COLUMBUS: Congress adjourned last week. They couldn’t agree on which way to steer the economy. Instead, they decided to let the shoppers do the driving. They drove it all right… right into a snow bank.

All the stores claim sales were down several dollars. See, that’s the problem, measuring sales in dollars. There was just as many goods sold as ever, but people didn’t pay as much. This was a K-Mart Christmas, not Bloomingdales.

Wait till spring. That old snow bank will melt and the economy will get back in high gear again, that is if we can keep Congress from interfering.

Mayor Rudy Giuliani was selected as Person of the Year by Time magazine. Nobody could disagree with the choice, except for a few newsmen who thought it was bin Laden.

Time started this tradition in 1927 with Charles Lindbergh. They picked Owen D. Young in ’29, Gandhi of India in ’30, Franklin Roosevelt in ’32 and again in ’34, and in between the honor in ’33 went to Hugh Johnson of the NRA (that’s National Recovery Administration).

Who do you suppose they’ll pick in 2002? Could be Rumsfeld. Maybe even Daschle.

The weather finally turned cold here. Snow arrived, but a day late for Christmas. Only complaint folks had is they wanted the snow on the fields and hills, but not on the roads. Buffalo can handle two feet with minor difficulty; but in Columbus its chaos with a half inch. Florida can start looking for a tourist invasion any day now.

It was a lovely Christmas, even without snow. The family was mighty generous with the presents. I got only one tie, and it fit.

Notre Dame is still without a football coach. They are praying for the resurrection of Rockne. None of the big coaches wants to move to South Bend, so they are running out of options. Maybe Rudy would take it. He brought New York back from disaster, he could do the same for the Irish.

Historic quote from Will Rogers:

“Never blame a legislative body for not doing something. When they do nothing, they don’t hurt anybody. When they do something is when they become dangerous.” DT #1038, Nov. 22, 1929

“I have read New Year predictions till I am blue in the face about the great future…, but I have yet to see one word on what 1930 holds in store for the Democrats. And that’s the very thing that makes me believe us Democrats may get a break in the coming year. I base my faith on the fact that 98 per cent of all predictions are wrong, and on the fact that it’s an off year in politics and all off years are Democratic years.” DT #1071, Dec. 31, 1929