Look for the beating heart.

Today's Tids Issue 2,257

Opening Stuff:

Every state probably has a town somewhere like Burrillville RI. A town that most people can't find and when they get there can't find thir way home. It is a huge area, and I suspect these days it can be easily found You just have to look for the warmth rising from its heart. A 6th grade girl named Amy Simpson noticed more people than usual around town shivering in the freezing cold. She rallied her fellow students, her teachers and ran around town with homemade posters urging people to bring coats. She personally called businesses. They responded as did hundreds around this pleasant rural community. There are lots of good stories around this time of year. But, I like this one of people helping people because they care. Because they feel it in their hearts.

Staying Young Department:
Take a piece of advice from Lucy Liu: "I try to believe like I believed when I was five...when your heart tells you everything you need to know."

How many times does a person have to iterate before it becomes reiterate?

The Question:
Based upon how often they are requested for play on the radio, what do you think are the top five Christmas Carols?

The Headlines:

--Senate Passes Interim Budget Bill Until March.
--North Korea Renegs On Threats--Stocks Up early.
--12 Men Arrested In UK In Terrorist Threat Roundup; Rumors Continue About Christmas Attacks in US.
--Dream Act Dead; Repubs Pushing To Delay New Start Til Next Session.
--UCOnn Women B-Ballers Destroy Ohio State To Tie Wooden/UCLA Record.
--Formation Of New Iraq Gov. Still A Mess.
--Record Setting Rain Lashed Cal; Experts Say Worst yet To Come.
--New Census Data Expwected To Empower Republicans; Repubs Could Gain In Electoral College Before 0-Man's next Try.

Back to More Stuff:
La Vigilia or the Feast of the 7 Fishes is one of those wonderful Italian Christmas family traditions. Being a fish lover, I always thought they had a pretty good idea. so I decided to look up some of the favorite combinations of our friendly goodies from the sea. Ok, all star chef Mario Batali suggests clams with oregano and bread crumbs, marinated fresh anchovies, Linguine with clams, spaghetti with muscles, salt cod with tomatoes and capers, jumbo shrimp Marsala, eel with olives, chiles and capers and broccoli sauteed in wine and garlic. Another menu features stuffed calamari, deep fried oysters, marinated eel, marinated shrimp and fennel over penne, whiting, baccala and oyster shooters. Almost all meals will include some of these: Scungilli (Snail salad), anchovies, sardines, dried salt cod, smelts, eels, squid, shrimp, mussels an d clams. Of course, lobster, tuna and crab are always welcome. Happy Vigilia di Natale!

Some choirs sing the Alleluia Chorus much to fast...losing some of its majesty.

The "average" Major League Baseball salary is an eye-popping $3,000,000. For the Boston Red Sox it is $.8 Mil and for that team in the Bronx it is $7,000,000. The average salary for NBA Basketball Players is $5.4 Million! Sounds like a good college major to me.

With the announcement by the admin for an updated version of "Duck & Cover", I'm expecting the prices of all of those homes with 50's style bomb shelters in the back yard to soar! And then there is Hillary calling for 5,000 more diplomats when we should be investing in a new missile defense system. If this new scare tactic from the WH has some foundation. Hey, I was happy until the Admin started crying "Nuke". Is this subtle suggestion supposed to frighten people into pushing teir Reps to pass Start?

The Pacific Rim is one nervous Korean finger away from a regional war.

The "Have's" and "Have Not's" in NCAA women's basketball today is about where it was for the men 30 years ago. But the pipeline is filling up.

In order not to aggravate or equivocate should we just abrogate or abdicate and acclimate reiterate in favor of iterate? Or contemplate a bifurcate. I'll cogitate before I obfuscate.

The congregation rose for the Pledge of America because they Stood for America.

RI's Governor-elect Chafee-Lite had a big budget summit with the usual characters -- social services organizations, businesses, assorted other interested parties and George Ney, President of the RI ALF/CIO. Now as far as I can see, the only thing that newy could contribute is to stand up and say Public Employee Unions are unconstitutional. You laugh, but last night the 60 Mins story about the imminent fall of several states (Because George there just isn't any more money!) painted a grizzly picture of a system that isn't working. States have robbed "Green" funds, cigarette law suit cash, stimulus money to keep overpaying for services that the taxpayer can no longer afford. This is not your father's rob Peter to pay Paul accounting system.

Have you heard about the 99'ers Union? This is a Union organizing people who don't work. Where have you gone America?

Margaret Thatcher called public employee unions "The Enemy Within."

The Answer: 
Number on eis The Christmas Songs (Chestnuts roasting et. al.). Then we get Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Winter Wonderland and White Christmas. The next five are Let it Snow, Rudolph, jingle bell rock, I'll Be Home...and the favorite of grtammar school songfests Little Drummer Boy. Ny two favorites on this list of 25 are #16 Silent Night and #21 We Wish You A Merry Christmas. The three least favorites are Good King Wenceslas, Here we Come A Wassaling and the teeth grating Up on the Housetop.


I'm sure some of you in other states feel that nothing any where else can be as bad as your distressing bad government (Like the beaten down residents of 0-