That those of opinions would have walked in the Shoes.

Today's Tids Issue 3,239

Opening Stuff:

For a man with only hammer, every problem is a nail.

Some people with big credentials but with little or no first hand knowledge of what they speak, often have the loudest opinions. The first amendment offers them space on editorial pages where they are allowed to perpetuate with eloquent verbs and nouns myths that are often totally false. The most recent example of such elitist slander was by a Brown U professor who mangled the US military in the Boston Globe.  – saying things like they are not heroes because we have no enemies in the Middle East; that the military is full of the forgotten US masses and dropouts -- not understanding that the military gave them hope and a purpose not  found in drug ridden welfare dependent communities. Not surprising the most intelligence and eloquence came from the thousands responding to the inadequacies of academic opinion, the knowledgeable who in fact were armed by something called the truth. Real people who had seen the eyes of the fiercest of enemies; all soldiers who only cared about what the soldier did in the trenches and not his or her parental, racial or ethnic background. The real unwelcoming small corners of the world are hidden by ivy clad windows; obscured from the light of truth and experience. Reality sets people free.

There’s something about fluffy white snow,

That tends to make my blood pressure slow.

Maybe it’s the stillness that’s everywhere,

Or better, the purity that’s deep inside there.

Like what the manger’s Child puts in our heart,

The goodness that that sets Christmas apart.

The Question:

What Christmas Show is celebrating it’s 50^th anniversary? What Cowboy actor/singer provided the origins of the show? What Christmas show is number two?

The Headlines:

--Ugly Trading Day On Tap After Bad News In Shanghai, Hints Of Fed Interest Rate Increases, and New Negative Effects Of Lower Oil Prices; Dow, Global Dow Drop Significantly at Opening; Stabilizing At Lower Levels At Noon.

--Gruber Apologizes Profusely Before Congress For Calling American Voter Stupid; House Accuses MIT Genius Of “Cooking the Books” And “Intentionally Misleading The Public” In Order To Get ACA Passed.

--Russia Warns Of Concerns Over German Leaders (Merkle) Increasing Criticism Of Moscow Role In Ukraine.

--Dems, Repubs At Odds Over Report On Interrogation Techniques, And Results.

-- Supreme Court Backs Employers In Theft Security Overtime Case.

--Fed  Ferguson Autopsy Backs Up Evidence Of Others Used By Grand Jury.

--Massive LA Downtown Fire May have Been Arson.

The Big Question: Will Gruber of MIT call out White House and Congressional co-conspirators in cabal to pass ObamaCare?

The Voice gets interesting as the final five dueled almost equally. While I didn’t like some of the song picks (That’s generational) I could see the quality of each singer, and to my tin ear a lot of it was very good. I’m a Damian fan since the beginning, but he didn’t wow me on either tune, although his Michael Jackson effort was beautifully done. I thought Craig Wayne was animated and fun on his first tune, and brilliant, full of sincere emotion, on The Old Rugged Cross. I like Taylor’s first song, Falling Slowly, and thought his range was excellent. He also scored for me on the quality of his singing of Taylor Swift’s Blank Space. 2. Matt McAndrew is the favorite, and he was good but neither of the songs tonight reached inside my gut. I was ready to be thrilled, and I wasn’t. That’s what happens when you set higher standards for some. Now, Chris Jamieson did grasp me not only on his Maroon 5 opener, but especially on his show ending, beautifully sung and emoted, Bruno Mars “When I was Your Man”. Based on last night I would vote Chris, Craig Wayne and Taylor. But I believe Matt’s overall performance will knock out one of those three and it could be Craig Wayne depending on the power of the Country vote vs. the giggling teen vote. Tonight‘s program will be really tense and probably surprising. After announcing the final 3, 9 singers will sing for something called the “Wild Card” giving us yet another Final Four in America. It could be Danika or someone totally  forgotten from the past. But why not one of the two who narrowly missed the three. Confused yet? Tune in or set your DVR’s.

Tom Hanks always looks as though he is in pain.

For what seems like at least 25 years I have been reading John Kostrzewa, The Providence Journal Business Editor, who most always seemed to take a stand in  favor of social engineering instead of using his soap box to rail against a an industry and manufacturing smothering state legislature and federal government agency regulations. The great companies of RI always needed a voice they could never find in Government, and it should have at least been found in the Business pages. I’ve been meaning to write this rail for about a decade. Sometimes my mind abdicates in favor of the inane.

It must be Christmas, because “Clapper” ads are back on TV. For decades now we’ve seen that double clap to turn on TV’s, but now we have progressed technogically way past hand clapping where you can probably flutter your eyelids twice to see Kim Kardashian wrestling Snookie in a bowl of cookie dough ice cream. (Ooh, the goose bumps.) But, it surprises me that there is a market for something other than a remote these days. Technology has always been generational because new exciting tech always been about what you could never do easily before. I can remember clearly when the must-have high technology of the day was to own a Formica table top! Yikes – Now I can scrub!

The band on The Voice is so good, that often I find myself missing the singer.

I don’t know about you, but the phrase of the moment that bothers me is “They are arresting blacks at disproportional rates”. So, does that mean that these spokes people are urging police locate a non-black criminal before locking up the black. I must be brainless, because I don’t get it. This emotionalism over reality is like the Local Brown U student leader who went to the trouble to prove that there are far more blacks in prison today than there were black slaves in 1850-. That basically tells me that somebody is doing a bad job in black communities. Maybe that is proof that Government welfare programs, affirmative action,  Al Sharpton and similar naysayers have failed miserably. (Note: The argument was in behalf of the thousands of blacks under government supervision for drug crimes. Let fathers smoke pot or do serious drugs at home In a family setting and we’d have better statistics – Is that it?).

The solution remains: Get rid of drugs – dealers in neighborhoods and producers in protected countries.

The newest popular phrase in our society that really has me worried is “Knife Wielding Attacker”.

The New Republic has been around for 100 years and this liberal political mag is about  ready surrender to the antics of owner, Cofounder of FaceBook and former roomie of Zuckerman, Chris Hughes who thought he knew better than his journalists. He wanted to add profits to the formula to help keep jobs alive and the mag thriving, but all of the top journalists reneged on his demands and resigned en masse. Stay tuned.

I remember first hearing of the NR back around 1963 when a really nice, intelligent guy, a black man in my unit, suggested I and other soldiers read it. Fortunately, reading has never been a priority for me.

The Answer:

Rudolf the Red Nosed reindeer fooled a lot of people when it rose to become the favorite Christmas special when premiered in 1964. The TV adaptation was based on the super popular song of Gene Autry which is still ranked 13 on the above 14.5 Million records sold list. The Charlie Brown Christmas, which is my personal favorite, is 49 years old.

As great as Gene Autry could sing, he couldn’t hold a candle to Roy Rogers in cowboys stuff.

If I never received a present on Christmas, I’d still have the greatest of gifts.