WEEKEND TIDS AND BITS

DON”T DO AS A WE SAY, DO AS WE SAY has to be the message President Barrack gets after criticism in the press that he was “too distant” and “too cerebral” on health care reform became criticism that he was “overexposed” from a weekend of making his case on talk shows. For those unable to translate the journalese, “too cerebral” is how the media say “didn’t understand that” and “overexposed” is the code word for demanding that reporters report.

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WATER ON THE MOON says NASA, adding that if you process about a ton of Moon rock, you should get a quart of water. Similar ratios exist elsewhere in nature. If you process a ton of Congressional hearings, you’ll get an ounce of sense. A ton of political promises will yield an ounce of performance. No word on whether NASA might be eying the bottled water market.

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TALK ABOUT INFLATION… Wealthy nations of the world used to be able to screw up the world economy with the help of just eight nations, the so-called G-8 group. Now comes word from an international summit meeting in Pittsburgh, PA, that the new group to watch is the G-20, which will pursue pretty much the same aims as the G-8 and probably with the same result, just at a higher cost. Ain’t international cooperation wonderful?

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DON’T CALL THE LADY ABROAD A BROAD must be the title of the latest entry into the stylebook of the Fairbanks, AK Daily News-Miner, which ran the headline “A broad in Asia” over a photo of former Gov. Sarah Palin, who was in Asia to address an investor conference. The paper promptly and profusely apologized in an editorial, thereby joining a list including comic David Letterman who have experienced self-imPalinment when writing about John McCain’s veep pick.

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TOO JUICED TO JOLT? A recent study of 38,000 people with traumatic brain injuries suggests those with alcohol in their blood had a lower risk of dying. On the other hand, tooling around with alcohol in your blood, especially while driving, raises the risk of traumatic brain injuries, so be sure to consider the tradeoffs before ordering that “one for the road.”

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This Week’s Lessons:

· Campaign reform needs to include public funding of politicians’ sexual frolics, at least covering out-of-pants expenses at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/09/out-of-pants-expenses-covered-campaign.html

· Journalism had been the Town Pump, but now wants to charge for it, Internet moans at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/09/journalism-doing-it-for-money-getting.html

· Don’t forget GAPAC, which gives recovering politicians a chance at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/09/recovering-politicians-in-gapac-deserve.html

· Be sure to mark your planners for the next celebration of National Punctuation Day at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/09/from-carpe-diem-to-comma-diem-punctuate.html

Have a great weekend!

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