Snow, Blizzard, Winds and Ice - Mother Nature Shuts Up Politicians

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It started snowing about 2 pm yesterday, Friday, and has not stopped snowing since. So far we have about 20 inches of new snow, some areas have over 30 inches,and it is supposed to snow for 6-7 more hours.



Incredibly the politicians of Washington, DC went silent and have not been heard from since the snows came. I think it is Mother Earth's way of protecting us from a severe political overdose.



Now there are a few unusual things about this monster storm as the media likes to hype it. First here at Coltons Point 60 miles down the Potomac River from our nation's capitol we have had a blizzard and flood warning in effect since the storm began.

That means we are supposed to be overrun by river water while suffering blinding snow, we call it white out conditions, with wind gusts up to 75 miles per hour.



Instead it rained all night meaning we got a lot more precipitation than the snow areas up north. You see every inch of rain equals 10 inches of snow and we had well over an inch of rain all night, probably two inches.

However, this morning it did start snowing and by 2 pm this afternoon we had over 12-16 inches of fresh snow on top of the 1-2 inches of rain which was on top of the remainer of the 12 inches of snow last weekend and the 24 inches of snow about 30 days ago.



So here in our little Southern Maryland outpost we have had about 50-60 inches of snow this winter, the most in history, and the magnolia trees are getting mad as hell.



I grew up in Iowa and Nebraska so this is more like a typical winter for me but these St. Mary's County natives long ago got spoiled and expect tropical winters.

Send Al Gore a message, where the heck is the global warming that has filled your bank accounts.



More than 300,000 people around here have no power and the Super Bowl is a little over 24 hours away. You can bet there will be power by then since Super Bowl commericals are the best thing on television.

I have a great many readers in Florida. Bet you are happy you fled the Northeast for the orange groves. There is also a strong contingent from New Orleans where Super Bowl fever has hit an insane pitch.



All the hotels in New Orleans are booked the nght of the Super Bowl even though the Super Bowl is in Miami about 500 miles away. Those cajuns are throwing the biggest party other than Marti Gras to celebrate the first team appearance in the Super Bowl and no matter who wins they will probably be happy.



You see, it is the first trip for the Saints but if Indianapolis wins the star of the Colts, Peyton Manning, grew up in New Orleans and his father has been with the Saints for 39 years as a player and executive.



For those of you outside the US and there are readers from over 100 countries don't believe all you hear about the storm in the media. We are quite well prepared for storms like this, even for the power outages. Many of us grew up with them.

It will make for good headlines but it will not disrupt much of our way of life because we were all going to be watching the Super Bowl anyway tomorrow.



And for those of you who are conspiracy seekers this could be a good one. The threat of a paralyzing storm emptied all the stores in the entire northeastern United States, where 55 million people live, of food, supplies and survival gear not to mention snow shovels, generators, water, etc.



I saw people so panicked they were buying shopping carts full of stuff. I mean how much food and toilet paper can you go through in a weekend? So wouldn't that threat of a huge storm help the Obama economic recovery with the burst of consumer spending in the biggest markets in America after a bad week on the stock market? What do you think Glenn Beck?

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Super Bowl Time - The Gladiators in the Coliseum - Are the Saints Angels or Demons?

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Don't know about you but the one time a year when I like pro football is when it is time for the Super Bowl, football's version of the World Series, or is it the clash of titans? At any rate, this is the one game every year when there is so much money riding on the outcome, both legal and illegal, that you can almost count on an honest effort by everyone involved.



Gambling, yet another nation pastime that remains outside the law in most states, has had a corrupting influence on most sports over the years. Illegal gambling is like playing the hedge funds or derivative markets on Wall Street where you can bet and win for or against the team or fund depending on whether you can anticipate the outcome. All the better if you can influence it.



Many a great sports career has been tarnished or ruined by people trying to influence players or officials to throw games, fake injuries, or simply hurt an opposing star. Kind of like an investment house betting the housing market will collapse or oil prices will skyrocket and then influencing the news media to make it happen in the press.



In the league finals between the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings it was like watching a gang of paid assassins trying to permanently damage the Vikings legendary quarterback Brett Favre. I can't tell yet if the Saints are angels or demons so I guess I will have to see if Payton Manning can avoid what they did to Favre.



Not that pain isn't part of the game, and Favre can take as much pain as anyone, but the viciousness and excessiveness of the quarterback attacks seemed to go way beyond good sportsmanship and even resulted in a couple of penalties from the see nothing do nothing officials.



As for the overtime in pro football, sudden death should be declared dead on arrival. That is the most unfair method of determining a winner I have ever seen and the only overtime format in all of professional sports where it is entirely possible the skill of both teams may never get tested in overtime. I mean even tennis has a multi-point winner, not the first to score, and in soccer both teams get shots to win.



But professional football has a system where a team can score and the other team's offense will never get a chance to play in the overtime, like what happened in the New Orleans game. College football needs a real playoff and pro football needs a real overtime that rewards skill, gives equal opportunity for both teams to demonstrate their offense and defense, and awards victory to those who earn it.



As for the New Orleans Saint and whether they are angels or demons, does it really matter in a sport where strength, hard hitting, bashing, shooting off the mouth and grandstanding are all considered part of the sports mystique? The Super Bowl will determine the real champion and if the game is lousy which does occasionally happen at least we know the commercials will be entertaining, even during an economic recession.



So we have the Indianapolis Colts and Payton Manning who won it a couple of years ago against the New Orleans Saint who have never even been in the Super Bowl. People like underdogs and of course the Saints are underdogs. However, both teams were first in their leagues and league champions do not often make it to the Super Bowl.



Manning is not Favre, he is much bigger, younger and stronger and the Colts are a lot more protective. It seems the most successful sports franchises protect their stars at all costs. Look what happens when an opposing pitcher hits one of the Yankees baseball team starts. Someone is going to get hit in retaliation. Indianapolis will protect Manning if he even needs it.



I do have a problem with Reggie Bush, star of the Saints. There is something unfair about what he did when he was in college at USC and he won the national championship and Heisman trophy. A multi-year investigation by the NCAA is about to be released and I expect it will show Bush violated many laws in college accepting cars, cash, a home for his parents, trips and who knows what else from agents intent on getting a piece of his pro career.

If that is true, then USC will probably have to forfeit all the games he played in and might lose the national championship and Bush might lose the Heisman as the best player in college football. It would be appropriate for the severity of what he may have done. What is unfair is that the university can lose all that, be put on probations and lose millions of dollars in revenues from bowl games, lose tens of thousands of dollars in sports scholarships other deserving kids might have been given, but Bush, the one behind the disaster, loses his trophy and nothing more.

He still kept all the payoffs during his college career, his parents kept what they got, Bush got his millions of dollars in the pros, so crime seems to be very rewarding for him. You see, without the national championship and Heisman trophy he never would have got the millions he was paid to turn pro. If pro football wanted to run a clean house they would ban for life anyone who cheated in college to benefit in the pros.

As it stands right now the next generation of pro football players will be encouraged to cheat, take bribes and illegal gifts in college, further eroding the morality in amateur sports, especially if Bush and New Orleans wins the Super Bowl. It just does not seem right that the signal we send our youth is crime pays, and pays and pays, not just for the moment but throughout their career. This Super Bowl will be a bit tarnished if the Saints win.



By the way, one last bit of advice for the pros. The Pro Bowl, in other words the all star game for the pros, is the week between the League championships and the Super Bowl. That means all the star players on the top two or four teams in pro football cannot play in the all star game. Isn't that a bit stupid and a rip off for the fans who want to see the top stars in the all star game? Change the schedule so real all stars can play for the fans.