3 Up, 3 Down

COMMONWEALTH GAMES: Calendars, the wretched things, tell us summer begins this weekend, but solstices, equinoxes and other measures apparently are unaware of the Commonwealth Games, an annual rite of the warm season in Waynesboro. More than 500 swimmers, some from as far away as Virginia Beach, showed up Friday at War Memorial Pool to compete in the annual event, which organizers estimate brings as much as $80,000 to the city. It all wraps up Sunday. Here’s hoping the city’s guests enjoy a swimmingly good time.

LIBERTY’S SPIRIT: Memo to the mullahs: Your days in Iran are numbered. Undeterred by bullies wielding clubs, the people are shaking fists and shouting in the streets over thug President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s faux election victory. All the rage here is wonderment over President Barack Obama’s reluctance to take a side. Gee, does he really have to think about it?

BILL HAUSRATH: The Waynesboro developer spent Thursday night taking a verbal pounding from neighbors over his proposed Waynesboro Place project. Concerns about increased traffic need to be addressed. But the project, which includes a 12-screen cinema, also needs to happen. We’ll trust Hausrath and the city to see to it that it does, and in the right way.

FLIES AND SELF RESPECT: It was a bad week for irritating insects. Not Keith Olbermann, but houseflies. President Barack Obama, the brute, smashed one with his bare hands during a TV interview. Animal-rights protesters gasped. So, too, did a phalanx of cable TV pundits, in ecstasy at the raw virility and lightning-quick reflexes of the swatter-in-chief. Obama was compared to NBA legend Michael Jordan and Mr. Miyagi of “Karate Kid” fame. Somewhere, Chris Matthews convulsed with thrills up both legs.

ABC NEWS: Haha. ABC thinks it still has a news division? That went the way of souls, sold when the network agreed to co-host with Obama a town hall meeting next week on health care. ABC insists it will provide even-handed coverage. Snicker. What we want to know from the Obama News Boys is, does the big guy snore in his sleep?

SAY IT AIN’T SO, JOE: So here was a question from a gaggle of reporters for Biden the beleaguered Veep, several days before the latest string of stories on soaring jobless rates: Tell us again how exactly the administration is going to create 600,000 jobs over the summer like it promised? Ol’ Joe declared the query “above my pay grade. I’m sorry, I’m not an economist.” Hey, Joe, aren’t you in charge of your boss’ $800 billion economic stimulus plan?