So, tonight’s the big night – the State of the Union address. :yawn: They make such a big deal out of this thing (and there have been some good speeches over the years, no doubt about it), but why? It’s all just talk, “we’re gonna go to Mars, we’re gonna defeat the terr’ists, we’re gonna be all green and good for the planet….” Blah, blah, blah. It’s all just talk and bullshit, ‘cuz one side is dead set against letting anything happen that doesn’t involve tax cuts for rich people and benefit cuts for the rest of us, and the other side isn’t really a “side” at all – more like a dysfunctional polygon. So they’ll go through the motions, one side standing and cheering every once in a while, the other side sitting on their hands looking as though somebody is holding a small turd under each and every one of their noses (and maybe occasionally shouting out “you lie, boy!”). I won’t be watching, and if I need a reason not to, number one on the list is not having to look at that disgusting piece of shit Fat Tony Scalia.

Another thing they seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time on is this whole Pope thing. OK, first time one quit in 600 years (and that was only so they could get down to just having one pope) is newsworthy, I guess. But who really cars about the leader of some corrupt cult who wears a hat that makes him resemble a turkey’s ass? To me, all he’ll ever be is the Sarah Palin of popes – quitting before his term is up. And that’s only when I think about him, which will be never again once they quit fucking talking about him on the “news” (and then again when he croaks – I wonder if they’ll be “fast-tracking” him for sainthood they way they are the last one). Which reminds me of that old joke headline from the papacy of JPI: “John Paul Named Pope. George Ringo Miffed.”

One thing, though. If the Pope is too old and sick and tired to keep on poping, doesn’t that imply a certain amount of fallibility? And if the Pope’s not infallible, doesn’t that mean that everybody can now just ignore him (that is, those of us who weren’t already ignoring him in the first place)?

NPR this morning is currently wasting about 10 minutes on some food segment that appears to be related to Valentines Day – another day I tend to ignore to the extent possible. I’ve never quite understood how this Hallmark Holiday has anything to do with love and romance (especially considering its origin). If I don’t get the day off, then it aint no holiday.

Speaking of holidays that I don’t get a day off for, today is Lincoln’s birthday. If he hadn’t been shot, he’d be like 204 years old today. OK, well, he’d still be dead. But would he be on the five dollar bill?

To celebrate Lincoln’s birthday, North Korea has apparently tested a nuclear weapon. It’s always nice to see a dirt-poor nation whose people are starving to death and freezing their asses off in the winter get their spending priorities right. I mean, what are they really afraid of? If they had oil or something somebody actually wanted, then maybe they’d have reason to want to protect themselves, but as it stands today? Who the hell wants a country whose main natural resource is guys in goofy uniforms with bad haircuts? What are they afraid that South Korea is going to invade and inundate them with cell phones, laptops, tablets, and high-speed Internet?

Hey, come and invade us folks. I already drive a Hyundai.

It’s not all that cold today, but it’s very, very windy. No word on the status of this weekend’s potential nor’easter. Hopefully if anything happens, it’ll miss us. Snow-wise, we’re about 14 inches below average at this point, and I’d like to keep it that way. We average another 40″ or so for the rest of February and March, and it wouldn’t break my heart one bit if we didn’t get any more at all.

Oh well, time to get back to work, I guess.