Twitching time.

Today's Tids Issue 2,490
Opening Stuff:

OMG! It's Christmas week 2011. The tortuous moments of the week here at last; finally that week that tests the courage of the procrastinators, the cooks, the travelers. The atheists are buried under a rising crescendo of goodness, Christmas music and love thy neighbor as thyself. Everybody is busy anticipating the final exhilarating peace; when it all settles down into pure calm and ethereal enjoyment that makes the true magic of Christmas so pleasant. But most of all this, the tremor in homes aquiver accelerates with the reslessness of kids with dreams of Saint Nicholas in their hyperactive brains.

A good pal, reader and keep-me-on-my-toes occasional critic sent a poignant response to Friday Tids "War Over" comments. This reader knows and lives the real feelings which for most of us are fleeting news stories. She and her family live near Fort Bragg. She says the war ."...is not over for the many school children I sent home this afternoon who will spend yet another Christmas without at least one, if not both of their parents. It's not over for the little guy who is going back to Georgia to live with Grandma - again - because his single mom is back to the sand pit." You won't see headlines like those from podiums and in the national press, my friend adds, because the people in her community will never forget the dead, and all the wounded who return to broken households, devastated lives. A flick of the authoritative wrist and scribble of a pen never ends the reality, the scars of war.

The Question:

Today is the first day of the year of that will give us the 120th anniversary of the premiere of the Nutcracker Suite. It is probably more popular than it ever has been. Name five of the musical dances.

The Headlines:

--NK's Jong Dead; Analysts Pondering Future And Nuke Dangers Without Him; Some Worry That Successor Kim Jung-un May Need To Take Military Action To Secure Power Base.
--Markets Set For rebound; Investors Going To Cash In Advance Of Jittery Outlook For 2012..
--Egypt Disruption Escalates.
--Bob Dole Joins List Of Romney Endorsers.
--GOP House Blasts Senate's Short term Solution.
--NFL Upsets Continue; Invincible GB Ousted From Ranks Of Unbeaten.
--0-Man To Inject His Campaign Into Iowa Caucus Time Frame.
--Lady Gaga Named AP Entertainer Of The Year.

In case you hadn't already realized it yourself, the five most annoying words in the eyes of Americans have now been made official by a Marist survey. The most annoying word of all they say is "Whatever". The rest of the precious five are "You know", "Like", "Seriously" and "Just sayin' ". How about "OMG"!; "My bad"?

The biggest rip-off in the history of the world -- Mushrooms.

The second is Barny Frank who now, after the Feds charged Fannie/Freddie officials, appears to have gotten out of Dodge just ahead of the Sheriff.

Speaking of seasonal angst, how about that government of ours and the turmoil over this payroll tax political ploy. We have a President promoting reducing contributions to an already devastated Social Security Trust fund. How dumb is that. And he is pointing that long accusatory finger of his at the Repubs for not going along with his plan to potentially shorten the life of a pension plan that seniors rely upon. But then, the Giv has been robbing Peter to pay Paul for years.

This is about the time we'd be starting the countdown to the annual January return of "24". Kthunk. Kthunk. Kthunk always sounded like Jingle Bells to me. Alas.

After reading the recent comments by GM CEO Dan Akerson that his company is a "Lumbering Bureaucracy resistant to change", it's no wonder the feds felt so comfortable with the takeover.

I have to tell you that one of the long time problems with US business has been the rise of the so-called "Professional manager". Too many chiefs have as their greatest asset the ability to play inside politics. Most don't have a creative bone in their body and just ride upon the success of the doers and innovators...and often a robust economy. They appear to spend more time figuring out how to get paid enormous sums of money for failure. In a magazine I once worked for, we often the wrote that the way to fix the decline of US industry in the 1980's due to the rise of Germany and Japan as competitors, was to ship our MBA's overseas to their companies.

I generally have liked Best Buy, but that was before their commercials belittling good ole' Santa.

When you read the often inane and simplistic columns of "Green" newspaper columnists, you get a real sense of what it would be like to live in a full nanny state.

On Friday Mrs Kobe Bryant announced she was seeking a divorce from her husband, a man she stood behind when accused of brutal assaults on women. She released the following statement, "In the interest of our young children and in light of the upcoming season, we would hope you would respect our privacy..." Excuse me, you made the decision to announce this during the "upcoming season". What is it with these people?

I think very little of a growing number of psuedo-intellectuals who seem to think it may make them appear smart with their disregard of good ole' Santa Claus.

The Answer:

You have probably hummed one of these tunes during your lifetime. The dances are Sugar Plum Fairies, Russian, Chinese, Arabian, Spanish and Mirlitons...and then the Waltz of the Flowers and Snowflakes.

By the way, what exactly is a mirliton you ask. It is a simple musical instrument like a Kazoo or a comb and tissue paper where the voice provides the tone. It is also a tubular French pastry found in New Orleans. In the Nutcracker it is the dance of the reed pipes; Although some over the years have interpreted it as the dance of the sweet candies.

The Christmas mood has entered my soul.