Forget that card

Since last year, I had given a lot of thought to buying a Johnny Damon rookie card. Not anymore. I could care less about him right now. The Red Sox should more pissed about letting Theo Epstein go. Theo would NEVER have gotten rid of Johnny Damon. I'm still digesting it like the rest of Red Sox nation but remember I am a St. Louis fan first and foremost. But the Yankees?!?

Indiana state employees have recieved an early holiday present. Gov. Daniels has authorized a 2% pay raise.

Schleping through the snow on two tired feet, looking for your friends with no place to ride...

As New York City suffered through Day One without subways or buses, even the high and mighty - well, with the possible exception of Donald Trump - were not immune from the consequences.

As for the fabulously thatch-roofed real-estate impresario and reality-television star, "Donald is a unique person, because he lives in the building he works in, so he doesn't have a commute," a Trump spokeswoman revealed yesterday.

So the Donald is lucky but what about everyone else?

"Saturday Night Live" comic Darrell Hammond: "I normally take the 1 and the 2 downtown to do standup, because it's much faster. Today I am doing the shared cabs, where they can stop and pick up four fares, but it's not easy to find one. I'm trying to get to the East Side, and it's a parking lot. I'm not mad at anyone. I think you'll find a more meaningful dialogue as talks continue. New York is a special place."

I had the chance to see Hammond live in person and I missed out on it. One of my biggest regrets ever.

Sidney Ponson, just out of jail, has signed a one year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Cardinals are expected to continue fleshing out their pitching staff by signing reliever Felix Rodriguez to a one-year deal as well. Should Rodriguez sign, general manager Walt Jocketty could project a 12-man staff for the first time since the majority of his bullpen and Morris filed for free agency or retired following last season. Octavio Dotel, whom the Cardinals had courted, signed a one-year deal with the New York Yankees on Tuesday.

It's bipartisan, stupid! The GOP would be playing very unfairly on national security issues if they attack us for being partisan on the Patriot Act as four of there own are against it. Who are the four? Let's find out:

The four Republican rebels -- Larry E. Craig (Idaho), Chuck Hagel (Neb.), John E. Sununu (N.H.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) -- have joined all but two Senate Democrats in arguing that more civil liberties safeguards need to be added to the proposed renewal of the Patriot Act. The law makes it easier for FBI agents to monitor phone calls, search homes and obtain business records of terrorism suspects. The four stand calmly at the center of a political storm that soon will determine whether the law, enacted soon after the 2001 terrorist attacks, is renewed in a modified form or allowed to expire in 11 days.[...]

It would be easier for GOP leaders to shrug off the mini-rebellion if it came from the well-known moderates of Maine and Rhode Island who often defy the party on fiscal and social issues. Instead, the four could star in a "Big Tent" ad proclaiming the Republican Party's diversity. They include a dyed-in-the-wool conservative (Craig), a rising star and presidential aspirant (Hagel), and two second-generation Republican achievers (Murkowski and Sununu).[...]

Hagel appears equally sanguine. "I took an oath of office to the Constitution, I didn't take an oath of office to my party or my president," he recently told reporters.

Sununu, whose father was a New Hampshire governor and White House chief of staff to George H.W. Bush, took issue with Bush's ultimatum. "How can the president justify vetoing the [temporary] extension?" Sununu said. "That suggests that he thinks the country is better off without any Patriot Act provisions in place than with a three-month extension. And that makes no sense at all."

US District Judge James Robertson has resigned. He's one of 11 people that serve on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISA.

The Tom McCall forum at Pacific University will be on February 22nd with speaks Tom Daschle and Pat Buchanan.

WISH-TV takes a look back at 2005 in Indiana politics.

Jon Kyl is the Senator with no respect.

Expect light blogging until I get back to campus. It's a downside of sharing a pc with several people.