I culled two items of amusement this morning from my email and my, uh, blogroll . . . (maybe I should formalize the blogroll since at the moment it's just a bunch of bookmarks on my laptop). Anyhow, the first was a link on a blog called The Exciting Game of Career Girls. Ha, ha, it's funny 'cuz it's true . . . I remember that game.

The second is this, forwarded by my friend Susan. (I laughed out at the French wines part.)

--------------

>Dear Red States...
>
>We've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and
>we're taking the other Blue States with us.
>
>In case you aren't aware, that includes Hawaii, Oregon,Washington,
>Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We
>believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially
>to the people of the new country of New California.
>
>To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states.
>We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get Elliot
>Spitzer. You get Ken Lay.
>
>We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood.
>We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.
>We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss.
>We get 85 percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You
>get Alabama.
>We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states
>pay their fair share.
>
>Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the
>Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a
>bunch of single moms.
>
>Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and
>anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at
>once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have
>kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no
>purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their
>children's caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq, and
>hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to spend our
>resources in Bush's Quagmire.
>
>With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent
>of the country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple
>and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of
>America's quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners)
>90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most
>of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and
>condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools, plus Stanford, Cal,
Cal Tech
>and MIT.
>
>With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88
>percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care
>costs), 92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the
>tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern
>Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh,
>Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.
>
>We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.
>
>Additionally, 38 percent of those in the Red states believe Jonah was
>actually swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe life is sacred
>unless we're discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44 percent say
>that evolution is only a theory, 53 percent believe that Saddam was
>involved in 9/11 and 61 percent of you crazy bastards believe you are
people
>with higher morals than we lefties.
>
>By the way, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt
weed they
>grow in Mexico.
>
>Peace out,
>Blue States
>