We are on the cusp of the greatest upheaval in our country since the Civil War.

With the passing, and signing into law, of the biggest health care overhaul in our nations history we have embarked on probably the biggest upheaval that this nation has gone through since the Civil War, which is certainly beyond the scale of anything anyone alive has experienced since the Second World War.  This overshadows events such as Watergate, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Clinton Scandal, hands down.

The first returning volley of political or legal action has been the filing of suit against the federal government by over a dozen of states' Attorneys General.  And one might assume that these were all republican AGs, but it appears that there are democrats joining this fight as well.  The suit that has been filed asserts that forcing citizens of the united states to have health care is unconstitutional.

A Two-Year-Old's Left Nostril Can Hold (at least) 5 Pieces of Corn

This evening while eating dinner our 4 year old decides he is going to stuff some corn up his nose, which his little brother thinks is a great idea.  He promptly starts stuffing them up his own nose, which daddy then needs to suck out with one of those mucus suckers.  Now you would think that after a couple rounds of this our 2 year old would get the idea that getting them out is not as fun as putting up there, but you would be wrong.

After being distracted for a few minutes I come back to the dinner table and discover him stuffing more up his nose.  Well, I squeeze his nose and three of them come squirting out.  Just to make sure I got everything I take a look up there and see one is definitely still up there.  So, I take the sucker thingy and after a couple of minutes I am able to extract a rather large piece of corn.

Now you would think that was it.  Again, you would be wrong.  There was still one up there.  So another couple minutes of sucking and finally I am able to liberate a poor piece of corn that I am sure never thought it would end up in the nasal cavity of a 2 year old.

Ah, but the story does not end there.  About 20 minutes later I am required to extract a piece of corn from both, yes both, nostrils.

Seriously, how much discomfort does a child have to go through before they realize something is not a good idea?

It's Suddenly the 80's Again!

If anyone remembers the NFL in the 80's they will remember long periods of the same few teams going to the Super Bowl while other teams pretty much stayed at the bottom scrambling for scraps the other teams let fall off the table.

Well, it looks like those times are back.  The salary caps that have been imposed on the NFL since the early 90's are gone.  This should usher in a new dynastic era where teams like the Dallas Cowboys, who have plenty of money to throw around, will be able to buy any player they want to ensure they make it to the Super Bowl year after year.  Meanwhile teams like the Detroit Lions, and the Cincinnatti Bengals will struggle with the meager earnings these teams make from year to year, because of their poor performance from year to year, it will be harder and harder for them to build a competitive team.

Sure, many people throughout the NFL may say that there will not be an immediate effect, but when you consider owners like Jerry Jones and Al Davis who will not sneeze at the possibility of shelling out the big bucks if they can bring some major players to their teams, you have the possibility of some new dynasties developing.

With the same token you will have owners like Mike Brown who, historically, has not had that great a track record putting together winning teams.  Even with profit sharing and the salary caps.

Hopefully, the owners will not start signing players with astronomical contracts while at the same time raising ticket prices to pay for them.  This will alienate the fans and ultimately drive attendance down, even at the big venues like the new Dallas Cowboy stadium.

Part of the excitement of watching football from year to year is seeing different teams make a run for the big prize.  Sure we all want "our team" to go every year, but that would be boring.  The league would no longer be competitive, and thus no longer entertaining.  We would end up just tuning in at half time during the Super Bowl to see who the big act is.

Case in point is the New Orleans Saints.  This year is the first time since they became a franchise that they made it to, and won, the Super Bowl.  Who is to say that would have happened without a salary cap?  Sure there were plenty of other factors involved, but one of those is the fact that every team had a limit they had to work with.

Many people in the league don't think that another salary cap will happen any time soon.  This would involve the players union and the owners negotiating a new CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement).  However, with the salary cap being gone, so is the "floor", which means teams can pretty much pay as little as the feel they need to in order to keep players on the roster instead of cutting them lose.  This may prompt "underpaid" players to push for a new CBA.

We shall see.  Needless to say, this upcoming season will be interesting to say the least.