Celebrity Weaseling

Today's Tids Issue 3,356

Opening Stuff:

On the days when you think you have it bad, be thankful you’re not an Atlantic Menhaden, which are described by a local ichthyologist environmentalist: “They do what they do best. They get eaten”. Yes these small oily fish, known as Pogies around here, spend their time filtering bad stuff out of the water to make clean for the big guys who come along…and then, eat them. They live so other bigger fish can live even better. Sounds like Wall Street.

Yesterday a Cranston Police detective named Paula Duffy saw smoke and flames coming from a 3 Decker multiple family building full of people who had no idea, it turns out, that their homes were on fire. Duffy didn’t hesitate for a second, according to local witnesses, but stopped her car jumped out and ran into the burning building, saving the lives of 12 unaware people and a couple of pets. One dog on the 2^nd floor was struggling, so Duffy calmly used her oxygen mask to revive the pup. How come this police person, who said she was just doing what police are trained to do…how come she isn’t on the national Nightly News.

The Shoe comic strip describes a “Cup of Joe” as DiMaggio’s athletic supporter.

The Question:

I’m thinking that a lot of people around the country are rooting for the Cleveland Cavs to bring the great city on a beautiful lake their first championship of any kind since 1964 (That was the Browns winning the AFC titles) So, I found a rather complex analysis done by the New York Times which names the top sports cities of the past fifty years. It is basically a measure of final four appearances for all pro teams with obviously more weight given to eventual Champions. Name the Top Ten Best Sports Towns and the Five at the bottom.

The Headlines:

--After Yesterday’s Huge Run Up, Investors Looking For Shaky Start Today.

--Obama Sends 450 More To Iraq In Attempt to Deflect Criticism; He States He Will Spend Most Of His Remaining Time Repairing Black/Whit Relations.

--Money Rolling IN To Rubio After NYT’s Misreported Expose.

--al-Qaida Near Collapse As ISIS Rises.

--Blackhawks Even Stanley Cup.

--EPA On A Roll: Next Up, Airline Emissions.

If you have ever wondered why a relatively intelligent person would suffer the slings and arrows of political adversaries to run  for higher offices like Congress, consider the case of now besmirched Dennis Hastert. When he entered Congress, this one time kindly old, soft spoken guy was worth $275,000. When he left office his net worth was $17,000,000. When he entered the House 1987 the salary was $77K and when he left around 2008, he would have been making about $169,000. He must have been a helluva saver. (Note, in 1787, the reps got $5.00/day. In 1815 they went to an annual salary of $1500 which would be about $19K in today’s dollars. We used to get a lot for our money.)

No wonder the lobbyists seem to be winning out over the people.

Bob Costas has said some bewildering things to me over the years, but he seemed to be on target a night ago when he said ESPN got it wrong anointing Bruce/Caitlin Jenner for the Prestigious Arthur Ashe Award. He said they fell into the trap of going along with rapturous idealism without thinking about reality.

In this country we have people who seem exactly the same but are significantly differentiated by political agenda. For instance a conservative Republican black woman is generally not accepted as being black. Say what? So I was thinking how this new self styled elitists group of urban green farmers would look down upon your basic FFA (Future farmers of America) young girl from Kansas. Only in American can you be exactly the same and entirely different. It’s weird.

On the other hand, at a Hill fundraieer in East Greenwich RI yesterday, a woman ogling the ever smiling disingenuous former Senator et. al. cruising by in the requisite black Suburban, said: “Men can’t do it, we might as well try a woman.” Hey, how about Carly Farina? Oh yeah, she’s a republican and can’t be classified as a woman.

Don’t you love the logic of Voters – “Men can’t do it, we might as well try a woman>” How about Squeaky Fromme

The word of the day is “Civility”. It s defined as “Courteous behavior, Politeness.” I thought it was apropos to bring this up as it seem to be disappearing form then American lexicon. Maybe we need a civility campaign.

One of the problems with celebrity is people believe them because of who they are regardless if they are right or wrong. But then a title has always turned relative dummies into intellectual giants in the eyes of many.

It seems to me that there is in prgress an all out assault on the NRA. Libs have a unique ability of mustering silent waves of disingenuous slander.

Republicans who want to have a chance to win in 2016 should probably skip the debates, wher they can only look bad or get labeled with some misinformed criticism.

In case you are planning a vacation you might want to know that the ten Countries who hate the USA most are Slovenia, Trajikistan, Austria (Also China Hater), Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Lebanon, Belarus, Palestine  territories and Russia.  

The Answer:

Of course, I could measure a great sport town by the enthusiasm of the fans, and if that were the case, Cleveland would be right up on top. But statistically, the City is second from the bottom which is held by San Diego. The rest of the lowest of the best Sports Teams list are Atlanta, Buffalo, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Denver. The Top Sports City by a large percentage is Boston! Next, also with a healthy rating is Pittsburgh. After those two, the pack is bunched together with LA number 3 followed by Baltimore, Miami, San Fran, New York, Milwaukee, Dallas, Oakland and Detroit.

I have to apologize for using the word “Disingenuous” twice in today’s column. I hate repeating words, but I guess when writing about politics, that’s a word that just seems to fit so well. Thinking of new words for Disingenuous can really be quite Strenuous, but some are Artful, Distorted, Misrepresented, Perverted and Twisted. Hillary – “the Artful Articulator”. “Twisted Hill.” Yeah, I think there are possibilities out there.

One of the things wrong with America can be found in the halls of the Indianapolis Colts football organization. Yesterday, for instance, they put up a new banner in their headquarters: “AFC Finalist”. That’s like participation trophies for kids. But then, this is the team that when it lost to the Pats in the early 2000’s asked the league to change the rule that allowed the Pats guys to be rough with their receivers. And of course last year they thought that ratting on the Pats about air in footballs was a good idea, only to find that after the air was settled nicely within the balls they still lost by 38 points! Next. They’ll probably make The Hill their mascot. Hill and Irsay – what a combination.