Today's Tids Issue 2,936
Opening Stuff:

Beautiful October will have to go a long way to beat out magnificent September for best month of 2013. But, October always has a chance to be the best, because it has everything going for it, including colorful, breath taking leaves which drop and confound home owners no longer allowed to burn them. Beautiful orange, red and yellow leaves that form into portraits against majestic the mountains, drawing thousands of peepers who clog our roads, and restaurants. And pumpkins. Tons of pumpkins. They put Pumpkin in your coffee. your ice cream, your sweet rolls; they encrust your striped bass and God forgive them, mix it into your martinis. But, this beautiful month ends with an all American USA event, millions of kids out there learning how to beg. Happy October everybody. The entitlement month.

I am sad to bring you a report from a great reader telling us all that the Tids failed to pay proper tribute to one of the most influential songwriters of our times. The man is who has touched millions on their happiest of days is Larry LaPrise, now dead at 93 -- the man who wrote The Hokey-Pokey. Relatives reported that at the coffin they encountered a small problem. When they put his left foot in, the trouble started.

Hey, good news as you awake this morning: We can use all the money we will be saving with the Gov shutdown to pay for the raising of the debt level. Bingo!

Maybe all that Congress really needs to do is dance the Hokey-Pokey on the Capital floor. Put your right butt in...

The Question:
Pre-Q Bonus: How Many seasonal markers is Amazon expecting to hire for the upcoming gift season. Regular Question: Breaking Bad's Finale ranked third among all Cable Series fnales. Name the rest of the Top Five All Time cable Series Finales.

The Headlines:
--Government Shuts Down; Stock Market up 60 In Morning After.
--Poll says Americans Still Don't Like ObamaCare, But Don't Like Idea Of shutdown To Stop It.
--On Opening Day, Heavy Exchange Internet Traffic Snarls Sites.
--NBC, CNN Drop Hillary Documentary Projects.
--Nearly 1,000 Iraqi's Killed In September As Peace-Building Violence Continues..
--Pope Francis Wants Catholic Church To Be A Missionary Church With A Modern Spirit That Gives Hope To the Poor, Young And Elderly. Denounces "Vatican Centric" Nature Of The Past.
--South Korea Shows Off New Missiles Designed To Hit the North.

This morning I'm greeted with the gigantic bold faced headline: "Obamacare Marketplaces Open For Business." That's means as much to me as companies telling me to use twitter to reach them. I guess segment of society who know how to "work" the governemnt will understand it. To me it just suggests something I never ever had to do in the past but will be forced to endure for the rest of my days.

And yesterday, I received this giant booklet about all the government entitlements including the latest Government takeover of private enterprize. The letter Kathy Sebelias printed on page 3 opened with the line, "This is an historic and exciting time for health care in our nation..." Yeah, exciting, real exciting. My trusty Doc retired because the Government was driving him nuts. And guess what, there are no doctors around to replace him. You have to scratch and claw to get even an interview! And some Docs I know have said in five years it will be much worse. So this is real exciting, like trying to fix an Internet problem with somebody in India. I liked America better when it was America.

It turns out that the Son wasn't suited to take over his Dad's Tailor Shop.

The ole' Tids Sports guys did well in the NFL predictions this week and one of the but 2 misses was for a team I was wanting to pick...Buffalo. I root for Buffalo and teams like Buffalo...the old cities which were once the dynamos that powered the great nation. I feel for the fans up there in the oft times frigid Northwest Corner of New York. Good hard working people who at one time made our manufacturing sector run. Good people paying their money, looking for a winner. It's not just the thing to do and where ot be seen, it's part of their lives, wings and all. And they don't get their seats through hedge fund friends.

I must be watching too many singing competition shows, because I am not being thrilled much with The Voice. I'm sure there are some great ones, but I'm just seeing more of the same. Still, The Voice has emerged as one of the best of these shows. And I will watch again and bring you news and opinion as it wears on to a finish.

The Voice is a good example of rush to judgement by closed minds. Mine, in particular. When I first saw the promos for the new show, I immediately tuned it out because of the red chairs, thinking at the time that anything that has to resort to something that garish can't be intrinsically good. I have come to learn that the judges are the least annoying, and the fact that don't just sit there and criticize each singer is certainly refreshing. Someday I figure I will learn not to judge a book by it's cover. People by outward appearance. Maybe someday liberals will stop judging the hearts of the successful by the way they look, too. Maybe I'll stop classifying men by their facial hair and woman by their lipstick. Maybe I'll first just look everybody inthe eyes and think, that's a good person regardless of how he or she talks, dresses or eats vegetables.

Actually, I do judge books by their covers. If they are black in tone with strong type, I generally will like them. If the are pale blue with light weight frilly type I reject them out of hand.

Did you read that at Brown and RI School Of Design (RISD) majestic upon the hill overlooking Providence RI it is "Nude Week", as in students prancing for bodily freedom without clothes. What's next for the best and brightest of us all, our future leaders an government employees? I couldn't be gin to answer that. But, for Viking Tours it is a bonanza as they tout their "Nude Tours in Providence" series: Free Binoculars!

A reader contradicts my attempt at humor yesterday when I said that two of the fastest growing counties in the USA are in the DC area and are exploding in direct proportion to the enormous growth 0f monolithic governemtnment and ramora-like lobbyists. No, he says, it is because, "Immigrants get off planes in DC, throw away their visas and passports and claim political asylum, especially from Aftrican nations Somalia and Ghana and other like Islamic countries in the Middle East. He, notes that they are generally industrious, and and as a group dominate TSA agent employment in the DC area airports. That includes Muslim women in veils checking Americans out for potential terrorist activity!" God help us from Political Correctness.

As ObamaCare officially opens its doors, observers are saying it will take at least a year to know exactly what may be happening. The key is how many sick versus how many well people sign up. If their is a large imbalance between sick and healthy, premiums will shoot up significantly. This is a leathal condition for health care when claims outpace enrollment and will actually cause a decline in participants who will begin leaving as premiums arise, creating a death spiral.

I watched Bill Clinton speaking the other day and was reminded why I didn't like him then any better than I like the Current president now.

The Answer:
Bonus: Amazon will hire 70,000 around the country to help keep packages moving out on time. So, what do these 70K do for the rest of the year? "Q" Answer: The Sopranos and Sex In the City topped BB, while that program edged out Monk and The Closer.

How come Immigration Laws of the Land aren't the same kind of untouchable Laws of the land as the Affordable Health Care Act Law of the land? Is this like "I didn't have sexual relations with that women..."

Thanks to all of the good ideas sent in from readers which I steal liberally with the conscience of a politician from Chicago.