What we're following today

Some days it's easy to come up with a blog post on a single topic. Other days, there's a lot of stuff swirling around our minds, but without any particular ultimate point or common thread. This is one of those days. So, we decided to post some thoughts here.

• We praise Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick for what continues to be a very visible and hands-on response to the recent tornadoes in Monson and Springfield. Last night, he reportedly surprised graduating seniors by showing up unexpectedly at Monson's high school graduation. Check out Glen Johnson's story on the Governor today. We're Republicans, but we've gotta say: Very classy stuff, Governor. We're impressed.
• Kudos also go to Mass. Rep. Niki Tsongas, who stands alone in the Massachusetts House delegation in calling yesterday for Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) to step down for his... well, we're assuming you know that story.
• Go Bruins. Awesome.
• We are really looking forward to Monday night's GOP presidential debate in New Hampshire.
• A check of the US Debt Clock this morning: US National Debt - $14.419 trillion; $46,287 per person, $129,280 per taxpayer; 97.8% of US GDP. Then, there's this USA Today article from over the weekend, citing $61.6 trillion in unfunded government obligations nationwide, amounting to $527,000 per household. Yikes. And yet, still no deal on the debt ceiling issue or spending cuts.
• Yesterday, someone anonymously posted a comment in response to our post on the recent OPEC meeting, disagreeing with us calling Libya and Iran terrorist states. Well, thanks for your comment, but no apologies here. We call 'em like we see 'em, and we think this one's a pretty open and shut case. For those who disagree, we ask: exactly why, then, is NATO bombing Libya, and why is President Obama calling for stepped-up sanctions on Iran?
• While we're on the subject of OPEC, US regular gas prices currently stand at $3.78 a gallon. You can read historical gas prices for yourself at this link.
• A new report this morning says US jobless claims continue to rise. The US unemployment rate currently stands at 9.1% with 13.9 million people out of work. That's a total jobless population that's more than twice the population of Massachusetts, and almost equivalent to the total population of New England (14,444,865, give or take a couple).
• If you're not following the sad saga of Lawrence Mayor Willie Lantigua, you should be. Here's the latest from today's Herald.

Ok, that's all for now. Time for an iced coffee and to get back to work on some other things. Keep cool out there, New England, it's fixing to be a hot one.