My faith in the common sense of my fellow Baton Rouge residents was recently bolstered after I learned that, of the 600 stores across the nation Starbucks^® is closing, nine are right here in the Capital City. Only San Diego and Las Vegas will see more closings.

I can only infer from such a decision that local coffee drinkers have opted to patronize local java purveyors over Starbucks more so than just about any other city. Either that, or they opened too many of them here in the first place.

Who says summer is boring in Baton Rouge? These are indeed exciting times for political aficionados like me.

Who would have thought that, within a matter of mere months, Governor Bobby Jindal, our off-white knight in shining armor who promised to bravely lead our fair state into the land of political accountability and usher in the golden age of ethics reform, would be the target of a recall petition resulting from his initial obstinate refusal to veto a mid-term legislative pay raise? I sure as hell wouldn’t have put money on it.

I usually don’t use this forum to address letters to the editor in our local newspaper, but have you read the opinion section of The Advocate recently? I don’t know if people are getting dumber or just bolder in broadcasting their idiocy. Either way, the number of letters that make me cringe has been on the rise as of late.

By the time most of you read this, the race to fill Richard Baker’s Sixth Congressional District seat will be over. Thanks be to God.

Finally, the seemingly incessant barrage of TV commercials, radio ads, mailers, emails, blog entries, and phone calls are over…at least for a few weeks. Before you know it, we’ll be enduring it all over again this summer and fall.

I’ll admit it: I’m a cynic. I usually gripe and complain about something in this forum, but not this month. It’s April, which means it’s spring: a time of renewal, revitalization, and hope.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee called it “goofy.” CNN’s John King said it was more difficult to explain than nuclear physics. No, they weren’t talking about Amy Winehouse’s hair. They were describing the presidential delegate selection process employed by the Louisiana State Republican Party.

I knew 2008 would be an election year, but I had no idea it meant we’d have an election every month. On February 9, while Democrats and Republicans in Louisiana will vote in presidential preference primaries, East Baton Rouge voters will also get a chance to approve or reject Pinnacle’s new casino.

With yet another turn of the calendar, we usher in another new year. For me, that also means another impending birthday, since mine falls on the sixth day of the year. In the Roman Catholic Church, that day is known as the Epiphany, which seems befitting, since the last few times it’s rolled around, I’ve had an epiphany that I’m getting old.

For the longest time, LSU football fans had a chip on their shoulder. Many believed their beloved Fighting Tigers warranted more attention from the national sports media than they actually received. Even in 2003, when the Bayou Bengals won the BCS Championship, they felt jilted because they were forced to share the national spotlight with Southern California, who was declared equally deserving of the title “National Champion” by many in the national press.

Last November, I dedicated this column to things for which I gave thanks. Since no one told me that it sucked, I figured I’d do it again this year. Who knows, it might be the beginning of a tradition that’s just slightly less entertaining than the old Perry Como Christmas specials.