just not sure

Ever wonder why the Super Bowl got pushed into the middle of winter? Ever wonder why the Academy Awards are no longer on a nice spring evening? Ever wonder why the hell you can’t find a decent TV program except in November, February or half of May? It is because those months are sweeps months. Those are the months when ratings are counted, so networks pony up their big hitters so they can pretend that they have lots of viewers all year long. So we get Super Bowls and Academy Awards and Olympics in February. Well for me it is a good deal because February is one of the few months I have time to watch TV.

Which brings us to today’s big gimmick. The Beatles reinvade America 50 years after their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. WooHoo! There are only two left and they are quite a bit older, but I will probably try to return to my misbegotten youth and cheer them on.

Were you paying attention?

1) Republicans thought they had some evidence that the ACA kills jobs when they twisted and misinterpreted a prediction by what agency?

2) On Feb. 9th, 1964 the Ed Sullivan show set a record for number of viewers. Approximately (within 10 million) folks watched the Beatles that night?

3) Despite the overwhelming national support for Hillary Clinton, what governor announced he will explore running for president?

4) Saying their job was to promote health, what company announced they would quit selling tobacco by next fall?

5) Maybe there is a higher power? What entity called on the Vatican to investigate child abuse and remove abusers from the clergy?

6) Many cities around Iowa, like other cities across the country, are experiencing shortages of what winter necessity?

7) Chuck Grassley has asked the Attorney General to check to see if President Obama has authority to issue what?

8) Last week what state experienced a major spill of coal sludge containing arsenic, mercury, lead and uranium into one of their main rivers??

9) This head of the Republicans Governors Assn. wants to visit Texas, but no one wants to host him. Who is the head of the RGA?

10) As his name bubbled to the surface for a 2016 run for the president, which former Republican nominee stated he would not run?

11) Ken Ham and Bill Nye engaged in a debate about what hot topic?

12) Iowa state senators took what person to task for wasting time and money looking for small amounts of voter fraud rather than fixing the registration system?

13) Back in the news again – what is the name of the pipeline that is proposed to run from Canada to the Gulf Coast?

14) Known as the “flying Tomato” what olympic snow boarder made news when he withdrew from an event because it was “too dangerous?”

15) One last Beatle question to end the day. Who created the “Beatle” haircut and who was the first to wear it?

I heard that Peyton Manning tried to throw in the towel in the third quarter of the Super Bowl last week. The towel was intercepted and run back for a touchdown by Seattle.

Answers:

1) The Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

2) @ 73 million people

3) Martin O’Malley of Maryland

4) CVS drugstores

5) the UN

6) salt for their roads

7) executive orders. Chuck is losing it.

8) North Carolina. It was done by Duke Power into the Dan River

9) Chris (toxic) Christie

10) Mitt Romney

11) evolution vs. creation. Hot topic for some.

12) SoState Matt Schultz

13) Keystone XL

14) Shaun White

15) Astrid Kichherr created the look for Beatle boyfriend Stu Sutcliffe