Another thought on WCSH Good Story

The weather has been cold the last couple of days and we did get just a whisker of snow on Wednesday, but now we’re told a warming trend will bring nicer temperatures for the weekend. We could, perhaps, even cross the 40 degree mark Sunday. That could mean a nice weekend is ahead of us.

If you read my guest poster yesterday, you know my Fearless Friend had cataract surgery on his second eye. The first one was a fantastic success and he wrote to me after yesterday’s procedure indicating he thought the second was a complete success, also.

Said FF last night, “A nice rest in my chair and some supper has perked things up and now I feel back to normal.

My right eye’s pupil has returned to nearly normal, the irritation of the incision is almost gone and I can already tell that this is going to be a great outcome. It sure does feel good to have two equal eyes again. In short, I am feeling great and I am thinking that this surgery is going to be as good as the first one. I’ll know for sure in the morning when I can get rid of this shield.”

He will be visiting his doctor today to get the follow-up report and he expects good news.

He’s now more than a month passed the date he heads for Florida for two or three months. He stayed here later this year so that he could get that surgery behind him. The doctor told him it takes up to eight weeks for cataract surgery to fully heal, but if the second one does as well as quickly as the first, the doctor said he might not have to wait that long before heading south.

FF won’t go against his doctor’s advice, and he will do all that he’s told to get that eye better quickly. I think he’s getting just a little antsy about getting to the Sunshine State. Don’t be fooled. It’s not the getting away from the cold he looks forward to (some Florida overnight were below Freezing), although that helps, he’s a baseball nut and loves to attend those Spring Training games. If all goes well, he’ll get there just about the time they begin.

It has become a near weeklong event, that great story out of Greely High School about a senior with Down Syndrome who got to play in a basketball game. I first saw the story on WCSH-TV, Channel 6, in Portland. It was a heartwarming story about Patrick Thibideau who, after several years of being the basketball team’s manager and had practiced drills with the team, got a chance to play on Senior Night.

The story was repeated on Channel Six many times and yesterday it made the NBC Today Show. There were many, many heroes that night. Coach Ken Marks gave the boy a chance to play and it was Sam Thompson who gave up his starting position on the team so Patrick could be a starter.
I watched the story several times and commented to Wife Gator each time that I loved that story and was impressed with all the heroes. When the story appeared on the Today Show yesterday, for some reason I paid a lot more attention to the supporting players. They, too, deserve a lot of credit.

The rest of the Greely team made sure that Patrick was included and made sure they gave him the high fives when he scored his two 3-point baskets. They carried him off the floor in true heroic sportsman fashion. And then there were the players on the Gray-New Gloucester team who knew what was going on. Those gallant young men gave Patrick the kind of pressure he needed to be able to really feel like he was part of the game.

Then there were the student fans who “demanded” with their chants that Patrick be returned to the game at the end when he swished his second basket.

The story has focused on Patrick, as it should have. But there were many “heroes” in that game Tuesday night and they should get their recognition as well.

I think the Republicans have at last stolen a page from the Democrat play book. You probably have noticed in the past that when the Dem leadership has put out a talking point, virtually every Dem uses the basic same phrase sometime in their public discourse.

Now the Republicans are picking up the talking point phrase. Nearly every Republican speaking recently about taxes has used the same basic terminology. They are trying to convince Americans that the Democrats, which control both Congress and the White House, want to raise taxes. “Why not support raising them?” ask the Republicans. “They don’t pay any.”

The reference will be a talking point right into the 2010 mid-term elections. It refers, of course, to all the President Obama appointees who have been shown not to have paid thousands of dollars in taxes over the years. And the new treasury secretary is among them. At least two have withdrawn from consideration as a result of the disclosure.

But the Democrat chairman of the Senate’s committee that oversees taxes also is accused of not paying back taxes. I guess we’re learning now how Congress people get so darn rich while serving. I’d be willing to bet without any proof that there just might be a number of Republicans on the same ride. Unfortunately for the Democrats, they’re the ones that have been opened to the talking points, at least so far.

On a related topic, whatever happened to President Obama’s no lobbyist in his cabinet pledge? Makes one wonder just what “hope and change” meant.

GiM