I’m back from my sojourn to the cool, misty island of Ireland and I am a bit befuddled.

What has been up with you people while I’ve been gone? I come home to find the Governor really is running for President, the head of Metro did what?, and the red light cameras are soon to be turned-off again?

I’m so confused. It took me all weekend to wade through some of these issues and try to get a handle on what has been happening. I’m not sure that I achieved my goal but I still have a few thoughts.

Perry for President is real! I admit that I thought he was positioning but it seems that when he tested the waters, lots of people responded positively. I watched a portion of his announcement speech through jet-lagged eyes on Saturday and was honestly impressed. It seems that he has made a grand entrance onto the national stage. As well, his team deployed brilliant strategy by taking the focus of the Iowa straw poll and shifting the focus to a “Perry as formidable fundraiser” concept.

I will tell you that no one in Europe has heard of him. The Irish love to talk politics and they were curious about Obama’s chances in the upcoming election. Obama had recently been to Ireland and celebrated his Irish roots (on his Mother’s side). He had a Guinness in a small village and this increased his popularity there. We would mention that our Governor was considering a run for the Republican nomination and they would politely smile and say “another Texan?” with a lilt in their voices, careful not to offend.

At least this will make the Republican nomination contest much more interesting.

Meanwhile, what happened at Metro? I viewed the whole event from a post event perspective. Honestly, I saw the apology Mr. Greanias posted on Facebook. The question I asked myself is how this situation would have been handled if it was some engineer in a Metro department that had been caught doing the same thing. Well, this one is past and done and I don’t really have any thoughts to add.

And then, red-light cameras have me completely confused. Just prior to my leaving town, Mayor Parker had stared down all of the “turn-off” forces and abided by the Court decision to turn the cameras back on. I return to find her defiantly presenting a plan to turn them off for good. It seems that she has laid out a plan that City Council will vote on this week. By the way, all over Ireland, they have cameras. Stop lights are not their concern. They have random cameras posted on roads that will take your picture and record your speed. I could never drive fast enough to worry about it but found the concept interesting. Both in London and Ireland, there are signs posted every where that you are on “CCTV”. Security cameras and traffic cameras are standard operating procedure.

Much to ponder in the days ahead…………