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.

BudaBudaBudaBudaBuda…

Today's Tids Issue 2,209

Opening Stuff:

I believe the key in evaluating the next round of corporate reporting is revenue performance. Profits looked pretty hale so far this year. A rather fast return to profits is generally the first thing you see at the beginning of a recovery. Corporations can easily (Well maybe not easily) accomplish rosy profit pictures through general tightening, reduction in employment, heavy discounting or cost cutting. It’s an old story. But now the test. Are people buying again? Are companies getting good prices? Or, are sales continuing to be sustained through heavy discounting? Let’s check out some top lines on the third quarter reports. This is the test.

Pleasant moments with the second movement of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto Number 2 is like looking deeply into a lover’s eyes.

Countries around the world are starting to wake up to the fact that they are still giving China $2.5 Billion in foreign aid. And wondering why the 2nd largest economy in the world needs it. But, that’s like any other government program. Once instituted, it is almost impossible to get rid of it even in the face of overwhelming conclusive evidence against it.

Doncha kinda get the feeling that the NEA is sponsoring NBC’s week long focus on education?

The Question:
Yesterday we did Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice. So today, let’s try Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Learner (In honor of NBC’s Ed Week!). What was this song writing duo’s first hit and biggest hit. Name five shows.

The Headlines:

--World Stocks Pulling Back Over New Concerns About economic Recovery In Europe; US Stock Futures Down.
--US Stocks Continue To Fall After Consumer Confidence Level Dips To Lowest Level Since February.
--NK’s Kim Makes Son 4-Star General; Sets Line Of Secession.
--Gap Between Rich And Poor Widening.
--Obama Wooing college Students Again; Students Expected To be more Selective This Time Around.
--LA Heat Reaches 113F!
--Tids To Boycott First Lady Speeches Until She Stops Talking About Vegetables.
--Red Sox Still In Race After Another Outstanding Effort By Cy Young Contender Clay Bucholtz.

Back to More Stuff:
While strictly against any leniency or compassion for illegal aliens, I have always felt that a work visa plan could work. There is an apparent need for lower cost labor in many industries. And I guess, it is work that is beneath many who are doing just fine on welfare or unemployment checks. Of course there would have to be a lot of restrictions governing such a plan. For example, there would be no government support beyond issuance of the Visa…or the deportation of criminals. The employer would pay for all basic benefits. If the worker was hospitalized and the employer had failed to provide HC, the employer would be billed for all medical services. Unions would not be allowed to organize of the legal temp workers. There would be no Gov benefits for family members. And any worker caught doing anything illegal would be immediately deported.

I don’t look good in form fitting clothing.

I think we are into a long period of a “Hand-to-Mouth” economy. Like now, when summer bursts of employment are winding down and we enter a lull before Christmas/Halloween rehiring. Loyalty on both sides of the employment spectrum has been waning for a couple of decades now. Many of the new middle class jobs require less critical skills, so that the layoff/rehire seesaw has less effect on operations.

The wealthy will slow down domestic investment because over time they can’t see the middleclass as sustaining as high a level of purchases as they have in the past. While the statistics show that the wealthy pay an overabundance of the total tax bill, they also show that the economy we have enjoyed for so many years is because of the unrelenting purchasing power of a consistently strong middle class. A middle class where the future for consistently high earning power is cloudy at best.

Frankly, doncha kinda get the feeling that the current Admin is being run by the NEA?

Through the Same Eyes: Chapter 96 continues. –I quickly averted Kent’s piercing eyes. I needed to control my soul myself now. The fear of an hour ago had strangely morphed into resolve. I waved away Dan, and walked into the den. I heard no growls, but I felt aggression.
“Sorry I’m late,” I looked at them with the confidence of someone totally in charge, “But, thanks for waiting for me.” I saw Jack’s face relax ever so slightly. I was assuming that my favorite lackey Jeff was in charge of hiding the greasy one. I walked to the wall and pulled a chair to the center of the room. “I’m glad you thought of an extra chair or two Jack.” He rose, and started towards me, hand out. Ready to shake my hand and pull me in for a fatherly hug. Which he did. Izzy alone, sat like on an island, trying to plot out her next series of moves. Kent sat calmly unaffected by my little drama. But I felt his soft glance. I can feel the presence of this man who knows me so intimately.
“A funny thing happened on the way to this forum.” I said it matter of factly, informatively, but I knew they knew. “Yeah, I was chased by a couple of goons. And when they couldn’t find me, they beat the crap out of my friend Billy.” I stared at the blank expressions of the Izzy/Jack duo. God what psychopaths. I thought Jack felt for me. Like a daughter he never had. “What do you all think happened?”
Nobody spoke, which is not surprising. Finallly, I heard Kent.
“I am happy you weren’t hurt. His voice was soft, almost like he was contradicting some inner emotion.

Something strange happened Saturday night on the East Side of Providence RI. The stadium for the Brown/Harvard night game was packed to the rafters! With frenetically cheering people and…students. The last time Brown U probably saw a full house with enthusiastic students was in the sixties before campus radicalization., When the big game became mass protesting as opposed to “Root, root, root for the home team”. When a foot ball game became too clichéd, too establishment for the anointed elite. Before the late sixties, Ivy League powers like Yale and Princeton had SRO 70-80,000 packed houses…almost every Saturday afternoon. These were events! Could it be that good old fashioned, heart on the sleeve enthusiasm has a chance to be once again in vogue?

There’s a couple of good neighboring states races that I believe are terrific indicators for the depth of the mood of cirizens everywhere.. Charlie Baker, a Republican in Massachusetts, is running against a well known Obama pal, Deval Patrick. Baker is a business man in the mold of Scott Brown. He seems to know how to make things work. And why businesses are finding it harder to stay in Mass. On the other side of the “Hinge” state is Connecticut where the states AG Blumenthal is running against wrestling biz owner McMahon’s wife. She is for real. Knows the issues and has the money to get out the message. Blumenthal is exactly the kind of person we are trying to rid ourselves of; Big government give-away artist. If Blumenthal, and others like him get in, then you will know that all of the anger has accomplished nothing.

Our first lady has been extolling the virtues of the way early Native Americans (Indians) planted corn. Excuse me, but I think we have come a long way in 390 years.

The Answer: 
I don’t think many would argue about picking “My Fair Lady” as the duo’s biggest hit. Since it is also perhaps one of the all time Broadway favorites. Brigadoon was their first substantial hit. Camelot soared off of the success of “Lady”. Other big hits for the duo were Paint Your Wagon and the wonderful Gigi (Movie only.)

The End is Near:
So what’s this BudaBudaBudaBuda…thing all about? It’s about me turning into a mindless blatherer. And it’s the fault of all politicians good and bad. The airwaves are fraught with conflict. Overpromises. It is becoming as hard to watch programming featuring people I support as it is watching those I think are complete fools. I think it is an incumbent conspiracy. Throw as many issues at the people as you can and confuse them to the point where there only means to continuing sanity is to vote for the person they know…the dreaded incumbent. My mind is exploding. I’m turning off the TV. Changing the radio’s dial. BudaBudaBudaBudaBuda.