2 p.m.

 

• So Fast Eddie is now saying that the new arena deal in store for the Penguins is the BEST DEAL EVER IN THE STATE, or some shit like that.

 

Gov. Ed Rendell says the arena deal that state, city and county officials are putting together for the Pittsburgh Penguins is the best offered to any National Hockey League Team in recent years.

 

"It's also by far the best of any offer made to any Pennsylvania professional sports team for a new stadium," Rendell told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as he left a hotel Friday.

Ha. It may be the BEST DEAL EVER IN THE STATE, but is it better than the deals in Houston or Kansas City? You bitches strung out Mario Lemieux way too damn long, and now it’s time to pay the piper. I wonder if you people would have treated the Rooney family the same way? Doubtful.

 

• W. made his State of the Union speech last night. Didn’t listen. Don’t care. I’ve always avoided this annual speech. I don’t want to know how government plans to fuck me over in the upcoming year. I prefer to have my head in the sand and have it come as a surprise during the course of that year. That way you can act as if it a big game or something.

 

• I never had any problems with Brandy; she seemed harmless enough. She’s not too harmless behind the wheel of a Land Rover, though.

 

TMZ has learned R&B sensation Brandy was involved in a fatal accident last month, and it appears to be her fault.

 

It happened at 10:30 AM on December 30, 2006 on the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles. Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Brandy was driving her 2007 Land Rover at 65 mph and did not notice that cars in front of her had slowed considerably. We're told Brandy's vehicle struck a 2005 Toyota. The Toyota then hit a 1989 Toyota. The 2005 Toyota then slid sideways and hit the center divider. As the 2005 Toyota came to a halt, it was struck by a 1988 Acura.

 

We're told the driver of the 2005 Toyota, Awatef Aboudihaj, was taken to Holy Cross Hospital in critical condition and she died the next day. Aboudihaj, a 38-year-old married mother of one, was a Los Angeles resident.

 

Brandy was not injured. The driver of the Acura suffered moderate injuries.

 

Brandy was not arrested and there is no evidence drugs or alcohol were involved.

 

Calls to Brandy's reps have not yet been returned.

 

Police are doing a mechanical investigation of the cars involved in the accident to determine if there was a malfunction.

 

Brandy's "Moesha" co-star, Lamont Bentley, was killed in January, 2005 when his car plunged off the same freeway. Another "Moesha" co-star, Merlin Santana, was killed by a gunshot wound while sitting in the passenger seat of a car in 2002.

 

For her sake I hope she wasn’t under the influence of anything (it appears that way so far) and this fatal accident can be chalked up as just that – an accident.

 

• There’s been some uproar over these proposed public transportation cuts that are going on in my region. Of course the weenies sporting the “Save Our Mass Transit,” signs have come out to public meetings pissing and moaning about the whole thing, much to EricMM’s delight I’m sure. Could it be entirely possible that some bus routes should be eliminated due to a lack of ridership? Nah. More union contracts for all. Efficiency be damned. I can’t wait to see the bitching that will take place if the local Public Authority Transit Board actually tries to go through with this idea.