Senseless cents.

Remember Bernice Gallego? The lady who found an 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings card while thinning her antique collection. The actual final price of the card was $75,285.78, and Memory Lane Auctions says the price is a record for its house and that the last 1869 Red Stockings card sold for around $30,000.

Stuff like this serves to remind me that nothing is absolute. Everywhere we go, we are treated to sentences that begin, "In this economy..." and prattle on about how tough it is in this economy. Then, some old lady sells a piece of 140 year old cardboard for more than most people make in 2 years and I am reminded that times are tough, but not for everyone.

Good for Bernice, I guess. Truly, a sucker is born every minute, and there is no shortage of people with more money than brains.

The fact that someone will pay over $75,000 for a baseball card is one thing, but there are still people paying $7 for coffee and that seems a little extreme, too - although not as many as used to.

Recently, Manny Ramirez turned down the Los Angeles Dodgers' offer of $25 million to play the outfield for 6 months. It must suck to be him.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, except that in the land of stupidity and wasting money on crap, our government leads the way. Today, the U.S. Mint is putting a new penny into circulation - the first of 4 depicting the life of Abraham Lincoln. The real tragedy here is that (a) it costs almost 2 cents to make a penny and (b) who the Hell needs pennies anymore?

Nothing costs a penny. People snarl and complain when they get a fistful of them. Mostly, they wind up in jars at home or in those little ash trays at the store with the sign that says "Take a Penny, Leave a Penny." It took me a while to get a grasp on that concept, by the way. Why would I want to take a penny?

The Mint could save millions of dollars if they'd just stop making the things. It isn't unprecedented. When a coin has such little value that it is useless, they stop making it. Like half-cents and two-cent pieces. So now, instead of phasing it out, they're celebrating it. Think about it. One cent. It's like contemplating infinite space - it makes my head hurt.

So, there we have it. $75,000 for an old baseball card. Manny Ramirez turned down $25 million to play baseball for a year and the government spends 2 cents to make a penny.

Life's rich pageant.