No one who knows me in real life will be surprised by this post as I have often compared football to politics. Nonetheless, I here are my top things that the Vikings loss can teach us about politics.

1. You can change the shirt but it’s still the same guy underneath. Brett Favre downgraded to purple from green and taught us our first valuable lesson; no matter how many ways you repackage or remarket something, in the end, it’s still the same old story. I will only say NFC Championship 2007 = NFC Championship 2009.

2. Did Viking fans really believe they were going to the Super Bowl? Lesson two is obvious; be realistic in your expectations or you will end up on your knees wincing in pain (see photo above.) The GOP enters this politics with very high expectations so let’s not be wincing in pain after November.

3. Fumbling never, never, never wins ballgames. Adrian Peterson proved that past performance IS sometimes indicative of future results. In Iowa, this may be particularly appropriate with Governor Culver doing the same thing he has done in the past and the entry of Paul Pate and Governor Terry Branstad into their respective races. Let’s just remember, say it together … Past performance …

4. Even with the venerable Brett Favre, the Vikings couldn’t get to the Super Bowl. In fact, he cost them the Super Bowl. This game was decided when the super stars fell down even when the grunts did their job. This will happen in politics as well (see John Edwards.) Let’s make sure us grunts do the necessary work to open holes that even Adrian Peterson can’t fumble in.

5. Remember a few years ago and how Viking fans HATED Brett Favre and then they loved him and now they hate him? Remember, it’s all about perspective. In the end, people will always support what benefits them (see Viking fans and Brett Favre) even if they hated it before, or hurts the other guy (see Jay Cutler.) This is true especially when they ABSOLUTELY KNOW it will kick them in privates and leave them writhing in pain; because there is a chance, a fleeting dream that maybe this will be the year. Here you can reference the Louisiana Purchase and the Cornhusker Kickback.

6. Even though I was pretty gratified with the way the Vikings lost, I can truly feel their pain. I guess that’s a pretty good thing to remember; have empathy for the other side to maintain perspective.

7. And finally, Viking fans will now see the soap opera that is Brett Favre in the off season. Will he retire, won’t he retire? The one thing this should make us ALL consider is mandatory term limits. I mean seriously, how many retirement parties can one person get? Maybe we need some term limits for the lifetime members of our governmental institutions so they won’t end up throwing an interception and blowing it in the end.

Over the last couple of weeks, the Dubuque Telegraph Herald has had articles about the City of Dubuque considering a ban on cell phone use in cars and hiring a compliance officer to check for ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance by local businesses.  While important and noble, there are a few larger problems to focus on.  Oh, shall we say the officer being shot at Knickers last month or maybe the pawn shop shooting yesterday or perhaps the armed robbery at the West Locust Mart yesterday or even the robbery of the US Bank.  We can’t forget the murder of David Tate or the attempted murder of  Derrick Tye.  And that is all in the last 6 months.

At some point, Dubuque will wake up.

I suppose I really shouldn’t say Dubuque but rather the Dubuque City Council and Mayor.  Instead of focusing on cell phone usage or whether Dubuque should have municipal cable, perhaps they should focus on fixing the violent crime problem that is causing this city’s residents to avoid downtown and be concerned about their child’s safety when walking to the park. My vote is to take the heavy handed approach and hire however many police officers it takes to clean this city up.  Perhaps the city should authorize the hiring of police officers rather than snow removal compliance officers or wrong way parking compliance officers.  Once the city is cleaned up, then let the police officers bid into these positions, but until then we need more police and they need to be placed from 24th to 14th and Elm to Locust.

Why isn’t the city doing something about this?  Maybe they are afraid of bothering a few people or insulting a few people.  After all, we can’t talk about Section 8 housing and crime rates or the exact areas of Dubuque where the majority of these violent crime occurred.  Even the Telegraph Herald refuses to explore these angles or even report the crime rate. Until we admit there is a problem, nothing will change.

Maybe Sheriff Runde will begin granting some permits to carry ….

I call shenanigans!

My former diocese, the Diocese of Sioux City, has one stellar Bishop. My aunts refer to Bishop Walker Nickless and Pope Benedict as the “Nick and Benny” show so I knew Bishop Nickless must be doing a stellar job. The one thing I have been most impressed with has been his willingness to tackle the current issues and define them in terms of our Catholic identity. Most recently, he has written about the health care debate and the Catholic’s responsibility. This is an absolute must read. I will attempt to summarize:

Bishop Nickless lays out 4 essential benchmarks for acceptable reform in Health Care. They are:

First and most important, the Church will not accept any legislation that mandates coverage, public or private, for abortion, euthanasia, or embryonic stem-cell research.

Second, the Catholic Church does not teach that “health care” as such, without distinction, is a natural right.

Third, in that category of prudential judgment, the Catholic Church does not teach that government should directly provide health care.

Fourth, preventive care is a moral obligation of the individual to God and to his or her family and loved ones, not a right to be demanded from society.

He expounds each of these examples and explains where the current bill fails to make acceptable reform. There is an end run around the Hyde amendment and the costs will burden the working class.

Read the entire article here.

I hesitate to make any statements about the proposed bills currently bouncing around Congress regarding the health care reform since I haven’t read the proposed bill and I suspect most people haven’t read any of the bills and are instead relying on sources for information that most closely align with their political beliefs. Admitting I haven’t read the bill, here are the thoughts that have popped into my mind when considering a government run health care system.

1. If you could buy sweet corn from 1 vendor for $1 a dozen or from another vendor for $4 a dozen, which would you chose? Obvioiusly the $1 a dozen. It wouldn’t be long and the vendor selling it for $4 would stop selling corn because it costs more to produce the corn than they could sell it for. Then the $1 a dozen vendor would be the only place to buy corn. I would imagine the same thing would happen with health insurance.

2. Would everyone react the same way if George W. Bush had pushed this legislation? And don’t say it would never have happened, government got a lot bigger under his watch. And if you say that you wouldn’t support the legislation if it were supported or written by Republicans or by George W. Bush, but you will support it now because you trust President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, then I would remind you that it wasn’t all that long ago that Republicans held the Presidency, the House and the Senate. This will happen again and then they will be in charge of your health care.

3. I wonder if the standards for surgery will mimic the standards to get SSI or disability? Apparently it isn’t easy to get no matter what your doctor says.

4. Will there be the same compassion from the overseers of health care that the IRS shows people when the economy bites and they can’t pay their taxes?

5. When your employer stops providing health insurance because there is a public option available for you and your family, do you think they will give you a raise with the money they save? Do you think they should? How much taxes do businesses actually pay? If it costs them an extra $1 to make a widget, it will cost you an extra $1 to buy it, thus costing the business 0 and you $1.

6. Apparently, Title XIX, medicare, Hawk-I insurance aren’t enough to cover people who can’t afford health insurance. Or is it that some who can afford health insurance chose not to because they would have to give up their cell phones, air jordans, high speed internet, 20 inch rims, cable television, motorcycles, computers, big screen tvs, GPS devices, smart phones, game systems, iPods, long vacation trips, gold chains, eating out, going to movies, going to concerts, pay per views, cigarettes, alcohol, DVD’s….

7. In Dubuque, there is a community health center where you pay via a sliding scale based on your income. Doesn’t that make sense?

8. Ummm, how much will this cost? Where does the government gets its money? (think tax increases)

9. There is already a problem getting family doctors in rural and low income areas. Based on the government’s history of underpayment to these areas in Medicare, will there be ANY doctors left if they can’t make any money? The reality will be that the most talented doctors will be reserved for those who can afford it and can pay cash. The rest of us will be waiting in line.

10. Think HMO with the full weight and backing of the federal government.

11. Do we actually know why people don’t have health insurance?

You never really think about the cleanliness of the restrooms you use when you travel through Iowa. I know on my trips to Le Mars, there are ample convenience stores (thanks Casey’s) along the trip to make your necessary pit stop a non-horrifying experience. After stopping in southern Illinois at a gas station “restroom” (I only use restroom because that is what the sign said) we made a decision to only stop at restaurants and rest areas from then to Florida. The restaurants were pretty safe picks as they didn’t want any type of wretched smells wafting through the restaurant. The rest areas, however, were not good at all especially after you left Illinois. My traveling advice for those driving south….stop at restaurants and bring your own paper. Really.

10: Knowing which gas to put in your car. I know this sounds pretty silly, but I think it is amazing that all pumps don’t have the plain but simple stickers to let you know which blend has ethanol. All I see on the way down here was a little sticker saying “some blends may contain up to 10% ethanol.”

I seem to recall that during this last session of the Iowa General Assembly, Senator Shawn Hamerlinck introduced some amendment to a biodiesel type bill that would require all pumps to display what blend of fuel it was.

Now I know why this is important. People have the right know what they are putting in their vehicle. It shouldn’t be a crap shoot when you are filling the gas tank. I want to put ethanol in my car to support the local farmers, but I really don’t know which once to pick when traveling. The safe bet for me is always the middle grade, by the way.

In short, label the dang pumps already!

In what should not have been a surprise, reporters were shocked at Florida’s All – Everything quarterback Tim Tebor when he announced that he was a virgin and was saving himself for marriage. It caused me to reflect on the fact that this has gone from an expectation to being as rare as a Republican in Dubuque.

So, Howard Dean says marriage won’t matter in 2010, <insert scream here> and everyone seems to be hedging bets on how many (or few) seats Iowa Republicans will win in the state house and senate. You hear all of this crazy talk and Doug Gross and blathering about tents and all that hogwash. So I have decided to join the dark side and explain exactly why the Iowa GOP will make significant gains in the general assembly in 2010 and a win in the governor’s race.

1. It’s the economy stupid. Previous to this coming year, rarely have the Republicans been able to see the huge issues of legislative session and be able to plan the attack for it. There is absolutely no chance that the economy will be coming back in 2010 and every signal for Iowa’s next budget year is worse than 2009 and more cuts and tax increases are in store for Iowans. The Iowa GOP had better help steer the message and plan the attack for the session and lay out simple and clear alternatives to all of the Democratic proposals. We know there will be tax increases that aren’t called tax increases…federal deductibility will return…and a gas tax will be debated.

The answer: Don’t just call the Democrats’ insatiable spending addiction what it is. Give the list of NEW spending in the last 2 years and point out the waste in one column and what it cost in another. (cost meaning 13 teachers, or 8 highway patrolman, or 50 less correctional officers) Attack, attack, attack on spending. Make sure the GOP has a solid set of budget priorities going into the session that address the needs of Iowans. Unemployment insurance, job growth, public safety are all things that that will be a factor in 2010. The governor will become increasingly hostile to the General Assembly democrats as his poll numbers hit the tank next spring. The GOP must have an educated guess about the governor’s priorities given his re-election bid and must beat him to the punch. The gubernatorial candidates will be hammering him already so anything that appears to gaining traction with the governors race must be used in House and Senate GOP races. Exploit the Democratic disharmony.

The answer (2): Don’t be shocked when crime rates go up and up and up. Property crimes will increase and drug trafficking will make law enforcement very busy during the next year. This will be in direct correlation to the Democrats’ approach to public safety spending.

2. Force bills that make vulnerable democratic lawmakers make a choice between their re-election and following the party line. We saw this work to a small scale during the union bills debates from this past year. Expand this approach into the issues that affect the home districts of these democrats.

3. Local GOP activists must have the pulse on what matters to the majority of the voting constituents in their area. This will help with #2 and help to frame the debate. Which leads me to…

Well…next week. I will discuss how we win with gay marriage in 2010 and how framing the debate will matter.

Without too much fanfare, Fr. Jenkins has torpedoed Notre Dame’s standing as a Catholic Institution. Yes, there were protests and a few million of withdrawn support, but overall the Catholic community has failed to hold itself to its own standards of ethics and morality.

Here, in Dubuque, Iowa, one of the two Catholic colleges invited Congressman Bruce Braley to speak at their commencement. Clarke College, a “Catholic” college followed Notre Dame’s lead and made the decision to award an honorary doctors of laws degree during their commence which occurred May 9.

Both “Catholic” colleges took the extraordinary steps to not just invite pro-abortion politicians to speak at their commencements, but to bestow upon them an honor from the institution. I can’t say I would be happy to have Congressman Braley speak at any Catholic anything, but the officials at Clarke College obviously had seen and heard about the Notre Dame controversy and took cover under the illustrious wings of the formerly most prestigious Catholic university in the country and followed their lead. Notre Dame’s decision to honor a radical pro-choice President has now set the standard in Catholic academia, and it has been lowered.

My beloved Notre Dame has let me down, my beloved Dubuque Catholic community has let me down and soon, I suspect, the standard will be so low that there will be little difference between Clarke College and Notre Dame and the University of Iowa and Berkley. Maybe that’s why they are “liberal” arts institutions.

Earlier this month, the city of Dubuque announced an agreement with the owners of Dubuque’s soon to be former strip club, “The Office.” The agreement is for $30000, The Office will close on July 1, 2009 and will never open an adult entertainment facility there again. Questions have been raised by the Telegraph Herald Editorial Board and others about the heavy handed approach the City of Dubuque took in aggressively changing city ordinances to regulate the strip club and make it difficult to remain in business.

The city council needed to act aggressively to fix a zoning problem previous city councils had believed banned strip clubs from the city of Dubuque. The Office found a location and a loop hole in the zoning ordinances to allow them to build the strip club forcing the city council to act to protect the original intent of the existing zoning ordinances. The time to question the council was when they originally drafted the ordinances and not in their robust defense of the intent of this law.

The Dubuque City Council has done one thing that our state legislature failed to do; defend the law that a properly elected government body had put in place to prohibit certain acts. The Iowa Legislature failed to act to defend their own body’s law defining marriage between a man and a woman and should look to Dubuque for the courage to do so. Kind of ironic that Pat Murphy is from Dubuque…