Greetings from still cold Cleveland!  The flawed local weather professionals keep promising a warm up is on the horizon, but I’ve learned to not trust their predictions past a 24 hour window.  Our winter this year?  Already a funky mess only one full month in.

Egypt – I, like I’m sure many others, got caught up a bit in the events unfolding in Egypt, including Mubarak finally stepping down.  I admit I haven’t followed the political atmosphere or complexities of his decades-long reign.  I mark this as a mess because it is yet another, all too familiar example of how the selfishness of those in power can doom a country and lead to the tragic events that unfolded in the people’s protest for freedom.   

Lindsay Lohan’s Jewelry Theft – So we have her lawyer busy once again.  The story this time is that while Lindsay supposedly “didn’t steal anything,” even if she did, the charges are too high.  Um, there’s a picture of her wearing the necklace.  And, um, the jeweler says they didn’t lend it to her.  Doesn’t any type of theft violate her previous terms of release?  So, let’s pull her, lock her up and be done with the babysitting. 

Christina Aguilera and the Anthem – Yes, yes, she screwed up the words.  I actually feel sorry for her on that point.  Singing is her job and I’m sure a nightmare scenario for a singer is forgetting the words at anytime, let alone a BIG performance of the National Anthem.  Imagine what your worst nightmare to happen on the job is, and you can feel some sympathy for her.

My beef was before she even got to the flub.  It is with all the screaming.  My eardrums are still bleeding.  Can we get some reverence for what you are singing?  An ounce of emotion?  Do you even understand the meaning of the words?  Undeniably, XTina has a set of amazing pipes.  Yet she’s got screechers disease and everything she touches turns into the same wretched noise.  Enough already from her and all other the multiple syllable yelpers. 

Here’s the way it should be done…old-school and new-school National Anthem versions.