Carnival of the Badger - Cold and Flu Season Edition 

Normally I'd spend extra time being creative... coming up with fun quips and related links to everyone's posts... but I'm still feeling pretty out of it... and am kind hopped up on cold medicine. So this should be interesting.

Thank you for viewing this week's Carnival of the Badger. For English... please press one. Para Español, presione dos por favor. To find out how to get a real live person when you call a toll free number, go to Subject to Change.

The 7 Deadly Sins is previewing some of week 17's NFL games in a show of sloth. Previewing? Isn't the regular season over now? Well I suppose it is... but now you can go back and see how close he came to getting it right.

After you've seen how the games were predicted to go, you can go to Leaning Blue who was at the Packer vs. Seahawks game, and has pictures to boot.

Whoa... did you just see that... or am I imagining things? Who knew something so big could dance so well. Weird.

Speaking of elephants in a room... Mike over at Cooler Near the Lake has another installment in his debate for a gay marriage ban. In this installment he's responding to comments about his earlier posts on the subject.

The American Mind is talking about the brutal beating of Samuel McClain... and how its making him rethink his stance on the drug war. Of course legalizing drugs will never happen in this country. Hell... we're getting closer to a total ban on smoking... and we seem to be creeping closer and closer to prohibition again.

The Xoff files delves even deeper into the matter with a good roundup of blogger reactions to this tragic story. For once I actually agree with Xoff when he says he's holding off on articulating an opinion of what to do about it. And to be more than honest... I don't think there's anything "we" can do. And by "we" of course... I mean those of us who don't live where this happened. For as much as we want to effect change there... that change has to be wanted... and initiated by those most affected. As the old saying goes... you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. But if those involved are interesting in tasting the water, From Where I Sit has some ideas to consider.

Holy cow! Get it off me! Get it off me! Wait... where did it go? Damn... did you see the teeth on that thing?

While Time decided to devote its "Person of the Year" cover to three people who donate millions of dollars every year to charitable causes... Texas Hold 'Em Blogger is talking about BET's choice for Man of Year... Louis Farrakhan. Who were you expecting them to name... Bill Cosby?

And while the Milwaukee Journal seems to have no issue with dead people voting, or with dozens of voters having their legal residence in an empty lot... they seem to be asking an awful lot of questions about Scott Newcomer's living situation when voted according to Badger Blogger. Don't worry though... Patrick has the entire story.

On this, the 12th day of Christmas, The Happy Circumstance is rounding up some charitable giving news from our elected representatives. And if you're interested in some ways you can help brighten someone's day, might I suggest a donation to the USO towards a care package to our troops. $25 will send a bunch of goodies worth about $90 to someone who is helping preserve democracy far away from home.

Speaking of Christmas (and colds)... did you ever wonder if Rudolph's red nose was caused by blowing his nose a lot because he was congested? I only say this because I didn't need fog lights to get into work the last couple of days... my nose was doing fine leading the way.

Jim over at Widgerson Library & Pub is staying clear of Milwaukee's North Side... for good it would seem. Personally I have no fear when it comes to driving around Milwaukee. Some of the recent stories are pretty scare... but when it comes right down to the percentages... the odds are pretty good you'll make it out alive. I think its something akin to seeing an airline crash and thinking how dangerous flying is, when in reality it's safer than driving. It's just that when something bad does happen, it makes a big media splash.

And finally, Spring City Chronicle has a wrap up of the candidate for Waukesha mayor, and his list of important issues. It's good to concentrate on these mayoral elections. When Wauwatosa last voted for mayor... it was a coin flip between two people we never heard of... and now I can't even remember who I voted for.

Well that about wraps up this week's edition. So far I have no volunteer's for next week's Carnival... so I'm still deciding what I want to do. It might just be time for a week off, unless you're ready and willing to participate. It's not that hard, and you'll get some nice exposure to your blog. The next scheduled carnival will be on the 19th over at From Where I Sit.

Hope everyone had a happy and safe New Year!

Update: Jenna over at Right Off The Shore has graciously volunteered to host next week's Carnival.

Update II: Quietly replaced one post from someone with another. Note to submitters... double check your URL before you hit send. You never know when you'll be sending in a post about darts to a carnival.