From Denny: This little pampered groundhog is a cute little guy. Every year he gets trotted out for a brief celebrity appearance to make his prediction about whether we will have another six weeks of winter or enjoy an early Spring. Last year Phil accurately predicted a longer winter. This year the little cutie is predicting an early Spring.
Be sure to check out the funny link at the end of this post for last year's post about Phil. There is a recipe for Groundhog Cookies and plenty of Groundhog Phil Trivia to enjoy too! Phil's official site is overwhelmed this year.
How convenient I already posted his information last year. Maybe some of Phil's psychic ability rubbed off on me? After all, obviously I "knew" last year to put up Phil's important information. You see, I "knew" a whole year ahead of time that the winter snow storms would be bad, everyone would be online at the same time, and that Phil's site would be overwhelmed. As a loyal fan of Phil's I "knew" it was my duty to promote his wonderful cheeky self to the world. Knock yourselves out and enjoy the Groundhog Phil trivia! :)
From Phil's Royal Court who make a big deal out of the occasion:
Groundhog Day, February 2, 2011
Punxsutawney Phil was raised from his burrow
By the call of President Bill Deeley.
He greeted his handlers, Ben Hughes and John Griffiths.
After casting an inquisitive eye towards thousands of his faithful followers,
He proclaimed that the Steelers are going to the Super Bowl!
Back to the business at hand...
He surveyed his surroundings carefully and found that there was no shadow around,
So, an early spring it will be."
Here's the link with all the funny Phil trivia, history, groundhog society, funny photos and a cookie recipe:
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Posts on astronomy, news, politics, poetry, lots of crazy humor, health and food.
From Denny: The past month I've been busy rounding up what the readers enjoyed throughout the year on all the blogs. It's amazing what people find intriguing - like the crazy humor post about the sloths over at Dennys Funny Quotes. The sloth post has gone past 30,000 views. People just love the cute little guys in the video. It's for a good cause too - a sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica.
Thanks, all of you, for visiting, commenting, subscribing in feeds and email updates! Your support is much appreciated!
From Denny: What a week! Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has improved dramatically over the past two weeks since she was shot at a public meeting. Giffords still has a breathing tube down her throat so she is not able to speak yet. She speaks with her hands, her facial expressions, her eyes: her intent.
She also has a piece of skull bone flap missing that will be reintroduced later after the doctors are sure her brain is no longer swelling even a little bit. There is always the risk of infection for this kind of surgery so keep praying for her. Your prayers by the thousands are a testament as to her unusual and astounding recovery.
Rep. Giffords is out of critical care and been moved to Houston, Texas for the next phase of her rehabilitation. She is doing remarkably well, again surprising her doctors. With assistance she is now up on her feet briefly (good to keep the blood clots at bay). She will be relearning basic physical tasks we all take for granted every day we wake up in the morning. If anyone has the grit and determination to succeed it's this woman.
Meanwhile, other struggles go on in the world like in Tunisia where the grassroots people finally rid themselves of a corrupt government. Anyone feel like importing a horde of Tunisians to help us rid ourselves of Washington lobbyists? Works for me.
The struggle to survive goes on in Haiti as well. It is shameful how our own American Red Cross took millions of dollars and withheld over 75 percent from the Haitians. Instead the Red Cross is continuing its wrong practice like it did in the 911 emergency and Hurricane Katrina: keeping the majority of the monies for later emergencies rather than spending it on the cause for which it was donated.
Check out the funny opinions from the national cartoonists since China came to town.
From Denny: China - America's banker and proud owner of a sizable amount of our national debt- came for a visit this week. You know how it is when you just happen to own a trillion dollar investment? You just have to "check on your things."
China is known for being an extreme introvert when it comes to international responsibility. They still are not convinced to be an international joiner to the level of being accountable for heinous or illegal actions.
Every time China is challenged to grow its mindset it invokes "national sovereignty." This mental obstruction of theirs prevents them from stepping over the line to adopt healthy agreements like trade rules that every country adopts as a standard.
Of course, the Republicans enable China to continue in this obsessive attitude by agreeing with their argument that their country - and ours - should be free to do as we please in the world without consequences or being taken to task. Even if we don't make these rules legally binding it's high time the world community get together and agree on a culture of behavior and attitude so we all can trust each other.
Currently, China stinks at human rights abuses, continuing to be arrogant toward its own citizens that challenge China's government to do better. China is still caught up in the Emperor mentality, not allowing political discourse and arguments to help thrash out some practical solutions to national problems. The Communist Chinese like their government neat and orderly, squashing dissent.
Where China has improved is in the area of nuclear nonproliferation. They recently stepped up and played a constructive role in dealing with their backyard neighbor North Korea. They have also talked with the crazies in Iran about the wisdom of their nuclear program. How far they have gotten with both countries remains to be seen but at least China is willing to take on the odious job. For that they can be commended.
One thing is for sure since this state visit, there is a new saying in town: "Hu's your Sugar Daddy, America?!"
From Denny: "Got Palin fatigue?" You have plenty of company, like 56 percent of the rest of America, according to a new CNN poll. How is Palin's unpopularity among women? It's gone up 10 points.
How does she poll among Independents? They sure don't like her either. That score has risen rapidly in the past few months a stunning 14 points to 59 percent against Palin. Independents tend to prefer civility and bipartisanship of which Palin does not subscribe.
Her unfavorable rating is up three points among men. Her overall unfavorable rating is up seven points since the last poll two weeks before the midterms.
Reasons for her upticked unfavorable rating
What has contributed to her increased negative rating in America? Palin handed her fellow Americans a long laundry list of reasons: her tone deaf attitude after the Tucson shooting when people cited her for placing bullseye targets on Democratic politicians and telling fellow GOP to "reload." People are most turned off by her reaction to her cross-hairs website she had up last year during the health care debate where she targeted Democrats, notably Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who was shot in Tucson two weeks ago.
She's hawked ghost-written books as if they were her own, stiffing her fans who waited for hours at book signings. Her reality TV is just TMI (Too Much Information - for our second language friends outside of the USA).
Then there's the constant family psycho-dramas that play out incessantly, giving fodder to the tabloids. Mindless tweeting on Twitter. She tweets without much consideration that millions of people read it - and maybe some things should not be said publicly - because of those persons who are not mentally stable enough to realize she was just being outrageous and obnoxious.
Obnoxious is the word to accurately describe Sarah Palin. She started out as this cute hockey mom with a love of family, children and her conservative values. Then she morphed into this greedy multi-media extravaganza whirlwind, picking up $100,000 fees just to "speak" at this conservative event or that. Her speeches often ramble and make little sense, sprinkled with "You betcha!" and "reload" and other catchy phrases, tossed out with a wink and a nod.
Palin is now this pushy annoying snake oil saleswoman constantly knocking on your door no matter how many times you yell through the door, "Go away!" Yet she continues to accost us without ever being invited into our living rooms. Gee, "do ya think?" she has overstayed her welcome in the public eye?
GOP worries about 2012 election
Most Republicans are getting nervous about her indecent exposure in the public eye. In fact, the GOP circles are now talking about how toxic she could be in any presidential race. Well, they created this monster it's up to them to solve the problem. Be careful what you wish for, GOP.
Of course, GOP hopefuls in the 2012 election are already circling like vultures over the Palin carcass. They see those unfavorable poll numbers over 50 percent and know it's virtually impossible to come back from that toxic level.
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, known for his outrageous rhetoric of the "Don't do as I do, do as I say" hypocrisy - and several wives later - tells Palin to dial it back and be more careful about what she is saying. While that may be true consider the source. Gingrich, a former history professor, also has compared himself to Emperor Napoleon. Strange but true. I told you that politics should be classified as a sport.
These GOP wannabees know they cannot directly attack Palin because of her weirdly loyal followers. Talk about strange. When she gets criticized her followers actually believe she is more right. Other Republicans who have tried to sideline her were demonized savagely. The new guys vying for the GOP nomination in 2012 are treading lightly for the moment. Even the GOP is getting the message to quit going so negative as evidenced by the Palin example. What the entire GOP is hoping is that Palin will tweet herself right out of existence. Now there's some bipartisanship to which maybe we all can agree.
On a more positive note: Today is the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's inaugural address. This president was one of our most inspiring among us. That day he called for national service and civility. He believed in a dedication to human rights. He wanted our country to make a commitment to arms control. "Eloquent" is the one word to describe President Kennedy for he defined the aspirations of a generation of Americans.
We prefer our leaders inspire us to show us the way to what we are capable of becoming. President Obama was elected with this kind of Kennedy speech-making. He should not allow the toxic atmosphere of those who would tear down this country to deter him from following his original course he set in the 2008 election. President Obama has been feeling his way through this tough times presidency, with many a misstep - and wrong alliances - with coddling Big Business over meeting the needs of the middle class.
He still has a small amount of time to recapture American confidence as a positive and inspiring leader for there is no guarantee that his GOP opposition will be so obviously easy to beat like a Palin. At this snapshot in time, two years out, President Obama is six points higher than GOP Mitt Romney, the only real contender among the Republicans. That isn't enough of a gap to produce favorable results for a reelection and is too close to call.
**** The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted Jan. 14-16, with 1,014 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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* * * Please support Warriors Pearl Foundation - helping homeless female military veterans come home. Visit Denny Lyon Gifts @ CafePress.com - - see what's new! (yes, my new charity - why stand on the sidelines when you can actively do something about a problem?)
* Check out Dennys News Politics Comedy Science Arts & Food - a place where all my other 20 blogs link so you can choose from among the latest posts all in one place. A free to read online newspaper from independent journalist blogger Denny Lyon. *
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Image by Brendan Loy via Flickr
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