For the Conference title games anyway .... I'll be IN Chicago .... taking "The Boy" back to school.  Plan on getting mired in traffic as we gotta drive right BY Soldier Field.  Could be worse.  Obama could be in attendance.

Packer y 6 1/2 over da Bears.  Most lines show them giving 3 1/2 so while I'd normaly feel squeemishabout the number, lay it.  Maybe something line 24-18.

On the AFC side, much as I HATE the Steelers, I like them by 5 1/2 over the Jets.  Line has 'em by 3 1/2 so again, lay the icky points.  Steelers 21, Jets 17.

The House last night kept a promise made by quite a few members and voted to repeal the job-killing Obamacare statute. 

245-189.  A margin of 56 votes.

First passed 219-212

A margin of on 7 votes.  For those of you who attended innercity public schools that's a swing of 63 votes.

Want bipartisanship?  The passage saw bipartisan opposition to the tune of 34 Donks voting against while no Elphs voted for.  Not quite as much split for repeal.  No Elphs jumped ship but only three Donks joined them.  The difference?  Many of those Donks have been replaced by Elphs!

GIGO. We all know the term, but it's been wearing on me lately so let me meander a bit. We'll start with the BCS. Back when the plan was announced I was happy. Using a computer would take the human element out of the process. But then the final plan unfolded and was changed over several seasons. First, every time the computer result didn't “jibe” with what certain human elements wanted the computer element was tweaked. Weak. And then there's the selection of computer elements. Query: how predictive are they? Seriously – has anyone ever asked that? I did a breakdown over a dozen years ago. Sagarin was the most accurate (the REAL Sagarin ratings, not the watered down one they use in the BCS.) Only one other (now forgotten model) was accurate over 50% of the time. The rest? UNDER 50%!!!! So why, preytell, are they being used at all? To provide the patina of legitimacy.

Global warming. Anthropomorphic, to be precise. It MUST be true because computer models say it is. With the complete breakdown of the UEA studies we now see that it's no more accurate than the BCS! The modeling program used by Al Gore in his Academy Award winning move, for example: ask it how the temp of the earth would change if the earth were moved 100% further away from the sun. Or 50% closer to the sun. Answer: no change. Really? Effectively doubling or halving the single largest input into the temperature of the earth would have no effect? GIGO. “But it's a computer model.” To provide a patina of legitimacy.

And finally, polling. As a poli sci student waaaaaay back in the 70's I applied myself earnestly to the study of both polling and statistical analysis. Remember Mark Twain's famous “lies, damned lies, and statistics”? Never truer than when in the hands of today's DMC. If the numbers seem too good (or bad, this cuts both ways kiddies) to be true, look at the internals. When confronted with polling data in casual conversation the first question I always ask is “what are the internals?” From what audience did you draw? Quick lesson. Most of today's media presented polling is based on one of three demographics: likely voters, registered voters and “people.” Needless to say that on political issues these were presented in declining order of usefulness. Polling folks without skin in the game is a fools errand but can often yield desired albeit misleading results. The second “internal” is party affiliation breakdown. It should go without saying that a poll of 80% Donks/10% Elphs and 10% Indys will give VASTLY different results. So polling outfits track their answers and affiliations and SHOULD try to match their balance to recent election results, with some legitimate and acceptable tweaking. But when the numbers don't show what the pollster WANTS them to show (just like with the BCS) the results can be skewed by overtweaking the affiliation percentages. But you have to DIG for these tweaks. Why? To provide a patina of legitimacy.

Of course not.  But I have yet to win a freakin GAME!

Last Saturday, I was cheering for my Saints and the Colts.  0-2.

Sunday Iggles lost, Baltimore won. 0-4

Yesterday.  Stillers/Ravens is a blimp game.  But I'd prefer the Ravens.  Nope

Falcons stunk against Packers.  0-6

Didn't really care about the Bears/SeaSquawks game but since SEA beat NO.  Well.  No.

And now the Jests are beating the Patsies.  Looking at going 0-8.

If you wanna get your wagers in I'm liking the Packers over the Bears and the Ravens over the Jests, then the Packers in the SB.

and perhaps I need to start a new catagory for first principles because this probably qualifies ...

Jonah Goldberg over at NRO reports as follows:

I have no doubt that there are  flaws with this poll of elected officials (the sample was only 165 respondents -- a subset of some 30,000 surveyed -- and I'd guess most weren't elected to federal office). But still, this ain't pretty:

Only 49 percent of elected officials could name all three branches of government, compared with 50 percent of the general public.

Only 46 percent knew that Congress, not the president, has the power to declare war -- 54 percent of the general public knows that.

Just 15 percent answered correctly that the phrase "wall of separation" appears in Thomas Jefferson's letters -- not in the U.S. Constitution -- compared with 19 percent of the general public.

And only 57 percent of those who've held elective office know what the Electoral College does, while 66 percent of the public got that answer right. (Of elected officials, 20 percent thought the Electoral College was a school for "training those aspiring for higher political office.")

The Governor of  California is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote jumps  out, bites the Governor and attacks his dog.

1. The Governor starts to intervene, but reflects  upon the movie “Bambi” and then realizes he should stop; the coyote is  only doing what is natural.

2. He calls animal control. Animal Control  captures the coyote and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases and $500  for relocating it.

3. He calls a veterinarian. The vet collects  the dead dog and bills the State $200 for testing it for diseases.

4. The Governor goes to hospital and spends  $3,500 getting checked for diseases from the coyote and on getting his  bite wound bandaged.

5. The running trail gets shut down for  6 months while Fish & Game conducts a $100,000 survey to  make sure the area is free of dangerous animals.

6. The Governor spends $50,000 in state funds to  implement a “coyote awareness” program for residents of the area.

7. The State Legislature spends $2 million  to study how to better treat rabies and how to permanently  eradicate the  disease throughout the world.

8. The Governor’s security agent is  fired for not stopping the attack somehow and for letting the  Governor attempt to intervene.

9. Additional cost to State of California:  $75,000 to hire and train a new security agent with additional special  training re: the nature of coyotes.

10. PETA protests the coyote’s  relocation and files suit against the State.

 The Governor of Texas is  jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A Coyote jumps out, bites  the Governor’s leather boot, and attacks his dog.

1. The Governor shoots the coyote with his State-issued  pistol and keeps jogging. The Governor has spent $0.50 on a .45 ACP  hollow
point cartridge.

2. The buzzards eat the dead coyote.

And that, boys and girls, is why California is  broke………..And, more importantly, why too much government  doesn’t work.

over at Flickchart.com.  If you're a cino-phile you NEED to waste a few minutes every day over there.

 I've posted my top ten occasionally and it hasn't changed much. The only high addition has been Papillon at #27. But what about my BOTTOM 10? This needs tweeked, but here we go

A Town Called Panic

Meet the Parents

The Notebook

Thank You for Smoking (will be raised off the list shortly. Probably doesn't belong THIS low)

Hangmen – Sandra Bullock's first, and worst, movie

Slither. Just glop

The Devil Doll. Deserves higher. It's just a phobia of mine

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Snakes on a Plane

Pinata: Survival Island. The other two might deserve better treatment. This one doesn't.