2642 Pity the American Canadian

If you studied American History a few decades ago, back when the 17th through early 19th century mattered in our school curricula, you may remember that many citizens of the U.S. emigrated and went to Canada after the Revolution and after the War of 1812 (unlike certain movie stars of the 21st century who have only threatened).

Read about Margaret Wente's sad fate of demanding reparations from herself at my Illegals Now blog. Since the "mass migrations" in this country happened after slavery, I've often wondered if the Czechs and Poles and Russian Jews were going to buy into it.

2641 La Raza hosts Rove

Here's a stunning line up that is one-upmanship for librarians, who only secured Laura Bush to inflame its membership. KKKarl Rove will be speaking to La Raza (i.e., the only race that matters is these guys).

"The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., announced today that former President Bill Clinton, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are among the confirmed speakers for the upcoming NCLR Annual Conference which will be held July 8-11 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA.

“We are deeply honored that President Clinton has accepted our invitation to address more than 2,000 community leaders from across the nation, and we are also excited by the wide array of speakers from the worlds of business, labor, government, nonprofits, and politics who will be joining us at this year’s Conference,” stated Janet Murguía, NCLR President and CEO." But it's just for lunch. News release

2640 The best fashion advice

is right here at Coffee Spills.

2639 Marxism may be dying out in the former USSR

but it is alive and well in the history and sociology departments of American colleges and universities. One of the eye-opening experiences of reading Companion to American Immigration (Blackwell, 2006) is its foundational assumptions based solidly on Marxist thought and scholarship. Not that I was naive about the Marxists in our universities, but reading essay after essay--about food, education, demography, social customs, microeconomics, politics, and law--all rooted in and rooting for Marxism is quite an eye opener as I read along at the Lakeside coffee shop, a vacation spot more like the 1950s than a TV "Happy Days" recreation.

If you've ever wondered what became of the "tenured radicals" who went from sit-ins in the presidents' offices in the Halls of Ivy in the 1970s to populating them, read this book! They are indeed the adopted intellectual grandchildren of the 1930s faculties and labor activists who were pacifists until Germany invaded Russia and then had to go underground when the Gulags were being revealed after WWII. When the Berlin Wall fell, they used chunks of scholarly concrete to rebuild their fables.

I've learned a lot of new words and phrases for us and U.S. reading this book:

marriageways
nuptiality
marital endogamy

draconian reductions in immigration [during the Depression, duh!]
recovery from the Depression "eroded ethnic differences"

boutique farms
foodways
culinary nationalists
women as cultural conservators

aping the life of gentry
Anglo-Saxonism
Germano-Celtic
nativist sentiment
dominant society
host society
core culture

institutionalized nationhood
individualizing destiny
assimilationists
pluralist vision
voluntary pluralism
vocabularies of public life
civic homogenization

language shift
language loss
home language

schools as labor pools for industry
cauldron (instead of "melting pot")
well-socialized labor force
enforced schooling to empower the government

And academic gibberish even worse than library jargon:
gendered dimensions of transnational ties (I have no idea what this is!)
major shareholders of identity
ethno-cultural, creedal, and individualistic pluralistic models
contingent contagionists
immigrant transnationals

Incidentally, if there was a lynching, a killing, a riot, or a law about ethnicity, these are liberally interspersed at every opportunity to demonstrate the shallowness of the minority "dominant Anglo-Saxon culture." The chapter on religion isn't about religion at all--it is about the anti's--anti-Semitism, KuKluxKlan, anti-Catholicism, anti-muslim, etc.

2638 My office nook at the Lakehouse

The cottage is tiny, but I have a small corner, and use the coffee shop as my annex. We need to unplug that phone--we don't have a land line anymore, and I could use the space! Before that I used a pay phone at the hotel. In the 80s, there would be a long line of teen-agers waiting (including my own), but now they all have cell phones.

Friday Family Photo

More about cousins

These are photos of my son and his cousin Rich, who are about 8 months difference in age, which when they were children made quite a difference in size, but none at all when they grew up--in fact, I think Rich might be a bit taller. Both were almost white blonde as little guys, and now both are very dark. Rich is on the right in the 1973 photo and the left in the adult photo.

Easter 1973

And in 1999

2636 Stop the CCR

The CCR is working with and helping to fund the pro bono lawyers' work at Gitmo which is aiding terrorism.

The paragraph below is my rewrite of one the CCR had on its home page demanding Bush's impeachment (to send to your representative). Obviously, they didn't accept my editing--they're not that liberal! They are wetting their pants and their lips over the Supreme Court decision. I'm thinking their logo has a striking resemblance to a more familiar one with a bit of tweaking and flipping.

"The President of the United States should continue the course to save our country. He should continue the necessary surveillance of finances and communications systems to protect U.S. citizens. He should continue to tell the truth to the American public who are being lied to by anarchists and leftists who hate the U.S. to lead them to victory over terrorism. I urge you to join me and a growing number of your fellow bloggers calling for an investigation into activities of the Center for Constitutional Rights."

2635 The Guantanamo Bay Bar Association

Their pro-bono work is aiding the enemy. So how do these prisoners get a case to go up through the courts with some of the best lawyers in the country? Lawyers you and I couldn't afford? Well, we're paying for it--indirectly because they are being paid huge fees by firms we invest in.

Blogged about this in January. I wrote letters. Did you? Deroy Murdock's original article

It's a recruiting tool for these firms:

From Fredrikson & Byron
Fredrikson & Byron has put together a team of lawyers representing one of the Guantanamo detainees, Ahcene Zemiri. We are working to ensure that he has the opportunity to present the facts of his case to a federal court. Our lawyers worked with the Center for Constitutional Research (“CCR”)**, a non-profit organization based in New York, to arrange for our representation.

Although more than 150 Guantanamo detainees are now represented by counsel from across the country, Fredrikson & Byron remains the only law firm in Minnesota that is representing a detainee. Our habeas petition has become the model petition that CCR provides to other counsel planning to file petitions in their own cases. Individuals who have worked on this case include: Matt Boos, Ingrid Culp, Wade Davis, Jim Dorsey, Emily Duke, Lilhja Emery, Dulce Foster, Roxanne Gangl, Michelle Hanson, Sharen Keehr, Faye Knowles, John Lundquist, Nicole Moen, Debra Schneider, Jessica Sherman, Rhona Shwaid, Asmah Tareen, and Heather Thayer.

Sutherland Asbill & Brennan: "Here are a few highlights of our most recent pro bono work:

In January 2005, John Chandler accepted a challenge from the American College of Trial Lawyers to represent alleged "enemy combatants" detained at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On February 7, 2005, Sutherland filed a petition for habeas corpus and other relief on behalf of five Yemeni detainees. The petition, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, notes how "[e]ach of the Detained Petitioners is being held virtually incommunicado in military custody at Camp Delta...without basis, without charge, without access to counsel and without being afforded any fair process by which they might challenge their designation and detention." Because the U.S. government prevents lawyers from visiting Guantanamo detainees unless they have a pending case, Sutherland brought these cases through the detainees' relatives, who authorized the filings as "Next Friends" of the petitioners. Sutherland lawyers have since submitted security clearance forms that, once approved, will allow them to visit the detainees."

I wonder if these firms will do pro-bono work for Marines or school children who pray at graduation?

**The CCR is the group that has written a book on how to impeach President Bush.

Guantanamo Bay

Have I got a deal for you

We just toured a duplex owned by a friend, called the Plymouth House at 315 and 317 Sycamore Avenue in Lakeside, OH. Each side sleeps six, (3 bedrooms, 2 baths) and I've given it my personal inspection, and it is clean, clean, clean and beautifully decorated with eclectics and antiques. The kitchens are new, there's a laundry, AC, wireless, and overhead fans for those days when it's not quite hot, but you'd like a little air moving. A fabulous front porch, which every Lakesider knows is a must have.

You can view the details and photos at Lakeside Association Cottage Rentals.

2633 Baby Peeps

When I was a little girl, I lived two houses from a hatchery in Mt. Morris, IL. We children would just walk inside the brick, one-story building and look at and touch the baby chicks. I think my nose was about level with their itty bitty toes.

I suppose I've spent all these years thinking Mt. Morris was the center of chickenhood and hatcheries. And it is sort of, at least in print. Poultry Tribune and Turkey World are published there--or were the last time I looked. Imagine my surprise when I opened the Black Swamp Trader and Gazette and discovered that it was New Washington, OH. The Dutchtown Hatchery Festival in New Washington will have its 2nd Annual Festival on July 7th and 8th, and if I weren't flying to Finland on the 8th, I'd stop by, just for the sights and smells.

It seems that Michael Uhl invented a 200 egg capacity incubator on his family farm in 1885. He and his brothers went on to design and build a 10,000 egg capacity incubator and thus sparked an entire industry. So apparently "factory farms" aren't an invention of the 20th century. People near Croton, OH will be happy to know that.

He also is responsible for creating a system to ship newborn peeps across the nation, which is still used to this day. The World's Poultry Congress, which happened the year I was born, actually toured little New Washington's hatcheries.

Thursday Thirteen

banner by tnchick

Thirteen things about your blog: 7 that keep me coming back, 3 that make me pause, and 3 that say good-bye.

Hello, I'm glad you're here says a

1) A beautiful template
2) with easy to read color combinations
3) with few or no wiggles and jiggles
4) and few or no ads
5) and no appeals for money, even for a good cause
6) more text than links
7) with interesting, well-thought out ideas.

Got some extra time on your hands says

8) confusing registration procedures, and hidden comment links
9) three squished columns that overlap
10) teeny, tiny little clicks, blips and flips to turn a page.

So long sister, this blog's not for you says

11) a steady stream of profanity
12) discussion of your sex life--even with your spouse
13) music blaring with the volume button hidden, which starts all over when I try to leave a comment.

<1. Margie Mix 2. Margie Mix 3. Kelly 4. Christine 5. Denise 6. Francesca Gray 7. Red 8. Bj 9. Jennifer, Snapshot 10. mommy@home 11. carmen 12. Katrina 13. Louise 14. Darla
15. Chris 16. Tricia 17. Lazy Daisy 18. mar 19. EmilyRoseJewel 20. d.challener 21. Stacy 22. Great Day 23. Trina 24. The Shrone 25. Mrs. Cranky Pants 26. tnchick 27. Reverberate58 28. astrocoz
29. Kailani 30. Ficklechick 31. momcarver 32. Jo 33. Chelle 34. Susan 35. Mysterious Lady 36. Christine 37. PixiePincessMom38. Cindy Swanson 39. Jimmy K.40.
You're next

(If you participate, leave your link in the auto-link and it will post here, but please leave a comment.)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things.>

Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

2631 Why I don't support a flag amendment

This can be handled with local codes or state laws. What I'd like to see is a movement toward decency and common sense on the part of business so people weren't buying towels for the beach that look like flags, or table napkins, or bikinis or jeans. That's the part I find objectionable and which seems to also be protected "speech." We've got hate speech codes and burning codes. Let's use those and get the government back to protecting us from real weirdos.

Bill "The Snitch" Keller

You could burn a thousand flags and not do as much damage as Keller at the New York Times has done. Congress was informed of this security measure and he didn't like it, so although no one elected him, he decided to give secrets to the enemies of the United States, secrets that will help stop the flow of money to terrorists. If bloggers are organizing to pressure advertisers who use that rag, where do I sign up?

Rich Lowry "Government by and for the New York Times
Milblogger "Keller contributes to death of soldiers"
Bill Keller "I leave it to the court of public opinion"
Peter King "charges treason"

Bill Keller
flag amendment
New York Times

Minimum wage

Don Surber parses the minimum wage discussion--concluding that neither the Congress nor the 1% of Americans who earn minimum wage deserve an increase. Read it here. Clear, clean, concise, and using the same template that I do. He writes editorials and a weekly column for the Charleston Daily Mail.

2629 Foodways vs. cuisine

Sigh. There is no American cuisine. Donna Gabaccia has one of the more interesting essays in "Companion to American Immigration" (2006), writing about the diversity of American food (p.443-470). I thought food exchanges were for dieters--but it turns out it is what immigrants do as they trade spaghetti, yams, spices, and pork for what they are used to. I think she is a bit conflicted, however. Next to one of the librarian writers I occasionally read [Hi Walt!], she has more parenthetical qualifiers than corn kernels on a cob at a 4th of July picnic. She has written extensively on this topic, so perhaps one of her other works (which she cites) allows her more leeway.

I've only read about 5 of these essays, skipping to the topics that most interest me, but it's noticeable that if your family did get here before 1850, you are part of the problem. I suspect this is the trend in any textbook prepared by today's scholars. And even if they came during the "mass immigration" of the late 19th and early 20th, if they went from poverty to being fabulously successful, college educated who launched businesses or became CEOs, you are also part of the problem. Mainly because the very subtle undercurrent in this title is that nothing good can come of being a mainstream, native born American.

And pity me and mine! Descriptions for us, our food tastes, our habits that may be rooted in Britain or northern Europe, are noted as 1) culinary nationalism, 2) "Glory, God and Gold," 3) "aping the life of the gentry," 4) "moral rectitude," 5) "established patrinomies" 6) Protestant, 7) mass-produced, 8) white bread, and "religious hostility to alcohol."

Remember the 19th century saloon we learned about in American history class that took the food out of the mouths of children and gave rise to the Hull Houses of the cities? Not to worry. It's all been cleaned up. Now it is just delightful ethnic diversity of foodways. "For the Irish, drinking their own darker brews and whiskies in the equivalent of old world public housesmay have provided a sense of communalism as much as a shared meal of potatoes, porridge, or cabbage."

Well, isn't that a classy spin for falling-down-drunk laborers whose pay never made it home!

2628 Financing Terrorism

It seems the Bush Administration wasn't the first to notice how important money is to terrorists. Other countries figured it out too.

U.S. Congress. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Anti-Terrorism Conventions. 2001.
Sudocs classification number: Y 1. 1/ 6: 107-2
http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS16776
http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS16777 (permanent redirect)
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgibin/
getdoc.cgi?dbname=107_cong_reports&docid=f:er002.107.pdf (PDF
file)
“These two anti-terrorism conventions address two specific aspects of
terrorist conduct: terrorist bombings and the financing of terrorism. Their objective is to require the United States and other States Parties to criminalize such activities and to cooperate with each other in extraditing or prosecuting those suspected of such activities.”

U.S. Congress. House Committee on Financial Services. Financial Anti-
Terrorism Act of 2001: Report together with Dissenting Views. 2001. 121p.
Sudocs classification number: Y 1. 1/ 8: 107-250/ PT.1-
http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS15885
http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS15886 (PDF file)
“To combat the financing of terrorism and other financial crimes.”

U.S. Congress. House Subcommittee on Crime. Implementation of the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. 2001. iii, 57p.
Sudocs classification number: Y 4. J 89/ 1: 107/ 46

The intent and provisions of these two treaties, as well as their usefulness
in combating the kind of global terrorism exhibited in the September 11
attacks."

These were looked at via a nice online bibliography about 9/11, which unfortunately, I neglected to record, but I may have found it via GLIN. These documents, or any discussing the need to stop terrorism at the source (money from donors or drug cartels) are not hard to find via Google, but finding them in a bibliography is a nice shortcut. Librarians love bibliographies, indices and other finding tools.

2626 Summer Reading at the Lake

Yes, I'm working my way through "A Companion to American Immigration," which is proving to be much more interesting than the title might suggest. It says a lot about the state of present scholarship on the topic.

For instance--the list of contributors. It is heavily weighted not only with Asian surnames, but also specialists and historians on Asian immigration. In fact, I didn't find any ethnic names for Cuba, Mexico or South America, although there are two Spaniards from the University Autonoma of Barcelona. It strikes me that if it is awkward or slippery to compare the culture of Mexican illegals with that of 18th century British, it probably doesn't make a lot of sense to use the 19th century Chinese railway workers either.

Chapter 21 on food is interesting, not only for the history of food exchanges, but the obligatory use of inflammatory language which populates "survey and studies" scholarship. When European ethic groups in the U.S. are mentioned, the verb of choice is "invade," but when Plains Indians do it to each other's territory, it is a "raid."

And you can almost hear the authoress sigh when she recounts how our fore mothers raised, processed and preserved much of their own monotonous food. I just love it when academics who have probably never broken up a clod of prairie or snapped a bean, can get so sentimental about the back breaking work women used to do over an open fireplace or cook stove.

2625 About those 500 WMD

Ho hum seemed to be the press' response. Here's an interesting observation at Evangelical Outpost by Joe Carter. Sort of what I'd thought even back in 2003. If they'd been found then, the anti-war people would have moved on to something else.

"Opposition to the war has nothing to do with the lack of WMDs. It never did. We could find a nuclear bomb in Uday Hussein’s old apartment and John Kerry would still be gearing up for Winter Soldier II. Unless you dropped your moral compass off the side of a swift boat in Cambodia, it’s easy to see that the world is safer because we secured the one WMD that truly mattered: Saddam Hussein.

More important than the weapons that were found (or that have yet to be found) are the ones that will never be created by Saddam’s regime. Many Americans, however, still suffer from the delusion that the only way that Saddam could have been a significant threat was for him to have possessed stockpiles of WMDs."

2624 And you thought I was kidding about librarians

who want to destroy the United States? They're not about sensible shoes, reading pc books to children or providing unbalanced info. Here. It's a mixture of eastern mysticism and communist activism. So I guess they'll be mellow.

2623 The Gates Buffet Second Team

Malaria eradicated? Sure, just bring back DDT and stop millions from dying right now. Sometimes environmentalists just care too much, they care people right into a terrible death and early grave.

No one has died from exposure to DDT. But millions die every year in the third world from malaria which could be virtually eradicated by DDT spraying of standing water. Until Americans were duped by Rachel Carson's misinformation, good progress was being made against this terrible disease. Since 1972 when the EPA banned its use, millions have died needlessly. This "do-gooder" impulse we Americans have has killed more Africans than the infamous slave trade of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Malaria
warren buffet
Gates Foundation
Charities

2622 Actually, I was folding the laundry

Ex-Liberal probably thinks I spent a lot of time reading one entry of his blog, but the dryer buzzer went off and I went to the basement to gather in the laundry. When I returned, however, he was still worth reading:

"When liberals like [Keith] Olbermann use the First Amendment to undermine our efforts in Iraq, it hits our troops like a roadside bomb. Real patriots can disagree and argue, but they don’t call their Commander-in-Chief a criminal, or the war we are fighting immoral – which is probably why Olbermann’s self-doubt prompted him to lash out. . . "

He also has a good explanation for the difference between liberal and conservative humor.

"Liberal humor relies mostly on anti-Bush haiku and the progressive envelope of sex, drugs, bodily functions, and fart jokes. This is what they call, “Adult Content.” One might argue that Garrison Keillor doesn’t use those devices, but lefties would also describe his audience as mostly “right-wing Christian conservatives.” Garrison won’t degrade his content to “Adult Entertainment” because, 1) he respects his audience and, 2) George Carlin has already cornered the market for prurient theophobic dementia. Like Bill Clinton, liberals love George, but most wouldn’t trust their children or livestock alone with him.

Conservative humor relies on fact-based tragicomedy where conservatives expose the pink underbelly of liberal banality. For example, conservatives laugh at the fact-based anecdotes from the Darwin Awards because hearing about stupid people doing dumb things is very funny. Liberals use the same site to find new friends, new voters, or for instructional purposes. Seinfeld succeeded because liberals thought he was really cool, yada yada, and conservatives enjoyed the addled characters."

Read the Ex-Liberal in Hollywood here.

2621 Bills without borders

Morning Coffee wakes us up with a story from the Dallas Morning News about a plan for Dallas County to bill Mexico and other countries for the medical care of its indigent illegals who reside, work and swamp our social services in the United States. Of course, it won't work, but you've got to make a statement.

Morning Coffee is a part of the Coalition against Illegal Immigration. If you're interested in joining, either as a regular, or a supporter, look at the FAQ.

Speaking of coffee, I've redesigned my coffee blog, Coffee Spills.

Monday Memories

Have I ever told you about the cottages we used to rent?

This week we're at Lakeside, OH, where our family began vacationing in 1974. We've rented some nice and not so nice cottages, and bought our own place in 1988 (see this Monday Memory for that story).

Our first place was on Plum--a four family and really dreary inside and not too clean. Racoons ran up and down the gutter next to our screened window at night--nearly scaring me to death. But it was only $45/week and worth every penny. We spent a lot of time at the beach at East Harbor.

I believe this was the next summer, also a four family and was lakefront, so we had some great views when the storms rolled in. The decor was similar, however, I knew to bring a small vacuum cleaner and a fan. The kids had a great time playing on the rocks and fishing right outside the cottage.

This little cottage on Poplar, the last street on the east side, had a nice kitchen where we could see Lake Erie. There was a hammock on the front porch. We used a photo of the kids in the hammock with our neighbors' dog for our Christmas card that year.

We stayed in both of these, maybe our fourth and fifth summers. The gray one looked adorable on the outside, but the furniture wasn't very comfortable. The beige looked plain, but was very nice inside with great beds. Met lots of neighborhood kids to play with.

Then it was back to the lakefront, just 2 houses from the fourplex where we'd stayed. A duplex and we were upper level. This was the year we brought along one bicycle, which we all shared. Started bringing friends along.

This cottage on Jasmine was the first we rented that had 1.5 bathrooms, and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! Plus, there was a family next door (who are still there but now with grandchildren) who had a daughter one year old than ours and a son one year younger than ours, so they included our children in family activities--like fishing! This house has been through several color changes since we rented in the 70s and now has vinyl siding and a paved driveway.

This red log cabin, 3 bedroom ranch on Laurel was my very most favorite of all the cottages we rented. I think we had it our last 3 summers for a family rental. Our final Lakeside summer, the kids were sneaking out the windows at night, which sort of took the fun out of being here. The owners sold it and the new owners didn't rent. So I think 1984 was our last time here as a family.

If you'd like to join in on Monday Memories, leave a comment and I'll link back to you.

1. Friday's Child, 2. Libragirl, has no MM today, 3. Reverberate58, 4. Renee 5. Pixie, 6. Lazy Daisy, 7. CrazieQueen, 8. Chelle
Click here for the Monday Memories code
Trackbacks, pings, and comment links are accepted and encouraged!
View More Monday Memories Participants


Lakeside, Ohio

2620 Monday at Lake Erie

Gray and overcast. Met a guy at the coffee shop planning to go on a fishing charter today, but watching the skies. My coffee shop reading today.

Can I predict it or what? The announced "exit strategy" is being claimed as a success by Democrats. I knew it! I overheard it on TV--didn't catch who was saying it, but I'm sure it will be a theme. A check of Google brought up all sorts of "exit strategies" and "cut and run" stories from 2005 and 2004, including one quote by John Kerry from 2004, where he said the President shouldn't "cut and run."

"I fear that in the run-up to the 2004 election, the administration is considering what is tantamount to a cut-and-run strategy. Their sudden embrace of accelerated Iraqification and American troop withdrawal dates, without adequate stability, is an invitation to failure. The hard work of rebuilding Iraq must not be dictated by the schedule of the next American election." (From James Taranto's column in WSJ Friday June 23, 2006 via Council on Foreign Relations) Everytime the Dems think they've got Bush figured out, they miss by a mile. So now the drumbeat to investigate the 2004 election results. Why not start with 1960 (JFK) and work forward?

I see Kos followers are called Kossacks and he Kosputin. Not sure which side is charging what. But every link helps him I'm sure, as he is the darling of the MSM. BlueStar Beth is running some great banners about the MSM, and especially the NYT and its jihad against our troops. Stop by and take a look.

Breakfast at The Abigail

The Abigail is two cottages held together with grapevines. My husband loves to eat breakfast here after church.


Here we are on the porch waiting for eggs and pancakes.










Lakeside, Ohio

Cliff notes version of Inconvenient truth

Amy sent me to this parody, but I sort of liked this one. The eye liner graph did it, I think. And the astute analysis.

2617 The Halls of Ivy need weeding

Remember the old song, Halls of Ivy? I'm not sure of its origins, but it was the theme song for a radio drama from 1949-1952 starring Ronald Coleman (and briefly on TV). It takes place in the fictitious Ivy College.

"Oh we love The Halls Of Ivy, that surround us here today
And we will not forget, though we be far far away
To the hallowed Halls of Ivy
Every voice will bid farewell
And shimmer off in twilight like the old vesper bell."

I can get weepy just humming it. It was a marvelous and rather intellectual show for which I think you can get tapes or downloads. However, the phrase "halls of ivy" refers to the old traditional, ivy covered buildings of a prestigious university. College isn't what it used to be, is it?

Every culture, race, ethnicity, nation, tribe, family structure and language is wonderful, complex, rich in meaning and worthy of respect in the hallowed halls of ivy (academe)--except ours in the United States of America. I'm working my way through "Companion to American Immigration," (Ueda, 2006) and although well-written and readable, this is the message I'm getting in the essays I've read so far.

You can listen to Halls of Ivy at Internet Archive.

2616 The New England Primer

was a textbook used by students from 1690 into the 19th century. It followed the tradition of combining the study of
the alphabet with Bible reading. Emphasis was placed on fear of sin, God’s punishment and the fact that all people would have to face death.

A- In ADAM’S Fall We sinned all.

B- Heaven to find; The BIBLE Mind.

C- Christ crucify’d For sinners dy’d.

D- The Deluge drown’d The Earth around.

E- ELIJAH hid By Ravens fed.

F- The judgment made FELIX afraid.

G- As runs the Glass, Our Life doth pass.

H- My Book and Heart Must never part.

J- JOB feels the Rod,-- Yet blesses GOD.

K- Proud Korah’s troop Was swallowed up

L- LOT fled to Zoar Saw fiery Shower On Sodom pour.

M- MOSES was he Who Israel’s Host Led thro’ the Sea

N-NOAH did view The old world & new.

O-Young OBADIAS, DAVID, JOSIAS, All were pious

P-PETER deny’d His Lord and cry’d

Q- Queen ESTHER sues And saves the Jews.

R-Young pious RUTH, Left all the Truth.

S- Young SAM’L dear, The Lord did fear.

T- Young TIMOTHY Learnt sin to fly.

V- VASHTI for Pride Was set aside.

W- Whales in the Sea, God’s Voice obey.

X- XERXES did die, And so must I.

Y- While youth do chear Death may be near.

Z- ZACCHEUS he Did climb the Tree Our Lord to see.

Hat tip to cousin Gayle who sent this along in her weekly newsletter.

2615 We're off

If I get a connection, I'll blog. If not, well, you know the routine. I'll have to hang out at a library or coffee shop and write very brief posts. Northern Ohio has been hit by some big rains in the last few days. I heard a swimmers' warning for Lake Erie on the radio this morning. Apparently some sewer treatment facilities for shoreline cities got overwhelmed.

Catch 'ya later. Don't be a stranger.

2613 My summer reading

Probably the only way I'll get this read is if we have a long week of rain at the lake. They are getting drowned right now in northern Ohio, but I'm hoping it clears up before we get there.

Anyway, "A companion to American immigration" edited by Reed Ueda (2006) is going in my book bag. In reviews of other things he's written, Ueda is described as an Asian American hostile to the idea that the U.S. was ever a nation of Europeans, and is a proponent of open borders. He's called the "worst of the lot" in a compilation of about 10 years ago on immigration, "Migration Past, Migration, Future." Baby boomer academic with tenure (my guess). In the introduction, Ueda says the essays bridge disciplinary and chronological divides; he says nothing that they might bridge ideological or political divides. That's the hard part, especially for scholars. And compilations are pay back time for your own network.

Introduction Reed Ueda (Tufts University)
Part I: Policy and Politics
1. A Nation of Immigrants and a Gatekeeping Nation: American Immigration Law and Policy, Erika Lee (University of Minnesota)
2. Naturalization and Nationality, Irene Bloemraad (University of California, Berkeley) and Reed Ueda (Tufts University)
3. Immigration and Ethnic Politics, James J. Connolly (Ball State University)
4. Immigrant Transnationals and U. S. Foreign Relations, Xiao-huang Yin (Occidental College) and Peter H. Koehn (The University of Montana, Missoula)
5. Bodies from Abroad: Immigration, Health, and Disease, Alan M. Kraut (American University)
6. The Politics of Immigration and the Rise of the Migration State: Comparative and Historical Perspectives, James F. Hollifield (Southern Methodist University)

Part II: Ethnicity, Race, and Nation
7. Ethnic and Racial Identity, Marilyn Halter (Boston University)
8. Nativism and Prejudice against Immigrants, Tyler Anbinder (George Washington University)
9. Assimilation and American National Identity, Michael R. Olneck (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
10. Internationalization and Transnationalization, David Gerber (University of Buffalo)
11. Immigration and Race Relations, Jeffrey Melnick (Babson College)

Part III: Population and Society
12. Demography and American Immigration, Michael S. Teitelbaum (Alfred P. Sloan Foundation)
13. Gender and Immigration, Suzanne M. Sinke (Florida State University)
14. Immigrant Residential and Mobility Patterns, Barry R. Chiswick (University of Illinois at Chicago) and Paul W. Miller (University of Western Australia)
15. Immigration Flows, Guillermina Jasso (New York University) and Mark Rosenzweig (Harvard University)
16. Marriage Patterns in Historical Perspective: Gender and Ethnicity
Robert McCaa (University of Minnesota), Albert Esteve (University Autonoma of Barcelona), and Clara Cortina (Universtity Autonoma of Barcelona)

Part IV: Economy and Society
17. Immigrant Social Mobility and the Historian, Kenneth A. Scherzer (Middle Tennessee State University)
18. Labor and Immigration History: First Principles, Leon Fink (University of Illinois at Chicago)
19. Immigration in the Economy: Development and Enterprise, Nian-sheng Huang (California State University Channel Islands)
20. Immigrants in the American Housing Market, Barry R. Chiswick (University of Illinois at Chicago) and Paul W. Miller (University of Western Australia)

Part V: Culture and Community
21. Immigration and American Diversity: Food for Thought, Donna R. Gabaccia (University of Minnesota)
22. Immigration and Language, Nancy C. Carnevale (Montclair State University)
23. Immigration and Education in the United States, Paula S. Fass (University of California at Berkeley)
24. Religion and Ethnicity, John McClymer (Assumption College)
25. Mutual Aid Societies and Fraternal Orders, Daniel Soyer (Fordham University)
Index

If I find anything interesting, I'll mention it on my blog, Illegals Now.

Disclaimer: My ancestors arrived here (Pennsylvania) in the 1730s. Swiss-German and Scots-Irish. Someone left me a comment a few months ago saying therefore I was not descended from immigrants. I just growed.

Update: I'm in Chapter One and so far, no surprises.

Intractable health care crisis

How many times do we see some version of this statement or hear it on the news? But frequently it is embedded in a story about an innovative (and often privately funded and small) program modelled on a good business plan.

This week the WSJ featured a story about a program in Cincinnati to reverse its terrible infant mortality rates--one of the highest in the nation. But "Every Child Succeeds" program, started by Procter and Gamble people using a strong business model, has reduced infant deaths from 13 per 1,000 to 2.8 per 1,000.

"Preliminary findings demonstrate that ECS has been extremely effective. Ninety-eight percent of mothers in the ECS program have a medical home. 93% of ECS infants function at developmentally normal levels. Of mothers with smoking histories, 79% quit or drastically reduce tobacco use during pregnancy. Of the 29% of mother who enter ECS with clinically significant levels of depression, half are no longer depressed after nine months in the program. Observational data suggest that the ECS injury prevention component significantly reduces hazards to the child. Over 97% of mothers state that they are satisfied with the service received. ECS prenatal referrals have increased from 40% when the program began to almost 60% at the present time. An infant mortality rate for ECS families of 2.8 per 1,000 births, less than one-third of the Hamilton County infant mortality rate." (from ECS website)

Even with the incredible success of a program that flies in the face of the usual government procedures and has saved babies' lives, the writer includes snarky remarks like "in recent years as Washington as lost its taste for expensive and large scale poverty programs boutique projects have sprung up to help fill the void reducing their dependence on a state that's increasingly unwilling to shoulder the burden." Apparently the "culture" of slowness in the cooperating agencies and their reluctance to gather data, caused some problems even in a successful small program like ECS.

So on the one hand, we've got large scale, inefficient, unsuccessful programs with lofty goals to eliminate poverty which result in dead babies, but it's such a shame that the funding isn't increasing?

Then yesterday WSJ reported on a program to reduce ER visits by the poor by using in-home visits by nurses, and how a small struggling Harlem hospital has increased its income and reduced government pay-outs both by collaborating with Mount Sinai to gain access to specialties its patients needed. This keeps the hospital in a neighborhood that needs it, and serves the people better.

Intractable my foot.

2611 Lowering standards

Not that I'd ever planned to stay at the Ritz-Carlton, but apparently they are lowering their greeting standards. It will now be acceptable to say "Sure," or "No problem," or "Hi" instead of "Certainly" or "My pleasure," or "Good Morning."

I do get tired of "no problem" as a throw away response to my "Thank you" for good service when I'm a customer or client. Where did that come from? I don't recall hearing it before the late 80s. I think it is supposed to sound friendly, but it almost sounds as though you shouldn't even bother to thank them. For annoying speech habits, I put it right up there with lifting the last word of a sentence so it sounds like a tentative question instead of a statement.

Story from the WSJ, 6-23-06, B1.

2610 Notice who is to blame here

that foreigners and immigrants, many illegals, don't speak enough English to receive proper health care (at tax payers expense). The story at Medscape.com starts out with the anecdotal, obligatory story of "monolingual" [i.e. Spanish speaking only] parents bringing a 10 mo. old to the clinic, getting a perscription and then misreading the English instructions given at the pharmacy, and making the child really ill. The limited Spanish of the clinic's staff was apparently better than the "limited Enlish proficiency" (LEP) of the parents, but it is the people who are in the helping role who are to blame for not knowing this family's primary language. And even if the pharmacy staff had spoken fluent Spanish, the parents could still have misread the instructions--quite possibly their Spanish would be a bit more colloquial than someone who learned it in college.

"Almost 50 million Americans speak a primary language other than English at home, and 22.3 million have limited English proficiency (LEP), defined as a self-rated English-speaking ability of less than "very well."(1) The last decade witnessed a 47% increase in the number of Americans speaking a non-English language at home and a 53% increase in the number of LEP Americans.(2,3) Between 1980 and 2000, both of these populations more than doubled, whereas the overall US population increased only 25%.(2) Unfortunately, nearly half of LEP patients needing medical interpreters do not get them (4), and only 23% of hospitals provide training for staff on working with interpreters.(5) Americans' foreign language skills are dismal: less than half of US high school students are enrolled in foreign language courses.(6)

In the case description, we are told that neither bilingual staff nor interpreters were available for this clinic visit. Having access to trained medical interpreters or bilingual providers facilitates optimal communication, patient satisfaction, and outcomes and reduces interpretation errors for LEP patients and their families.(7) In addition, a Title VI guidance memorandum issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of Civil Rights states that the denial or delay of medical care for LEP patients due to language barriers constitutes a form of discrimination and requires recipients of Medicaid or Medicare to provide adequate language assistance to LEP patients.(8) This case underscores the importance of having appropriate language services available for LEP patients and their families, particularly in settings with high volumes of LEP patients."

Is Medscape by citing Title VI suggesting that hospitals, pharmacies, clinics and ER staff know Creole and French and Swahili and Portuguese, or just Spanish? Or is it OK to "discriminate" against a Brazilian or a Haitian? "Bilingual" means two. Just which two?

When does the immigrant take some responsibility? One year? Five years? About 15 years ago I invited a Cuban family for dinner--the parents who had lived in Florida for over 20 years were visiting in Columbus and spoke not even rudimentary English. They spoke through their son-in-law, who had learned English as an adult and was a Lutheran Pastor. Outside of Miami, they really weren't safe unless with a relative.

Another example: as part of "diversity training" the library staff in the 90s attended a workshop at the university taught by a Puerto Rican who was on the staff and living in Columbus, Ohio (yes, they are U.S. citizens by birth). His English was so poor I was embarrassed for him. His part of the event was a total waste of our time nor did his personal example win any friends for the cause of diversity.

Friday Family Photo

There's a new Superman movie out with Brandon Routh. Superman turned 50 in 1988 and so did my husband.



Also in the photo are, from left, Fran, Connie, Marvin, Tony, Nancy and Margie.

Thursday Thirteen

13 things we did when the budget got tight.

After six carefree years as DINKS (double income no kids), we went to one income in 1994 when my husband decided to go into business for himself. Although we were never profligate spenders and had lived on one income our first 18 years of married life, we had to learn all over to tighten our belts. If you need to go to one income so one parent can stay home with children, most of these tips will work for you too.

1. Put all credit cards except one in the drawer--and it was only for emergencies. Cash only for day to day expenses.

2. Ate out once a month instead of once a week.

3. Stopped going into retail stores or the mall, "just to look."

4. Threw out all retail ads and circulars that came to the house. The word "SALE" actually is a trick word meaning "debt."

5. Bought no new clothes.

6. Reduced our utilities--water, electricity, gas, and phone.

7. As part of the buy-out, we got a rather old company car and used it as our second car for a year so we wouldn‘t have car payments.

8. Borrowed a computer for the business; used a small room in the house for an office. I was "staff" and worked when I got home from my job. He bought no equipment until he made some money--he went to the drug store to copy things, and Kinkos to use the fax. After the first year we bought a copier, fax and our own computer. He decided against learning CAD at his age so that was outsourced.

9. Took a five year buy-out of his stock in his former firm. That provided some income and reduced the taxes.

10. Made no major repairs on the house, or decorating, or new furniture.

11. Maintained my regular contribution to my 403-b at work.

12. Maintained our church tithe, but discontinued all other donations.

13. Gave up his downtown Y membership and joined an aerobics class at our suburban church (which he still does).

After two years, and he had established his practice, it was business as usual.


(If you participate, leave your link in the auto-link and it will post here, but please leave a comment.)
1. Chris 2. astrocoz 3. Margie Mix 4. Lisa 5. Tess 6. Ruth 7. kristarella 8. Kailani 9. Libragirl 10. Friday's Child 11. Aileen 12. K T Cat 13. Elle 14. Jackie 15. stephanie 16. wrigley 17. Lynn 18. Froggie 19. Froggie 20. Qaiz 21. Maribeth 22. Empress Juju 23. Diana 24. Amy 25. Amy 26. Ocean Lady 27. Margie Mix

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things.

Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

2607 Multi-tasking accident

A few months back I featured Chris White who was heading for Afghanistan and was blogging about his experiences. I just checked and he's had an accident--sliced up his finger closing his switchblade while reading a letter! Ouch. But it has healed enough to get back to blogging, and it is fascinating to read about what he is doing--putting on workshops for contractors using an interpreter. He's had to remove comments because of hackers and spammers.

He updates his blog by first sending it as e-mail to his father in Michigan who puts it on the blog.

2606 Rush's theory on women in politics

Perhaps this isn't a new idea, but it is the first I'd heard it. Shouldn't be too hard to investigate. Yesterday Rush Limbaugh was reading some statistics on women in government. Seems the U.S.A. is somewhere around #68--and even Iraq and Afghanistan (thanks to GWB) have better representation in their governments by women than we do. Rush attributes this to our very powerful feminist movement--that it has actually set women in this country back by pitting them against men and to be like men instead of encouraging them to be partners in business and government with men and to be women. Spinning your wheels and spitting in the wind, maybe?

2605 American Library Association is in NOLA

As I've commented here numerous times, my profession (i.e., I'm retired) is more liberal than the ACLU or Hollywood movie stars who testify before Congress on topics from oceans to apples. Statistically, it is 223:1 liberal to conservative, based on a survey done during the 2004 election. So, the fact that we've got a librarian in the White House, and the current Administration has been quite generous in its support of libraries and museums, means zip, nada, zilch--her name is BUSH. Shush has cut and pasted from a library listserv (probably a no-no) into his website (scroll down a little since the entries aren't clickable), and Matthew from Florida has responded to their silly whining.

Mark Rosenzweig, ALA Councilor at large, appears to be just a flaming Communist/ Anarchist based on the stuff he's published--and his post here is mild compared to some I've seen. He really needs to live in Cuba, except they jail librarians there and he knows it. Michael McGrorty, a left coaster, is an outstanding writer to whom I link for that reason, but he's so off base here (speakers like Mrs. Bush are brought in to incite the membership? Wow--what's he smoking?). Unbelievable stupidity is demonstrated in these clips for people with advanced college degrees who can't imagine why there is so much security--given their own level of hatred, she probably needs protection from raging librarians!

And from my alma mater, the U. of I. comes this undergraduate pout from Al Kagan, who is a Professor: "First of all, I would like to know who invited her [bangs his shoe on the table]. Second, I want to know if there will plenty of opportunity for questions from the floor [grabs the microphone screaming]. If there will not be questions from the floor, we should vigorously protest [give me a piece of posterboard and a marks-alot]." Here's another one from a blog: "Laura Bush will be speaking at the American Library Conference on Monday June 26. Though I usually stay for the entire conference I will leave the conference early. Below are a few reasons why. I don’t want to be back-drop for a photo-op."

Get a grip, you guys. Show some manners, since you are showing your lack of reasoning. You want everyone else to be liberal and open minded, but you can't even tolerate the smartest and prettiest First Lady we've ever had? [She earned a bachelor of science degree in education from Southern Methodist University in 1968. She taught in public schools in Dallas and Houston. In 1973, she earned a master of library science degree from the University of Texas and worked as a public school librarian until her marriage in 1977. She also won the cookie vote against Mrs. Kerry (who said she'd never worked) in the 2004 election.]

If there were no ALA tomorrow is my entry on why I think ALA is such a waste of time, energy and money (disclaimer: I was never a member).

Michelle Malkin picked up on Greg's (Shush) blog entry about ALA and Mrs. Bush.

American Library Association
Laura Bush

2604 While I'm on the topic

of librarians, this is still one of the best reference question stories I've ever read. It beats my road kill and blackbirds in a pie questions.

2603 I hope this is an urban legend

I says to Florida Cracker, another rare find, a conservative librarian, but her comments window isn't working. Anyway, she's got a post about Mary Travers (Peter, Paul and Mary) but on the internet, you never know about stories like this. I can't imagine anyone could be this tacky.

2602 A little private instruction

My husband is headed for the neighbor's for a little private instruction in his new digital camera. I hope he comes home knowing how to do it as beautifully as Mr. Cloud who is posting some lovely shots.

2601 What would you bet?

• By floating so many withdrawal (aka cut and run) plans for Iraq, the Dems are bound to hit one or two dates correctly, so when the Iraqi government is strong enough to stand on its own, the Democrats will claim a victory for withdrawal of American troops.
  
  
• Bush will be blamed for the kidnapping and deaths of the two American soldiers, not the terrorists.
  
  
• Although no captured American soldier has been returned alive, making prisoners wear pink or go naked in front of female soldiers, is much worse behavior because it is humiliating and Americans should play by the rules.
  
  
• If WMD are found, even a small amount of chemicals, the Dems will say they are planted. They've had this story ready since 2003.
  
  
• When the number of soldiers killed equals the number of civilians dead in 9/11, the Dems will be playing ring around the towers, all fall down. New Orleans violent death rate before Katrina was 53.1 per 100,000, and in Iraq it is 25.71. It is more dangerous to be a male between 18-24 in Detroit, Chicago or Baltimore just because of the effects of testosterone on stupid behavior, than it is to be a well-trained soldier with body armor in Iraq.
  
  
• No Democrat will ever be able to recall (i.e., deaf and dumb) the Carter or Clinton administration giveaways as Korea and Iran heat up.

2600 Why I don't RSS you

Sure, it's easy, they say. But do I want more things to read? I just click on my favorite links which are right here to my left, recommended by me and occasionally updated. As it is, I subscribe to way too many newsletters, a method I prefer to RSS feeds. I hear from James Carville and some lady (Nikki?) at the LATimes for news from the left; I get Nathan Bierma who writes for the Tribune about language; Michael Yon for news from Iraq; Boogie Jack tells me web page code secrets; George Barna keeps me informed about surveys of Christians; I get a genealogy newsletter, and a film maker newsletter, and an adoption newsletter from Capital U.; James Taranto of the WSJ and Christianity Today alert me when they have something new to say; and I have on-line subscriptions to WaPo and NYT. Medscape tells me when one of you have commented, so I can go back and find it. Really, I don't want your RSS feed. I have enough to do feeding my own eight blogs. And then there's all that Viagra and ink cartridge and mortgage spam.

2599 Let's all go down to Mexico

and protest their immigration policies.

• Immigrants and foreign visitors are banned from public political discourse.
• Immigrants and foreigners are denied certain basic property rights.
• Immigrants are denied equal employment rights.
• Immigrants and naturalized citizens will never be treated as real Mexican citizens.
• Immigrants and naturalized citizens are not to be trusted in public service.
• Immigrants and naturalized citizens may never become members of the clergy.
• Private citizens may make citizens arrests of lawbreakers (i.e., illegal immigrants) and hand them to the authorities.
• Immigrants may be expelled from Mexico for any reason and without due process.

Full story here at "Mexico's Glass House" which pretty much confirms an article I found in Lexis Nexis about the classism in Mexico's citizenship.


No wonder their citizens try so hard to stay here, and not go home.

2598 Can 500 experts be wrong?

Today's WSJ editorializes that 500 prominent economists claim that "immigration has been a net gain for American citizens."

Guess what? In the 1830s and 1840s, U.S. economists and egg-heads believed that about slavery too! Yes indeedy. Slavery was absolutely an economic necessity in the rural South (they said then) and besides, white people were doing those poor pagans a big favor by bringing them to an enlightened country (while decimating their own culture and families).

I'm not worried about the 950,000 legal immigrants. We need them. But the illegals flooding in from Mexico? Is that good for the Mexican economy and culture to export their poor so they never have to address the inequalities in their system. And how about that drug trade that is part and parcel of the illegal immigration, and the one in 10 who are not Mexican, but come across that border into the U.S. Do you know how hard it is to immigrate to Mexico? Did you know you can't be President of Mexico if your mother was born in Spain even if you were born in Mexico? Did you know there are at least 4 classes of citizenship in Mexico, and guess who is at the bottom--the poorest and brownest (that's not the correct way to say it, but I like the alliteration). Well, no, the naturalized Mexican citizen would be at the bottom--especially if brown--not allowed to do many things.

But hey. Could 500 economists be wrong? Yes, about something other than the economy.

2597 Acceptable risk

Would you get on an airplane, eat an egg, or take an aspirin with these safety figures? The U.S. government regulations for acceptable quality for condoms is 4 per 1,000 with discernable holes. Thirty two percent of normal, intact condoms leaked in FDA tests. Add to that depressing figure, they must must be used from the beginning (during foreplay), until the end to work as intended. Among couples where one partner had AIDS, over an 18 month period the HIV virus was transmitted to the uninfected partner in 17% of the couples who used condoms. The "in theory" rate of failure in birth control for condoms is 2%; the reality rate is 14%, just slightly less than the reality rate for the rhythm method (16%). "How to talk confidently with your child about sex," by Lenore Buth.

Aren't you glad you stopped by to read my blog today?

condoms
HIV-AIDS
birth control

Clarifying Clinton's Kyoto

Amy Ridenour of National Center for Public Policy Research takes apart Media Matters claim that Clinton's Kyoto plans (U.N. global warming treaty) were dead on arrival because of key Republicans, concluding . . .

"It seems to me that Chris Horner [on Neil Cavuto's show] is right and Media Matters is wrong to criticize him. Senate Republicans may well have told Clinton Kyoto couldn't be ratified, but Senate Democrats -- indeed, 95 out of 95 Senators present at voting in July 1997 -- told Clinton the very same thing. And, if Clinton disagreed, he didn't do much to fight them."

Calling all B-team Catholics

I saw this at Vox Lauri's blog. It's for blogging Catholics (which I'm not), but I thought it was a cute idea, because blogging is definitely being taken over by the "real" journalists, and in Catholicism I guess the little guys are feeling crowded out.


Here's a typical B-Team member:

"I am the poster child for the Amateur Catholic. I am not a theologian, I am not a bioethicist, I don't have a Ph.D. and I have to beg my parish to let me speak on stem cells and cloning. (In fact, when I told my Bishop about my website, I got a polite response that passed me off to my parish priest, who I am sure was instructed to discourage me at all cost!)

My only credentials are that I go to Mass on Sunday, I have a degree in Biochemistry and have a high speed Internet connection. It doesn't get more amateur than that." Mary

"I'm part of the 20-something crowd that has decided to stake our claim on Catholicism and rebel against the evil effects of the 70's and 80's, or what we like to call "the birthing years". I'm a graduate student in Theology but don't let that fool you. I'm part of the school of thought that firmly believes; 'the more ya know, the more you realize you don't know anything' and boy do I know a lot, or...something like that. I've just recently started a new blog about my adventures through the Lenten season. How long will it take me to break all of my Lenten promises? Not long at all, in fact, I probably already have. I'm broken, I'm inarticulate and in spite of the number of comments on my blog remaining firmly at 0, I still think I'm wildly interesting." Amy

I discovered the Catholic blogosphere when I was trying to ignore that pesky call to become a Sister. I kept going to Google and typing in "Should Susan become a Sister" or "What should Susan do with her life" or "Does anyone become a nun anymore?" to no avail. I was however lucky enough to happen upon the real life stories of amateur Catholics who were struggling to make sense of this thing called life. I was inspired by their honesty and integrity, and it helped me to decide that I too could trust in my loving God and walk down this path to see where it leads. I must say I've been pleasantly surprised! Susan

Others call themselves amateur Catholics because they are converts as well as bloggers.

Monday Memories

Cousin Kirby, seated on floor, album cover, The Lincolns* Kirby and I at a family reunion in 1993 Kirby Johnson and I were first cousins and about the same age (I think my grandparents had 24 grandchildren). Our families would gather at my grandmother's home in Mt. Morris on Sunday afternoons, and the little house would be full of cousins. I remember he had terrible asthma and I think he took up trumpet to help his breathing. We both attended the University of Illinois, where we graduated in 1961--he in music and I in Education. He was a member of the concert band and was in a music fraternity, so our paths rarely crossed on campus. While at Illinois he and some friends formed a folk singing group called "The Continentals," and then changed the name to "The Lincolns." I was only vaguely aware of what they were doing, but I have one of their records (cover photo above). After college they headed for California and the "big time," touring the country with Donald O'Connor in 1962-63. Kirby by this time was playing many instruments and singing. Their album was the commercially viable pop/folk tunes so popular in the early 60s, with a number of the songs written by Rich Dehr, Frank Miller and Terry Gilkyson, of "Marianne" and "Memories are made of this" fame. Kirby stopped to see me in Champaign in 1963 after the death of my son, but I didn't see him again for thirty years. His home was in California and after 1967 mine was in Ohio, and when we returned to Illinois to visit family, our paths didn't cross. I knew the group performed on TV and changed its name to The Wellingtons. So through the magic of Google and the internet I looked him up this week. I discovered that he and his group (by then a trio) recorded the original Gilligan's Island Ballad. Rick Jarrard had left the group to become a producer. It was a rush job and no studios were open so it was actually recorded in someone's garage (according to one message board). Many sites still list them in the credits, but another said it was re-recorded the next season by a different group. According to Rick and Darva's Gossip page, the Wellingtons appeared on one of the episodes of Gilligan's Island as a band called "The Mosquitos," a take off on the Beatles, having added Les Brown, Jr. to the group. Kirby performed regularly with The Wellingtons on Hollywood Palace, a popular, long-running Saturday night variety show of the mid-to-late 1960's often hosted by Bing Crosby. They also performed 64 times on Shindig! according to a fan site. I found Kirby's name as a performer, conductor and arranger on the albums of some big name performers like Carly Simon [No Secrets, 1972; Another Passenger, 1976], Harry Nilsson and Bonnie Raitt. I think he probably had a fairly strong career in concert touring, TV and as a studio musician at least through the mid-1980s**. I never heard much after that, and didn't find many Google entries for later dates. I did find a 1986 film (music arranging) credit. It is difficult to tell, since many recordings are reissued and the credits run very long. We got together at a family reunion in 1993--in some ways he seemed the same sweet boy I knew as a child, but he was also world-weary. He died in 1999. Most of the pop music web sites and bulletin boards say that Kirby became an attorney, but if he did, no one in our family ever knew about it. And some web sites say a group called the Wellingtons recorded Disney's "Ballad of Davy Crockett," but if so it wasn't for the TV series (Mellomen one of whom was the voice of Tony the Tiger)--the guys in the Wellingtons wouldn't even have been out of high school in Illinois. Some sites say Wade became a producer, but I think it was Jarrard--but maybe they both did. The internet is fabulous, but there's a lot of misinformation too. And it's not much cleaner in the Wiki's. *Members of The Lincolns were Kirby Johnson, Rick Jarrard, Ed Wade and George Patterson **There is another musician also named Kirby Johnson, so more recent entries most likely belong to that person. 1. Ma 2. Natalie 3. The Shrone 4. Libragirl 5. Reverberate58 6. Shelli 7. Lazy Daisy 8. Old Lady of the Hills 9. Chelle If you'd like to join in on Monday Memories, leave a comment and I'll link back to you. Click here for the Monday Memories code Trackbacks, pings, and comment links are accepted and encouraged! View More Monday Memories Participants The Wellingtons Hollywood Palace Shindig! Kirby Johnson

2593 The cocoon where I live

If there was ever a statement that shows me my cocoon it's this one: "There is little difference between the amounts that Christians and non-Christians earn, spend, save, charge, or donate to charities." (John W. Kennedy)

Almost all my friends are Christians. They are married (or widowed), well-educated, prosperous and most tithe or at least are close. They are also very generous with their time, serving the larger community in many ways from boards of education to committees and races for the cure, city government, food pantries, hospitals, prisons, mental health agencies, Habitat for Humanity and inner city schools. Friends at Vineyard fan out and pick up the Homeless from the streets and bring them to church. There's a group of my friends who are doing an arts camp all summer "on the Hilltop" which includes meals for the children and neighborhood volunteers. Men I know are using business skills to reclaim a decaying neighborhood, house by house, for the poor. This month alone I know Christians coming home from rebuilding in Biloxi, distributing medicine in rural China, and Latin America, or going to Haiti to work in a school.

And probably because of our age, we know many people who are debt free and living well, after an early adult life of struggle and building. So I'll have to take a second look at that quote (forgot to write down the source, forgive me) and see why my life experience is so different.

2592 Front end or back end?

According to JAMA (285,no.16) Democrats are holding up the approval of Andrew von Eschenbach to be the Food and Drug Administration commissioner.

"Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D., was appointed Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs in September 2005. He holds that appointment concurrently with his position as Director of the National Cancer Institute, to which he was named in January 2002. Dr. von Eschenbach is a nationally recognized urologic surgeon, medical educator, and cancer advocate. He also is a cancer survivor.

Prior to his appointment as Director of NCI, Dr. von Eschenbach spent 25 years at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, ultimately serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer. In that position, he led a faculty of nearly 1,000 cancer researchers and clinicians." Full bio here.

If you read about him in the MSM (I checked WaPo), you'll first hear all about his friendship with the Bush family. That, in my guess, is what's really holding this up. No possible good could come of person with ties to the Bush family. It's apparently OK for him to fight cancer, but his views on over-the-counter sales of "emergency contraceptive pill" are not liked by Dems, who would rather catch potential cancer victims in the womb and eliminate them then, rather than treat them 50 or 60 years down the road.

2591 Out of the word closet

Every time I see JAMA or some other medical journal struggle to euphemistically describe men who transmit diseased results of homosexual behavior to women, I wonder if they need a committee working on a new term. Here's my suggestion.

The current term has three parts--the perp, the act and the victim. "Non-gay-identified men-who-have-sex-with-men who-have-female-partners could be shorted to prom-him-aids. That would mean a promiscuous bi-sexual moving very serious diseases back and forth (promenade).

2590 Are we drowning in red tape?

A clock repairman in South Charleston, Ohio refused a job with Lake County (Painesville, OH) to fix its 128 year old court house clock. The bid process was 20 pages long.
Phil Wright who is one of a handful of craftsmen who does this says he's used to doing work on a handshake, and it was just too much red tape. I can see having a contract, especially if you are a county or state agency, but 20 pages?

2589 My husband's new camera

He bought a Sony Cybershot H5. That means nothing to me since I don't know anything about cameras, but we thought we needed something before going to Europe in July. A neighbor who teaches camera classes at the Senior Center helped him pick one out, then sold him his brand new one when the source was out of that model, and he'll order a new one for himself. That way we'll have a little time to learn how to use this one. It tells me my computer doesn't have a hi-speed USB port. Will that matter? These are some practice shots:

Grilling burgers for Father's Day

Ready for burgers and bean salad

2588 Have you ever noticed

that if you do something well and are proud of it, someone else will second guess your decisions, outcomes or motives? Robert Fulghum (the guy who learned about life in kindergarten), a terrifically successful author, was recently asked:

"Why did I not address the political issues of our time, especially the actions of the present American government administration? Why did I not address the humanitarian issues of our day? Why was I not outraged as an American with the evil done on my behalf? Did I agree that might makes right, that the end justifies the means, and that God is on our side? How can I support the fundamental position of Zionist Israel? Did I really believe the American Way was the only Way? Did I have any real understanding of how America is perceived in the world now? How much hatred and contempt is felt? Why was I silent on these burning issues? Why did I not run for office and do something?"

He adequately answers, I think. But I did all this or addressed all these questions in the past 3 years except the last sentence (I wouldn't run for office of anything), and trust me, no one is beating down the door to my blog. The problem with people who ask these questions is usually that they don't like your answers and they'll still have a tantrum and flood you with "Yes, buts."

His response is beautifully appropriate for his style, beliefs and skill set:

"When people ask why don’t I do this and this and this instead of that and that and that, I can only say that I am a man who has found his league and scale, who goes about trying to be awake to the news of the immediate ordinary world; to make sense of what I see; to pass it on with the implied question: have you seen what I see? Look! Don’t miss the good stuff – that is my message."

Thank you, Mr. Fulghum, for being the best you.

2587 Which one would you believe?

I'm with the Starbucks folks on this one. I've yet to see a tattooed coffee clerk who would raise a studded eyebrow or flare a nose ring and bust some one (no pun intended) for breast feeding. But changing diapers? Yeah, that should get them tossed. Go to the rest room and use the one with the Braille instructions if you're too dense to know why other customers eating and drinking coffee don't want you near by. Someone's just a little too anxious for the lime light.

"Though the South Beach, Florida store in question was closed for renovations this past Sunday, some mothers gathered at a Starbucks and held a "nurse-in" to protest the expulsion of a woman named Nicole Coombs from the store. Coombs claims that she was asked to leave for breast-feeding her 4-month old son. The Starbucks manager, however, maintains that Coombs was asked to leave for changing her baby's diaper on one of the tables in the cafe." . . .

"Management and employees of that Starbucks store have never had any problems with nursing mothers in the past and have many women with infants as regular customers. This tends to support the store's side of the story, though the protesting mothers clearly support Coombs. They believe that Starbucks may have broken a Florida law that allows mothers to breastfeed anywhere they are legally allowed to be." Full story here.

Happy Father's Day

Usually I post my coffee shop stuff over at my other, other blog, but this one was just too good to allow it to languish in blog basement.

My regular Sunday coffee shop had a newbie on duty, and at 6:35 a.m., the coffee still wasn't made, so I hopped back in the car and went to another one about a mile away. While sitting by the window I overheard the two guys behind the counter who were making the coffee and waiting on customers:

Clerk #1: "There was a guy in here yesterday--had four kids and his wife is pregnant with the fifth. All girls."

Clerk #2: "Oh God. I'd have to shoot myself."

2585 Kroger battles Wal-Mart for food shoppers

according to a story in last week’s paper. I used to be a loyal Kroger shopper--I knew where everything was, I knew the staff, and I knew the specials--then they asked me to start playing games with a little plastic card, Kroger Plus. Well named, because it sure did up the price on everything. Jack it up, then give a special lowered price for using the silly card. They are not rewarding you for shopping there; they are penalizing you with data mining which is very expensive.

The worst thing about the loyalty cards isn’t just the cost increase in every day non-special items (about 49% higher than non-card stores), but the snooping they do on your shopping habits, which in turn “dumbs down” the choices to please the 20% of the customers they figure are making 80% of the purchases. Selling your information instead of food is also now part of the business. And in case you think you’ll just lie on the address and personal information, or borrow a friend's or the card of the person in line with you, some are going to finger scanning. With all the news about data being stolen recently (VA, AIG, Ohio University), you’d better know that a “privacy policy” is your own personal surrender flag.

So now I shop at Meijer’s or a neighborhood non-chain, neither of which use loyalty cards.

Loyalty cards

2584 Sadness mixed with joy and relief

My daughter called about 2 hours ago to tell me that her mother-in-law died early this morning. She had a rare form of dementia and had been in a nursing home for about 18 months. We last visited her in August, and although she was weak, she knew us and could carry on brief conversations. Each time they thought they were losing her, she would rally and return to the world of the living. She had physical problems too which the wonderful staff at the Lutheran Home (I've forgotten the name) controlled completely with proper diet and good nursing care--nothing extraordinary. My son-in-law had gone up Friday night, not because she was any worse, but just because he's such a super sweet guy who was helping out his parents. They were called after midnight because she was "in distress" so his father and brother were with her when she quietly slipped away. Her other three children are making arrangements to come home to Cleveland.

Yet, when a Christian dies, we are comforted by knowing there is more, much more. Mixed with relief because her illness is over, there will be sadness that now there is a hole in the family, among friends and in the church family. She directed a children's choir for many years at her Missouri Synod Lutheran church. She lost both her parents at a very young age, and I know a reunion will be on the agenda.

2583 The importance of a father

Ruth has a lovely message about the importance of fathers, and our heavenly Father. She lost her father at a very young age. She is the mother of several of the bloggers to whom I link. Check here, you will be blessed by her full message.

"The influence of a father cannot be over emphasized. Studies have shown that when a father is missing, absent from the home, there is a hole in the child, especially in a son, that cannot quite be filled

Fortunately, the Bible teaches there is a remedy. Many of the great leaders of past generations have filled this space, this hole left by an absent father with the Heavenly Father. The Psalmist David tells us even if my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up. God is able to take all kinds of tragedy and bring about good when we commit our live to him."