each day and putting 90,000+ people out of work while they went on a SIX WEEK vacation. Aren’t you glad they represent you so well?

So, over the past 1+ decades my long-view take on US economics is this: Republican politicians relax Wall St. oversight rules and regulations. Wall St. takes too many risks and ends up crashing, dragging the economy down with it. Government knee-jerks and saves Wall St. Too many corporations lay off people as part of the crash. People stop spending in fear. Government revenues go down. Government lays off people. More people stop spending in fear. Private agency that’s funded mostly by Wall St. banks decides that the US might be a risky investment despite the fact that statistically it’s better than many others that were labeled as safe by that same private agency – despite the fact that as of this writing the stock market is tanking and US Treasury bills can’t sell fast enough.

The basic problem is not that the US Government spends too much. The problem is the US Government spends more than it earns. There are three ways to correct that problem: decrease spending, increase earning, or both. To determine which method is best requires one to prioritize spending needs. THAT is where the real issue is. Our representatives and, indeed, our people cannot come to an agreement on what the purpose of government is.

Heck, if we can’t even agree on that, how do we expect to move forward? Well we’re certainly not going to now that the hostage-takers have gotten their way – they’ll simply think that they can just take hostages to get what they want. Keep your eyes open, because they have their eyes on Medicare and Social Security.

(Continued from yesterday’s article)

I awoke early for the 2nd day of the National Sportscard convention. I was not one of the folks that ponied up the extra money to get the early pass so I had to wait until 10 AM to get into the show.

I grabbed a quick and tasty bagel sandwich at the Aloft Hotel lobby and then made the block and a half walk to the Rosemont Convention Center. The lines were already about 700 people deep to get into the show.
 
 

I felt less hurried and much more refreshed than I had in my hastened arrival the day before. I had eight full hours to check out the merchandise and a lot of money burning a hole in my pocket.

One of the first stops I made was this booth that had a bunch of Heartland Figurines, various ceramics, and BOBBLEHEADS! And I mean Hundreds of them. Must have been tough to get those all to Chicago but the display was quite nice

One of the next stops I made was a booth that had a bunch of vintage pennants. I am sure these are expensive as the material they are made out of is cheaper, and the fact is most were likely tacked to a young boys wall many moons ago. This booth had this unique “pinwheel” type of display of pennants but I could not figure out what they all had in common. Still a cool piece and I snapped a photo of it

Platinum Promotions had an impressive display of Hockey Cards – mostly graded by authentication services. I am not a hockey guy, but if you were this was probably like visiting Mecca.

Speaking of authentications services, I visited the Professional Sportscard Authenticators Booth ( PSA) I get most of my golf cards encapsulated by these folks. They only do a handful of shows that are on site grading, and the joint was jumping. They offer show specials which some folks like to take advantage of. One person I ran into even brought 200+ cards from England to get the same day service ( that is like $5K in grading fees alone) because in the long run it would save him a lot of money versus having it shipped through customs.

I took a photo of this guy but I did not get a business card or anything, so if anyone else was there and can identify this persons business that would be great. He had a small albeit famous photo of Ty cobb sliding hard into 3rd base. He was doing a airbrushed rendition of the photo on a massive canvas. When I first walked by I thought it was just a blow up poster of the photo until I saw him working on it. He said it only cost 25….I am assuming thousand. It was mega cool and one of the nicest things I saw at the show.

And in case you are wondering I did spend a little money at the national. I bought a few Nebraska related football cards for a buddy back in Nebraska, I also picked up a few newer golf cards including a SP Game Used Phil Mickelson Rookie Autographed card numbered to 250, a 1948 Kellogg’s Pep Cereal Sam Snead Rookie card, and a vintage Bobby Jones Men of America Booklet. Here is a photo of what one looks like, although mine is in basically perfect shape, and the dealer even cut me $25 off of his asking price!

I wrapped up my show experience and waited seemingly forever for a cab to take me back to the airport. I was not flying back out to Omaha for a few hours so just enough time to grab something to eat and a beverage (or two) in the airport lounge!

Overall it was a great time in Chicago, and I look forward to when Goodman Jr. is old enough that he can go with dad on one of these trips.

Until next time…Stay Classy Chicago!

 Click on images to see a larger version.

 

Last week I attended the National Sportscard Convention in Rosemont Illinois. The National moves around the country from year to year, but having it in Chicago is a popular stopping point because it is pretty much centrally located and also it is easy access for people to attend if they want to fly there.

I should say normally, it is easy for people to fly there..

As Johnny G was arriving at the Omaha airport last Wednesday just before noon, and was going through TSA screening, the fine blue uniformed folks saw something they did not like on the scanners. We were ushered back from the security area and then shortly after a wave of police officers, a bomb sniffing dog, and others came through, we were moved off the concourse entirely. After a short 4 hour delay, we went back through security and finally got on my plane, and to Chicago, 4 ½ hours later than expected.

No complaints here, I am glad the TSA folks are doing their jobs!

Anyway, I arrived on Wednesday night for the “sneak peek” A chance for mainly dealers at the show to do deals with one another before most of the public arrives. Since I was already missing out on 3 hours of show time, I decided to do the so called “speed pass” route and went booth to booth, scratching some notes down in preparation for my full day at the show on Thursday.

Each of us in the realm of sport card and memorabilia collecting have our own niche. For some it is baseball cards. For others football autographs. For me…vintage Golf cards.

Yes they made cards of golfers too. Long before the likes of Tiger Woods and the more recent golf card products produced by Upper Deck in the early 2000’s.

I scraped around the show and found some nice vintage cigarette and tobacco issues from W.A. & A.C. Churchman Cigarettes. I saw numerous Bobby Jones Lambert and Butler rookie cards from 1926. I even found a guy that had a complete set of 1923 Copes Golf Strokes. (if you are in the golf card circles you know how rare this 32 card set is to find in any condition)

I picked up a few freebie catalogs, and made sure I ran into Reed at Baseball Card Exchange since I sold him a bunch of graded football and baseball cards during March Madness of this past year. I then headed to the Aloft Hotel to check in, grab a quick change of clothes, and then head out for the night.

I would recommend the Aloft Hotel to anyone – especially the younger crowd. It has a retro look to the rooms and lobby and the staff was very very friendly. They also had a kicking bar with a great selection in the main lobby (and nice drink specials I might add)

I decided to head to Gibson’s Steakhouse for a really good meal. Not surprisingly the place was wall to wall jammed as it is directly across the street from the convention center, not to mention the food is epic there as well. I finally secured a spot at the bar and introduced myself to a gentleman from Minnesota named Bill.

Bill was at the convention trying to complete his run of Topps Baseball card sets from 1952 until the present! WOW. That must be quite the collection. Bill was a great guy, we swapped collecting stories, talked about baseball players of today, the Yankees, the Twins, the Red Sox, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and solved most of the world’s problems over scotch and crown and cokes. He was going to try and find a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie to round out his 52 set. This is the crown jewel of the Topps cards and also one of the most expensive. I thanked him for a good night of chatting at the bar and camaraderie.

For me it was back to the Hotel where I just missed closing time at the WXYZ Bar in the lobby (DARN) and off to bed for an 8 hour day the following day at the National!

Interested in Johnny’s trip to The National? Continue to part 2.

The summer of 2011 is quickly coming to a close. This is evidenced by many tell-tale signs. There are back to school sales at the stores, school sports practices have begun, county fairs are wrapping up, and the professional football teams are in camp. Games behind in the baseball pennant race is actually starting to mean something. In a couple of weeks, the schools will be packed with eager students. A few weeks later, the trees will start changing colors in the far north east and the upper peninsula of Michigan.

All of this is a relief; relief from the heat that most of the country has endured over the last month, relief from houses crowded with kids of all ages, and the bounty of the harvest soon to be gathered. Each of the seasons has benefits and drawbacks. The change between the seasons can be inspiring and relaxing. For those who live in the north, the transition from winter to spring is a release from the confinements of the home. In the Deep South, it is autumn that signals the drop in temperatures that many crave.

Summer is the season of playing. The holidays and events that fill summer are for the whole family. The kids are out of school and most adults take vacations to take advantage of warm and usually dry weather. But all playing must eventually be followed by rest. As we approach the end of summer, we gather. Physically, we gather the crops, emotionally we gather our memories. We settle into a routine of school and work that will last far into next spring, with a few holidays sprinkled in. The Holidays ahead require planning and organization.

Summer is much more free wheeling. On the fourth of July, no-one worried if Granddad and Grandma would get through the storm, or if Aunt Sally would like the gift. In summer, gatherings are spontaneous and open ended. There is more daylight, and more life. This season ends with feeling for regret. Some people will try to pack in as much as possible before September actually arrives. But rather than regret, consider all of the activities that will fill next summer. And if you are out and about, cook one more hot dog on the grill for me.

Editor’s note: this was the second Fiction Friday story I published (the baseball-themed Release Point being the first). A co-worker told me that this story gave him nightmares, which I took as a compliment.  Originally published on April 3, 2009, and pulled out of the vault today … Tale of the Wolf!

The wolf was at the top of the food chain. He had stalked his prey for three weeks. He knew her habits better than she knew them. He could have moved in for the kill sooner, but sometimes it was fun to watch.

At the precise time as she had in the past, she broke away from her flock and entered the lush green field of the killing ground. The wolf moved slowly from his lair and followed her into the death zone.

The wolf was wrong. He was not at the top of the food chain. As the wolf closed in on his prey, he was becoming the hunted. The lion surveyed the killing ground. As the wolf pursued his prey, the lion slowly moved into position to capture the wolf.

The girl always took the shortcut through the woods to get back to the dorms. Her friends told her that it was dangerous, especially at night. The girl was not afraid. She had been taking this shortcut for nearly three years, and she knew the woods better than anyone else.

The girl should have listened to her friends. On this particular night, she was not alone in the woods. As she broke into the small clearing in the middle of the woods, she sensed that she was not alone. The wolf pounced on her and forced her to the ground. The girl screamed, but the forest drowned out her screams.

The wolf’s excitement had been building toward this moment, and he was immediately ready. He forced himself upon her, enjoying immense pleasure at the same time that her screams embodied the incredible physical and emotional pain. He finished quickly, and the girl lay on the ground, unable to move. The wolf pulled out his knife. With one strong, swift motion, he plunged it into her torso, finding her heart immediately. As the girl’s life quickly ebbed away, the wolf felt immense power.

The lion watched the full encounter. He waited until he was certain that the wolf had experienced an ultimate high. Then the lion moved quickly into the clearing. The wolf sensed danger and turned, but it was too late. The lion forced his own knife deep into the chest of the wolf, and the wolf was dead before he realized the extent of the danger.

The lion dipped the tip of his finger into the wolf’s blood, and then mixed it with the girl’s blood. As he licked his finger, he could feel the life force of both of them entering his body.

My kids love the idea of a credit card. You walk into the store; you pick out what you want, slide your card, sign the screen or receipt and leave. In their minds you never have to pay for it. They don’t see the bill that comes 30 days later. They don’t understand that when I’m sitting at the computer I’m using bill pay to funnel money from checking or savings to the credit card. The concept just won’t click in their beautiful (but naive) minds.

The idiots in Washington apparently don’t get it either. The difference is that they’re not six years old, they’re not cute like my daughters and those idiots are elected to not spend us into bankruptcy. I understand that everyone has “pet” expenditures. Some items mean more to someone living in Pigsnuckle, Arkansas than they do to someone living in Intercourse, Pennsylvania. However, in the act of cutting budgets, not everyone can win. There always has to be a loser.

What I don’t understand is why some people can’t see the importance of trimming the budget. Maybe it’s the accounting side of me, but if my family had a budget of $100,000 and I made $75,000 I would be worried. How long could we sustain that? Not long with the amount of savings that we have. We certainly couldn’t borrow money for 50 years without making changes.

So, why do we expect the government to do it? Where do we expect the money to come from? If they print more money, the currency just drops in value, so that does us no good. If we borrow more money from China we just incur more debt and have more interest to pay. No one likes it, but we have to trim spending significantly. I’m thrilled that the parties and the president have been able to come up with an agreement, but this is just the start. Wait until government healthcare kicks in, do you really think the government is going to make money with it? I would be thrilled if we could break even with it, but that isn’t going to happen.

The economy is weak; many businesses are making less money which means they pay less taxes which means that the government is taking in less revenue. To better determine what that means to us, remember the formula:

Revenues – Expenses = Profit (or loss if negative)

Try not to freak on me, but this is not just a democrat/liberal/regressive problem. I read a few weeks ago that spending has not shrunk since 1955. I don’t know if revenues increased every one of those years, but I would doubt that we hit an increase every year. Why would any congress or any president think for a moment that it was OK to continue increasing spending every single year? Why do we want to build a ridiculous amount of debt to pass on to the next generation? Doesn’t anyone realize that there will be serious repercussions if we can’t fix this spending mess that we are in?

In a few months I will be turning 40. As I approach middle age, I naturally start to think about what kind of legacy I want to leave behind. I have been thinking about my career, my personal life and how I conduct myself on a daily basis. What will my kids remember about me when they’re 40, 50 or 60 years old? What will their lives be like? Will they have the same opportunities that I have had? Are we going to hit another massive depression? If we don’t begin to act responsibly with our money, I think a very bad recession or even a depression is very likely.

Let my ADD kick in for a moment on another budget related item. Have you seen the article about free cell phones in Pennsylvania? Yes, there is now public aid so that people can have a free cell phone and 250 minutes each month because it’s a civil right. It’s paid for by the Universal Service Fund that is included on your cell phone bill each month. It’s yet another example of people latching on to the community tit, sucking it dry and you’re paying for it.

The time for fiscal responsibility is now. Demand it. That being said, all you’re going to hear is how bad the conservatives are for wanting to cut program costs. Those damn conservatives have no heart. They take advantage of people and don’t want to help anyone out. Well, truth be told, we’re just trying to live within our means. Obviously, we have a problem with that in this country and it’s time for everyone to learn what it means.

Squeaky…

Well, another week has gone by and 2 more houseguests are up for eviction. After Dominic was voted out last week, Julie (the host of BB) announced that the duo concept is no longer, and everybody would be playing for themselves. Jeff and Jordan and Rachel and Brendon will obviously still be playing together, but everybody else in the house will be playing for themselves.

After last week’s update, you know that Danielle’s plans came to a crashing halt, with Dominic getting evicted and with her master plan coming out to the entire house. After the eviction ceremony came the next Head of Household, and of course who wins? Danielle. Things could not have worked out better for her. It was no secret who she was going after either, Rachel and Brendon. Once the nomination ceremony came, she in fact did nominate the most annoying couple in BB history, thankfully. I have to think that one of them will be going home no matter what.

If one of them DOES win the veto tonight, it’ll be a tough sell to convince Danielle to backdoor somebody, and I highly doubt any other houseguest would get more votes for eviction than Rachel or Brendon.

Personally, I can’t wait until both of them go home, but it will be more fun for them to go one at a time. I know whoever stays will turn the house upside down, and I think I’d rather see Brendon stay, because Rachel would be much more annoying in doing so. Rachel is extremely good in competitions, though, so she could very well win the veto and save herself. Meaning Brendon will most likely be sent home. If neither of them win the veto, I think the houseguests dislike Rachel more, so she’ll go home. No matter what, I hope ONE of them gets booted.

On a completely unrelated note, I have a gripe about DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket

So, I’m a DirecTV subscriber. Once the NFL lockout ended, they started running promotions announcing that they were now INCLUDING the NFL Sunday Ticket for new customers at no extra charge (with the Choice Ultimate Package or above). This pisses me off a little bit….I mean, I understand signing contracts and such and that wasn’t included in my contract. And I understand they’re using that to lure in new customers.

But, as an NFL fan, WHY CAN’T I HAVE THE SUNDAY TICKET TOO?!?! And actually, our contract with DirecTV is expired, so I do have a little bit of leverage. My plan is to call and demand that they give me the Sunday Ticket like they’re going to give every other new customer that qualifies. Will I be the first existing customer to do that? No. If I threaten to leave and join the cable ranks, will they give it to me? I’m saying doubtful, but I’m going to give it a shot. I may even compliment them on using Deion Sanders as a little fairy in all of their Sunday Ticket commercials. If that doesn’t work, then I’ll tell them how annoying those commercials have already become!

Last night was supposed to be all about the House voting on the bill to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.  A compromise had been reached, and the Republican House and the Democratic Senate were poised to pass a bill and send it to the President for his quick signature.  Crisis averted, economy back on track, cue the chorus of Hallelujah.  The United State of America could once again return to what we do best – spending money!

Suddenly, in a moment, the political wrangling had been shoved to the side.  The politicians put their ideological differences aside and welcomed back one of their own.  Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Arizona), still in recovery from a January assassination attempt, entered the chamber and cast her vote.

It’s worth noting that Giffords, a Democrat, did not return on Friday to help her party defeat the Boehner.v3 bill – which squeaked through with a 218-210 vote.  Instead, she returned to support a bipartisan effort last night.  In truth, her vote wasn’t necessary to secure passage of the bill, as it sailed through by a 269-161 margin.  There’s much to be learned from Giffords’ actions – it is a time to work together, rather than being quite so adversarial.

What does the future hold for congresswoman Giffords?  I hope this is a sign that she will be able to resume her full duties before long.  One of many unfortunate effects of Jared Loughner’s rampage is that her constituents have been without representation in congress.  (A sidebar – perhaps we need to prevent this situation from occurring in the future?  Allow a temporary replacement to be appointed in situations where a legislator is temporarily incapacitated.)

Will she run for re-election in 2012?  I think House Democratic leaders will strongly urge her to do so.  If there was ever a candidate who was a slam-dunk for re-election, it’s Giffords.  Short of a major scandal (along the lines of embezzlement), I’m not sure she can lose.  Her opponents may point out ideological differences, but will this be enough to outweigh public sentiment in her favor?

The fact of the matter is that it’s quite easy to paint Giffords as a martyr for democracy.  She wasn’t shot as she was lounging around the pool or eating filet mignon at an upscale restaurant.  She was shot in the line of duty.  Not even at some mundane committee meeting in a far away building in D.C. – but at an event (Congress on Your Corner) where she was actively soliciting feedback from her constituents.  It wouldn’t take a spin master to turn this to her great advantage.

Is it wrong to play on the sympathy of the public for political gain?  Of course not.  This is politics, where you push every advantage and the game is no holds barred.

(Let us not forget the six people that died in the January shooting – Christina-Taylor Green, Dorothy Morris, Judge Roll, Phyllis Schneck, Dorwan Stoddard, and Giffords staffer Gabe Zimmerman.)