Today's Tids Issue 3,140
Opening Stuff:

The President of the USA is probably focusing on the Malaysia Plane shoot-down on the Eastern Ukraine border because it diverts the eyes of Americans away from the chaos at our own southwestern border. The influx of illegals is a travesty at many levels. It certainly doesn’t take Immigration reform to stop them. Turning a blind eye to the plight of the youthful invaders is supporting the murderous Drug Cartels. And Ironically, we heard in the last round of unlawful immigration debate that we can’t break up families. Now we have families in Latin America breaking up themselves and ostensibly putting their children at risk. Or are they? The entire justification of allowing children to stay is total BS propaganda. Being another classic “Save the Children” hoax, I wouldn’t be surprised if followers of Marian Wright Edelman and her protégé Hillary C aren’t behind it all. It’s a crock and the man in the WH whoshould be doing something about it, knows a lot more than he’s sayin’..
 
Whether Maverick or Rockford, James Garner had that everyman special something that drew people to him and his work. He was a genuine guy on whatever screen he was quietly dominating at the moment. He was guy you always thought you could meet on the street and enjoy as a friend. He always made me smile. Yup, I was a fan.
 
Happy Birthday, Prince George. Cute kid!
 
What baseball farewell tour would you hitch a ride on, Department:
As I abide the Jeter farewell tour I was trying to think of some former favorite player of mine whose tour would be can’t miss for me. I come up with Carl Yastrzemski who may be my favorite among all that I loved and followed.  There was just something about his battling, hustle and clutch. As I really harken back to my youth though, the name Lou Boudreau keeps flashing before my eyes. Maybe it’s because I liked Multitaskers.
 
The Question:
What was the name of the composer who wrote the theme for the Rockford Files? Name five other TV shows where the theme music was also written by this Rockford composer. Bonus: What was the name of the Actor who played Garner’s brother on Maverick? What were the first names of the Maverick Brothers?
 
 
The Headlines:
--Putin Tells West To Butt Out; Says he’ll Handel Rebels In Ukraine; Can You say Siberia!.
--Detroit OPension-Holders Ok City debt cutting Plan.
--Turkey’s PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan Says he Has Stopped Talking To Obama; Says US Betrayed rebels Against Assad.
--Dutch Anger Over MH17 Disaster Could Uify EU On More Sanctions Against Russia.
--Israeli Mood Turns Sour As Casualties Mount In Gaza; Kerry Working With Egypt To Build Cease Fire Support.
--Washington State Firefighters Get Break From Weather.
--McDonalds, Coke Miss As Investors Await News Of Other Big Hitters.
--Hedge Fund renaissance technologies Avoids $6 B-B-Billion In Taxes Using Structured Financial Products from Barclays and Deutsche Bank.
--As Elections Near, Dem Backed Law Officers May Send More Wall Streeters To Jail In Lieu Of Finacial Settlements.
 
Noel Coward always left me cold. I wound also say the same about Gilbert & Sullivan. I guess I’m not very sophisticated.
 
As I wrote the baseball thing above, I mused about what might be the all-time team of my personal favorites. You know, the players set on a pedestal by a kid with an old oil saddened mitt and taped up hard ball, and with stars in his eyes. So some of my favorites (Who I can still remember) were -- Pitchers Don Newcomb and Carl Erskine; Catchers Roy Campanella, Del Rice and Sammy White; Third baseman, I loved Third baseman, Brooks Robinson, George Kell, George Brett, Billy Cox; Shortstops Marty Marian, Vern Stevens, Pee Wee Reese; Second basemen Eddie Stanky, Billy Goodman; Outfielders Dom DiMaggio, Al Kaline, Stan Musial, Andy Pafko, Enos Slaughter. I can’t really remember any first baseman who grabbed a piece of my mind…well maybe Micky Vernon. Oh yeah, and there were two more, both right fielders both with amazing arms and pretty damn good hitters too. Carl Furillo (Two time NL Batting Championships) and Dewey Evans (Third on Sox all-time HR list). These were two reliable guys who showed up every day, cut down runners on regular basis and could hit with the best of them. They were quiet guys. Maybe that’s why they didn’t make the hall. Maybe that’s why I liked them.
 
That’s what’s great about the mind of a kid, at least when I was growing up – it’s what you yourself put into it and not what somebody else says should be there.
 
In case you missed it, the favorite stocks of Mutual Funds are Visa, Priceline Group, Gilead Sciences, CVS Caremark, Monsanto, Qualcomm, MasterCard, Biogen Idec, MetLife and JP Morgan Chase. Goldman Sachs glommed this data from over 435 Funds with over one trillion in assets – no small sample. These stocks indicate a move forward from the so-called safer big stocks with dividends onto a little more risk as the economy appears to have librated itself form it’s slower growth dilemma. Personally, I’m not so sure.
 
By the way, on the net somewhere this morning I saw the number 20,000 for a stock market target. Must be the medical marijuana.
 
Today is a huge earnings report day. The results and futures of some of the key economic motivators like, Microsoft, Apple, McDonalds and Coca Cola may give us an insight to our fall investing. It started out negatively with poor reports from Coke and Mac. Will today be a rollercoaster or a rocket to the moon? Will the after hour calls by MSoft and Apple be the salvation.
 
How about a couple of Hip, Hip Hoo-Rays for Governor Perry of Texas.
 
The LGBT rights order from Obama actually makes it more difficult to be honest with inferior employees, as always lurking in the background is a threat of a lawsuit. Whether straight, gay, black, white, tan, male, female communities there are equal amounts of winners and losers in any cultural designation. All of these so called protection laws make it more difficult to sort out the best employees for companies, and truly help those how would benefit from constructive criticism. The new US Government is not unlike one giant Teamsters union that would force a company to keep on thieves and miscreants under threat of a baseball bat alongside of the ear.
 
I’d give you a link to the Rockford Files musical thems, but in all honesty I never liked it that much.
 
The Answer:
Mike Post is another of those great talents in America about whom nobody knows nothing’. In addition to Rockford he also wrote the music for Law & Order, NYPD Blue, LA Law, Quantum Leap, Magnum PI and Hill Street Blues. He also wrote the music for The A-Team, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Blossom, Chips, The Commish, Doogie Howser MD, Hardcastle & McCormick, Hooperman, Hunter, Riptide, Silk Stockings, Tenspeed and Brownshoe, The White Shadow and Wiseguy.  His frist acclaim to fame was for Mason Williams “Classical Gas” for which he won is first Grammy at 23. At 24 he was the Music producer for The Andy Williams Show. It’s not surprising that the theme to the Rockford Files was hummable. Bonus: Jack Kelly played Bart against Garner’s Bret. After Garner left the series, the producers tried to keep it going with Beau Maverick played by 007 Roger Moore and Brant played by Robert Colbert. Oh yeah, Kelley didn’t do much in entertainment after Maverick, but went on to become successful in Real Estate and as Mayor of Huntington Beach.
 
I always enjoyed Tenspeed and Brownshoe.
 
Today is one of those days where I may drive over to the rocks at Brenton Point and lose myself in the swirls and vigor of the restless sea. I’ll edge close enough to feel the spray as waves crash. And through the roar a seagull will screech that all is right with the world you can’t see. I’ll lick my lips and taste the salt dripping down my face.