Contrarianism is life.

Today's Tids Issue 2,806

Opening Stuff:

 

If I seem a littler brisker his morning it's because I had some terrific pork gravy last night!

Most public figures who apologize are only saying "I'm sorry" I was caught.

Every day you read something that reenforces the need for the  concept of contrarian objectivity. America has become a country of spontaneous fads and trends and if contrarians didn't step in to take the other side, citizens would be overwhelmed with one-sided correctness, and choice and civility would disappear.

The Question:

What are the ten best 40 mpg or better cars for 2013?

The Headlines:

--Market Bouncing Back After Yesterday's Bad Employment Data For March.

--New Jobless Claims Rise 28K To Four Month High Of 385,000.

--National Weather Services Says Disruptive El Nino Will Not Affect Northern Hemisphere This Summer.

--44 Killed In Afghanistan As Taliban Wearing Police Uniforms Ambush Unsuspecting Afghans.

--US Sends Anti Missile System To Guam; F/A 18 Warplanes Sent To Philippines.

--US Charges 4 NY Assemblymen With Corruption.

--URI's Basketball Hope For the Future may be Leading Candidate For Big 10 Bound Rutgers Coach Opening.

--China Readies Fight Against New Strain Of Deadly Bird Flu; Japan, Hong Kong Step Up Vigilance.

Correction: Yesterday the Tids headlines Editor mistakenly named Jimmy Kimmel as Leno's replacement. It is as you all know, Jimmy Fallon. Hey, Jimmy by any other name is still a...late night comedian.

American Idol Dept:

Who's going home? This will be tough to answer, because the guy who should have gone the previous two weeks sang my favorite song by heart, and did a better job than usual. But, maybe it was the song!. Burelle was probably the weakest over all, but he is a popular,at least with the judges. And my guess is that if the voters knock him down the judges may use their "Save." The girls generally held up well, and were well lauded by the judges. I think Amber is much better than the voters seem to think she is, based on the voting. Angie was good in a new genre. I didn't thnk that Kree was as good as usual. Candice is just a rock. I think Janelle grows in confidence every time she walks on the stage. The guys have to be two of the bottom three, and maybe Amber will be the other, just because of the way it is. And the irony of it is, that if she won it all, I would say she deserves it for sure. but then, I'm not 23 years old. The internet voting has  it Angie, Candice, Amber, Kree, Janelle, Lazaro and Burnell. The two boys are far below in vote percentages than the last girl.

I've been busy this morning. Catching up on two weeks of Rex Morgan, MD is no easy task.

More often than not "News" is just reporting about blips in activities that people do all of the time.

The third movement of William Stenhammer's First Piano Concerto is a pleasant little piece of music. Stenhammer doesn't readily pop into your mind, or frankly mine, but he was a pretty important early 20th Century Nordic composer, and considered one of, if not the premiere pianist in the world at the time. So the point of this little episode in the daily life of the Tids is that nothing is ever finished. There are always possibilities for new discoveries. I personally have found many that are exceptional.

Meanwhile Jane Fonda continues to apologize for her "mistake" beyond her control.

Once again last night, I didn't want "The Americans" to end.

The conscience will return tomorrow. Promise.

The Answer:

Starting at #10 we have the Prius Plug-in. The rest down to #1 are 9 - Tesla S, 8 - Chevy Volt, 7 - Nissan Leaf, 6 - Ford C-Max Energi, 5 - Ford focus Elec, 4 - Smart Fortwo ED, 3 - Mitsubishi i, 2 - Honda Fit...and #1 is Scion EV.

The Constitution is all about protection for citizens from a Government. And that includes the Second Amendment. A person wrote a LTE suggesting that the 2nd  protects a hobby and why shouldn't there be an amendment protecting for instance "Needlepoint". It was amusing and well written but completely misses the point of the Constitution, dampening over enthusiastic central governments. But, I guess needle point and knitting are being assaulted the same way as guns -- you can't bring long needles on planes.

Without contrarians we'd be in plastic bubbles eating vegetables...with our individual personal Government employee, who would guide us through the day.

Live Free!, and argue.