Where's My Guide Dog?
Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, who was forced to resign by the President in December of 2002, is coming out with a book in which he finally admits to betting on baseball.

No, wait. Wrong upcoming book.

In The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill, the former Secretary turned backstabbing opportunist, compares Bush's performance in Cabinet meetings to "a blind man in a roomful of deaf people."

Um, okay. But what does that mean? And if Bush is supposed to be the blind man. what does that say about everyone else at those meetings? That they can't afford hearing aids?

And why, exactly, would a blind man be in a roomful of deaf people in the first place? Did he wander in there by mistake? And would he even know it if he were in such a room? After all, if he's blind, it's not like he can see what's going on around him. And if the deaf people are trying to talk while signing with one another, maybe the blind guy will think he's in a roomful of people with speech impediments.

These are all important questions, and one can only hope O'Neill takes the time to answer them in his book.

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Flakes
Yesterday's morning commute was pretty much a disaster of biblical proportions. The weather forecasters, for the last several days, had been predicting a dusting of snow for the early morning hours. And in an unprecedented development, they turned out to be right for once.

However, the highway crew were either caught totally off guard by the flakes, or else failed to take it seriously. At any rate, they elected to not send out any salt trucks. Consequently, the snow melted as cars drove over it, then refroze into an icy glaze. The end result was scores of fender benders on virtually unnegotiable streets.

The largest school system in the area, Fairfax County, was caught with its pants down (in a non-Michael Jackson sort of way) as it decided to open on time rather than go with a two hour delay. Needless to say, many its school buses ended up getting caught in the same massive traffic tieups. Parents were predictably upset over the fiasco. Superintendent Daniel A. Domenech actually went on a local radio station later in the morning and apologized for his earlier decision.

On the other hand, Fairfax schools have been known to close in anticipation of bad weather, only to have it turn out to be a beautiful, sunny day. Then the parents end up bitching about the schools being closed for no reason. So in many cases, officials are damned if they delay or cancel schools, and damned if they don't. Being the one who ultimately has to make that decision must be one of the most thankless jobs around.

Aside from being the civilian Administrator of Iraq.

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Have a Stiff One
I hate sites such as this (via Daniella's Misadventures) that prey on people's superstitions. Astrology, especially, is a crock. There's just absolutely no truth to any of that stuff.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going out for a few rounds with my drinking buddies Jimmy Carter, Simon Cowell, Ani DiFranco, Janeane Garofalo, Hugh Jackman, Martina Navratilova, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sting, Oscar Wilde, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.