Huh?

So, the Rams have just signed rookie Sam Bradford to a record breaking 6-year, $78 million contract, with $50 million guaranteed.

I'm not faulting Bradford for anything he may be offered, but I think the Rams are being stupid.

Despite all of his success in college, and his obvious talents, he has yet to show that he can take the hits of the NFL level. He has yet to be hit that hard, at that speed, by that many.

The Rams better hope his bones are stronger than they've been tested at. If he gets creamed early, and can't play anymore, that's a lot of salary cash down the drain.

Been A Little Busy

But I want you to go HERE for a good read concerning the Jews Vs Arabs thing.

It's worth it.

Tidings Of Great Joy

I would like to extend my most heartfelt congratulations to Ben and Faith Worley on the birth of Benjamin West Worley earlier this evening...
as well as a hearty welcome to Little Ben, himself.

For those unfamiliar, the proud father is a regular commenter here. You know him as W.B. Picklesworth.

May the good Lord continue to rain His blessings upon all three of you.

And How Was Your Morning? (or, one more reason why I hate shopping at Target)

Target is one of those stores that I just hate to go into to. Sure, the place is usually clean and organized enough, and almost never crowded. I assume this last point is because I'm not alone in my hesitancy to shop there.

Basically, as a place to shop, Target is nice.
But, as a place to buy stuff, Target generally sucks.
They don't have anything. Shelves, long aisles of full shelves, with nothing on them that I want.

And that is why I avoid the place. I'm a Wal*Mart guy. I can buy stuff there (and get my oil changed at the same time.)

So, I should have known things were not going to go as planned this morning. I woke up early and headed out to do some yard work. I was out of beer, and would need to get some.
The wife suggested, since I was headed that way... (not really, but it's The Wife, ya know) that I stop at Walgreen's (in a different direction) and get my beer there while I pick those pictures she ordered.

O.K. No problem.

Got the pictures, but Walgreen's didn't have beer (yet). (It's a newer store. "Beer is coming", they say.)

As I'm leaving Walgreen's for the liquor store the wife calls and 'reminds' me to pick up her prescription, requiring me to re-park and re-enter Walgreen's (and now you know why I try to avoid carrying a cell phone).
And the ATM at the drug counter is down. Not wanting to wait in the longer line, I fork out my beer cash. Target, with it's empty parking lot and lack of customers, is just right across the street, next to Home Depot, where I can pick up those sprinkler heads I was gonna replace next weekend.
And they got beer.
Lot's of beer.
There I can use the ATM, and be out in a hurry, saving me a couple extra miles to the liquor store...
...as the phone rings again when Wife requests that I pick up milk since I'm going to be at Target, anyway... ('member what I said about cell phones?).

At Home Depot, pick up two sprinkler heads in just a few quick minutes...
and then to Target, where I can finally get that beer I had originally left the house for.

I grab the milk, two cold six's, and head straight for checkout.
I'm moving fast now...
already losing patience with the whole morning, and it's barely nine o'clock.

"May I see your I.D.?"
I look up at the snot-nose behind the counter. "Huh?"
"I need to see your I.D... For the beer."
"No you don't."
"Sorry,Sir. Store policy."
"Sorry Son, I don't have it." (I left it at home)
"Then I can't ring you up"
"Says who?"
"I can't. It's built into the system. I have to swipe your I.D. in order to ring up the sale."
"Call your supervisor."
"He can't over ride it, either. He's right there."
Supervisor comes over and explains the facts of life to to me. He's real nice about it. Genuinely regretful. Nobody, not even the store manager, has the means to over ride the system for alcohol purchases. It's all set up from corporate, and it's a lame idea (his words).

They ring up the milk. I swipe the ATM, and get beer cash.
Looks like I'm headed back in the original opposite direction to get what it was I had left the house for in the first place.

And proving my point: Target has nothing for me to buy even when they do. Screw those people. I hate that store.

Finally, I get home. Got beer, and pictures, and prescriptions, and ... oops...
In my harried mood, I had left the milk back at Target, sitting on the counter.
Hell, they can keep it.
I'm not going back.
Ever.

Wife greets me at the door:
"Thank you, Honey. Did you get the milk?"
"Sorry, Baby. They didn't have any."

Don't Answer That!

See that man on the left? Your likely thinking:
'His woman probably crashed the new car he bought for her and ran up the credit card while out shoe shopping. Again. Of course he's upset.'
And she knows he's right. That's why she cowering in shame before him.

But not all is as it seems. That man is actually engaging in violently dangerous criminal activity. Maybe even worse than rape.
Worse than rape?
Huh?
How is that?

Because, it's The French, of course, who bring us this crazy gem of legal protection:

The French parliament has approved a groundbreaking law that makes psychological violence an offence as part of a broader range of measures aimed at boosting protection for victims of domestic abuse...

..."We have introduced an important measure here, which recognises psychological violence, because it isn't just blows (that hurt) but also words," Nadine Morano, the minister for family affairs, told the lower house of parliament...

So next time your woman/weaker-sex partner asks "Does this dress make me look fat?" tread ever more carefully than before if you are a Frenchman. She just might be trying to set you up because...
you ready for this????

Anyone found guilty of breaking the new law faces up to three years in jail and a 75,000 euro ($132,177) fine.

Three years in jail?!?!?!
For words?
Yeah. Words.

Seems a bit much, if you ask me, especially for a country like France... where a convicted child rapist can live luxuriously in the open as a member of the cultural elite.

Oh, oh oh...

Haven't been blogging much cause I'm just really tired of political stuff, and there's not much going on with that is interesting to write about.

But real football is just around corner, yeah?
Statement By An NFL Spokesperson:
Johnny Jolly of the Green Bay Packers has been suspended indefinitely without pay for violating the NFL Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse.

Jolly’s suspension begins immediately and will continue through at least the 2010 season. He will be eligible to apply for reinstatement following Super Bowl XLV.

This should make things a little easier for the Bears, though it sucks for Johnny Jolly.

It's always cool to see a kid make it out of his rough surroundings. Unfortunately, it far too often results in a train wreck.
Personally, I hope he can rebound from this and go on to have a solid career and a productive life beyond.
But that's not the way to bet.

Switzerland Is An Ass

Evidently, the Swiss political class has as much integrity as the French artistic crowd, and that says a lot even as it's not saying much.

Link

"A 13-year-old girl was drugged and raped," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said. "This is not a matter of technicality."

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, who led the effort to bring Polanski back to the U.S., said he was dumbfounded.

"Mr. Polanski is still convicted of serious child sex charges," Cooley said. "The Swiss could not have found a smaller hook on which to hang their hat."

And our state department should be protesting this decision in no mild manner,either.

Of course, much of the blame belongs to the Los Angeles whoever-it-was that allowed him to go free on bond in the first place. If Polanski were an accused mill worker instead of a rich Hollywood convicted anal rapist he would have never been allowed to post bond.

So, now he is a free man. I just only hope that should he continue to drug and seduce rape 13yr models who are hoping for a 'shot', he does it in Calabria, where he likely won't have to face the shame of another conviction.

On the Spanish Triumph: I only wish Orson Welles was with us today to celebrate the Spanish wine industry by drinking it.

I wonder if the Justice Department would sue Arizona if they stopped arresting bank robbers, terrorists and other federal law breakers since these things are none of their business?

Observations

My Chicago-based family has a bad habit of going to The Maker during the winter months. And since that seems to be the only time I get there I've seen plenty of snow and ice, if only periodically.

• So, this means it's been 1978 since I've seen anything else. It was early September(another funeral), a very long time ago. I forgot all about the summer weather, which basically sucks from where I'm coming from. In the 80's, everyday, with rain... every day. Humid. Ugh! But it's still better than Florida, and greener than Georgia, Arkansas or Oklahoma.
• All Chicago really needs is a Waffle House or two... preferable near the Cabela's in Hoffman Estates... which isn't near as awesome as the Cabela's in Rogers, Minnesota... and neither comes close to the Bass-Pro in Springfield, Missouri.
• Illinois really needs to get a grip when it comes to speed limits. There ain't no damn good reason for the speed limit from Kankakee to Paducah to be 65mph. But it's strictly enforced. It must be a control issue on the part of the anal retents in Springfield.
• Seriously, cops up and down the state need to just lay off and let the people drive. After spending my life on California roads, I probably couldn't make it there for very long, but I'll always have a love for the place.

In a break with tradition, I've got a week penciled in to visit this spring. The cousinery is demanding it. Hopefully, I'll get to see the sights for a change.

Home

And it looks like the JapBots had a field day on my absence.
Where is that Tully when you need him?

Quick Hit

Ya ever get to saying "We need to get together more often", or "let's not wait til the next funeral,yeah?"

I say it all the time.
Life gets busy.
Days are short.
And the years... well, I guess you can tell where this going.
One can make all the excuses in the world, supply all manner of reasoning, but the end result is always the same.

I'm trying to change that. No excuses for me.

In a few hours I'll be flying off to Chicago. Like always, when we gather round the table another loved one will not be there to sip the wine with us.

A short trip at a fast pace, but for a few days I will be leaving this place wide open to Tully and the Japanese Viagra Bots. Maybe between the two of them something interesting may get posted.


Take care.

Killers

Katherine Heigl stars as Jen, a gal who accompanies her parents on a vacation to Nice,France as a way of overcoming her latest breakup.
She meets Spencer (Ashton Kucher), they fall in love and quickly marry, unaware that he is a CIA super spy/assassin...

It's three years later, and Spencer's past has come back to trouble them as everybody they know, so it seems, is out to collect the large bounty on his head.

A dull and formulaic action-comedy type thing that never clicks, Killers basically sucks as cinema, and is barely average as entertainment. Also starring Tom Selick as the uptight, over protective father.

Pass, unless you like seeing Katherine Heigl looking cute, because, well... that's what she does. And she does it so well.
OK, so maybe it's not a total waste.

And It Better Not Suck!

I am so looking forward to this.

From The Shreds Catalogue

BP announced this evening that they installed a wedding ring around the leaking pipe today and it immediately quit putting out.