A few links and comments for a Friday morning

While demented Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez rants about how bad things are in the United States, here is a story of a Venezuelan family choosing to be Americans. Ozzie Guillen, manager of the reigning World Series champs, his wife and son will be sworn in as citizens today.

Cleveland smartest city in the United States?

Researchers at a New York think tank that studies high-tech trends are convinced that Northeast Ohio is the most intelligent region in the United States - and one of the seven smartest in the world.

Browns sideline reporter, Casey Coleman is a good guy. Anyway, Coleman has been battling cancer for the past year. Here is a heart warming story about how his relationship with his parish priest was strengthened by their work with recovering addicts.

Here is a story of a Navy Sailor on liberty saving the life of a teenage girl who was in a car that plunged in the marina.

He said he doesn't think anyone saw fellow yacht club member Michael McCarthy drive his Cadillac into the marina. People were calmly talking about the damage that happened to other cars that must have happened when McCarthy's car struck them. Then came a report that a car was in the harbor. They thought it was across the street. Cummins spotted bubbles and a white shape in the water next to him.

"I didn't think nothing about it. I was like, 'There has got to be somebody in that car. Got to go check,'" he said. Cummins made several dives, finding three locked doors. In darkness he finally opened the driver's door and felt around in the blackness. "I'd go up take another breath, go back down and go back in a little further. To be honest with you, I was a little worried about going in too far," he said. "I kind of reached up over the back and that's when I felt some hair and I just grabbed it." It was a 15-year-old girl, McCarthy's step granddaughter. She was unconscious. He surfaced with her.

Here is a link to an article about the girl calling 911 from her cell phone while trapped under water. Shame that Mary Jo Kopechne didn't have a cell phone.

The three candidates for the House Majority Leader position were interviewed by a group of conservative bloggers yesterday. I don't think I've seen one positive article on Roy Blunt (here are some negative ones: Q and O, RWN, Outside the Beltway, and Michelle Malkin. Normally, it wouldn't mean a hill of beans who holds that position. However, with the current atmosphere I think a fresh face is very important to send the message that it won't be business as usual.