Today's Tids Issue 2,751
Opening Stuff:
 
I live next to Washington Square, in which there is a wrought iron fenced-in plot of green grass shaded by leafy trees known as Eisenhower Park. Washington often walked that green expanse on the way to his meetings with the French General Rochambeau. Ben Franklyn would have kicked a small stone or two across the park on the way to see his printer brother and nieces and nephews who lived around the corner. The park was named for Ike, not only because he was a much admired President, but because he moved into a house across the harbor at Fort Adams, originally built for the first fort Commandant Henry Hunt and now called Eisenhower House, so he could play lots of golf at Newport Country Club while on vacation from the White House. Oh yeah, the Eisenhower house is an easy nine iron away from Jackie Kennedy's home, where JFK would also put up his feet while resting way from the Oval Office. You are being subject to this little pause, journey into history, because among the reader suggestions for Tids improvement was more trivia. And, I always thought the Tids were generally quite trivial!

Irony Department:
One of the biggest businesses in this state is based on people coming to Newport to look at the way it used to be when Rhode Island had wealth. Then they go back home and vote fro representatives who continually assure that it never happens again.

The frenzied gang rape and subsequent death of that woman in India is not surprising at all, if you are familiar with the culture there. There is no moral reservations in the hearts of men when it comes to the ill treatment of woman. No guilt. The resentment of women begins at birth, when, for instance, little baby girls are the first to be removed from breast feeding for the benefit of the boys. And it continues though life until parents of girls have to pay a dowry for somebody to take them. And, if the dowry is too small, the woman is burned to death. It would take generations if it were even possible to change the moral compass of in India. And then, I look at America and wonder where our apparent current acceptance of moral decay will take us in the ages to come.

Yesterday, I heard a radio commercial  for the highly regarded, yet recently revised Meriam Hospital's orthopedic operation. It was for their new Joint Center. This morning I heard there were already lines around the block, until a nurse with a large megaphone announced that this wasn't  not a Medical Marijuana Distribution Store. Say what? You foolin' me?

Question:
Double "Q" Day! shout Hal-le-lu-iah! 1. When was the last time and what movie won "Best Picture" at the Oscars when its Director was not nominated? 2. Name the singing group that included "Danny" of the TV cop show Blue Blood.

The Headlines:
--"O: Begins Second Term With 51% Approval Rating.
--AP-Gfk Poll: 53% Of Americans Say Failure To Increase Debt Level Will Create Serious Economic Problems; 60% Say That They Agree With Boehner/McConnell Insistence On Deep Spending Cuts Or No Debt Ceiling Increase at All; 76% Agree Fed Deficits Top Problem, Up 7 Points.
--60 Foreigners Including Americans are Missing, Hostages In Algeria.
--Stocks Down; Intel Woes Counterbalance Encouraging News On China Economy.
--Obama's Kenyan Bro Contemplating Running For Office; Says US Bro Inspired Him.
--Famed Bolshoi Artistic Director Attacked With Acid.

Hey. 2,750 issues is kinda, sorta aother mini-milestone. Typing lots of Tids improves the strength of my fingers and subsequently the grip on your golf club. Which is one reason why my slices and hooks go so far into the woods. Which actually isn't so bad when you think of the balls I find when I get there! So my fingers say, Thanks, for another 250 mini-milestone.

Yesterday in answer to the final question, "What more can the Tids do for you". One good and apparently desperate reader answered, "Fix my slice."

Wrangler Jeans has just introduced a new pair with built-in anti-cellulite treatment!

Actually, I received some good suggestions which I began to answer in the first Tid today and will incorporate throughout the year. And, some others that could help alleviate the guilt that would allow me to have the strength to continue putting out this eclectic mess.

I fell asleep after about five to ten minutes into the highly anticipated Oprah interview. What I saw was a stony, unemotional one time icon trying to get through an event he would hope would relaunch his career. Oprah was doing what she does best, appearing to ask incisive questions that are not really hard on the interviewee. For that's how the big time interviewers survive, provide a forum of apparent openness, but in a comfortable manner and inviting atmosphere that would induce the next Celeb with problems to come on the show. Many of the honest reviews I heard this morning aid that they believe Armstrong hurt himself.

Remember Jack Armstrong, "The All American Boy"! Maybe Lance should change his last name. Or is cheating the new All American pastime?

How come they don't spell "Indict", "Indite" -- or of you want to get fancy -- "Indight"?

I see where Pauline Friedman Phillips died. She was, if you didn't already know, "Dear Abbey". From now on, send your letters to The Happy Tidster. Empathy is his middle name.

Reading Between The Lines Movie Reviews:
--Broken City will hold your interest. It's an intense movie about a corrupt city and the efforts of a renegade cop and a feisty mayor to fix it. It looks like a good combo except that the cop Donny Wahlberg, was double crossed and framed by the mayor, Russell Crowe. I'd go.
--Hide the children, Arnold is back. Yes the Governator is a small lazy town sheriff after bungling a big job in LA. Low and behold, drug dealers invade his sleep community, and Arnold feels that old itch. He jumps in his special 250 mph Corvette and off he goes with a rag tag band of deputies to take on the most ruthless drug lords of all.
--Mama is really scary. An Uncle of two missing girls and his girl friend head off to find out why the kids vanished from the neighborhood without a trace. The obstacles they encounter will rattle your bones.

The Conscience: Chapter 13.
   Jason wearily sat on a pile of rough cast yacht components, hands reddened and sooty, face black, shoulders slumped. He put his head in his hands. He would raise up and look at the charred destruction in front of him. Around him, the yard became a wake, people moving slowly, wanting to say something comforting to each other but too awed by the thought of their hard work in ruins.
   Jason rose, "Ok, we all have a lot of work to do here. I've ordered some food and drinks in the cafeteria," He walked among his people while talking, giving some a hug, touching others on the shoulder, accepting the helpless looks in their eyes, "There's nothing more you can do here, so get in there and relax for a minute, And think about you future which we l will put back together. That's a promise." The mood seemed to lighten up, as the crowd moved towards the entry to the cafeteria.
   Jason now alone, walked slowly towards the other side of the yard and to the door which would take him up to is office. The challenge of what had to be done, shoved aside the cloud of despair, but not the anger. He pulled out his phone. Within seconds, "Eliot, what did Jeff say." He listened as Wu filled  him in on what little he knew. Ok, meet me in my office. And call Jeff again. Set him up on the conference phone. I'll be there in two minutes. Hope he's sober." Jason took off in a slow trot.

The Answer:
1. In 1989, Bruce Beresford was snubbed for his work directing the Oscar winning Driving Miss Daisy. In the 1930's, "Wings" and "Grand Hotel also won best Pic without a director nomination. 2. Donny Wahlberg was joined by his younger brother Mark in the boy band, "New Kids on the Block"

Need something to do while waiting for the big Sunday games, test the logic of your brain:

You mean, everybody isn't waiting for the Big Game between New England and Baltimore or San Fran and Atlanta? Hmmm -- Maybe I have the wrong set of priorities. Pass the Tums please.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Maybe I should type less to moderate my golf club grip and eliminate my slice.