Good for the Buckeyes’ seniors - they’ve been a fun group to watch. It’s encouraging to have a team of great athletes who also get good grades, aren’t constantly talking trash, and generally stay out of trouble. It’s disappointing that we’ve struggled a bit when so many guys came back for a national championship, but I look forward to watching many of them in the NFL and hope they’re enjoying the extra year in Columbus, whatever happens in whatever bowl game we get. God bless ‘em.

I still don’t know - and don’t much care - what Ray Small has been doing besides skipping classes that pissed off Coach Tressel. He had a great kick return today, but after the way Ray’s dad has behaved in interviews I was kind of happy it didn’t go for a touchdown. I was also happy to see Todd Boeckman make a couple great plays. I’ve never been any kind of Boeckman promoter but Coffing’s always said he is a good guy. I was at the Troy game where Boeckman came in for a play, threw a bad pass, and was immediately booed… super lame on the crowd’s part.

At the same time, I could do without the announcers and analysts nit-picking Pryor. The people who say he’s inaccurate seem to forget how the same complaints were levied on Troy Smith in his early games. It’s clear Tressel wanted him to play as much as possible this season so he’s even better the next couple years, which makes sense although it’s a raw deal for Boeckman. Do I wish Pryor hadn’t lost that fumble against Penn State? Sure. But he’s a spectacular athlete and as I’ve mentioned before, beyond a point the ESPN guys are talking for the sake of talking. That said, I’ll resist complaining too much about how rarely Brandon Saine gets the ball, and when he does it’s for clock-wasters up the middle at the end of the game.

Let’s see how the rest of today’s match-ups pan out. It’s hard to root for Penn State after they beat the Bucks and then choked, so I’ll definitely be pulling for the Spartans and another outright OSU Big Ten title. I’m planning to cheer for Texas Tech in the evening game - the whole pirate thing is overdone, but Crabtree, Harrell, and the rest make for entertaining football.

I finally scheduled an appointment to have new tires put on my car, having talked myself into and back out of looking for a 2008 BMW to finance at 0.9% several times over. Since the lobby of Discount Tire is clearly not designed for “hanging out” - they have space for a display of racing slicks, but the waiting area consists of half a dozen chairs crammed in a corner - I went to Starbucks in hopes of finding free wi-fi. Surely an hour at Starbucks couldn’t kill me… right?

I have never once entered a Starbucks without being made to feel like an idiot. I asked about wi-fi, which apparently takes a registered Starbucks card. I didn’t even ask if that cost anything. I’m carrying around a MacBook these days and certainly don’t need my name in a Starbucks database, too. After I paid the guy who took my order and he wandered off, I realized I was supposed to wait near the little round thing at the end of the counter. I was disappointed but not surprised to see that $2.50 at Starbucks gets you a hot chocolate that’s roughly the size of a children’s Frostee. Then again, if you know what size a children’s Frostee is you’re probably not Starbucks’s target demographic.

In Europe are all the tables extremely tiny? Is Europe where Starbucks picked that up from? I am sitting at a table with three chairs around it, and it’s like a TV tray. It’s as if all the furniture in this place was designed by Lilliputians. +10 points to Mac for their dictionary’s simple and shiny confirmation of the spelling of Lilliputian. -100 points from EA for blocking me from playing Spore Creature Creator without an internet connection.

Finish that sentence! From the teaser for next week’s episode of Chuck, “Jill, if you hurt him, I swear… I’m going to kick your head off.” Emphasis mine. It’s what I’ve been hoping for since they introduced this love-triangle chick.

I sure do hate love triangles… and love Yvonne Strahovski.

From an Associated Press story on the pending GM/Ford/Chrysler bailout fight:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said over the weekend that the House would provide aid to the ailing industry, though she did not put a price on her plan.

“The House is ready to do it,” said Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. “There’s no downside to trying.”

There’s “no downside” to throwing billions of dollars in taxpayer money at companies whose smothering employee unions and sluggish reactions to the market leave them on the brink of bankruptcy. These people are the shining lights of the Democratic Party, and will continue to insist more government is the answer in the face of all history and good sense.

It’s going to be a long four years. Good for Senators Shelby and Kyl, who are stating what should be obvious and sticking to their guns.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are going to do some more to protect poor, helpless Americans from the evils of “markets” and “contracts.” Their interventions have worked great so far!

The program will be offered to people who are at least 90 days behind on their payments, according to government officials. The goal will be to modify the mortgage - most likely by reducing the interest rate - so that the monthly loan payment is no higher than 38 percent of the borrower’s monthly income.

Watch as the federal government, with a wave of its hand, saves a few hundred thousand of us from ourselves. If only I’d known ahead of time that a mortgage contract is not really a contract, if enough people agree to bad ones. I could have gotten a $400,000 home! Magic!

Apparently living in a home you cannot afford is one of those new universal rights Congressional Democrats invented. Though Barack Obama did a bang-up job blaming the burst housing bubble on President Bush, the problem’s been brewing for decades. Who among current Congressmen is to blame? Barney Frank (D-MA) sits near the top of the list, but don’t worry! He’ll keep his committee powers and one of these days the government will figure out how to cram an inherently broken concept down the market’s throat:

Time and time again, Frank insisted that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in good shape. Five years ago, for example, when the Bush administration proposed much tighter regulation of the two companies, Frank was adamant that “these two entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not facing any kind of financial crisis.” When the White House warned of “systemic risk for our financial system” unless the mortgage giants were curbed, Frank complained that the administration was more concerned about financial safety than about housing.

Once we get our current center-right president out of the White House and make way for the most liberal member of the Senate, maybe we’ll get past this backwards concept of anyone paying for anything without Washington’s help and supervision.

Things to love about Chuck:

1. Cake for the opening credits.
2. Lead Zachary Levi and nearly all the supporting cast are great little-known actors and actresses.
3. Writers who cook up goofy spy action with a lot of laughs.
4. Adam Baldwin doing his hilarious badass thing.
5. Yvonne Strahovski.
6. Yvonne Strahovski.
7. Yvonne Strahovski.

It’s a silly show… and I love it.

Congressman Boehner,

Congratulations on your election to a 10th term in the United States House of Representatives. As a current resident of Hilliard who was born and raised in Miami County, it’s reassuring to see another Boehner victory approaching 70% when the GOP in central Ohio has been on its heels for the last three elections. I can only imagine how discouraging it must be to watch the conservative ranks thin around you because of losses both in conviction and at the polls.

It’s a sad state of affairs when, after being routed in the Presidential election by the most liberal member of the Senate, we’re stuck rooting for Ted Stevens and waiting for a recount to keep Al Franken out of Washington. It’s ridiculous that we can scarcely hope the national media will do anything the next four years besides provide continuous in-kind assistance to the cause of Barack Obama’s re-election. With the Democrats so close to a filibuster-proof majority and the media moving ever more shamelessly to the left, there is little room for error in either house of Congress.

I hope and pray that you’ll continue your role as a happy warrior for lower taxes, individual freedom, and traditional American values. While it’s obvious that an inability to present and promote conservative ideals is a weakness that extends far beyond President Bush himself, you’ve been one of few exceptions in the short time I’ve followed politics. The cause of conservatism needs you now, as it did in 1994. Remind those who would forget that bigger government is not better government.

Keep your nose clean and your message clear, as the Democrats in Washington - so quick to decry divisiveness and negative politics - leave no stone unturned and no words untwisted when it comes to silencing dissent. Keep your head up as President Obama pushes ever more dependence-producing entitlements, citing a mandate for “Change” that would knock our founding fathers right out of their powdered wigs. Continue to be an example by your faith in God and the Constitution; continue to be a thorn in the side of Nancy Pelosi, for whom bipartisanship means cooperation with the progressive agenda.

I realize you’re well aware of the portions of this that make sense, but this is mostly a therapeutic exercise anyway. A lot has changed since I was a student in Mr. Worth’s class at Miami East High School, helping cover George W. Bush’s first inauguration for the Troy Daily News. There is much good work to be done. Thank you, Congressman, for all your efforts to date — America needs your principled leadership and consistent conservatism.

Godspeed,

Jason A. Hart