Six-year-old wisdom:

The Queen is big on eating dinner at the dinner table, with the TV in the living room off! Dinner time comes and she makes her usual evening announcement.

Queen: Ok, dinner’s ready, turn off the TV and come on.

Prince: Mom! It’s TV dinners, you’re supposed to have the TV on!

© 2009 Evil Wordsmith. Evilwordsmith.com. All Rights Reserved.

Health Care – Public Option

We can’t afford health care, let’s start with that. Not because we don’t want it, but because we simply can’t afford it after being laid off and not being able to find another job. That’s a whole other discussion.

We are forced to make a lot of sacrifices in the year I’ve been unemployed. We have struggled for some months, squeaked by on others, or been ok. But through all those months one thing we can’t afford is an addition bill for health insurance. There’s just not enough money left over after the mortgage and utilities are paid.

Now we hear from Congress that the current health plan reform will fine us for not having health care. Ok, did someone miss the part where we (like millions of others) can’t afford health care? We can’t afford an additional financial burden, but  you’re going to force us to pay a fine because we’re struggling? Um..where is the thinking there? Hello..Washington are you total idiots?

Now we hear that some congressional members are proposing a Public Option that allows States to ‘opt-out’. Ok, first of all why should the states have the right to opt-out when I don’t? Why should I be fined for something I can’t afford, but states get a bye if they decide they can’t afford it either?

HealthCare isn’t a “right”, it’s a moral obligation of the most profitable and successful country in the world to ensure affordable health care is available to ALL of it’s people.

That’s right – it’s a MORAL OBLIGATION!

Instead politicians spin the rhetoric to scare people into opposing reform for the simple reason that insurance, pharmaceutical and the medical industry in general doesn’t want to lose any of the profits they current rake in. Once more we see where the real loyalty lies with politicians; it’s to their corporate sponsors and lobbyists; NOT with the American People who they are supposed to be representing.

I say shame on you Washington. Shame on all you for claiming a higher moral standings while people are dying at your feet because they couldn’t afford to go to the doctors.

As usual Washington isn’t LISTENING to the American People!

This entry was posted on October 28, 2009, in Politics.

NFL Week 7 – Spring’s Results (5 of 13!)

Oh man what a terrible week! Reminds me of week 2 when I was 7 for 16 in my picks.

Now to be honest I did make some bad picks, but there were some WTF? games played on Sunday as well. And a few surprises, I think the Vikings are better than how they played against the Steelers. I’m going to call that one on home field advantage. Atlanta and Dallas was a tough pick to begin with, but I think I was hoping the Falcons would take the Cowboys at home. Wishful thinking gone bad. I don’t see how Kansas City lost to San Diego. Maybe I missed something, but I thought the Chiefs were better than that.

So the results are sad, but here they are:

Week 7
Sun, Oct 25  Pick  Score
IND @ STL  Indianapolis  W – 42 / 6
MIN @ PIT  Minnesota  L – 17 / 27
NE @ TB  Tampa Bay  L – 35 / 7
CHI @ CIN  Chicago  L – 10 / 45
SD @ KC  Kansas City  L – 37 / 7
GB @ CLE  Green Bay  W – 31 / 3
SF @ HOU  Houston  W – 21 / 24
BUF @ CAR  Carolina  L – 20 / 9
NYJ @ OAK  Oakland  L – 38 / 0
ATL @ DAL  Atlanta  L – 21 / 37
NO @ MIA  New Orleans  W – 46 / 34
ARI @ NYG  NY Giants  L – 24 / 17
Mon, Oct 26
PHI @ WAS  Philadelphia  W – 27 / 10

Results: W = 5 / L = 8 of 13

Season: W = 69 / L = 34 of 103

This entry was posted on October 28, 2009, in Sports - NFL.

NFL Week 7

Here’s the picks:

Home Away Winner Vegas Line O/U My Bet
Chicago Cincinnati 20 20 CHI CIN 1 42.5 CHI Under
San Francisco Houston 19 24 HOU HOU 3 44 HOU Under
Minnesota Pittsburgh 19 22 PIT PIT 6 45.5 MIN Under
Indianapolis St. Louis 26 19 IND IND 14 45.5 STL Under
New England Tampa Bay 24 20 NE NE 14.5 45 TB Under
San Diego Kansas City 24 20 SD SD 5 43.5 KC Over
Green Bay Cleveland 23 21 GB GB 9 41 CLE Over
Buffalo Carolina 18 20 CAR CAR 7 37 BUF Over
NY Jets Oakland 20 18 NYJ NYJ 6.5 35 OAK Over
Atlanta Dallas 20 23 DAL DAL 4 47.5 ATL Under
New Orleans Miami 24 20 NO NO 6.5 47 MIA Under
Arizona NY Giants 22 25 NYG NYG 7 46.5 AZ Over
Philadelphia Washington 19 18 PHI PHI 7 37.5 WAS Under

This week, there’s one good bet: Tampa will cover the spread. I know, I bet on Tampa before… but at least it probably won’t snow in Tampa.

Speaking of snow, cold weather, and rain (For you idiots who built domed stadiums, this is how God intended football to be played…) if your team comes from some place like Texas or Florida, or worse, some place indoors and you know you’re going on the road to some place like, say, Green Bay or Foxboro, here’s a tip on practice:

Find your nearest local meat packing plant. Make a deal with the owner to borrow their blast freezer for 3 hours a day. Put your whole team in there for the workout, and I mean everybody, put the fricken water boy in there. After a week of that, your team will be so glad to get into the nice warm snowy rain, playing football will be a breeze.

For extra points, set your kicker’s practice rig right in front of the freezer duct, if he can kick against that 50 MPH, -80° F wind, nothing Mother Nature does to him will bother him. “OH MY GOD! HE JUST GOT HIT BY LIGHTNING!… AND THE KICK IS GOOD!”

Here’s my take on the upcoming playoffs:

Wild Cards AFC NY Jets New England 17 26 New England
Baltimore San Diego 18 24 San Diego
NFC Philadelphia Minnesota 21 21 Minnesota
Green Bay Arizona 25 25 Green Bay
Division AFC New England Pittsburgh 22 22 Pittsburgh
San Diego Indianapolis 19 24 Indianapolis
NFC Minnesota New Orleans 24 24 New Orleans
Green Bay NY Giants 24 23 Green Bay
Conference AFC Indianapolis Pittsburgh 19 22 Pittsburgh
NFC Green Bay New Orleans 25 25 New Orleans
Superbowl Pittsburgh New Orleans 23 23 New Orleans
New Orleans Pittsburgh 20 23 Pittsburgh

Somehow I expect Minnesota to do better than predicted, geriatric Favre is doing a good job of whooping up on those snot nosed kids on the other team. And he still sleeps good on the sidelines, just wake him up and tell him who won when it’s time to go to the lockers. Someone should send him a purple snuggie, for those sideline naps.

Today the kid wanted to make his picks, here they are:

Away Home Pick
Chicago Cincinnati Chicago
San Francisco Houston San Francisco
Minnesota Pittsburgh Pittsburgh
Indianapolis St. Louis St. Louis
New England Tampa Bay Tampa Bay
San Diego Kansas City Kansas City
Green Bay Cleveland Cleveland
Buffalo Carolina Carolina
NY Jets Oakland NY Jets
Atlanta Dallas Dallas
New Orleans Miami New Orleans
Arizona NY Giants Arizona
Philadelphia Washington Washington

E.W.

Six-year-old wisdom:

Queen: Ok, dinner’s ready, turn off the TV and come on.

Prince: Mom! It’s TV dinners, you’re supposed to have the TV on!

This entry was posted on October 24, 2009, in Sports - NFL.

NFL Week 7 – Spring’s Picks

It’s getting a little harder to pick now. At least for me. Eventually one of the 4 undefeated teams is going to loose. But which one and which game?

This week I want to pick my Skins to win over the Eagles, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think the Eagles are embarrassed by the loss in Oakland that they’re going to feel as if they have something to prove. Sorry Coach Zorn, this isn’t the week you’re going to turn things around.

I’m taking all the undefeated teams this week, though I think Minnesota has there work cut out for them. My upset pick is Tampa Bay over New England. I have no idea why; just a gut feeling. Another one of those is Carolina, I have no idea why I think they’ll win this week except they’re playing at home and have a little confidence from last week.

So we’ll see. Here’s the Week 7 picks.

Week 7
Sun, Oct 25  Pick
IND @ STL  Indianapolis
MIN @ PIT  Minnesota
NE @ TB  Tampa Bay
CHI @ CIN  Chicago
SD @ KC  Kansas City
GB @ CLE  Green Bay
SF @ HOU  Houston
BUF @ CAR  Carolina
NYJ @ OAK  Oakland
ATL @ DAL  Atlanta
NO @ MIA  New Orleans
ARI @ NYG  NY Giants
Mon, Oct 26
PHI @ WAS  Philadelphia

Byes: Ravens, Broncos, Lions, Jaguars, Seahawks, Titans
This entry was posted on October 20, 2009, in Sports - NFL.

NFL Week 6 – Spring’s Results (10 of 14)

Well it was an interesting weekend. Watching football in the snow is always fun, but not when the home team is totally killing the visitor. Sunday’s New England v Tennessee game was just painful to watch. Thank the football Gods CBS decided to change the coverage to a better game. What a total embarrassment for my Titans. Evidently they need to practice a lot more, and add some snow in the mix for good measure too.

Carolina was a surprise. Who knew they’d take Tampa Bay on the road. Wow. Maybe they realized they weren’t dreaming and the NFL season really had started. Nice they showed up to play. But how in the world did Oakland beat Philadelphia? Holy guacamole. I also lost the pick on the Jets and Buffalo. I knew that one was going to be tough to pick, oh well. I’m not the only one who picked the Jets to win; so did a few of the guys on Fox.

My favorite game of the weekend was Minnesota v Baltimore. I was disappointed that the Viking defense didn’t step up to the plate and match the great performance of Farve and the offense. They allowed the Ravens to come back in the second half and turn a solid win into a hair raising potential loss in the last 2 seconds. That last field goal attempt by Baltimore had me on the edge of my seat, but it cracked me up to see that Brett didn’t even watch it. He had to get off the bench and ask a fellow player if they lost or not. His expression and excitement at hearing the Vikings won was beyond wonderful! What a great game.

And what about Denver. I was worried about them in the first half, but they played up to their potential in the 2nd half just bombarding the Chargers front line. That leaves 4 teams undefeated so far, Denver, Minnisota, New Orleans and Indianapolis.

So here’s the results for Week 6.

Week 6
Sun, Oct 18  Pick  Score
STL @ JAC  Jacksonville  W – 20 / 23
KC @ WAS  Kansas City  W – 14 / 6
HOU @ CIN  Cinncinati  L – 28 / 17
BAL @ MIN  Minnesota  W – 31 / 33
DET @ GB  Green Bay  W – 0 / 26
CLE @ PIT  Pittsburgh  W – 14 / 27
CAR @ TB  Tampa Bay  L – 28 / 21
NYG @ NO  New Orleans  W – 27 / 48
ARI @ SEA  Arizona  W – 27 / 3
PHI @ OAK  Philadelphia  L – 9 / 13
BUF @ NYJ  NY Jets  L – 13 / 16
TEN @ NE  New England  W – 0 / 59
CHI @ ATL  Atlanta  W – 14 / 21
Mon, Oct 19
DEN @ SD  Denver  W – 34 / 23

 Results: W = 10 / L = 4  of 14
 Season: W = 64 / L = 26  of 90
This entry was posted on October 20, 2009, in Sports - NFL.

NFL Week 6

Here’s the picks:

Away Home     Winner Vegas Line O/U My Bet  
Houston Cincinnati 20 23 CIN CIN 5 45 HOU Under
Baltimore Minnesota 20 21 MIN MIN 3 43.5 BAL Under
NY Giants New Orleans 24 24 NYG NO 3 47.5 NYG Over
Carolina Tampa Bay 18 21 TB CAR 3.5 40 TB Under
Kansas City Washington 15 20 WAS WAS 6.5 37 KC Under
Cleveland Pittsburgh 15 24 PIT PIT 14 38 CLE Over
Detroit Green Bay 17 29 GB GB 13.5 48.5 DET Under
St. Louis Jacksonville 16 25 JAC JAC 10 42 STL Under
Philadelphia Oakland 23 16 PHI PHI 14 40.5 OAK Under
Arizona Seattle 20 25 SEA SEA 2.5 47 SEA Under
Tennessee New England 18 24 NE NE 9.5 43.5 TEN Under
Buffalo NY Jets 18 22 NYJ NYJ 10 38 BUF Over
Chicago Atlanta 21 21 CHI ATL 3 46 CHI Under
Denver San Diego 18 26 SD SD 4 44 SD Over

Once again, there are no good bets.

I forgot last week to put my Superbowl picks, this week it got interesting, New England is no longer the king of the hill, they’ve been replaced by Pittsburgh. Also, Brett Favre has knocked Green Bay out of the playoffs almost entirely. Think they miss him?

Wild Cards AFC NY Jets Indianapolis 17 24
    Baltimore San Diego 18 24
           
  NFC Philadelphia New Orleans 23 23
    Green Bay Seattle 21 23
           
Division AFC Indianapolis Pittsburgh 19 22
    San Diego New England 19 25
           
  NFC New Orleans NY Giants 23 23
    Seattle Minnesota 19 24
           
Conference AFC New England Pittsburgh 21 22
           
  NFC Minnesota New Orleans 24 24
           
Superbowl   Pittsburgh New Orleans 23 23
    New Orleans Pittsburgh 20 23

E.W.

The Great Depression of the 21st Century is very depressing.

This entry was posted on October 18, 2009, in Sports - NFL.

NFL Week 6 – Spring’s Picks

 Ok Week 6 Picks

I have no rhyme or reason for some of these. I wanted to pick my Titans over NE, but I’m going against my gut feeling for common sense. I do think Jacksonville will pull out the win at home. And Baltimore v Minnesota might be a tight game, but I think the run will continue for the Vikings.

So here are the picks for Week 6
Update: Sun. Oct. 18.2009 – 12:30pm:
Ok this might be a bad idea, but I’m making a last minute change and going with NO Saints over the NY Giants. I think home field will make the difference today and this will be a big defensive game. NO’s has a better defense and I think they’ll shut down the Giants today.

Week 6
Sun, Oct 18  Pick
STL @ JAC  Jacksonville
KC @ WAS  Kansas City
HOU @ CIN  Cinncinati
BAL @ MIN  Minnesota
DET @ GB  Green Bay
CLE @ PIT  Pittsburgh
CAR @ TB  Tampa Bay
NYG @ NO  New Orleans
ARI @ SEA  Arizona
PHI @ OAK  Philadelphia
BUF @ NYJ  NY Jets
TEN @ NE  New England
CHI @ ATL  Atlanta
Mon, Oct 19
DEN @ SD  Denver

Byes: Cowboys, Colts, Dolphins, 49ers
This entry was posted on October 17, 2009, in Sports - NFL.

NFL Week 5 – Spring’s Results (11 of 14)

Week 5 played out just about like my picks predicted. I’m amazed. The death of Coach Zimmerman’s wife on Thursday gave Cincinnati a greater reason and heart to win their game with Baltimore. Our deepest sympathies to the Zimmerman family and the Bengals for the loss of Mrs. Zimmerman. And kudo’s to the team for their caring support of their coach and giving him a win on weekend he really needed it.

Now some one explain how Buffalo could lose to Cleveland “IN” Buffalo? I just don’t get that one at all. Seahawks and Jacksonville was a surprise to me. Perhaps this is an indication that the Seahawks have stepped it up a notch. At least at home.

My poor Redskins are just in a down spiral. Too much money has been spent on players who demanded big bucks; but who aren’t playing to the status they demanded. Where’s the talent in the younger players? I think blaming everything on Coach Zorn is ridiculous. He can only do so much with Daniel Snyder’s interference. I hate that. Owners pay the bills and gloat about owning a team, but they don’t make player decisions, or interfere with the coaches they’ve paid to manage the team. They shut up, sit down and allow the professionals they hired to do their job!  And if they don’t think they should do that, then I’ll point them to the amazingly great success of Tony Stewart Nascar Driver/Owner who’s number one rule seems to be – delegation and let his staff do their job. Hasn’t the NFL learned how disruptive and destructive owners like Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder can be to a team. Someone smack these guys for me…please!

Ok so this is how the week played out. 11 wins, 3 losses in the 14 games played.

Week 5
Sun, Oct 11  Pick  Score
CIN @ BAL  Baltimore  L – 17 / 14
TB @ PHI  Philadelphia  W – 14 / 33
CLE @ BUF  Buffalo  L – 6 / 3
PIT @ DET  Pittsburgh  W – 28 / 20
WAS @ CAR  Carolina  W – 17 / 20
DAL @ KC  Dallas  W – 26 / 20
OAK @ NYG  NY Giants  W – 7 / 44
MIN @ STL  Minnesota  W – 38 / 10
ATL @ SF  Atlanta  W – 45 / 10
HOU @ ARI  Arizona  W – 21 / 28
NE @ DEN  Denver  W – 17 / 20
JAC @ SEA  Jacksonville  L – 0 / 41
IND @ TEN  Indianapolis  W – 31 / 9
Mon, Oct 12
NYJ @ MIA  Miami  W – 27 / 31
Results: W = 11 / L = 3  of 14
Season Results: W = 54 / L = 22  of 76
Little over 70%
This entry was posted on October 13, 2009, in Sports - NFL.

Kids say the darnedest things:

Working from home means we have a few luxuries that most parents don’t enjoy. We take our son to and from school, instead of making him ride the bus.

Today the little Prince came home from school and asked why Mom couldn’t come pick him up with Daddy? When we told him I wasn’t feeling well and have a temperature, he put his hand on my face and said “Wow I can feel your hot”.

© 2009 Evil Wordsmith. Evilwordsmith.com. All Rights Reserved.