Well it appears our traditional ‘Arizona winter’ weather of the past few days is taking a two-day break, as it’s back to the weather we were having up to a week ago. Today it’s bon-a-fide chilly for these parts, with temps in the low 50s and cloudy and damp conditions. Tonight it’s supposed to drop back into the ’30s with more of the same tomorrow. Looking out my home office window at the wind blowing the leaves off our lime tree, it reminds me of a classic New England October day.

Glad I’m not one of the so-called ‘fortunates’ who paid mucho dinero to play golf and hob-nob with the pros in the pro-am practice rounds prior to the start of the PGA’s FBR Open, just up the road apiece in Scottsdale. They probably didn’t mind it, but they were out there freezing their a$$e$ off today, and will likely do so again tomorrow.

From the sounds of it, however, the weather isn’t stopping the tour pros from enjoying themselves around the area. Leaving a Mill Avenue establishment tonight, I was stopped by some guy who, barely catching his breath, requested urgent info about where he could get a Diet Coke for John Daly, who was apparently holed up in the Hooters restaurant a couple of doors down.

I sent him to the Quiznos across the street.

But then I got to thinking: surely John Daly could order himself a Diet Coke at Hooters, dontcha think? It is a restaurant, after all. Methinks his request sounded like the equivalent of someone wanting to be left alone and sending some pest out to find him some “elbow grease” (if you know what I mean).

These golden nuggets from the wild, sometimes wonderful, and always wacky world of sports:

* R.I.P. Barbaro - you were a champion in every sense of the word. Condolences go out to the Jackson family, who went the whole nine yards trying to save you. Here’s hoping you spend the rest of eternity grazing in beautiful meadows with lots of fillies to pal around with.

* Congrats to Tiger Woods on his 7th consecutive PGA event victory. You could just tell when he made that eagle at the turn that he was going to blow past the field. Tiger has that marvelous ability to know what he has to do to get the job done, and then just does it. Methinks we’ve embarked on what is to be a truly memorable and historic golf year.

* And speaking of historic, while I’m no NBA fan, one has to admire the way the Phoenix Suns just keep piling up victories with one impressive streak after another. Assuming both teams stay healthy, the ultimate NBA champ this year will come down to the winner of the Suns/Dallas Mavericks Western Conference final.

* The Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies are discussing a trde for 1B Todd Helton. Lemme see, if the Rockies offer to eat 50% of Helton’s contract and send him to Boston in exchange for 3B Mike Lowell, P Julian Tavarez, and one young arm (Manny Delcarmen or Craig Hansen), I pull the trigger. Otherwise, I stand firm.

UPDATE 8:15 AM: Looks like the deal is off, as Colorado apparently wasn’t willing to eat enough of Helton’s contract, and the Sox were unwilling to take on the extra dough and part with one of their pitching prospects. Too bad, it would have made for an interesting deal.

* And here’s hoping the Sox and Curt Schilling can work out a deal now that’s he’s decided not to retire after the 2007 season. With young hurlers like Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jonathan Papelbon, and Jon Lester around, and younger guns like Daniel Bard and Clay Bucholz not far behind, having Schill around for a couple more years would be like having an additional pitching coach. C’mon Theo, let’s get this done.

* Word is MLB commissioner Bud Selig is carefully weighing a final decision on MLB’s proposal to make their MLB Extra Innings package available only to DirecTV subscribers in the wake of an unexpected (at least for him and his money-grubbing owners) fan backlash. Let’s hope the Budster sees the light.

* The line on the Super Bowl is holding at the Colts by 7. If I were a betting man, I’d wager my first male-born on the Indies.

And remember, as the long-departed but beloved Vin “Biff Bulkie” Maloney used to say on Eddie Andelman’s old “Sports Huddle” show back in Beantown, “If you can’t be a good sport, at least wear a good sportscoat.”

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BTW, has the NHL season begun yet?

Over at Hugh Hewitt and elsewhere, there’s a grass-roots effort brewing by conservatives in response to a planned “conscience of the Senate” non-binding resolution planned for early February condemning President Bush’s plan to increase troop levels in Iraq. Increasingly, the resolution is being seen by conservatives as a choice between wanting victory in Iraq, or giving the insurgency there encouragement and moral support.

At the core of this effort is a pledge being pushed in which signees vow to not only abstain from supporting any Republican senator who supports such a resolution, but also make any financial support to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) conditional on the basis that no part of one’s contribution go to the campaigns of Republicans who support such a resolution. The pledge Republicans and conservatives alike are being asked to take and sign contains the following language:

“If the United States Senate passes a resolution, non-binding or otherwise, that criticizes the commitment of additional troops to Iraq that General Petraeus has asked for and that the president has pledged, and if the Senate does so after the testimony of General Petraeus on January 23 that such a resolution will be an encouragement to the enemy, I will not contribute to any Republican senator who voted for the resolution. Further, if any Republican senator who votes for such a resolution is a candidate for re-election in 2008, I will not contribute to the National Republican Senatorial Committee unless the Chairman of that Committee, Senator Ensign, commits in writing that none of the funds of the NRSC will go to support the re-election of any senator supporting the non-binding resolution.”

Hugh and other conservative bloggers have been pushing other so-called “conservative” bloggers to not only sign such a pledge, but e-mail their friends and families to ask them to sign it as well, along with contacting Republican senators urging them to block or vote against any kind of like-minded resolution.

To make it short and sweet, I cannot in good conscience support such a pledge, and reject outright any effort by Republicans and conservatives to rally support behind such an idea. My reasons for this are two-fold:

1) While I have always supported “grass-roots” forms of political activism and consider them critical to any kind of well-functioning democracy, the very idea of signing pledges of any kind has always turned me off. Maybe I’m just too much of an independent or free spirit, but pledges of this or any other kind have always struck me as small-minded and childish, as if people don’t have the ability or desire to think and act for themselves, and therefore require someone else to tell them what to do or say.

2) The issue of supporting the President’s plan to commit additional troops to Iraq and putting more of our men and women in harm’s way should not be politicized and reduced to some cheap financial blackmail scheme, and I personally find the whole idea distasteful and downright offensive. A decision to support or not support increasing troop levels in Iraq should have no political threats or implications attached, and I see no problem with any senator, Republican or Democrat, voting their conscience on such a matter.

Here’s how I see it: let’s take the politics out of the situation and simply take a look at the issue involved, as if you or I were being asked to vote on such a matter. (Forget about whether or note this vote will have any real impact - the President as Commander-in-Chief has the authority to commit more troops based on the advice of his military advisors, and he will do so, I have no doubt about that.) So, in effect, the kind of resolution being bandied about in the Senate comes down to two things: a) whether you believe the war up to now has been conducted in an effective way, and b) whether the prospect of putting more troops on the ground and more of our young men and women in harm’s way is a good idea, given the situation there as it stands and the way the war has been fought up to this point.

These kinds of questions demand a moral and ethical response, not a political one. Personally, as someone who believes the war can no longer be won based on the way the President, former Secretary of State Rumsfeld, and others chose to go about it (i.e., with one hand tied behind our backs) following the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime and the initial invasion, I would have no problem voting for any resolution expressing dissatisfaction with the way the war has been prosecuted up to this point and rejecting the idea of committing new troops as a result. Feeling this way, were I to vote otherwise and the situation in Iraq remain unchanged over the next six months or so, I would feel as if I have American blood on my hands.

And to have someone’s own moral and ethical vote on such a resolution become the subject of some effort to not support them financially simply because they voted their conscience is something I find both ill-conceived and ill-advised. After all, this is not some lame vote on farming subsidies or budgets, or the like - this is one involving American lives and American blood, pure and simple. And because there are American lives involved, if an elected official feels within their heart of hearts that it’s time to either pull out, redeploy, or maintain the status quo (however you want to put it), while I may not agree with their position, or even support them in the future based on their vote, it’s one that should be respected.

Look, I don’t know if President Bush’s plan is going to work or not. Given the way the war has been prosecuted up to this point and the absolute mess we have created in Iraq as a result, I believe the U.S. Senate and its members have every right to be suspicious of following lock-step behind the President and his military advisors simply because they think it’s the proper course of action at this time. While I respect General Patraeus’ judgment and the opinions he expressed during his confirmation hearings before Congress last week, who can say if committing more troops at this time will do any good, or is even the right course of action?

Whether or not it’s time to add troops, redeploy, or pull out, I can’t say, but I do know that to threaten political blackmail against elected officials who have every right to express their honest opinions as to the way the war has been conducted thus far, and the moral and ethical dilemma of whether or not to throw more American lives at the problem, is at it’s very core offensive, disgusting, and distasteful to me. I therefore reject the very idea of ‘taking the pledge’, and will do nothing of any kind to support such an effort, and, as both a Republican and a conservative, I encourage others to do the same.

He sat in his chair on the patio twirling the drink in his hand ever so slightly, the ice cube tinkling cheerfully against the sides of his scotch glass. If it weren’t for the pool vacuum chattering its way in and around the swimming pool, there’d be nothing but the stillness of the day to share his time and his thoughts with. Another Arizona afternoon was slipping away to dusk, and the pineapple-themed patio lights above him were starting to do their thing, bathing him with their warm, happy glow. On another day, another time, he’d simply immerse himelf in the present and enjoy the serenity of the moment, but on this day his thoughts were very far away - in New England - and his mind was on snow.

Not the light dustings so typical of the Novembers and Decembers of his past, the early winter by-products of so many “Alberta clippers” that would sugar-coat driveways, parking lots, and yards, enabling newly-hung Christmas lights to resonate their happy holiday cheer. No, on this day his thoughts were of the first big snow of the season; sometimes coming in late December, but more often than not waiting until after the New Year - the kind of snow that told you winter had begun in earnest, and that a dreaded annual ritual with Old Man Winter had begun anew.

He was thinking of the kind of snow that changed habits and routines, altered perceptions, and forced one to concede to whatever whims and ways Mother Nature had in mind. The kind of snowstorms that brought with them winter-storm warnings, days of endless anticipation and preparations, breathless media coverage, and the obligatory school and business closings. Afterwards, the storm’s work complete, and the once-bare (or nearly bare) ground suddenly and dramatically transformed into a sea of frozen white, there would come the long spells of frigid days and crystal clear, below-zero nights, with more snow and more cold in the days and weeks to come. From that time forward, until the late-March and early April fogs and rains, there’d be an extra 20 minutes, perhaps more, added to one’s errands and commuting time. And no more firm-footed, straight shots from his parking lot down the hill to the front door, either – there were shoveled, sanded, and iced-over again sidewalks to navigate carefully over, at least until the next brief warm spell or January thaw.

In his mind, he could see the snow falling heavily and purposefully, remembering how he’d anticipate feeding the birds of the season, the snowfall forcing them out of their safe wooded places to visit his deck and feeder. He recalled like it was yesterday how, just before retiring to bed, he’d give the deck one final shovel in his T-shirt and slippers, then load up the feeder and sprinkle the sunflower and thistle seed around. He knew the deep-eyed juncos would be first, arriving silently at the very hint of daylight, followed shortly thereafter by the “chick!” of the cardinals and the “zee! zee! zee!” of the tufted titmouse. As it got lighter, the blue jays would be after the unsalted peanuts he’d sprinkled on top of the feeder seed, followed by the sparrows, who’d come in waves, making a mess of the whole damned place but providing the mourning doves who would follow with an easy smorgasboard.

More than anything, he remembered the sheer sense of wonder he would always feel, stepping outside for the first time the morning after a heavy snowfall, at the sights and sounds that would greet him. The clouds low and gray, the snow still spitting, the sound of dead oak leaves rustling in the trees, the muffled crunching of cars fighting their way up or cautiously making their way down the treacherous hill outside their front door, the plows working the streets nearby, the snow-blowers hard at work in the apartment complex across the street. And the rituals involved! First, shoveling out an area you could begin to work with, then brushing off the yews on each side of the front door, then clearing a path on the front sidewalk to the street, then finally the long, slow trudge up the hill to the parking lot so you could start wo