Weekend Roundup...
Yepper, STILL cold out there, with little end in sight, save for SPRING, whenever it decides to get here.
--And I will make a prediction that I "expect" to be fulfilled; that being that whatever groundhog is used to determine our "weather" WILL, in fact, SEE HIS SHADOW come Monday.
Let's face it...with all the media attention this bugger gets, and with ALL the camera lights besieging this furry creature, that wants nothing more than to be LEFT THE HELL ALONE (sounds a bit like ME in this neighborhood), he'll probably wind up seeing about TWELVE shadows, have a coronary, kick the bucket, and the world will be plunged into the next ice age.
Legend says that if he DOES see his shadow, there WILL be 6 more weeks of winter.
If he does NOT, then we get an early spring (cute, huh?)...how convenient.
MY money is on the SHADOW (and NOT Lamont Cranston) for the obvious reasons.
--It's SUPER BOWL WEEKEND (can we stand the strain?), and personally, it lacks more luster than an F-117. Even though I hail from PA, I can't get into "the game" any longer. That's why I watch the PUPPY BOWL instead.

With overpriced players hawking bloated endorsements out the ass and in my face, ever higher ticket prices, and tax-heavy stadiums popping up with more frequency than Democrats in Washington D.C., it's little wonder that there is even any "game" left in the game.
It's ALL about MONEY these days...and that's sad.

Bread and Circuses, folks!
Time was, a quarterback (as well as every other player on the team) had a SECOND JOB (like a car dealership) to pay the freight in the "off-season" which used to last a lot less than today's venue. If they had a nice house, it was worth (maybe) $100,000 bucks, and not some palatial, multi-million dollar "complex", nestled on some major acreage. And he drove a REGULAR, AMERICAN car (albeit a NEW one), and not some exotic, foreign road hog.
And we looked up to these men because of their ABILITY and PASSION for the game, not the size of their wallets.
But that was a long time ago, wasn't it?
Speaking of "major players"...
--The Governor of Illinois is not any longer.
I guess the Illinois Senate had taken as much "Rod" as they could when they voted unanimously to IMPEACH Rod Blagojevich yesterday.
Makes me wonder exactly WHAT Blago thought he could "get away with" in an age where so much of our lives are under scrutiny, especially those in "high-visibility" positions?
Now, we'll have to see what kind of criminal charges will be brought and how much jail time he's going to be looking at.
"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive".
Yeah, that sounds about right....see 'ya, wouldn't wanna BE 'ya, Rod!
Moving right along....
--The woman who claimed she was stabbed by an "intruder" turned out to be defrauding the FWPD.
After a visit to the hospital, where she received 42 staples to close the knife wound, it was confessed to police that she did in fact STAGE the entire event, and that her roommate was the one that cut her (at her OWN request)...weird shit, huh?
You just have to be several fries short of a Happy Meal to WANT to have someone slice you across the back in that manner, and being the person that says: "OK, hand me the knife...where should I cut you?" isn't lending any credibility for acute mental stability here, is it?
And why was it done?
For...(wait for it)...PAINKILLERS!
I suppose it beats robbing a Walgreens for some "OXY" (or worse), but these people (especially the woman) need some SERIOUS "psych evals". Funny thing, it didn't look like the woman EVER had her ears pierced (I may be mistaken), so her threshold for pain (one could suppose) should be low, right? And she had no apparent piercings, either. So why painkillers?
I've always found a snortful of Wild Turkey or Jack Daniels will alleviate most any pain nicely.
The idea is not to RELY on that on a regular basis, though.
That leads to the "dark side" of the Force.
Still, this couple DID waste a crap load of police TIME and RESOURCES. Some form of punishment needs to be enacted.
And speaking of punishment...
--The "Stimulus Package" moves ever onward...(uh, oh).
Yeah, this can't be good.
And it won't be, especially for YOUR kids...and THEIR kids.
Glenn Beck had a great presentation yesterday (An Inconvenient Debt) about the manner in which our DOLLAR has been devalued (by printing MORE of them) since 1929, and he's got it at his website.

We can blame Richard Nixon actually for the serious "right turn" the nation took when it went off the gold standard with his "Great Society" program in 1971.
Here's the link to Glenn's article: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/20816/
This is sobering stuff, people.
Makes you want to start changing that foldin' money into something with a bit more "oomph"...like GOLD, right?
And all the while politicos tell us that THEY are looking out for OUR best interest. I'd say they got a damn good grip ON OUR INTEREST...AS WELL AS OUR SAVINGS that produces that "interest".
Well, this economic plan is akin to a ship with NO rudder in a force 5 storm...and that's the GOOD news.
You can't give money to PEOPLE and EXPECT them to inject it BACK into the economy...'cause they want a "rainy day" financial cushion, and they're SCARED, and rightly so.
You can't give money to BUSINESSES and EXPECT them to inject it back into JOB CREATION...'cause they want to bank some $$$ to keep what they have left OF that company viable, and THEY'RE scared...and rightly so.
I can honestly way that the missus and I have already spent Bush's stimulus check when the ice storm hit last month...and THEN some, so we ARE doing "our fair share" to help the economy. We made it possible for SEVERAL local businesses to remain stable by recruiting them to take care of our problems around the house.
And we still have to eat and tank up the cars, so again, we're doing OUR part.
But always remember, you, as a taxpaying citizen have a LOT of "uncles", and regardless of whatever "plan" they might have to "help" you, they are paying close attention to THEIR OWN agendas.
You might get tossed a bone by one uncle, but beware of the other ones, who will inevitably be reaching into YOUR (freshly-filled) pockets to "relieve" you of whatever that first uncle GAVE you.
And that's all I have to say about that...(for now).
In the meantime...

Behave Yourselves (if possible...LOL)
Stay warm, stay safe, and DO have a good weekend, people!