Hey, before I get into my long, running opening you are always so excited to read (I know you are!), just wanted to pass along two links, one hilarious, one not so much.

First, if you read Geoff Baker's Mariners blog you probably already saw this, but apparently last night, before the M's game, former Mariner and current broadcaster Mike Blowers predicted that Matt Tuiasosopo (yes that one) would hit his first major league homerun into the second deck on the 3-1 count in his second at bat. Seriously. Well, listen for yourself...I will say if they Mariners have made one very good decision in recent years, it was hiring Blowers. He is very good up there.

Second, a rather scary story out of USC that was text to me almost right after it happened. Stafon Johnson, one of the only Trojan running backs with the ability to hold onto the football, apparently (and this is not meant to be funny AT ALL) lost the handle on a barbell he was bench pressing, dropping it on his throat. He immediately started coughing up blood and was rushed to the hospital where he is still in surgery.

I spent considerable time talking to the person that told me about it and apparently he was being spotted - a requirement at college weight lifting sessions. While it is possible that the spotter's attention lapsed, there is no way he didn't catch it. Can't imagine if Johnson had dropped the likely 200-plus pounds he was benching directly on his throat, that he would still be alive. Anyway, keep him in your prayers.


Moving on.

HUGE week here in the nation's capitol for those of us in the energy sector. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA) will be unveiling their version of comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation on Wednesday. If I have to type that phrase anymore I am going to go crazy.

One of the major things we do at LCV is provide our state leagues with LTE's (letters to the editor) for them to find signers for and send out to local media. You would probably not be amazed, but this is where most political LTE's come from. Joe Schmo generally does NOT get his LTE printed. We want to put out as much positive feedback as we can, knowing the the oil and coal industries are not going to get beat again. They are like the Yankees - they spent $130 million-plus already and all they got was a climate bill. So this time they will spend more. Because they can. The difference is I like the Yanks - your 2009 AL Eastern Division champs!

Anyway, so in the last two days I have written around 50 versions of the same 150ish words. Needless to say, I've gone a little nuts.

And if this sort of thing turns you off from politics, well, it should. This is how advocacy works. LTE's are never geared toward readers. They are geared toward the deputy press secretary in the office of the Congressmen and Senators in that state or district, who compiles the clips everyday and runs them by the member.

So it should be a wild week.

And with that note, I'm out. Sorry about the lack of other links. Will update. But, actually I did just think of one.

Not sure how many of you have ever heard of Maldives. It's an island country about 450 miles southwest of Sri Lanka. It boasts the lowest highest point in the world (catch up with that?) at 2.3 meters. In other words, the effects of global warming would sink the country, much like some of the U.S. Navy bases. They are so worried about this that the country has already purchased land in Australia for 330,000 or so residents. Anyway, the cool story is that, in order to call attention to this obviously major issue for them, the president will be holding a cabinet meeting under water. If you Google image search the country you will see some pretty awesome pictures of underwater restaurants and such. This will be a regular government function. Pretty cool/interesting.

Also, whoever did this, serious or not, is an idiot. You just cannot do anything that seems like a threat to the president.

And I'm not sure what to make of this whole Iran situation, other than that I'm pretty sure the governments that are acting all up-in-arms probably already knew about this and now it is just public. Oh, how the news media can change things.

Later.