7/11: Casino day.

Today's Tids Issue 2,636

Opening Stuff:

I think this new email scheme of FaceBook is remarkably similar to Grand Theft! Or maybe it's just the latest evidence that FaceBook knows well the tractability of its users to the point that this behemoth intruder on privacy can actually steal private contact lists from their FB users and the malleable lemmings will say Thank you! It's damn weird if you ask me.

There's no truth to the rumor that Diane Sawyer, Andrea Mitchell and Norah O'Donnell have ordered Red, White and Blue* Cheer Leading costumes with a Giant "B" on the chest. They are practicing in a small room deep in beneath the Senate office building complex. It is anticipated that they will debut at the Democrat Convention In North Carolina. "Barak. Barak. He's our Guy, If the truth don't work tell a lie!" * If Obama wins a second term the costumes automatically turn all Red!

The Question: 

Following are clues to popular comic strips. How many can you get: Sunbeam, Sandwich, Scandinavian Marauder, Left Wing. Winged Reporter, Messy Room, Neighbor Nuisance, Kites and Footballs, Sleeping GI and Bent Tie.,

The Headlines:

--Market Quiet Waiting For Godot.

--China Economy Seems Poised For Slow Turn Around.

--Columbus Ohio Train Crash Looked Like Sun Exploding.

--Romney Tells NAACP That economy Is Worse For Blacks In Every Way; Gets Boos When He Slams ObamaCare..

--Wholesale Inventories Rise.

--MLB All Star Sets new Record On Boredom Meter.

At least once a week a big financial company becomes big news for all the wrong reasons reinforcing the image held by many of the unwashed that investment bankers are liars and thieves. The Latest is Peregrine Financial who say they can't find $250 Million of investor funds. They filed for Chapter 7 relief this morning. Who's next? -- Goldman, who's stock price is down 30% this year and has their investors wondering out loud.

The good news is that many states are waking up to ban texting while driving. The other good news is that "Writing down good ideas for Tids while diving" isn't even on their radar. 

Maybe my much maligned Spell Check has it right after all. They have no idea that Barak is an acceptable word. I wonder if Diane Sawyer will be cheering about that tonight.

I was listening to a news item about Barney Frank's wedding and learned that he calls is new mate "Happy Bottom". Say what? So I am wondering how many wives would like to be publicly known as "Jovial Pussy"? Cute for Barney but not so cute for cast iron frying pan on the head husband.

Have you noticed that with all of these social net work sites people are now writing for crowds. Don't you think it was nicer when a person would write a personal note to another person. The shallow society continues. "What hit me?"

In the older days up til the 1940's, when a person wanted some juicy info about another person, they'd just quietly pick up their party line and listen in. Now free technology from companies like Facebook does that for you. All you have to give them is your privacy.

It's interesting to note that the basis for everything that Cirque de Soleil does is an almost compulsive dedication to Fine Art! If you build a firm foundation, everything else just falls into place. So, why are we weakening the Constitution? Huh?

These hot news items just passed by my inquiring eyes: "Miley Cyrus Shows Off Unlikely New Tatoo."; "Dog That Looked Like Pitbull Mistakenly Killed."; "Nanny Rejected by (Charlie) Sheen's Ex.". And, for the 23rd time this week a new headline about the Cruise/Holmes divorce. It's about that firm foundation!

I'm still looking for some meat to drive my Political commentary.

The Answer:

In order the strips are Hi and  Lois, Dagwood and Blonde, Hargar, Doonesbury, Shoe, Zits, Dennis the Menace, Peanuts, Beetle Baily and Dilbert. I was going to put in Mary Worth, but I never really knew what she did. "Nosy Neighbor?

Don't go to a casino, go to a 7-11 Store and buy a lottery ticket. No losers today. Guaranteed. The President issued an executive Order.

See you all tomorrow.

Well, there's still the comics.

Today's Tids Issue 2,218
Opening Stuff:

This weekend looks like prime leaf time around here. Actually, there just isn’t anything bad about this time of year. The seniors have all moved to Florida, so the golf courses are playing fast again. I’m enjoying the comfort of corduroy pants as I crunch leaves on cool forest paths. The ocean glistens like a lover’s eyes. The air invigorates a body emerging from summer sluggishness. All in all, life is pretty fantastic.

Except for Juan Williams, who’s sudden boot by NPR is proving once again that the national gang of liberal intelligentsia are all for the 1st Amendment as long as what you are saying supports their beliefs.

When watching our current Congress at work, we should be taking a lesson from Mexico, a country that has seen an incredibly rapid deterioration after the criminals were allowed to run wild.

And…speaking of politicians, a magician is a “super duper”.

In addition to saving the future for pensioners, Sarkozy’s action on retirement age may have additional collateral benefits. For instance, the rude and culturally poisonous Lady Gaga has cancelled her Paris concerts in some kind of brain dead reactionary sympathy move. The French don’t know how lucky they are to be spared from that glitzy monotony.

The Question:
TV Guide just listed their favorite all time TV Families. They were in order Huxtables, Simpsons, Tanners (Full House), Sopranos, Partridges, Fishers (6 Feet Under), Bluths (Arrested Deelopment), Keatons (Fam Ties), Bunkers, Bradys, Conners (Roseanne), Seavers (Growing Pains), Waltons, Walkers (Bors & Sis), Cleavers, Jackson/Drummend (Diff Strokes), Ewings (Dallas), Barones (Raymond), Pritchetts (Mod Fam and Jeffersons. In a limited poll, viewers rated their favorites. Which of the above do you think came out on top? Name a show you think they missed.

The Headlines:

--Marlets Zig-Zag Waiting For G-20.
--Economic Growth Gage Falls To Six Week Low.
--Anonymous Person deposits $10,000 In Crisp Dollars In Memorial Donor’s Box And WTC Site.
--Cholera Outbreak Hits Rural Haiti; 142 Dead.
--Gulf Corals In Oil Spill Zone Appear Healthy.
--0-Man and MonicaMan Are Running Wildly Across Country To Save Out Of Control Congress.
--Verizon Profits Drop 25%; Beats WS Estimates; Investers Await Addition Of I-Phone..

Back to More Stuff:
If you have been watching the earnings report you might think our economy is based on companies that keep you idle, over feed you and put you back together fall apart. And you would be right. The bellwether industries this quarter are Electronics-Wireless-Computer-Internet, Fast Food and Health Care Products and Services.

Pakistan’s successful blockade of critical US supply transports hasn’t gone unnoticed by our deep pocket’s Congress and Admin. The US has increased military aid by $2,000,000,000! What a country.

Remember when Will Rogers said "I only know what I read in the papers"? Jeez, would he be in  trouble now!

Think about how much good the celebrities could do if they really understood the facts instead of reacting to some emotional artificial stimulus. Basically it just proves once again that actors are just good at reading other people’s lines. And these days their lines are being written by by people who don’t seem to like what America has been.

How come the pictures of shouting people I see in the French pension protest look like college students?

Silly State laws Department:
In Montana, it is against the law to have sheep in your truck cab without a chaperone! I wonder what that’s all about?


Reading between the Lines Movie Reviews:
--The trailer for Clint Eastwood’s latest “Hereafter” makes it appear as though it is entirely a Matt Damon vehicle. In fact it is three stories – Damon a psychic is looking for lava and a normal life without death; Cecille, a French TV reporter, is haunted by her near death experience; And Frankie McLaren is a foster child morning the sudden death of his twin brother. The stories eventually come together. You will find it slow and somber at times, but the end is uplifting in this movie that is spiritual and tends to support an afterlife. But then, what would you expect from an 80 year old director.
--I don’t like prison movies, so there is a high degree of probability that I won’t see “Stone” starring Edward Norton as a tough guy prisoner and Robert DeNiro as his very religious parole officer. For some reason, Norton has his sexy wife seduce DNiro thinking it will get him out of jail sooner. The religious DeNiro bends to the attraction quickly. Norton has regrets. It’s actually kind of an irritable movie.
--Woody Allen’s new little sex comedy “You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger” looks good to me. It has an all star cast including Anthony Hopkins, Josh Brolin, Naomi Watts, Gemmma Jones and Antonio Banderas among others. Watts and Anna Friel look for love in all the wrong places. The film which opens and closes with song “When You Wish Upon A Star” shows how people’s wishes for romance don’t always turn out to be the sweet dreams they had hoped for.

In the Town of King NC (Pop 6,000) the ACLU acting on complaint by one citizen got an injunction against the display of a Christian Flag at a veteran’s memorial. 63 year old Ray Martini, an Air Force Vet, was irate. He decided to put the flag back out there. He then set up camp beneath it to guard it. He has received food and blankets from towns across NC and from many other states. The town is now awash with fluttering flags. The same Christian flag hanging from hair salons, barbecue joints, general stores—well, just about anywhere in the town. Except government buildings. I’m wondering if it is the same single citizen who when living in East Greenwich had a seventy year old memorial to a good doctor, a cross, removed from a triangle at an intersection. Send a note to Ray!

I was surprised to see the cover of the October 4 Time Magazine with the feature story headline: “How the first nine months shape the rest of your life.” Could this traditionally abortion supporting editorial staff be having a change of heart?

In the first line of a predominantly anti-Republican rant in the Providence Journal’s editorial support of Barney Frank, they say: “Recovery from the financial crisis requires ‘intelligent’ leadership. The entire editorial reads like something you might hear from Lady Gaga or Rosie.

In case you missed it about Barney’s Babies, Fannie and Freddie, it was reported this morning that the terrible twosome needs another $215 Billion. I love that intelligent leadership.

The Answer:
The two that “the folks” seemed to like best and which were significantly ahead of the rest were The Huxtable’s and The Keaton’s of Family Ties. Also doing quite well were the Cleavers, Barone’s and Seaver’s, and they were followed by the Partridges, Bunkers, Brady’s, Walton’s and Conner’s. I think they left out My Three Sons and 8 is Enough. And, if you are really old you might throw in Father Knows Best! All the rest were so-so or worse.

The End:
If the press stopped following ideologies and started thinking again, we might have a chance of getting this government back in shape. If this formerly august group honestly interpreted the truth of candidate statements, ignored blatant dirty tricks and stopped being blind cheerleaders, maybe intelligent people would start running for office again.

Some of these Republican and Tea Party candidates say some of the dumbest things I have ever heard.