May is the happy kind of gay.

Today's Tids Issue 2,121
Opening Stuff:

Did I miss International Workers Day again! Rats. The first Tids of May sounds like a bouncy little song, doesn’t it? The first Tids of May, Happy Bon Mots on their way, To help spruce up your day, Like good old Sol’s ray. / Glib Pols that stray, Other’s feet of clay, Will the army become gay?, Amoral athletes that play, Grim terrorists that slay, Con men that prey, Bonus babies big pay, Shooing illegals away, Star dancers that sway. / And to fruit I say nay, But for gravy it’s yeh, Which is why I weigh, like a horse that says Neigh. So enter the fray, After weekend of play, and Sunday to pray, With a spirit okay. / And I’ll creep away. God, isn’t May inspirational!

Wall Street and the Government continue to use numbers to influence, but much too often only tell part of the story. Stocks get bought or sold, disingenuous Pols slap each other happily on their backs and the public loses. Take, for instance, the report on economic growth Friday. The media proudly and wrongly exalted the Q1 3.2% GDP growth number as proof that the economy was on a rebound. Stocks leapt forward. Politicians implied how good they were for the country Of course they didn’t tell you that the previous quarter had a 5.6% growth and that the year ago similar quarter had a 5.4 number. And they didn’t even offer a hint to the public that in order for a successful rebirth of an economy that also creates jobs, the GDP needs to show five consecutive quarters with a 7-9% growth!

I remember when to get through the Sunday Newspaper I had to play a CD line-up which might include a lengthy Beethoven Mass, Grieg and Schumann Piano concertos and a series of Respighi symphonic landscapes. Today I can turn the last page on merely…a Cesar Franck oratorio and a collection of Richard Strauss tone poems.

The Question:
There are enormous sky scrapers all over the world. But this tower of Babel mentality started humbly in the US. Name the first skyscraper, number of stories and where and when it was built. What are the ten highest sky scrapers in the world today?

The Headlines:
--Oil Spill Just In Infancy; Damage Could Be Biggest In History.
--Video May Give Clues To Failed Times Square Bomb.
--India Convicts Pakistani In Mumbai Siege.
--Buffet Says Goldman Good.
--Warm Weather Has Northeast Basking; Floods Threatening Tennesee.
--Baghdad Recount Begins Today.
--Red Sox Fans Jumping Off Local Bridges.
--United And Continental To Combine To Form Largest Airline.
--China Raises Bank reserves; Asian Stocks drop.
--German Cabinet Takes Up Huge Greek Bailout.

Back to More Stuff:

I had to smile at the juxtaposition of the two main stories on the front page of the weekend section of the Saturday’s newspaper – The Ringling Brother’s Circus next to Goldman Sachs. Send in the clowns.

This entire discussion about financial activity is coming down to what too many decisions in America seem to boil down to any more. Legal versus moral or ethical. It is not beyond the realm of good reasoning that GS and others did everything according to the law. But, that doesn’t make losses any more tolerable. Like a serial killer getting off on a technicality. Or rally’s against an Arizona law in favor of a massive group of out and out criminals. People often perform to the letter of a law but often outside the intent of the law. I guess you just have to hope that people still know what’s right or wrong in their hearts. But, in my heart I know that it is slowly becoming but a hopeful fantasy…especially where big money is involved.

Which brings me to the hacker of the Palin email account. The lawyer tried to portray a serious invasion of privacy as a college prank. Hazing is a college prank. Putting the Dean’s car atop a flag poll is a college prank. Hacking is a criminal act.

What is the worst phrase in the English language? “It’s only a misdemeanor.”

Have you noticed that headlines which are accusatory of manufacturers of baby equipment and furniture make it sound like the companies have a secret, evil group of scientists in the back room devising subtle ways to kill babies? This leads me to believe that the newspapers are just being lazy again picking up releases from class action lawyer PR firms.

Think about how many fewer lawyers there would be in the US if the innate law of personal responsibility was taken seriously again.

One of the real problems with warming weather is that it becomes real tough to justify wearing a sweater to cover up winter growth. If you get my drift. Or should I have said…shift?

How incredulous was it Saturday when the “Great Mocker”, “Mr. Ridicule” himself was seen standing in that cavernous U. Michigan stadium urging for the secession of “…name calling under the guise of legitimate discourse.” This from a man who hasn’t hesitated to criticize America in foreign lands or demean the legitimate opinions of honest Americans. The best thing for American harmony would be to ban microphones from “Prime Time’s” hands.

I just received an email ad entitled “Unadvertised” specials! How do they do that?

Through the Same Eyes: Chapter 69 continues. –You alright, Sarah?” I heard Henry now in a kind, gentler tone. “You don’t look so well”. I looked over at him. He was staring at me. Yet, he looked truly concerned. “I think you are doing too much. Your body has gone through a lot over the past month.”
If he only knew, I thought. My repaired body responding too quickly to the urgings of Kent’s nearness. And now my mind conflicting with my heart. A heart that feels deeply the love of my family and a mind that knows that family is everything in my life. A heart that also can’t break away from the aura of a man I barely know. This man who some how has become a fatal addiction. But, as I sit here with Henry, I know that he sees something in Kent that neither of us have ever seen before. A sense of sinister manipulation. I finally slowly turned my head to this man I know I can trust. Another stranger. “Henry. You are right. I have done much too much too fast.“ He smiled as if he were my father.
“I’m going to bring in Laura again. I have a guy working on digging up more of her past.” He looked at me. Get some rest. I’ll call you when I learn more.”
I felt relieved. I am going to get myself back to who I was. Who I was was a pretty great person. I wonder if they make a patch for this addiction, I chuckled to myself as I closed the sheriff’s door behind me.

It seems to me that these days a good pragmatist will never make a lot of money as an inventor. “Who would ever need that?”

By the way, what ever happened to Francis Gary Powers?

Extreme liberals think that they are entirely right and conservatives are entirely wrong. Extreme conservatives think they are entirely right and liberals are entirely wrong. Hey…common ground! Maybe that’s a start. Maybe there is hope after all.

Most of the critics who write nasty things about Goldman have never sold anything. And that includes the Senators who were perplexed by answer to the question “Do you work for your customers or Goldman”. Every good sales person who ever toted a bag knows he or she is trying to serve the customer as best as possible within the confines of their own product offerings and pricing. For instance, if your company says we’re ok with 5% profit, a salesman tries for 10% first. If the customer is happy paying that price to gain the benefits of working with you and your company, then you the salesperson is doing the right job. A good sales person does work very hard for the benefit of the customer, but never sells out the company just to get an order.

Erich Estrada is alive and well…in case anybody is interested.

There is some word on the street that the Gulf oil catastrophe could quickly push the cost of a gallon of gas through $5.00. The is could be an economy recovery killer.

You have to question the character of the protestors against the Arizona law as they continually deny the existence of the word illegal.

The Answer:
The first skyscraper in the US was built in Chicago in 1884. This behemoth was built for the Home Insurance Company of NY and had an acrophobic 10 stories! The big ones are Burj Khalifa, Dubai; Taipei 101, Taipei; Shanghai World Financial, Shanghai; Petronas Tower 1, Kuala Lumpur; Petronis Tower 2, Kuala Lumpur; Nanjing Greenland Fin., Nanjing; Willis Tower, Chicago; Guangzhou West Tower, Guangzhou; Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai. The Empire State Building, The granddaddy is number 15. Check out the tallest 200 http://www.emporis.com/en/bu/sk/st/tp/wo/

The End:Never to leave you hanging…Francis Gary Powers would have been 81 now if he hadn’t died at 47 while piloting a LA Television news helicopter. His return to the US (He was traded t=for Russian spy Rudolpf Abel) was very unpleasant as his CIA buddies shunned him for not destroying the U2 Plane and/or taking a poison pill to kill himself.