The Bottled Water syndrome.

Today's Tids Issue #2,333
Opening Stuff:

Meal of the week: Blackened shrimp, hush puppies and the best crab stew you ever ate at a redneck bar by the side of a Georgia road...And the Red Sox game on TV! Talk about Southern hospitality!

The Repubs are dead if they can't come up with a better 2012 strategy than hoping that unemployment stays high.

How do you expect an America that spends about $30 Billion per year on bottled water to get excited about Congressional extravagance that is tossing the economy into a black hole with no bottom? Everybody thinks that their irrational spending habits are responsible.

I'd say that after two final Two's in a row, we have to stop over looking Butler. Calling them a "Cinderella". And stop being surprised when the so-called mid majors knock off the so-called giants. Tonight, I'm picking UConn because I'm provincial new England lunkhead.

The Question:
The Interstate Highway numbers actually have a meaning. What do the prefixes to interstate numbers like 2, 3, 4 mean? Why are some interstate numbers low and others high?

The Headlines:

--Flash: House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan Releases Republican 2012 Budget Which Would Cut $ Trillion (With A Capital "T") Over Ten years; Would Alter Medicare And Medicaid; Dems Will Scream You Are Murdering Old People.
--Notre Dame Women Upset UConn Machine.
--Prez Officially Declares candidacy For 2012.
--Desperation Mounts In Japan As Radiation Leak Still Elusive.
--Blago Asks Judge To Turn Over FBI/Obama Interview Notes.
--Katie To resign From CBS News Post.
--Southwest Finds Cracks In thre More Planes.

Back to More Stuff:
The use of this word "Extreme" is a bit...well...extreme. It has become more of a common slur than anything meaningful. The Dems love to label the Tea Party as extreme, but to me they look like a bunch of regular people fed up with stupidity, deceit and general all around lying. I am actually proud of what I am, which is a person who believes that society runs better if adhered to the Ten Commandments. You know, no murdering, no lying, no stealing. That governments and people in general shouldn't spend what they can't afford. That the strangling of of America's future with debt interest higher than almost of the world economies put together is bad for everybody including people on the freebie train. Stuff like that. Call me extreme and I'll say thanks.

I saw an air conditioning repair truck with the sign on the side saying: "586-0007: Licensed to Chill".

Well at least we know that Michelle Obama isn't Marie Antoinette! Michelle says "Take away their cake"!

Almost Near: Chapter 14 Continues. --It didn't take long for Samantha to learn very little. The woman, Barbara Hersch, was pleasant. She basically iterated what she told Samantha to lure her into Barbara's lonely kitchen. But, Samantha smiled and prodded hoping that there might be something tucked away in her lonely mind. Samantha finally rose and reached over to shake Barbara's hand and say thanks. Barbara came arond the table, and they passed through the living room where the teen lay zoned in front of a computer game, Barbara said, "How stupid of me. Wait here." She turned and ran up stairs.
With seconds she was back down slightly out of breath, but with a big smile on her face. "Here. This is the card of the detective who interviewed me about your missing relative."
Samantha took it and sat on the steps. "So, do you remember what he asked, what you said.?"

Have you noticed that most companies now say: "Look for us on FaceBook." Why? Isn't that like, Redundant. Most of those who say that to me I don't know anyhow so I wouldn't know who to look for unless I had a gigantic list of people/companies who said that in my pocket. What was wrong with "see us at www..."? Do you sometimes get the impression that most new big money growth companies are just supplanting other big money growth companies with superficial window dressing?

I'm really impressed with seeing eye dogs. I saw one in a restaurant the other day and was taken by its restraint. I know that if I were a seeing eye dog laying under a restaurant table I'd be a problem. "Sniff. Sniff-sniff. Sniff, sniff,sniff. Ehhh, ehhh, ehhh (That's heavy breathing.) Is that gravy? I hope, I hope, I hope. Chicken? Beef? Merlot sage reduction? Maybe he'll drop something. Maybe if i just raise my head fast and nudge his hand...."

I was riding up in a hotel elevator and noticed the guy taking up most of the cab with one of those luggage caddies hotels provide. On it he had a large wheelie suit case and a complete "Desktop Computer". I said, "most people just bring a lap top." He looked at me and said "I hate laptops". Of course I laughed at his little joke only to find he wasn't kidding at all. He started explaining the problems with a lap top and I knew he was serious. I wanted to say, "Then an IPad must be totally out of the question", but I decided, you never know who may shoot you these days. Do you know how hard it is to suppress a good laugh.

Basically, the only thing many of these Congress people know about budgeting is that saying "They're going to kill your children" is a good strategy.

The Answer:
All main Interstates have one or two digit numbers. Odd numbers run north to south and even numbers east to west. The lowest north south numbers start in west (i.e. I-5 in Cal) and the lowest east west numbers start in south (i.e. I-10 in Fl). Circumferential routes off main interstates are 3 number routes with an even prefix of 2, 4, or 6. (These change if there are multiple cities in one state with circumferntial roads (i.e. 295, 495, 695). Spurs off these circumventing roads wild use odd prefixes like 195, 395. Get it? Travel made easy.

The End:
If there is a gov shutdown, it is the result of the Dems wimping out from their congressional responsibility during the months before the last elections. That is the only reason we have a problem today.

Today is the anniversary of MLK Jr.'s assassination, Many groups (Read that union organized protests) appear to be poised to use this solemn occasion to protest State and Local governments getting their financial house in order. I don't seem to remember that King's dream for America was about sendign the country into financial ruin.

A "Green" Week that counts.

Today's Tids Issue #2,319

Opening Stuff:

Are you ready? Yup it is that time of year when you will be bombarded for the next five days or so of every corned beef recipe or variation known to man. Corned beef, the most overated food in the history of mankind. Do you know how hard it is to make Corned beef gravy?

I was watching the St. Pat's parade Saturday. After a nice start there was this 5-8 minute gap. People wondered if it was to be the shortest parade in history. But in the distance we saw a banner followed by a convertible, plodding forward. Inch by inch. Finally the car arrived and we saw which parade participant was holding up the show. The sign on the car said "Naples St. Patricks Day "Planning Committee"! Humorously, just behind the organizing group was a bunch of Knights of Columbus geezers imploring,"Step on the God damned gas. Move your ass." So much for a kinder and gentler America.

Flubber is my new nickname for Christine Bachman. Beauty queens should never be allowed to stray from the script.

For all of you "Almost Near" lovers who may have shut down their computers for the weekend, The Saturday "Mea Culpa" edition had the latest chapter in this terrifying saga of a woman who is losing her mind while finding she has several others she didn't know about.

The Question:
In "the things you know but don't know where they come from" department, name the songs written by Hugh Martin who died yesterday?

The Headlines:

--Millions In Japan Struggle With Quakes Aftermath; Tide Brings In Thousands of Bodies.
--Massive Sell-off Pulls $287 Billion Out Of Japanese Stock Market; US Futures Lower On Nervousness.
--Indian Navy Captures 61 Somalian Pirates.
--Buffet Squeezes Itchy Trigger Finger To Buy Lubrizol For $ Billion.
--Second Blast Rocks Stricken Japanese Nuke Plant; Engineers Say Radiation Levels Still Within Safety Margins.
--Passengers Contradict Bus Driver In Ghastly NYC Crash.
--Daffy Forces Retake Libyan Stronghold.

Back to More Stuff:
And...we could name Huckabee "Gaffer". The problem is, that unlike Bachman, the Huckster is a legitimate candidate whose comments recently eluded the facts. Personally I like Huckabee, an apparently honest man with a good moral basis who in fact was invariably the best of the lot in Republican debates. Unfortunately, unless you are a democrat, once you have transgressed into the gaff column, the media will never let you out -- regardless of whether or not it was a simple mistake.

The nuclear issues associated with the earthquake in Japan will sideline the comeback in confidence for the much needed, very efficient nuclear power genration for at least another ten years.

Heard recently at a meeting of Cultural Addictions Anonymous: "Hi, I'm The Media and I'm addicted to Charlie Sheen."

I liked Dilbert's comment on business illogical rational in yesterday's Funny Pages (As I used to call them), "Teamwork means you can't pick the side that is right."

Which brings me to a little item about college football expert, and former The Ohio State Buckeye, Kirk Herbstreit. Kirk just moved from Ohio to Tennessee because the Buckeye faithful "Don't want to hear anything negative about their teams." It was getting tough for Herb to continue living because telling the truth as all good commentators should do didn't sit well with some of the mental institution bound fans. Fans who want to be blinded with false hope. Sport is supposed to be a release from daily pressures. An outlet. Yet many have made it a religion. I guess this isn't surprising in Buckeye land, where they insist on using the precious "The" before the name Ohio State U. This is a story that can be told in colleges towns around the country.

This NFL mess is coming down to who can appear to be the most fan friendly, when neither side could care less.

I always get a kick out of people who say "But...I don't like the fishy taste." And, then stand for hours to get into restaurant's that serve the blandest of farm raised or former junk fish. All basically tasteless. It's like they've heard seafood is healthy and they look for the least objectionable way to take their medicine.

Almost Near: Chapter 11 Continues. --"I'm sure you know this," Martha started, "But, after you left I never really saw much of your parents. To be honest with you, as much as your father was always friendly towards me, your mother was equally as distant. She seemed sad. Then one day, a couple of years after I was married, a "For Sale" sign went up on your home. Of course I got very excited..."
Martha's new ramble started to drift into the background as Samantha tried to resurrect memories of these parents she didn't remember. But she recalled nothing. Though as Martha talked, she sensed something about her past. She emerged from her thoughts to hear the droning of Martha who was now talking about a funny incident at the closing. Samantha smiled at her as she heard, "I was hoping your parents would have been at the closing, but their lawyer representative said he didn't know where they were." He said they just sent him all of the information with no return address, but with a bank acocunt number for electronic depositing of the funds.
"Do you remember the name of the lawyer?"
"Why sure, it was Dante Wallowitz. Remember him! Mr. Cutie, senior when we were freshmen in High school!" Then Martha rolled her eyes like she would have as a teen when a boy walked by.

In a discussion about Obama under the headline, "On high profile issues, Obama keeps a low profile" it was noted, "...But the White House sees no upside in outspokeness." How about leadership?

The celebrity can always get a free cup of coffee, using his Star bucks.

Sports Shorts: --I can't get enough of those reports on the iditerod. --They have built a very good NBA team in Chicago. Rose is very talented and the supporting cast has great chemistry. Noah is much better than anticipated. Works hard. --The Big East with 11, will have to prove themselves or look really bad like the Big Ten has recently. Of course the Big Ten with 7 will have some proving to do too.

And now...the much anticipated "Tids Final Four"!: The OSU, UConn, Notre Dame, Florida. Final Two OSU-Fla.

The Answer:
Hugh Martin wrote some of the best songs I have heard, including several for Judy Garland in the Movie "Meet Me in Saint Louis." (Remember when people would want ot meet in St. Louis?) Some of his best are "The Trolly Song" (Clang Clang Clang goes the trolly; Thump, Thump Thump goes my heart.), "The Boy Next Door", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas",and "Buckle Down Winsocki (Til this very moment, I always thought the song was "Buckle Down Woonsocket!). He also write the music and sometimes the lyrics for five Broadway musicals: Look Ma I'm Dancin', Best Foot forward (Starring Lucille Ball), Make A Wish and High Spirits. He won Oscars for The Trolley Song and Pass the Peacepipe. He was regarded by insiders as be right there with the best and in fact in his early career he arranged the music of Rogers and Hart and Cole Porter among others.

The End:

You just can't buy much for a couple of hundred million any more.

Instead of Government grants going to professors examining the sex habits of garden slugs and aphids, how about researching where not to build nuclear power plants.