THE USURPER LOSES HIS TEENSY LITTLE MIND!

If the article published today in "Car and Driver Online" is to be believed, President Pinhead Obama has ordered both GM and Chrysler to end their sponsorship of NASCAR at the end of this season. What, is he nuts? Does he wish to be booed loudly wherever he goes in NASCAR country? Does he even know how to drive a vehicle? Does he have a license? You'd have to show a valid birth certificate to get one and our President from Kenya probably cannot produce one of those!

UPDATE: This has been revealed to be an "April Fool's joke"

A GREAT WAY TO SPEND A WEEKEND

Dear friend (and temporary roommate) Linda was in a great deal of pain this past weekend as her injuries from the Greyhound bus incident in February flared substantially during the past two weeks. On Friday she had a protracted doctor's visit-and tests- and it was determined that she needs thrice weekly physical therapy, new medications (which alternately make her light headed or nauseated) and heaven only knows what else. Added to that, it was scheduled to rain heavily both Saturday and Sunday nights (which in fact it did do).

As a result, I did what absolutely needed over the weekend (got the car serviced and filled it with gas) on Saturday and did some shopping on Sunday. Beyond that, we watched NASCAR and various DVDs, whilst enjoying the company of the dogs and cats in our household. There was, of course, the obligatory lap sitting attempts by the cats Tim and Gigi, but also by Zeus (75+ pounds and half pit bull) and Harley (1/2 Corgi and 1/2 Heinz 57 Varieties) during the really heavy rain. And Sam, not to be outdone, insisted on sleeping with his head firmly ensconced between my body and my right arm!

Are Linda and I the only people who dislike Tony Stewart? Does he EVER shave? Is there a bigger, whiney crybaby on the circuit? Why don't more people root for Jeff Gordon? Is it because, as Jeff Foxworthy opines, he articulates the language too well? Is not Juan Carlos Montoya hot?! I'm just saying.

As to DVDs, I can highly recommend Saving Grace which stars Craig Ferguson and the delightful Brendan Blethyn. Then in a moment of exuberant nostalgia, we watched High Anxiety which is not one of Mel Brooks' best, but still the worst Mel Brooks film is typically head and shoulders above the best done by anyone else. We also watched Are We There Yet? and Are We Done Yet?, both of which star Ice Cube. We also watched RV and The Night Listener on the Free Starz Weekend, both of which starred two very different sides of Robin Williams.

Clearly, between the heat, the heavy rains and Linda's pain (my own pain was not insignificant -since arthritic spines and really, really, really wet weather just don't mix well), being indolent was the way to go this past weekend! And we did so, with enormous enjoyment!

CONGRATULATIONS, JEFF GORDON

Yesterday at Talladega, Alabama, NASCAR standout Jeff Gordon, on the day that racing legend Dale Earnhardt would have turned 56, achieved career victory #77, thus moving past Earnhardt's win record. The victory was not popular with many. The great comedian Jeff Foxworthy says people resent Jeff Gordon because he enunciates the English language correctly. And it's understandable that Jeff Gordon achieving this milestone, on this day in this venue was a lot hard to take for many Earnhardt loyalists. But as far as I'm concerned, this was a great victory for Jeff Gordon and for NASCAR.

(And I swear to you that I took very little pleasure in Tony Stewart stomping off the track in one of his famous snits after someone clipped his car and sent him into the wall with less than 2 laps to go. Not that Stewart has EVER needed a reason to whine! Of course, as my sister Linda says, "Real men don't wear orange. Unless it's the jumpsuit issued by the prison system!)