without getting too much  in  personal  specifics, I live in  the same middle class northeastern  town  where I was born  and raised. My  kids are all  3 now in  grammar school and WTF the town  school  system  is REALLY really big on  recognizing, discussing  GROUNDHOG Day. NOT A WORD  about  President's Day. It's like it does not exist. And ...remember when  we had  WASHINGTON'S Birthday ....  and  LINCOLN'S  Birthday ?????  now I am looking around the kitchen countertop, etc at  all  the school  papers and sh*t  and there are just  PILES  of  GROUNDHOG  day   worksheets,  pictures, projects from  school.  I dont get it. Are we ( I mean  whatever this freaking school  system  is) trying to  stay  away  from  anything that  can possibly  flirt with political implications ??? There's spomething wroing with G Washington  and  A Lincoln now ?

Kids can get bored during the winter months, and odds are the school is just trying to find something top break up the winter dolldrums that isn't embroiled in political controversy.

It's all Bill Murray's fault. :laugh:

USA Today cartoon shows the guys holding up a picture to the groudhog and saying, "Don't bother. Google already saw your shadow and posted the picture on Facebook!"

And yes Political Correctness is way way way out of control.

Well, politicians (even dead ones) are obviously out, Halloween the whole pagan thing, Christmas, don't even go there,  July 4th encourages making IEDs, Columbus imperialist, Easter S&M as per Mel G., Labor Day, socialist, Valentine's sexualizing the poor kiddies - IIRC, we gave cards to each other without regard to gender, a potential minefield.  Someone will probably realize that the groundhog, fearing its own shadow is a sign of a weak and timid America and lobby to have it replaced with the wolverine. 

.... lets not make this a political thread. :)

I thought the movie - and Bill Murray for that matter - is vastly over rated.

See? A non political comment.

I'm a good boy, me. :) 

lol Yes you are Sam :)

Mea Culpa. Caddy Shack was better

passes lmckenzie a Baby Ruth candy bar! :woot:

We haven't even had our winter yet in California.  Did the groundhog see his shadow?  

Don't know K,  done  killed all  the ones round  here .  Groundhogs are varmints.  Unless you  are in  PA. Then  all  bets are off.

 I live about 15 miles away from Punxytawney and all you hear is about that varmit. I mean it's a year long thing around here.

 Yesterday, my 16 year old was so excited because Phil saw his shadow and there were 6 more weeks of winter yet. And my reply was DUH, there are 6 more weeks of winter left and I didn't need a woodchuck to tell me that. I have something called a calender that predicts when winter ends well in advance of the rodents prediction. I actually had to count off the weeks before he believed me. That's the kind of worship this groundhog gets.

 Besides, how can he see his shadow when they yank him out of his fake burrow and it only 5:30 am. It's still dark for crying out loud.

 And around here groundhogs aren't considered varmits, they're food. que the banjos :scared:

"passes lmckenzie a Baby Ruth candy bar!" Man in the boat overboard!

first of all, groundhog day was a totally cool and fun movie.

i don't know about that school, but maybe groundhog day is just a topic.  maybe they're talking about weather or something about the history of that.  i don't care enough about that particularly silly day to spend 2 seconds looking it up but i bet there's some history to it.  could be they will talk about presidents day on another day in that same class. 

now that i think about it, you might just be seeing a change in curriculum where they are adjusting in this holiday that might have been overlooked.  no need to look at the presidents at this moment because that curriculum is already settled.

lol now that i think about that, maybe the emphasis on this day that you are seeing is that someone mentioned they should adjust the curriculum a particular way and folks began arguing against it.  it might be a little matter no one thought anyone would care about until someone did and then it became a big matter.

anyway, i highly doubt that your kids will get through school without them teaching about the founders.  righty or lefty in your politics, it all goes back to the founders, and each side declares that the founders favor their take on things. 

(seems likely to me they were as divided and misguided as we are now, but that's just a guess.  they may have indeed been devine.)

lol at the wolverine thing

that bitch will eat his own shadow!

Dork - I think it's a lousy movie.  It may work if you like Bill Murray.  At the time I saw it, I knew nothing about him.  Oh boy, was I bored.

There's a short SF story - The Tunnel Under The World, by Robert Sheckley which uses a similar plot device to much better - and chilling - effect.

I really, really don't like Bill Murray.  I'd rather stick needles in my eyes than watch his movies.  There was a Bill Murray season on tv over here a few years ago.  I watched it with an open mind, not knowing much about the guy, and came away hating his guts. Honestly, I've been more entertained watching paint dry.

a better "groundhog day" - Stargate SG1's "Window of Opportunity" ... I laugh everytime I watch that one,,,

I laugh every time I see Stargate SG1, whether they intended it or not.  I honestly think it's an enormous pile of poo.

Just don't get me started on LOTR (any version) or Fantasy in general.  You know my opinions on Steampunk; they're kind and forgiving compared to my view of Fantasy.

I'm not making many friends here, am I? ;)   

No wonder the colonies gave the King the heave ho. Caddy Shack is a Classic.

There is no icon for rolling on floor, kicking legs, laughing uncontrollably, unfortunately.

Quote - There's spomething wrong with G Washington and A Lincoln now?

If they had cute animals associated with them, like a Washington Rabbit or a Lincoln Lion they might be a little bigger.

IMO the groundhog is more popular now because global warming is popular now... here's a cute animal that people used to eat to go along with your save the planet theme.  Incidentally, GHD's falls on Candlemas.  No one celebrates it anymore, but according to wiki, both the English (where the puritans came from and landed in the places that have groundhogs) and the Italians both have traditions that if Candlemas (GHD) has clear weather, winter will continue.

Also I'm not a fan of the movie but a relative watches it every year.  I think Murray had some good films, but GHD just isn't my thing.