This Opinion Has Nothing to Do With the Fact that I am a NY (football) Giants Fan

So Ed Rendell thinks there are grave national implications for the NFL moving the Eagles-Vikings game from Snowy-time Blizzard Day to Tuesday:  Nation of Wussies!  If only the Eagles would have played that game on Sunday, if only all the fans and concession workers and security manned up and grew a pair and interfered with efforts to clear the streets of snow in order to get to a football game, we'd erase that trade deficit with China!

I like to describe myself as a yellow dog Democrat, but Ed Rendell can't leave the governor's mansion fast enough for me.  All you need to know about Ed Rendell is in the sixth paragraph of that Seattle Times story: Rendell does football commentaries after each Eagles game.  I guess Ed had to find something else to do with his Sunday.  Perhaps he could, oh, I dunno, govern the state or something.  Instead, he probably moped around the governor's mansion muttering to himself about how pathetic Americans are, letting snow emergencies interfere with their games!

Speaking of pathetic Americans, how about Congratulations on Giving up on that Dog-Torturing Thing After You Got Caught and Went to Jail For It. If you can figure out who I find more pathetic among Vick, Obama or Lurie, you'll win a prize.*


*It's a trick question.  I find them all equally pathetic.  So no prize for you.

For the person on your gift list who has everything . . .

Unfortunately, I found Dying For Business  after I'd finished my holiday shopping, but for you procrastinators out there, you can still spread some of that Christmas cheer with a thoughtful and, um,  inspirational gift from the LA Coroner's office gift shop.

And Valentine's Day is just around the corner.


I'm thinking we should have gotten my father-in-law this instead of the 42 inch LED television (split three ways, our share came out to $187) we gave him, but I'm guessing jokes like that become less funny when you're closer to eighty than to forty.

Lesson #564 in our continuing education on Why You Should Never Post Naughty Pics of Yourself on the Intertubes

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Pacte Civil de Solidarite!

File this under "Law of Unintended Consequences":  In France, Civil Unions Gain Favor Over Marriage

Turns out, French heterosexuals have taken to civil unions in a way never anticipated by the lawmakers who intended to provide the legal protections (but mostly tax benefits) of marriage to gay couples without the, um, marriage.  Civil unions are called "pactes civil de solidarite" in French, an oddly cold and sterile phrase from a language that usually makes things sound much more romantic and sexy.  For example, my high school French teacher, the darkly handsome Monsieur Badeau, used to say to me (all the time) "Fermez la bouche!"  To which I would respond, haltingly, "Je ne comprends pas!"  and continue disrupting class with my non stop chatter.  In French, it all sounded like witty, flirty banter but in English, it often ended up with me making a trip to the principal's office. 

According to the New York Times, for every three marriages in France today, there are two civil unions.  The article is short on reasons  why, other than to note there appears to be a generational hostility both toward religion and the concept of marriage, which is imbued with lots and lots of religious imagery and symbolism in France, I guess.   And, oh, yeah--you can dissolve a civil union just by sending a registered letter to your not-so-much-any-longer better half.  I'm thinking I had one night stands that required more effort to escape.