Cheyenne Woods

That's right; there is another talented golfer named Woods. Cheyenne, Tiger's niece, is eighteen years old and a sophomore on the Wake Forest Women's Golf Team.

This week she will play in her first pro tournament, the Wegmans LPGA, in Rochester, New York. She received a sponsor's exemption which she accepted after conferring with "Uncle Tiger."

As a two year old, she found Tiger's sawed off clubs in her grandfather's garage and began swinging. Her grandfather, Earl Woods Sr., soon recognized that she had talent and began teaching her the basics of the game. She won her first national tournament at the age of 10.

Cheyenne's expectation? "I would love to make the cut and see what I can do from there." (Scott Pitoniak)

No matter how well she does, she will attract many spectators.

Altidore and Dempsey Stun Spain

The world's top-ranked soccer team, Spain, was defeated 2-0 by the United States today in the semifinals of the Confederations Cup in South Africa. Spain had been enjoying a 35 game unbeaten streak before falling to the US today.

Joey Altidore of the US scored the first goal in the 27th minute and Clint Dempsey in the 74th minute.

The Americans will face the winner of the other semifinal matach (Thursday) bwtween South Africa and Brazil in the finals on Sunday.

Altidore's goal was the first goal Spain had allowed since an April match against Turkey. This was the first time Spain had surrendered 2 goals in 29 games.

Good Luck to the US team in Sunday's finals!

A Choice Well Made

Recent events have brought back into focus the choice Americans faced in last November's election. President Obama has refused to insert himself and the US into the internal unrest following the disputed election in Iran. John McCain and his neocon buddies want Obama to denounce the Iranian election and publicly align the US with Mir Hussein Moussavi.

Although John McCain may not, the Iranian people remember their history which found the US interference to be on what they consider the wrong side, first by supporting the Shah, and secondly by siding with Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war. Most serious observers of Iran know that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would love to portray the street demonstrations as the work of US influence, but that is difficult for him to pull off as long as President Obama does not provide any fodder for the Iranian government's propoganda machine.

We now know that, had McCain been elected, he would try to insert the US into what is an internal Iranian situation and in the process make life much more difficult for the reform-minded Iranian protestors. Thank God, the American people chose Obama.

Pilot Dies at Controls

I must be the most naive person that I know. Every time I boarded a plane, I presumed that if the pilot became ill, or God forbid, die, there were other pilots aboard who could fly the plane safely.

Today, although the pilot of a transatalantic flight had a heart attack in midflight, the copilot and a back-up pilot finished the flight and landed the plane safely at its destination. But, according to the news media, this was an extraordinary event. What was extraordinary about this? This is exactly what we, the airline consumers, expect to happen. I have all the sympathy in the world for the pilot who suffered a fatal heart attack, just as I did when my friend suffered a heart attack mowing his lawn. (His unfortunate death was not carried on all the national news outlets.) Hopefully, the fact that this plane landed safely was not out of the ordinary, or if it was extraordinary, I do not want to be boarding planes whose survival (and that of the passengers) depends on the health of one individual.

If the safe landing of this plane is truly a noteworthy event, the FFA and the airlines should make us aware of this since we have always presumed our lives were NOT in the hands of one woman or man.

Susan Elizabeth Rice

Watching a television interview with the new US Ambassador to the United Nations on our North Korean policy, I was amazed at the clarity, fluency, and expertise of our Ambassador, Susan Elizabeth Rice. The US under the Bush Administration disrespected the UN, and the quality of our Ambassadors seemed to reinforce that. Susan Rice is the type of person who demonstrates that the US is now serious about the UN and its role in the world.

Impressed as I was by Susan Rice, I realized I knew little of this obviously talented woman. I have done some research and feel compelled to share it with you.

Susan grew up in Washington, D.C., and was a three-sport athlete and valedictorian at her high school before attending Stanford and graduating with honors. ( No, she is not related to fromer Secretaty of State, Condoleezza Rice, although they share the same name and have connections to Stanford.) Awarded a Rhodes scholarship, she attended New College, Oxford, where she earned a master's and doctor's degree in philosophy. She, her husband, and two daughters live in Washington, D.C.. In the course of her career, she has used her expertise in international affairs in a variety of government and private institutions.

Susan Elizabeth Rice, I am confident, will represent the US well at the UN.

Roger Federer "Attack"

During the final of the French Open, a fan jumped onto Roger Federer's end of the court displaying some sort of flag. Roger stepped back and seemed amused by the situation, but then the fan approached Federer and apparently tried to wrap the flag around Roger's head. Roger backed away until security finally arrived and the fan ran away.

Many have sugggested that Roger should have "clocked the knucklehead" with his racquet and whatever damage he inflicted would be justified as self defense. The theory, according to the talking heads on ESPN, is that had Roger "nailed" the guy, other idiots would think twice about trying the same thing. On the other hand, I think Roger handled it in the best possible fashion. No one was injured, and it became a footnote to the match. Had he "clocked" the guy, it would have become a media event, more important than the match itself. As with his tennis, his instincts were right.

More troubling is the fact that the security staff allowed "the fan" to get to Roger. After the Monica Seles stabbing, it was presumed that trained security personnel were adequate to prevent this from happening. Perhaps tournaments need to re-evaluate issues of player safety.

Ottawa Hills National Quiz Bowl Champions

Congratulations to the Ottawa Hills High School Quiz Bowl Team on their recent national championship! The team competed with 70 of the top high schools in the country on their way to the national championship. The team was coached by Ottawa Hills teacher, Lauren Hurst, and was led by team captain, Spencer Trumm. The othe rteam members were: John Nissen, Matthew Casson, Alex Cioc, and Nirbay Jain.

Along the way, they defeated teams from Eden Park, Minnesota: San Diego, California; Lexington Kentucky; Spartanburg, South Carolina; Rapahannock, Virginia; Vermillion, South Dakota; Houston, Texas; El Paso, Texas; and Charlotte North Carolina.

Christian Terrorism

The phrase, "ChristianTerrorism," appears to be an oxymoron, much like the phrase, "Islamic Terrorism." Although there is nothing about terrorism that is either Christian or Islamic, these phrases seem to make sense only because terrorists invoke both Christianity and Islam as justification for their murderous activities. Perhaps, it would be more appropriate to use the term of Shannyn Moore who in a May 21st blog uses the term "Christian Fundalmentalist Terrorism," and, by the same token, "Islamic Fundalmentalist Terrorism." After all, it is the fundamentalist factions whose rhetoric and actions constitute terrorism.

We have been quite comfortable referring to Islamic Fundamentalist Terrorists, but now, unfortunately, we have to face the fact we have home-grown Christian Fundamentalist Terrorists. The two murders of innocent people attending the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Church were committed by a man who was upset with "liberals in general as well as gays." More recently, Dr George Tiller was serving as an usher in his church, Reformation Luthern Church in Wichita, where he was allegedly gunned down by a fundamentalist Christian. Again recently, Donald Crabtree's coffee shop in Maine was torched to the ground, presumably because the waitresses were topless.

The Conservative talking heads on TV have been quick to attack Islamic Madrasas for teaching hatred, but are they not doing the same by referring to doctors like George Tiller as "murderers" and "baby killers"? It appears to be the same violent rhetoric in both cases.