SB Week Survival Kit.

Today's Tids Issue 2,520

Opening Stuff:

One thing you can take to the bank this Super Bowl week is that some newspaper or Internet site will publish a story about how to have a nutritionally healthy, Green, SB Party!

Over the years in this little column about everything and nothing, I have looked for and reported on human oddities. I am finding now that odd and weird have become the norm.

The Middle East seems to be at the point where the rest of the world was in 1636 before Roger Williams and John Clarke established freedom for all religions in Rhode Island.

This week the Tids management will help take you away from the onslaught of irrelevant SuperBowl information and favorite team angst by turning your stomach with an avalanche of varied and sundry equally annoying subjects.

The Question:

Who was the wealthiest President? Who have been the 10 richest Presidential candidates?

The Headlines:

--Florida Multi-Car/Truck Crash Kills 10, Injures many More; Observers Say Smoke Shrouded Area Looks Like End Of The World.
--Catholic Sunday Masses Across Country Included Letters Written To Protest Obama Dictates That Force Religious Non-Profit Groups To Offer Birth Control Under Obama Care.
--Romney Surging In Florida; Even More Conservative Panhandle Region Pausing Over Newt baggage.
--Greek Debt Wrangling Will Keep Stocks Lower.
--Over 400 OWS Protestors Arrested In Oakland Cal.
--"The Help" Dominates SAG Awards.
--Assad And Syrian Rebels In Open Fighting.
--RI Looking For Ways To Improve Fishing Industry.

One thing I really don't like about the Internet is that when being intrigued by a headline I'm brought to a video story as opposed to a written story. I rarely listen to the video story but will always scan the written versions. Most of the time I find that the headlines are better than the "Rest of the story"!

The Florida political story coverage is becoming a little too heavy. I tuned into a couple of Cable News networks yesterday after hearing on the radio the news about a massive and particularly gruesome multi car accident on I 75 in Florida. All I got were the barbs and sniping of candidates crammed in between the pompous pronounce-iations of pundits. They managed to slip in 3 seconds or so about the Florida tragedy. A horrendous accident where at "Least" 10 lost there lives and others were badly injured. I think we have lost our perspective.

Good news for Michelle Obama...she did not kill the Twinkie all by nutritious herself. The burdensome Union contracts are the main culprit. There are over 100 separate contracts within the company, most inhibiting attempts at improving efficiency. Example: Instead of using one truck to deliver multiple brands to super markets the company is forced to use multiple trucks i.e. One for Twinkies, one for Wonder Bread. In addition to eliminating opportunities to be more competitive, the years of unrealistic contracts has produced a pension overload in the Billions of dollars. One that cannot be met.

There are a lot of cool things in this new world of technology, but one that amazes me every time I use it is wireless printing -- from DeskTop, laptop, IPad or smartphone. There's still a lot of genius goin' on around here.

If athletic teams would play with the precision teamwork of a symphony orchestra, they would be impossible to beat. Maybe the new generations of Bach, Beethoven and Dvorak could write the game plans. And orchestra members could teach subjugation of talented persona for the benefit of all.

Of course the big dichotomy is the jobs versus lower priced goods for consumers. Let's see, wages are going down and will probably continue to do so for a while. People with less cash in their pockets demand lower prices and sellers look for cheaper produced goods. In the US there are two ways to for US companies to accomplish this: !. Make them in cheap labor countries or produce them on highly automated machines that don't require people. Which of course means that the historic higher paying middle income jobs continue to evaporate. And people wonder why JC Penny just instituted a 40% discount on all merchandise. That's because the just passed so-called Boom Christmas sales season revealed that people mainly bought highly discounted products. And, that's the way it is, this January in America 2012.

Last week the traditional network news reports hailed the reported 2.8% GDP growth rate for December. "It's over. We're back!" What the gleeful faces didn't report was the opinions of most economists who said the 2.8 December brought the yearly GDP to a quite lackluster 1.7% and more importantly that much of the 2.8 came from the production that built up business inventories, which will necessarily slow the first six months at least, of 2012.

One of the latest "weirdness-is-taking-over-the-world" incidents is that insane reaction to a High School's choice the name Cougars for it's teams. This was for a new Utah High School in a state known for the wily felines in the wild and where one of it's Major Universities, BYU, is already known as the Cougars. The reason: It was considered insensitive to Women! Can you believe that? I can't. The authorities overrode the students own choice for that nickname and told them they would be known as the Chargers. To a person the students asked, "What's a charger". Editors Note: Since the incident, a well known Cougar, Demi Moore, has been sent to rehab. I guess she couldn't take the insensitivity. Help me, please!

I was pleased to see this morning that the Providence Journal followed the Tids lead in last Friday's bit about the lunacy of another grandstanding state law, this one banning cell phones in schools. A law the Editorial writer said would result in another unnecessary mandate from above where each school district would have to locate additional funds to enforce. They summed up with the sentence: "Red tape and mandates continue to swamp RI's local communities, as part of America's propensity to turn everything into a law." OK, Providence Journal. that's good...but how come you are so for Obama and so against anything Republican. That is mainly what Repubs are asking for -- Less regulations, less federal dominance, more freedom for individual states to act in the interest of their citizens.

"The Good Wife" was excellent TV last night.

The Answer:

Of course the Father of our Country George Washington was the wealthiest of all Presidents. However since he was never a candidate, this richest list is made up entirely by modern day hopefuls. There may be others like the Roosevelt's, Adams, Hoover, Jefferson or Kennedy who may have made the list if their wealth was calculated in today's Dollars. Number Ten is John Edwards! After the infamous Personal Injury Lawyer we have Rudy Guilianni, John Huntsman, Hillary (She did well after coming to the White House having never owned a home of her own), Al Gore, John Kerry, Mitt, Steve Forbes and Ross Perot.

Have some extra dough for Super Bowl Wagering? Here's some bets you can get: Odds on whether or not Kelly Clarkson's belly will be bare - 3-1; What color will be Madonna's hair when she begins the show; Will she be wearing fishnet stockings. How many times will the cameras show Peyton Manning; Giselle Bundchen; Tom Brady's son. How many times will they show David Tyree's 2008 SB catch. Let the nuttiness begin!

I'm late, I'm late for a very important date.

Today's Tids Issue 2,511
Opening Stuff:

Just when you think you're having a good day, Zappo's gets hacked. Does anybody ever remember the Sears-Roebuck catalog getting hacked? I don't think so.

I think Romney is leading the way now purely on potential electability in the Fall.

The Question:

Bonus Day: 1. The fans have spoken -- Which match up do you think America wants to see in the Superbowl -- Balt/SF, NE/SF, NY/NE or Balt/NY? 2. Name the five top all time NCAA Basketball points scored.

The Headlines:

--China Economy Growing Better Than Analysts Predictions; World Markets Strong; Dow Up 140 At 11:00AM..
--GOP Debate Better Than Average; Romney May Release Tax Returns By April.
--CitiBank Profit falls 11%.
--Wikipedia To go Black In Protest Of Congress Bills That Will Attempt To Regulate Web Site Activities; Big Boys Google, Facebook et.al. Agree With W, But Will Operate.
--Denver Says Tebow Will be #1 QB In Training camp.

The SuperPac idea may have been a good one if all of that money was used for truthful education instead of lies and spewing seeds of hate and division.

You get a sense of how fragile the world economy must be when the market drops significantly on fears of the high costs of suits from one cruise-liner mishap

I thought last night that Santorum looked pretty strong; Newt knows how to get to the belly of the voting beast; Paul is compelling, funny and a bit loony at the same time; Perry was better than he was in the beginning, but it's too late; Romney was playing the game of trying to avoid being caught. I didn't think it was a good night for Romney, and in no special order, the audience liked Newt, Paul and Santorum best.

Before TV the big event for kids growing up was getting ice cream after a tonsillectomy.

To be honest with you, I never really understood Alice in Wonderland.

"Alcatraz" premiered last night, and while it was well produced, it is a bit of a stretch and other than the intrigue of watching a killers plot their specialties, mainly another police drama. A kinda weird one.

Everybody loves Downton Abbey.

Republicans are conceding a Romeny nomination because they feel it is inevitable and they just want the agony to end.

You have to figure that the NFL league office is torn between having a San Francisco-Baltimore Super Bowl with two telegenic brothers facing each other. Or, a rematch of the New England/Giants thriller of 3 SB's ago. But, it's a happy problem. A Niners/Pats match could be the Leftist Bowl, Ninth Circuit Court Versus Ted Kennedy.

Voter ID is really about regaining a tinge of honesty in a political world that has lost its direction. Yet it has become another of those bogus racist arguments, leading me to believe that instead of capitalizing on progress, black leaders want to keep the divide alive so they will remain important.

The Answer:
1. Pete Maravich is the all time scoring leader with 3,667. The next nine are Freeman Williams, Lionel Simmons, Alphonso Ford, Harry Kelly, Keydren Clark, Hersey Hawkins, Oscar Robinson, Danny Manning, Alfrederick Hughes, Elvin Hayes, Tyler Hansbrough and Larry Bird. Note that most of these top scorers were before the 3-Point rule and when freshman couldn't play. Of course they were around before kids left college after one year. Whatever happened to Bevo Francis? 2. A New York-Patriots (37%) game gets the nod from the nations fans just ahead of Pats-Niners (35%). Niners-Balt is next with19% with NY/Balt at 9%.

Sorry for the thinning Tids today, and the speedy good-bye, but life is pressing and I must raise to the challenge.

If there were no problems in the world we wouldn't need leaders.

Superbowl Sunday is a good day to travel.

Today's Tids Issue 2,290

Opening Stuff:

I suspect way more Mid Westerners enjoyed being snowbound yesterday than those few seen complaining in media highlights.

You have to love the new nickname for Mubarak: "King of Denial".

Our big Nanny in Washington advises that if traveling in icy or extreme snowy conditions you should bring a shovel, blankets and/or a sleeping bag, extra clothing including hat and gloves, 24 hours worth of food, de-icer, rock salt, flashlight with spare batteries, road flares or reflective triangles, full spare gas can, first aid kit and booster cables Of course you may look odd or be subject to arrest for bringing this stuff on a bus.

The Question:
Name the Top 15 American Idol performers in "Total Record Sales".

The Headlines:

--Egypt Tries To Halt Increasing Strife.
--New Unemployment Apps Tumble To 415K.
--Ex-Providence Mayor Cicilini, Now Congressperson Left Prov In Financial Mess Due To Overspending.
--Census Shows Big Gains For Minorities; 85% Of Decade's Gain Came From Minorities; Hispanics Biggest Segment of The Gain.
--America Digs Out.

Back to More Stuff:
First Blips on the Radar Department:
A pretty conservative Townhall Magazine runs through its website (Townhall.com) monthly polls with results from 30-40,000 on Republican Presidential candidates. Here are the results for January: Palin - 22.27%, Mitt - 14.48, Ron Paul, 11.57, Huck - 10.76, Newt - 10.03, Herman Cain - 7.14, Christie - 5,55, Pawlenty - 3.02, Jim Demint - 2.97, Mich Daniels - 2.9, John Bolton - 2.5, John Thune - 1.56 and Haley Barbour 1.03. Rick Sanatorium and Gary Johnson each received less than 1%. Undecided was 2.68%. Confused? Wait til Huntsmen enters the race. Looking at this list, the Repubs appear destined to death by obfuscation.

Climate Change BS Department:
The headline in the paper read, "La Nina Seen as in Return to Winters Past. Total nonsense. Since 1903, (the year record keeping began) every decade has had 4 or five years with 30 or more inches. In fact the cyclical patterns from 1903 to present look remarkably similar. The most snow laden 16 years was between 1956 and 1972. The current ten years is snowy, but looks a lot like 1903-13. And, this year that has everybody fashionably anxious is only the fifth highest snowfall since 2000. The highest snowfall ever was 1995.

Frankly the historic knowledge of snow storms among the general public is not unlike that of the average voter when going to the polls.

For instance, David Cicilini while Mayor spent Providence practically into oblivion, but all the voters knew was the freebies he gave them. Now he has his hands on the national treasury. God help us.

Almost near. Chapter five. --Samantha went back to the Inn and signed up for another two nights. Her spirits were enlivened by Tucker, and now even some of the towns people became a bit more friendly. Jimmy's Dad Zach turned out to be a very nice guy, just like the man she thought she loved as a teen. In fact, he even said that he remembered a young girl who used to play in his back yard. She thought that Zach, a widower, might ask her for dinner some night. But, she learned that he was very busy and often went down to Boston during the evenings. Probably just more of her childhood dreams.
Samantha wasn't surprised though, when Tucker suggested diner, on his boat. She replied that her Momma always said, "Never get your self stranded on a man's Boat." He laughed comfortably, and she joined in, just as she had been doing since they met.
"The dory leaves at 6:00 PM!" Sam leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. he blushed.

The "Poor Baby" crowd is trying to elicit sympathy for the 0-Man because of the almost impossible decision he had to make about discarding a loyal ally versus being on the side of the next generation there. Prime Time ran for President, got the presidency, reveled in the Presidency, and making tough decisions is just part of the job.

Many reports are now in line with the original Tids observations that warned of extreme groups, like Muslim Brotherhood, hijacking the populist movement. But as I look around the Middle East at these coincidental simultaneous uprising I'm thinking that it is quiet possible they all were organized by those extreme groups as part of a master plan to take over all of these unstable governments.

In editorial endorsements preceding the past November elections, the Providence Journal endorsed every possible union owned candidate. This morning they wrote this piece wondering where the public spirited politician with no ties to special interests had gone. ThePol who could step in and look the Union power brokers in the eye and start the process of cutting back the enormous costs.

Is this fascination with El Nino and La Nino just another element of this current fashionable allegiance to anything Hispanic like Jalapeno and Chipolte. Lets face it, if the Ninos are here now, than they were probably around 100 years ago. The names are just sexier now and we have a lot more weather people to talk about them.

Productivity is up which is great for competing on global basis but not so good for increased employment.

A new study supports the views of many who have said that college isn't for everybody. It has always been obvious that many people should have been directed to fulfill their avocations rather than being fashionably directed into college. I wrote a story about the European style education system that is centered around best capabilities. For instance, technically gifted craftsmen are elevated to the level of liberal arts University students in term so their contirbutions to society. Workers in a factory have the same respect as those who maybe criticizing a playwright. And the surprising thing is that I wrote this about an initiative supported by Rhode Island teachers groups.

Well, it's Thursday and that means pigskin pickin' time. After the Pats debacle I said I was with Green Bay all the way. Still am. There is something missing in Pitt team. They have offensive flaws that can crop up at any given moment and stifle progress, Couple that with GB defense that is among the very best, and you have a big advantage for the Pack. Rogers has proven himself to be a winner. So that his offense will be good enough to overcome the traditional Steeler defensive ferocity. The Steeler have an edge in experience. So, all in all it will be a close game. I'm thinking 24-21 Pack. Now if we can just keep Jerry Jones off the sidelines.

The Answer:
Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood is way ahead with 12, 191,000. Season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson isn't doing bad with 10.628 Mil. The we have Chris Daughtry (6M), Clay Aiken (4.95) and Fantasia Barrino (2.8) rounding out the top 5. the rest are Ruben Stoddard, David Cook, Kellie Pickler, Jordin Sparks, David Archuleta,
Jennifer Hudson, Adam Lambert, Josh Gracin, Taylor Hicks, Bo Rice and Elliot Yamin.

The End:
I have never really liked Superbowl parties. They always got in the way of the game. It was always more about dips than drives. So, while everybody is inside thinking they are having fun, I go on a trip. Unless, of course, the Pats are playing. Yes, I am an old curmudgeon.

Td's and Ad's

Today's Tids Issue 2,060

Opening Stuff:

The Super Bowl had a winner this year. It was a fine competitive affair. And, to this viewer, with a Peyton Manning in the wings it is never over til the confetti engulfs the field. While Brees was uncanny after the first quarter, I have to say that a couple of dropped Manning passes caught could have easily changed the outcome. The opening patriotic songs were good. While Carrie was robust, I thought she strained a bit. The Queen was a little to jazzy for my taste. The “Who” was what it is, with people who didn’t know them loving their discovery and old Who fans crying in nostalgia. Personally, I thought it was a set up. CBS had the game telecast and couple of the best known Who themes are signatures for the top series, CSI and cast offs. A little subtle advertising here? I didn’t get very excited about the ads. Men walking around in underwear is a turn-off. Rather ugly, really. I remember two commercials. The one I liked best was the Simpson’s Coke ad. The other I remember was the Doritos in the neck by the protective snack addict. Most of the rest were old themes with no surprises or bad attempts at humor. But, the game was great. And that is all I care about anyhow.

I hate long openers like the above. But you do what you gotta do.

The Republicans made the mistake of complaining about the lack of transparency. Now Prime Time will be seeking TV time for just about every little issue. He loves it, and will use it as a campaign tactic. Because, when he is at the podium in his house, he will always get the last word. These forums could diminish whatever advantage the GOP has gained during the past year. Be careful about what you wish for.

The Question:

I remember well how I became fascinated by Classical music as about a 7 yo. listening to The Lone Ranger’s nightly radio program. You could probably name one overture that was a well known theme and popularized by the program.. But, there were two others that often filled out the musical background so important in radio. Name the pieces and the composers.

The Headlines:

--Bourbon Street Alive All Night Long After Saints Man(ning)-Handle Colts; Breeze MVP; Coach Payton Pulls Out Tricks To Keep Peyton Off Field.
--Prime Time To Hold Televised “New Vision for Health Care” Reform Developmental Forum; Rahm Emanuel To Crack Opening Monologue Jokes With Music By Stevie Wonder.
--Homelessness Rears Ugly Head In Job Rich North Dakota As Millions Flock There For Work.
--Costa Rica Elects First Woman President; Arias Protégé Laura Chinchilla Wins In Landslide After Vowing To Keep Moving Forward With Free Market Policies.
--Five Dead, Many Injured, In Giant Connecticut Power Plant Explosion; House Fire In RI Kills Four Young Adults And Infant.
--Ugly News About Past Forces Yet Another Illinois Pol Out of Race; Dem Lt. Gov. Scott Cohen Ousted Under Pressure.
--Obama Says He Has Not Ruled Out NYC Terrorist Trial.
--Palin Hasn’t Ruled Out 2012 Run.

More Stuff:

Greg Cravens reminds us that in the past the business maxim for success was “Find a need and fill it”. And, that in today’s new Internet world it is “Create an obsession and feed it”.

One media wag says about the Tea Party, “Their harsh rhetoric keeps them on the fringe.” The harsh rhetoric is simply the honest truth that the myopic don’t want to understand.”

Friday, speaking on Health Care, 0-Man urged a “…methodical, open process…). Isn’t this same guy who last spring was saying ‘August or else’…I mean ‘October at any cost’…or was that, ‘It’s got to be done by the State of the Union’. The ragtag health care bill died under the wait of bad decisions made under the pressure of unnecessary deadlines.

Saturday night Sarah Palin did what she does best, Cheerleading! The crowd loved her enthusiasm and folksy approach to the big picture. By the end of the rousing speech, the audience was shouting “Run, Sarah run!” A lot of people like to criticize her folksiness as not being “Presidential”. I’ve seen “Presidential” and I’m not impressed. I’d rather have “This is me and you’re stuck with it…but I’ll listen and I’ll get things done” than a slick well-handled “Suit” any day. Of course the problem with Sarah is substance. She has supposedly been on a cram course of recent months and I still see her struggling to easily find good from the heart…and brain…answers. She appears to have been basically memorizing sound bites for each given situation or possible question. She is dynamic in her support for the America I have always liked best, so I’ll keep an eye on her.

The Novel:

Through the Same Eyes: Chapter 23 continues. –“This is obviously a meeting I don’t think I’m looking forward to”, opened Isabelle in a light manner. The State Police Detectives didn’t smile, but I did. I didn’t know how much Phillips knew, but I didn’t want to scare her away. “My body guards here are Lieutenant Detective Roger Cook and Detective Henry Balsinger.” She smiled back. ” We don’t have all of the answers, but through a series of coincidences we have tied together some apparently harmless vandalizing in Fosterville to a major concern that could be happening here in your company. A supplier of your company, Paul Durham of GenInst had felt some strange, unrealistic pressure from your man Bromsky. After Bromsky’s mysterious interest in his business, he noticed significant discrepancies in the research of your two leading scientists, Bromsky and Kent Middleton. As you might know, Middleton is on a town committee and I know him. I presented our evidence to him this morning after I called you. Basically, we think that Seymore Bromsky could be experimenting on humans. Specifically, based on further interviews with the Niece of Bromsky, we feel certain that the humans are some missing teenagers. Isabelle was stony. Which is exactly what I expected.

More Stuff:

I don’t think the seas are rising…I think all of this GW BS is weighing down the earth and it is sinking.

If Obama thinks he’s “I’m not an ideologue” like he told Republican congress people in that recent folksy get-together, he should take a closer look at his list of radicalized Czars. It’s kind of scary. Not to mention the fact that the whole concept appears to be an attempt at circumventing the “Checks and Balances” system that has been so important to America since the country’s inception.

You know what bothers me…the way people love crapping on drug companies. The way I figure it, without them, there’s a pretty good chance that I and people I love would probably not be around. I know what you are thinking…Great! No more Tids. But what about the good people?

Ah, sports in America. But then, USC has to recruit adlolescents now because they’ll probably be on probation for the next several years after new Lane “Darkside” Kipfin gets finished with the program. The next time somebody wants to report creepy old guys hanging around school yards, they had better be sure they aren’t USC scouts.

Are we getting into second phase of the “unopened-financial-statements-sanity-preservation” strategy? Buy bonds. If you can find some that are affordable.

When I envision a picture of an angry young man, I see Timothy Geithner.

And in RI, “Numbnuts”, Congressman Patrick Kennedy, says that “The election of Scott Brown was a joke”. The latest proof that he doesn’t get it, and never has. Looking for a Joke Patrick…

If harsh rhetoric makes you “Fringe”, than all of those Bush bashers must be fringe too.

How come when 0-Man wants to reach the “people” people, he tries to get folksy like Sarah Palin?

The Answer:

I expect that you all guessed Rossini’s William Tell Overture. But, also very prevalent throughout the series are Mendelssohn’ s Hebrides (Fingals Cave) Overture and Franz Liszt Les Preludes. Occasionally they would mix in a little incidental Bizet. So, that will giove you something to hum about today.

The End:

Like all businesses, the US economy needs customers. Plain and simple. We have to export more so the producers can hire more services here at home. Hey…wait a minute we don’t have any more producers.