Congratulations to my kid sister Morgan and husband to be, Mike. They will be wed this Saturday. I am honored to be pinch hitting for my Dad where needed and hope it is a most special day for the bride, groom and families.

I know I should wait until after the wedding for well wishes – don’t want to jinx them. I’m confident everything will be just fine and wanted to surprise them. Not that I haven’t been known to be a little superstitious every now and again. To Morgan and Mike, I love you both. May you be blessed with health, love and happiness. Welcome to the family Mike. You fit right in as one of the “boys”.

The Eagles and Steelers are both home for the playoffs – and by home, I don’t mean hosting a game. Makes for a cold and quiet winter here in our area. Andy Reid spent 14 seasons as head coach in Philadelphia. That’s hard to do in the city of brotherly love but in the end he couldn’t bring home their first Super Bowl win and paid for it this past season with his job.

In Pittsburgh a couple of errant Roethlisberger passes and a .500 season is not what the black & gold fans are used to. Steelers fans however can watch the playoffs knowing there are 6 Vince Lombardi trophies to their credit. Coach Mike Tomlin’s job is secure and he is valued as the leader of his team. As I look at the two franchises, the one glaring difference is ownership. The Rooney family has been rock solid, a mixture of class, dignity and understanding that pro football is a business. However, they make it a “Family” business and everyone from the players to the water boy are part of their family. Their leadership eliminates many of the off-field problems that haunt teams looking for consistency each season. They understand that you are not going to win a Super Bowl every year but can play great defense and quality football year in and year out. You have to wonder if the Rooneys had chosen to own the team in Philadelphia would the Eagles history have been different?

Now on to our national leaders. I find the lack of common sense in Washington at an all time high. I don’t want to go down party lines and play the blame game. They are all to blame. But here are some thoughts. Why are we not talking more about cutting the budget instead of increasing taxes and inevitably adding to our National debt? Why are we increasing foreign aid instead of cutting out a significant amount? If the aid is not for a country and an issue of national security end it! Instead, we have the obvious problems everyone is discussing and we keep increasing our foreign donation programs. Oh sure the “beltway bunch” would have more reasons why this can’t be cut than you can shake a stick at. But, common sense tells you if you can’t balance the books at home the answer is not to give a billion to East Jabip.

How about the whole fiscal cliff analogy? You know the media along with our elected officials scaring everyone then at the last minute get the deal done and we’re supposed to breathe a sigh of relief. What is the deal and where is the common sense. Wasn’t it supposed to be only the wealthier Americans get hit and no one else is affected? What I am being told by folks is 70% of Americans will have less in their paychecks. Whether it is from allowing the social security tax reduction program to end, tax increases or the cost of insurance programs. That’s a lot different than what the President’s people were telling us.

Last point I’ll make is fuel cost. Common sense tells you with what the American people are paying at the gas pump and to heat their homes this should be a hot issue. When was the last time you heard an elected official talking about this issue and what can be done about it? Let’s go back to the foreign aid nations are accepting. How about taking that amount off our barrels of crude purchased each month. We spend billions in defending and helping develop some of the richest oil countries in the world. Why not be compensated by lowering our energy costs?

I think what is most needed for the upcoming year is some good old fashioned common sense by our leaders on both sides of the political landscape. Run our country like a business!