What's the deal with the groundhog?

Ok seriously... The myth is that if the fat furry little rodent crawls out of it's burrow and see's it's shadow we will have 6 more weeks of winter, if he doesn't then it's meant that spring will come early.
First off... why the woodchuck? That poor dumb rodent has been underground the last 5 months... how could it possibly have any clue what the weather is going to be like 6 weeks from now... it can because IT'S BEEN UNDERGROUND. geesh

Secondly.... isn't it awfully convenient that Groundhog Day is February 2nd? Which happens to be EXACTLY 6 weeks away from the "Official first day of spring" typically between March 20th and 22nd. It's a guarantee that whatever the groundhog decides that spring will be 6 weeks away. What a hoax.

Third... where did this crazy myth come from? I mean was there a woodchuck cult or something that came up with this idea? Of course it came from America. Pennsylvania to be exact. According to my research a group of would be badger lovers came to America decided to use the ground hog, probably because badgers are mean coots and someone would have probably lost a hand by now, and started the tradition of dragging a poor giant rat out of a hole and then "speaking with it" to decide if there would be spring soon or not. For a state known for it's anti witchcraft policy back in the 1800s this sounds an a lot like hocus-pocus to me.


Oh, by the way this year's forecast: 6 more weeks of winter. Well no duh, the spring equinox is March 20th this year. Way to go...