4,800 Calories!   The West Michigan Whitecaps baseball team, will offer an enormous hamburger on their menu this year. “The 4-pound, $20 burger features five beef patties, five slices of cheese, nearly a cup of chili and liberal doses of salsa and corn chips, all on an 8-inch sesame-seed bun.”

You can read about it here: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9755V800&show_article=1

Any comments, questions or ideas on this or other topics?

Lots of national news today, with the stock market rally and a new public-private partnership plan from the Treasury Dept.  Do you like public-private projects?

Also interesting is this lame explanation of a secret meeting:

Reuters reports that Pres. Obama held talks with former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev,  in Washington last Friday, said Gorbachev’s spokesman. He gave no details of the discussion.  White House spokesman Robert Gibbs was pressed at a news conference about why the meeting between Obama and Gorbachev was not previously disclosed and did not appear on Obama’s official daily schedule.

“The president tends to roam around the larger (White) House and sometimes walks into meetings that weren’t previously on his schedule,” Gibbs said.

May the face of every good news and the back of every bad news be towards us.

I see in today’s Press that Charlie Nipp is still digging to find anyone and everyone that might have talked to Senator Mike Jorgenson about issues with LCDC.  Can you think of a good Irish saying for Charlie?

Any other thoughts, comments or ideas?

I’m pining for Spring. (pun intended)

We haven’t had an open session for awhile.  There’s a lot going on, so any comments, ideas?

Who to believe on the whole subject of climate change and its causes?    Are we warming or cooling?  Is it man-made or nature’s cycle?   Yesterday  I learned that the Cap and Trade system proposed to regulate carbon emissions will create a 2 TRILLION dollar industry…just in trading the rights to put carbon dioxide into the air.

Doesn’t Al Gore own a company that will “facilitate” these carbon trades?   Any other comments, ideas?

A hallmark of our freedom is the peaceful transition of governing power every 4 or 8 years.  So tomorrow we will wish our new President all the best.  We know there are serious challenges to face.

I was amused by a letter to the Press last week, the author observing that for the past 2 years we’ve been told everything is terrible and getting worse by the day.  His speculation is that, starting Wednesday morning, the message will change.  Things will seem better rapidly.  Instead of a glass half empty, it will instantly and  miraculously be half full. What do you think?  Any other comments or ideas?

Think we’ve got it tough? Here are England’s top credit card interest rates.  Remember that a British Pound, that funny “L”-shaped symbol, is equal to $1.51 in the US.

Any other thoughts on this or other subjects?

Happy New Year!  As we dig out more of the white stuff, which has now turned icy, what’s on your minds? Have you shoveled your roof?  Are you worried about it?

This morning’s Press reported that school district 271 wants to increase the size of most of their classrooms from 600 to 900 sq. ft. as they remodel.  Ok by me as long as they stay within the $5.1 million they already have for the project.  Any thoughts on this or other topics?

This is Dan during last winter–doesn’t seem much different now, does it?

In sports, the Zags play in the “Battle in Seattle” today against U Conn, the #2 team in the nation and lots of local folks are braving the drive over for the 1:00 pm game. (we’ll watch on TV)

On the national & world front, yesterday saw interesting news about the donations to the Clinton library. Huge money from Arab countries and connections in Kazakhstan and Ukraine.  Also from US companies asking for taxpayer bail-outs: AIG, Lehman, Merrill,  Citi Group and General Motors.  Can Hillary be independent?  Any other thoughts or comments?