What A Summer

This summer has turned out to be a real mess.

Take last week. US Airways went bust, and United Airlines sent out distress signals. Amtrak's expensive new Acela fast trains were shut down. The shock absorbers are cracking. The repair people may also want to check the air conditioner on that train I rode back to Washington from New York on Friday night.

Which reminds me of the stifling heat and drought that settled over the country, just as record floods were washing away half of Europe. Was all this foretold in the Bible? Will it rain frogs next? Probably not, but watch out for mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus.

And did I mention the economy? The administration tried to hype it with that forum, but my friend said the economic news has him sleeping like a baby -- sleep an hour, cry an hour.

And just when we needed baseball to take our minds off all the serious stuff, the ball players threaten to strike. In baseball, enough is never enough. I love the game, and I never thought I'd say this, but one more strike will be about enough for me.

Maybe it was just the heat, but last week nothing seemed as good as it used to be--airlines, trains or baseball. Everything seemed to change for the worst, except Elvis.

On the 25th anniversary of his death, he's as popular as ever. Elvis has not left the building, and be glad about it. In a summer like this one, it's a little something to hold on to.

That's it for us. We'll see you next week, right here on Face the Nation.