435 The Ban on Stem-Cell Research? There is none.

I didn’t know Charles Krauthammer had been in a wheelchair for 32 years. He has a bit more credibility in my eyes about drawing a moral line on complex medical research than political pundits usually have. He’s also right to point out the dishonest flailing of President Bush about “stem-cell research bans.”

“In his Aug. 7 radio address to the nation, John Kerry three times referred to "the ban" on stem-cell research instituted by President George W. Bush. What ban? Stem-cell research is legal in the U.S. and has been so since human embryonic stem cells were first isolated in 1998. There are dozens of groups studying them, including major stem-cell centers recently launched at Stanford and Harvard.

Perhaps Democrats mean a ban on federal funding for stem-cell research. But, in fact, there is no such ban. Through the Clinton years there was a ban. Not a single penny of federal money was allowed for any embryo research. In his first year in office, however, President Bush reviewed the issue and permitted the first federal funding of stem-cell research ever.“ Charles Krauthammer, Why lines must be drawn. Time Magazine.

Here’s what the President said on this issue in August 9, 2001, and if this sounds like a ban from a man who consulted with ethicists, scientists, lawyers, doctors and theologians before committing a word to paper, then you need a new dictionary, Mr. Kerry.

As a result of private research, more than 60 genetically diverse stem cell lines already exist. They were created from embryos that have already been destroyed, and they have the ability to regenerate themselves indefinitely, creating ongoing opportunities for research. I have concluded that we should allow federal funds to be used for research on these existing stem cell lines, where the life and death decision has already been made.

Leading scientists tell me research on these 60 lines has great promise that could lead to breakthrough therapies and cures. This allows us to explore the promise and potential of stem cell research without crossing a fundamental moral line, by providing taxpayer funding that would sanction or encourage further destruction of human embryos that have at least the potential for life.

I also believe that great scientific progress can be made through aggressive federal funding of research on umbilical cord placenta, adult and animal stem cells which do not involve the same moral dilemma. This year, your government will spend $250 million on this important research.

434 Which shill is President Bush?

Jerusalem Post's Bret Stephens asks

Pretty soon, the Anyone But Bush crowd is going to have to decide: Is the American president an Israeli shill or is he a Saudi shill? Does he do the bidding of the insidious pro-Israel neocons or of the insidious pro-Arab oil lobby? Is his foreign policy everything his father's was not – and therefore disastrous – or is it an extension of it – and therefore equally disastrous?

Liberal Christians need to start doing some serious thinking too about Israel. The Presbyterians have sided with the Palestinians. And other Christians are doing the same:

Like other liberal Christian churches (the Lutherans, the Episcopalians, the Unitarians, the United Church of Christ, the Quakers) the hatred and condemnation of Israel has grown so strong that advocates for Israel are not permitted to make presentations to these congregations anymore. If Jews want to speak abut Israel, they have to be from the far-Left, and they must come to trash Israel (and help bury it). On the other hand, any representative of the International Solidarity Movement is sure to draw a full house and be warmly welcomed.

And of course, there is the National Council of Churches statement, always out there to warm the heart of a Palestinian. Calling themselves "leaders" is a bit of a stretch. "Echoes" is more like it.

433 Week 8 ends at Lakeside

It's back to Columbus today. It has been so cold and rainy at Lakeside this week my heart goes out to the young families sitting in unheated cottages with 2 or 3 little ones. Our place smells like a damp gym towel, but it is a real house with walls and hvac. I don't usually run the heat in August, but this week it clicked on a few times.

Wonderful programs this week. Lots of music. Last night was an innovative group from Toronto (who will be playing in San Diego tonight--how's that for jet lag?) called called Pavlo. The guy looked like he was making love to his guitar. It was sort of Greek cum Spanish Flamenco.

Thursday night was a real treat with a 5 woman jazz group from Detroit, Straight Ahead, teaching us about the contribution African American women have made to jazz. Beautiful impersonations included Etta James and Aretha Franklin.

August is symphony at Lakeside, so our own Lakeside Summer Symphony in its 41st season performed on Wednesday with Dick Feagler (Cleveland radio personality?) narrating Peter and the Wolf.

Tuesday an amazing sister group, 12, 14 and 15, The Strings of Gold, played violin, viola and cello. Their music was as beautiful as they. Monday we skipped West Side Story (movie). Sunday night a quartet from Findlay, Ohio known as Messiah performed.

Also this week I took "Perspective Drawing" at the Rhein Center taught by my husband. This was his second week to do this, and I was in Columbus with the painters during the first week. He's really an excellent teacher, but I'm afraid I'm hopeless. I never seem to find the vanishing point or the picture plane. Our friend Bev from Columbus helped again, but also taught her own classes in dried flowers and "fish printing." She lodged at the "artists' house" and had a wonderful week.

432 It wasn't Ladies' Night at the Hardball Game

Michelle Malkin was invited to Chris Matthews' show to talk about her book. Instead, she says, she was ambushed to speak about "Unfit For Command," after some cutesy male chauvanism from Matthews about her looks and age. (The sort of thing that coming from a Rush Limbaugh would have gotten a conservative fired.) I didn't see the interview, but here's her story:

"Matthews frantically stuffed words down my mouth when I raised these allegations made in Unfit for Command that Kerry's wounds might have been self-inflicted. In his ill-informed and ideologically warped mind, this transmogrified into me accusing Kerry of "shooting himself on purpose" to get an award.

I repeated that the allegations involved whether the injuries were "self inflicted wounds." I DID NOT SAY HE SHOT HIMSELF ON PURPOSE and Chris Matthews knows it.

. . . Only someone who had not read Unfit for Command would interpret what I was saying the way Matthews did. The book raises questions by vets, many of whom were with Kerry, about whether there was or wasn't enemy fire during the Dec. 1968 incident that led to his first Purple Heart."

She was tossed from the show during the second half and never got to talk about her book. She concludes:

"What I take away from all this is that the Democrat Party waterboys in the media are in full desperation mode. I have now witnessed firsthand and up close (Matthews' spittle nearly hit me in the face) how the pressure from alternative media sources--the blogosphere, conservative Internet forums, talk radio, Regnery Publishing, FOX News, etc. --is driving these people absolutely batty."

She provides links to the show transcript. Her new book is In Defense of Internment.

Update: As of 9:18 on Aug. 21 Malkin had 99 trackbacks (to other blogs) for her article about the Matthews ambush.

431 Best College Libraries

You'll need to buy it or subscribe to see the whole list, but the Princeton Review does include the top 5 (great library) and the bottom 5 (This is a library?) college libraries at the on-line site, for The Best 357 College Rankings.

I checked my Alma Mater (U. of I. at Champaign-Urbana) and see it is #1 for having too many classes taught by grad assistants. Things haven't changed much, I guess. Actually, because I was a foreign language major, I had mostly regular professors. In Library School, I can only recall an occasional PhD candidate as a teacher, and they were pretty good. Many years later I took entry level math (not required when I was an undergrad) and had an excellent grad student who was a high school teacher of math. He was outstanding because he knew how to teach.

430 What's for dinner?

“A world devoid of tomato soup, tomato sauce, tomato ketchup and tomato paste is hard to visualize. Could the tin and processed food industries have got where they have without the benefit of the tomato compounds which colour, flavour, thicken and conceal so many deficiencies? How did the Italians eat spaghetti before the advent of the tomato? Was there such a thing as tomato-less Neapolitan pizza?” Elizabeth David (1913-1992) An Omelette and a Glass of Wine Food Reference.com

Tonight I'm fixing lasagne out of a box. It's a brand I haven't used before--one skillet dinner. Toss a salad, cut up some fruit, and we're ready for a feast.

429 Reading through a favorite magazine

Except for the issue on exotic homes, I love reading Architectural Digest. It can amuse, amaze and appease me for hours. For instance, in the September issue there is an ad for a 10,000 sq. ft. Tuscan Villa in St. Louis for $1.6 million. It is gorgeous--built in 1912. Built around the same time was a cottage on our street with a fraction of the space and no permanent interior walls or heating system. It is really cute as cottages go and has a view of Lake Erie. Its price is $850,000. Per square foot, the Tuscan Villa is certainly a better deal.

* * *

"We didn't speak a word of English when we came here". . . the first year was rough. . .he got over the language barrier through television. "I had no friends. . .I'd choose certain words and practice them in front of the mirror. My role model was Ricky Ricardo." Samuel Botero, b. 1945 in Colombia, an immigrant who rose to be a top international designer, pp. 136-137. It's fortunate that modern education theorists didn't get ahold of him and cripple his initiative and English. I love inspiring stories about immigrants.

* * *

One other thing gay men have in common with straight men is the "trophy" partner. Looking through AD, I often see gay partners (both in work and life) where one is about 20-25 years older than the other, just like their straight clients. Some of the women designers appear to do it in reverse, and have a wealthy older husband to cuddle up to and to finance their business.

428 Bloggers for Bush

This is not my list; I don’t write a political blog--and some on this list don't either, but they seem to support Bush. It resides over a Captain’s Quarters, and that seems to be about all he does. But I noticed this blogroll and thought it might be a useful list. There are probably triple or quadruple this number of blogs against Bush.

Blogs for Bush Blogroll
Little Tiny LiesPara-Bellum.Net
Captain's Quarters
Knowledge Is Power
Broken Masterpieces
Red Line Rants
Slings and Arrows
KalblogRight On Red
Cry Freedom
Incite
MJG’s Political Blog
Mark A. Kilmer's Political Annotation
DANEgerous Weblog
Ipse Dixit
Pardon My English
Sisu
The Evangelical Outpost
The Doggy Diaries
PoliBlog
Blogs For Bush
OkieMinnie Me
Bush Over Kerry
Patriot Paradox
Slant Point

427 A Few Good Women

Claire is a PhD student in 17th century studies who blogs her thoughts about gender, academe and the English language (her job that supports her studies, as near as I can tell). She works as a Language Centre Assistant, Durham University, cataloguing, digitalising and organising language materials which makes her sound a lot like a librarian (to me, anyway). She is British, but has worked in Italy and speaks fluent Italian.

Amy Ridenour works for a Washington DC think tank, The National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative/free-market public policy foundation located just a little bit north of the U.S. Senate. She blogs about “anything of interest to our staff and the many interesting people we work with and talk to.”

Today she comments that “I haven't actually counted the news articles, but it looks to me as though MoveOn.org's new ad about the swift boat veterans ad is getting more establishment media coverage than the swift boat veterans got when they unveiled their ad.” Now there’s a surprise.

Miss Apropos is a “Navy granddaughter, an Army brat, an Air Force spouse, and a Marine Mom.” Woman, I salute you! On August 16 she posted this, which she found here and probably defines her politics:
. .
Here is a perfect way to start your day.

1. Open a new file in your PC.
2. Name it "John Kerry."
3. Send it to the trash.
4. Empty the trash.
5. Your PC will ask you, "do you really want to get rid of John Kerry?"
6. Answer calmly, "yes," and press the mouse button firmly.
7. Feel better don't you?

It could work, she says, for "Michael Moore," "The United Nations," "Madonna," "[Insert First Name Here] Baldwin," ohhh, the list is ENDLESS!

Ambra is a very young black, conservative Christian who yesterday blogged about the “Oreo Barbie” that was recalled (she thought that marketing team should be fired.) She’s written a long three-parter on “Why I am a Republican.”

I'll write more later. Have to run to art class.

426 The Olympics

I've added a new blogger, Pejman Yousefzadeh, to my blogroll. He is so prolific that his bio on the web ran about 10 pages with photos of the hospital where he was born and the elementary school he attended. He is a first generation American of a Jewish Iranian heritage. I liked the August 16 entry about the American Olympic basketball loss:

“I don't want these people representing me. Bring back the amateurs. Bring back the college players. They know that the name on the front is more important than the name on the back.”

425 Kerry's Revised Budget Plan

A former campaign aide for McCain’s 2000 Presidential bid, notes this interesting media failing in this campaign:

"One of the more curious developments in the presidential campaign is that the media has a strikingly different standard for Democratic and Republican candidates. Senator Kerry litters his stump speeches with countless proposals, but even now, has not provided voters with a careful accounting of how his plan fits together. That job has been left to others."

Kevin Hassett steps in to correct this and provides the links and analysis here, and goes on to summarize:

“. . . the net increase in the deficit associated with Kerry's proposals is on the order of $2.2 trillion. . . . Senator Kerry's health care proposals. . . would add more than $900 billion in federal outlays. Education expenditure accounts for nearly one quarter of Kerry's new spending, with almost $500 billion added over ten years. A $400 billion expansion of military personnel and benefits for veterans comprises most of the remainder of Kerry's spending plans, with the balance distributed among numerous social programs and increases in international aid. . . . [Kerry and surrogates] repeatedly have made the claim that they will restore fiscal discipline if elected. They have also promised to adopt a "pay as you go" rule that will guarantee deficit reductions. But they do this at the same time that they promise voters the moon and the stars."

With tech stocks tanking in the past month or so, as they did in 2000, I wonder if Kerry is elected, will the Democrats blame him for a slump that took place before he took office? Well, obviously not, but just thought I'd ask.

424 Conservative Foundations on the Increase

If you set up a foundation to protect your assets and continue your good works, the next generation or the board of directors would probably undo your plans:

. . .organized philanthropy, like the academic world, remains firmly in the grip of orthodox liberalism. Among the largest foundations in the United States, liberal foundations have been well represented by such stalwarts as the Ford, Rockefeller and MacArthur foundations, the Carnegie Corporation and the Pew Charitable Trusts--which list combined assets of some $25 billion and annual expenditures of more than $1.2 billion. By contrast, there is not now, nor has there been in the recent past, a conservatively oriented foundation with sufficient assets to make this list. These liberal foundations alone outspend the main conservative foundations by a factor of at least 10 to 1. When smaller foundations--like the Heinz Foundations--are added to the list, the disparity is more like 20 to 1. CRC News, July 21, 2004

It's not that conservatives don't set up foundations--they earn the money in a capitalist system, then their heirs do all they can to undo the system. So if the left were successful in making this a completely socialist planned economy, eventually we'd have no philanthropies at all. They would have killed their golden goose! The report goes on to point out what a little money and good ideas can do:

The conservative investment in ideas, though modest by liberal standards, has paid large dividends. There exists today, in contrast to the 1970s, an impressive network of think tanks, journals and university programs supported by conservative foundations, which are engaged in different ways in promoting the cause of liberty and limited government. As a result, there is now a robust debate in American intellectual life between conservatives and liberals. The one-sided debate, dominated by the left, is a thing of the past.

423 The Imbalance of Fame

There is an article about blogs and their influence in the August 2004 issue of Wired. (I'm practicing putting the subject and verb first in my opening sentences as instructed at a journalism tool kit site.) I saw a phrase that shocked me--"the imbalance of fame." The clear, fold-out chart was in Wired's favorite colors--lime-green yellow and cobalt blue with a hint of thalo, lined in cadmium red with a touch of simple black.*

Apparently, the "inbound" links are now the thing to watch. Slashdot is way behind New York Times in visits, but is 5th in the chart of inbound links--more than Fox News and Reuters. Anyway, why shouldn't the government correct this imbalance of fame just as it does the wealth imbalance? Why can't I have, by government regulation, some of the cache of the NYT or Slashdot blog sites, even if they have more inbound links? My readers, Sylvia, my sister, Bev, Adrienne, Greg, Michael, Sherry, Hip Liz and the rest are no less important than those thousands who click to all the news that fits. After all, NYT had a head start, so I should be moved up just because of my lack of experience, education and staff to even out the odds. Oh yes, and my gender and age.

Why should I be struggling down in zone 5 when CNN, WP, Wired, Salon and Instapundit get all the perks? I'm heading for the mall in DC to start a protest for all us little bloggers who are not getting our fair share!

422 The Blackout of August 14, 2003 study

Here's what I wrote last year about the enormous blackout we experienced:

"The Blackout of August 14 only affected Lakeside for about 4 hours. I had popped a beef stroganoff into the oven at 3:45 and headed for music class. At 4:10 the AC and lights went out and the class coordinator stuck her head in and said, "We're working on it." Dr. Taylor had distributed most of the music, so we really didn't need the overheads. It's not that unusual to have short power outages. But when I left at 5:15 I overhead some people saying, "It's on the whole peninsula."

When I got back to the cottage, Bob told me it was the whole northeast and southern Canada. So we called Phoebe, and she said it hadn't affected Columbus, but the outage went as far south as Delaware, OH. Our radio needed 4 C batteries, so I sat in the car to listen to the news, finally remembering my walkman was in the car, and it was working.

We didn't want to open the frig to put away the half cooked dinner, which would only have heated up the cold food, so we headed to Abigail's, which fortunately has gas and was serving dinner--everything except coffee which used electric percolators. Dinner was by candlelight and no one seemed too concerned. We knew the auditorium had a generator because years ago we were watching a Shirley Jones show and the power went out. When we got there, there was one lonely light bulb in the ceiling, and the stage lights. The performance hadn't started by 8:15, but then all the lights came on and they waited a bit so people who hadn't wanted to walk home in the dark could get there. The program was a young woman from Ireland and a 3 piece band.

Toledo and Detroit were still struggling on Friday, and on Saturday I heard on WJR that Detroit would still have its "DreamCruise" with 30,000 extra cars and about 1,000,000 additional people, plus the start of the state fair. They were still without traffic lights! But people are conserving water, and told not to use the AC. This is some of the hottest weather we've had all summer--haven't really had any 90 degree weather until now.

The political parties will of course be blaming each other, but there is enough blame to go around, with reports going back many years that the system was overloaded and antiquated. I heard some of these grids are 40 years old. With all the computer and tech stuff we have now, with almost everyone having air conditioning, it is hard to imagine that no one's been able to correct it. I guess de-regulation has something to do with it. Monopolies are always more efficient to regulate and all these smaller companies need to cooperate on a plan to upgrade. It certainly is a wake up call, and outlined for terrorists exactly what to do--just bring down a Canadian power plant, and you can shut down the U.S. most important cities!"

Last Thursday I read a summary in the Wall Street Journal of the year long blackout study and was surprised, or maybe not, to read that none of the theories that were being thrown around last August and September turned out to name the culprits. The Final report of the U.S.-Canada Power System Outage Task Force is ". . .a prosaic tale about dozens of small things that went wrong with a few obvious policy lessons." 1)sagging transmission lines came into contact with trees, and 2) inoperative computer software.

421 Identity theft

Libraries, churches and educational institutions that use our Social Security Numbers to track members, clients, students and staff with huge accessible and hack-easy databases need to rethink this very risky method of record keeping.

On August 5, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft signed H.B. 204 to establish what will be called the Ohio Privacy/Public Records Access Study Committee. The effective date of the legislation is Nov. 3. Establishing a study committee 4 months out that won’t report for 12 months may not be much of a change in a practice long overdue, but it is a first step.

“The purpose of the study committee is to discuss concerns related to personal information contained in public records, including identity theft and fraud, and dissemination of such information through the Internet. The study committee, which will have 12 months to report recommendations to the governor and Ohio General Assembly, will also review legitimate uses of personal information contained in public records by businesses, government, the legal community and the media.” (Bulletin, ONA, August 13, 2004)

Why libraries and universities like Ohio State haven’t figured this out on their own with their usual committee structure, I don’t know. All those talented and politically savvy folks and they can’t clean up their own backyard with a little common sense? I intend to make my voice heard on this one.

Another privacy issue is having all our homes and neighborhoods (photographs, plot plans, floor plan sketch, and land plats) on the internet. As a business, we used this service (state gov’t) many times and sometimes I’d pull up the color photo and floor plan while my husband was still having a first interview with a client. But it is also available to all sorts of mischief makers who might not have gone to city hall and requested the information for a fee the way we used to do it.

420 Republicans elected Bill Clinton

I voted for Bill Clinton (first term), but I was a Democrat then, so why wouldn't I? I didn't dislike George Bush (41), but party loyalty kept me from looking too closely at the man who we would put in office. I liked Al Gore and thought he balanced Clinton's very obvious (even then) personal failures. Later, when my Republican friends ribbed me, I reminded them that it was the defection of conservative Republicans over to Ross Perot who moved George and Barbara out of the White House. Clinton could not have won without the Republicans.

Now it looks like it could happen again. Harold Lamb in his August 14 column says it better than I could, but I do see the defection among some of the most prominent bloggers who formerly were strong Bush supporters. Some don't like the Federal Marriage Amendment; some don't like his wild spending on social programs (me included); some impatient pundits think the war hasn't had the intended results (conservatives should look at the 15 years following our Declaration of Independence). Lamb warns Republicans that it could happen again--they'll put another really poor Democratic president into the White House for 8 years.

419 Myth Mary Ann

We haven’t seen the “Mary Ann Knowles” chemotherapy-myth ad from Kerry around here. The myth the Kerry people are touting here in Ohio is that Bush is shipping jobs offshore. Pathetically angry actor/workers gnash their teeth over an Indian with good English taking jobs. This is one ad I’m surprised the Republicans don’t speak out about and identify the big lie. Maybe they aren’t lies at the level of Kerry's Purple Heart, or his Senate testimony as an angry ex-soldier, but they are lies, and they are more recent.

Even Kerry-friendly fact checking websites know it is incorrect and have said so. The legislation that encourages US corporations to set up shop elsewhere is decades old and President Bush had nothing to do with it. Plus, they left because corporations were being taxed out of competition with foreign companies. Do you suppose “President” Kerry will lower taxes on corporations?

“US manufacturing employment was in decline for nearly three years before Bush became President. It actually declined by 544,000 between the peak reached in March, 1998 and when Clinton left office, even as the economy added nearly 7.8 million jobs in all categories during the climax of a roaring economic boom that ended a few weeks after Bush was sworn in. In fact, 238,000 of those manufacturing jobs were lost in Clinton's last six month alone, showing that the decline was well-established even before Bush had spent a day in office.” (FactCheck.org August 11, 2004)

FactCheck.org has numerous examples of the Kerry ads attributing words to Bush he never said.

418 If I'd only known

There was a period of time in the 1960s when we didn't own a car--only had a bicycle. Then there was a period of 2 or 3 years when I'd let my driver's license lapse (another story, very sad). Finally, it looked like I'd need to start driving again after about five years as a passenger/pedestrian. So we selected the rock bottom, cheapest American car on the market--a 1965 Plymouth Belvedere and the end of the year sell-off. It had a heater, but no radio. That's how basic it was. Light, bland as oatmeal with skim milk, blue. When we were through with it, we sold it to my Aunt and Uncle in Illinois and they drove it a few more years.

Imagine my shock and awe last week when I glanced through the full page ad in the WSJ of August 4 and saw one listed in a Collector Car Auction.

417 A new book on Bush--Who Knew?

Ron Kessler's new book is titled A Matter of Character: Inside the White House of George W. Bush . An interview with the author appeared on August 9 at National Review Online. I was particularly interested in what Kessler says about Bush's interest in reading.

Kessler: Besides the diversity of his friends, I was amazed at how deeply Bush personally researched why kids can't read. Nationally, 40 percent of fourth graders cannot read a simple children's book. Among blacks and Hispanics, the proportion is as high as 65 percent. The reason is that in the 1970's, liberal educators decided that teaching kids to read with phonics — sounding out words — was dull. Instead, they said kids should simply be given books to read. Somehow, they will become excited by the books and guess what the words mean. In other words, under this approach, called whole language, kids are not taught to read at all.

Bush personally called experts in the field to try to figure out what was wrong and develop a program to restore phonics to reading instruction. The result in Texas was a drop in the percentage of third graders who could not read at grade from 23 percent to just two percent, including additional help when needed. Bush is trying to do the same thing through the No Child Left Behind Act, which John Kerry voted for but now says he wants to gut.

Ironically, the New York City public schools still use a form of whole language, yet I found the toniest private schools in New York all teach phonics.

"Of course we teach phonics," Beth Tashlik, the head of the Collegiate School's lower school, told me. "You can't teach reading without it."

So you have parents who most oppose Bush sending their kids to schools where kids are not taught to read because the schools refuse to adopt the method Bush is trying to abolish.

I'd make just one suggestion, and that is that "whole language" was being taught in the 1960s, and a version of it in the 1950s. There were four children in my family, and depending on who we had in our early grades, some of us were taught phonics and some weren't. My husband was not taught phonics in elementary school in Indianapolis in the 1940s. It is a crippler.

416 What are Libraries up to now?

Shark Blog comments on August 9 about some libraries plans to use September 11 for anti-administration purposes:

"The employees of our nation's taxpayer-funded libraries are turning their communities' public intellectual spaces into an outlet for partisan propaganda. The September Project, which I mentioned a few weeks ago, attempts to trivialize the September 11 attacks by using the upcoming anniversary of 9/11 to forget about the Muslim terrorists who slaughtered 3,000 people and instead fixate on the imaginary administration attacks on civil liberties in the course of preventing future acts of mass murder."

The programming that he lists is all in Washington state, and he closes this blog with the following:

"It's unfortunate that our public libraries are turning themselves into fountains of Michael Moorish partisan propaganda. If you live in King County outside of Seattle, you might want to think twice about voting to approve the King County Library System bond levy, on the ballot this September 14. Naturally, the people who work for KCLS will do whatever it takes to confiscate your money so they can indoctrinate you about civil liberties. But you can still vote no. For now, at least."

The Shark Blog

415 Update on Trip to Buffalo

Day Two, Friday

When you tour Frank Lloyd Wright sites, you get an earful of his colorful history which included financial disasters, personal tragedies, love affairs, devoted students, and love-hate relationships with his clients. His career took place during a time when people communicated in letters, not by phone or e-mail. This exchange between Wright and his client William Heath in 1927 about a proposed gas stations for Buffalo is a classic example of what researchers have to work with:

"Dear Mr. Wright: Your letter of the 12th received, you say herewith sketches etc., but the herewith were not therewith, whereof we do not know wherewith they are; so we can not return them or comment upon them."

The long letter is quoted in the excellent article "An Ornament to the Pavement: Frank Lloyd Wright's Buffalo Gas Station," by Patrick J. Mahoney, Western New York Heritage, Summer/Fall 2003, Vol.6,no.3, pp. 18-35. Mr. Mahoney, a practicing architect, is the Vice President of Graycliff Conservancy and our very informative tour guide when we visited that home south of Buffalo on the cliffs of Lake Erie in Derby, NY.

We'd arrived at Graycliff at the end of a busy, exciting Friday that had started with a tour of the Butler Mansion, across the street from our hotel. Buffalo at one time was the 10th wealthiest city in the United States, according to our local tour guide, Marilyn. On Thursday evening after we'd checked in, she gave us a walking tour of the historic district, Allentown, where we saw many colorful turn of the century (the last one) homes, more modest than the mansions lining Delaware Avenue, but certainly quite posh and lovingly restored.

On Friday morning we had the Butler Mansion tour, now used as Jacobs Executive Development Center, which has been through extensive renovation. It was designed by McKim, Mead & White and the original drawings which were discovered in 1990 were on the wall.

We visited two neighborhoods that had FLW homes (no tours, private residences), the Davidson residence (1908) and the Heath residence (1904). We toured Forest Lawn Cemetery, which offers historic tours called "Sunday in the Cemetery." We were there to see (but not photograph) the construction of the only mausoleum designed by FLW. It was not built because of the client's financial losses during the Depression. It is now under construction and the 24 crypts will be sold to help finance it.

Then we had lunch at Ulrich's Tavern, Buffalo's oldest tavern, sort of a German-Irish, blue collar-white collar pub that only locals like Marilyn can find. From there we drove to the restored Larkin Warehouse. The owner gave us a tour of this wonderful old warehouse now used for law offices and businesses. Larkin was a soap manufacturer that developed a marketing scheme that used premiums which soon became an industry in and of itself. An area of the first floor has been set aside as a museum of Larkin products and premiums. This is also the site of FLW's famous Larkin Administration Building. The link will provide its interesting design, history and demise, which I encourage you to read. The closest we could get to this masterpiece was to visit this pier.

Day 2, Afternoon and Evening

Then we drove to the lovely old community of East Aurora, NY to visit the Roycroft Arts and Crafts Community. Wright and the executives and their families of Larkin were all bound together. One of the Larkin executives was Elbert Hubbard, a brother-in-law of the founder, John Durrant Larkin. Hubbard was the brains behind the premiums with soap marketing scheme. After making his fortune, he sold his share, and founded Roycrofters in 1893. He and his wife died when the Lusitania was sunk in 1915. Hubbard wasn't divine (as he claimed in his personal credo), but his influence on the arts and crafts movement and Frank Lloyd Wright was significant.

From East Aurora we drove to the lovely "Old Orchard Inn" built in 1880, snuggled in the hills of western New York, with some exciting moves by our bus driver Roseanne, who didn't like narrow roads or low viaducts. We didn't have much time as we needed to be at Graycliff before dusk, but we had a wonderful meal--ham or chicken, with carrots, potatoes, salad, and drinks.

After snaking our huge bus out of the Inn's parking lot and detouring around underpasses Roseanne thought were too low, we finally got to Graycliff where the pleasant staff gave us flashlights, because we were losing the sun setting over the glorious Erie. No photos allowed on the inside, but we got some good shots of the outside of the Martin's summer home (another Larkin executive who first brought FLW to Buffalo) and the chauffeur's cottage.

Frank Lloyd Wright had a 33 year relationship with the Martin family, and designed the home of Darwin and Esabelle Martin in Buffalo. She apparently thought the house not easy to live in and too dark, so she wanted something to capture the sunlight on this cliff on Lake Erie because her eyesight was failing. Our tour group had visited this site in 1995 when it still belonged to a Hungarian group of monks and was in very poor condition. It is being lovingly restored by the Graycliff Conservancy. Our 2 hour "hard hat tour" was superbly led by Mr. Mahoney, whose personal collection of FLW drawings hung in the visitors' center and gift shop.

An exhausted, but fat and happy tour group, returned to the hotel in Buffalo, to rest up for day 3.

414 Frank Lloyd Wright Tour

We'll be leaving to do a short bus tour of some Frank Lloyd Wright sites and some other places along the way of interest to architects. Here's the plan, but it sounds a bit fluid.

Thursday

8 a.m.-- leave Columbus, drive by the Penfield House in Willoughby, OH, drive to N. Madison OH to the Staley Residence for a tour and lunch with owner

Late afternoon-- arrive in Buffalo--stay at Holiday Inn

Walking tour of historic Allentown district

Friday

9-11:30 -- Tour Butler Mansion and the Wilcox Mansion, site of the T. Roosevelt inauguration

noon--lunch at Ulrich's Tavern

1-2:30-- tour Frank Lloyd Wright designed Mausoleum, Gas Station and Boat House

2:45-5:15-- Drive to East Aurora to visit Roycroft complex and Vidler's 5 & 10 store

6 pm-- dinner at the Old Orchard Inn

7:30-- Twilight tour of "Graycliff" the Darwin Martin summer home on Lake Erie

Saturday

9-noon-- hard hat tour of the Martin-Barton complex

noon-- leave for Canada, lunch along the Niagara River

afternoon-- Niagara on the Lake--walking tour, shopping, boating

Evening-- Dinner at Betty's in Chippewa, ON, CA. Stop at Table Rock to view the lights on the Falls

Sunday
mid-morning-- breakfast/brunch at the Towne Restaurant before leaving Buffalo--possibly drive by the Rubin, Feiman and Dobkins Residences in Canton and/or the Weltzheimer Residence in Oberlin, OH

Early evening-- Arrive back in Columbus.

413 Gas explosion increases neighborliness

There was a gas explosion on Columbus' west side (Hague Avenue) Monday afternoon. It took 12 hours to cap it and 1300 homes lost power. Homes were evacuated. The power surge blacked out many homes beyond the danger area, and the outage stopped on my daughter's street--the south side, and she is on the north. Three of her neighbors are storing perishables in her basement refrigerator, and the next door neighbor (the only one on that side that lost power) has a power cord running to her kitchen from our daughter's home.

412 Foster Rose

On June 29 I wrote about having friends (clients) over for dinner at Lakeside. They gave us a lovely small blooming, deep pink, rose plant. As I gave them a warm thank-you, I whispered a quiet good-bye to the poor dear thing, knowing I would kill it within a week. When it started to look droopy, my husband took it outside and dug a hole beside the house and "planted" it. "It needs a lot of sun, and I don't think it is an outdoor plant anyway," I opined.

A few days later it wasn't there. I really hadn't expected it to disintegrate--just wither and die. "Where's the rose plant?" I asked. "I took it over to Dick's house," he said. "He's got a small white rose plant blooming along the drive-way that looks just great." Yeah, sure, I thought.

Dick agreed to foster our rose plant. It loves it at his house and is blooming like, well, like it never wants to go home again.

411 It will never be September 10 again

We were married on September 11. Apparently, people who choose that date today can just about have their pick of accomodations, because who wants to associate a wedding anniversary with a tragedy? Even in 1960, I knew life would never be September 10 again; my life would be forever changed by what happened on the 11th.

And so it is today. It will never be September 10 again. Even if Osama is caught, or killed or brought to trial, his movement of hate for western values will outlive him. The security measures we've seen this week in New York is our future, regardless of who is our President.

We have two candidates. One says we will respond when we are attacked. The other says we won't wait for an attack--we're on the offensive. Lives will be lost either way. But the one candidate sounds like he is living September 10 all over again.

410 The Longest Month

At the reception on Saturday some people commented on my poem that had been published in The Lakesider, July 31. Of course, I assumed it was my "Last day of July" poem, because I'd submitted several. But it wasn't, as I discovered when I looked through the paper that evening. It was my poem about February.

The Longest Month at the Lake--February
In the winter
when the snakes sleep
and the deer run
to the islands
on the ice flow
and my blood's thick,
cold and lonely
I will welcome
any stranger who waves,
any acquaintance who stops,
and any mail addressed to occupant.

There are two possibilities why the editor chose this one. 1) She is from the area and lives there in the winter, unlike the vacationers who just see the "perfect days." 2) She's of the school that believes poems shouldn't have rhyme or meter. The third possibility, I suppose, is that it fit the space!

409 The Perfect Day

Sunday, August 1, was the perfect day. The sky was clear with wonderful views of the islands and cool breezes. There was an ice cream social on the lawn of the Hotel Lakeside which drew such crowds the Friends of the Hotel raised $5,000. On the lawn was a band from a neighboring community playing rousing Sousa marches with lots of oompas from the brass section, and up the street the Ladies Club was having its annual book sale, $.50 a box after 4 p.m. There was an inflatable jumping gym set up in the park, and the three blonde child prodigy violinists were also performing in the park.

We four moved some chairs around on the pavilion deck as the sun changed positions and enjoyed the crowds, music and watching the children frolic on the sandy beach with our visiting Indiana relatives. Yes, a perfect day.

408 Client appreciation reception

About 60 people gathered at Hotel Lakeside yesterday afternoon to hear a thank you from my husband for being his clients over the last 10 years. It was a lot of fun, and the photo albums we prepared of the job sites were very popular, with people looking not only for their own homes, but fascinated by the other cottages that had been designed, or rebuilt or renovated. Our son had to make two trips back to our cottage (only 3 blocks) to pick up items we forgot, like the guest book and camera. People who RSVP'd at the last minute showed, and some that had called far ahead, didn't. But in general, it was a good turn out. He designed a t-shirt using the drawings of all the projects arranged in a design (front) with a list of the clients and their addresses (back), sort of like the "last tour" of some rock groups. We provided a map with key to all the projects (about 25 completed). T-shirts were also given to the Director, Bud Cox, the Programming guru, Keith Addy, and the various contractors, one of whom had done 9 of the jobs.

407 The last day of July

Lakeside streets and cottages could tell you a thousand love stories--the community is over 130 years old. The vacationers seeking a beautiful place to worship, learn and have fun first arrived by steamship (ended in 1939), and rail (ended in 1930) and interurban (ended in 1939). Bridges and high ways brought changes that come with automobiles, but they didn't change why people come here. Our neighbors (in Columbus) stopped by the cottage yesterday returning from upper Michigan. They had never been here. "We've been here an hour and a half," Jane said, "and I want to buy a place."

And there are other love stories--this poem was inspired by a young couple I saw under the street light last summer on the last day of July. This one, however, is about a summer love story from the 1940s.

It was too late for summer love,
They cried that day and said good-bye.
Cicada announced at sunset
It was the last day of July.

As August waited at the door
The sun slipped down more quickly now.
They strolled along the Lakeside dock
and to each other made this vow.

"We'll dance and swim and sing once more
when next July we'll meet again
with kisses sweet in pale moonlight
on the corner of Third and Lynn."

He shipped out for the Philippines;
She left for school at OSU.
During July in years to come
They both recalled that lovely view.

The lovers young did not return
to stroll the lakefront side by side,
'til this year each saw the other
with great grandchildren at Lakeside.

It was too late for summer love,
After hello they said good-bye
with a kiss for their own sunset--
It was the last day of July.

406 Stories about family

Another nice vacation story from one of my links, Shush, written by a young librarian, Greg. He tells of his family get-togethers of the last 35 years, and gives it a book twist by pointing out a collection of family stories written by his uncle. A nice, thoughtful piece. You'll enjoy Sunday July 25 titled, "Overhome." The book, by the same title, sounds like something my writing group which meets at the library to discuss publishing memoirs, might want to look at.

405 Entertainment just steps away

At Lakeside, I can get a year's supply of culture and entertainment just by walking down the street. I grew up in a home with a lot of music, and I miss that. Last night at Hoover we enjoyed pianist Michael Chertock who has performed at Carnegie Hall and with the symphonies of Cincinnati, Toronto, Philadelphia and Detroit among others. Some concert pianists seem to take themselves awfully seriously, but he was quite charming, chatted with his 6 year old daughter in the front row, and played a very nice variety including Beethoven, Liszt, Chopin, themes from two movies, Gershwin, and provided us with a stunning encore at the organ. The audience was wild about Michael, and he is cute enough to have groupies.

Sunday night the Scioto Ridge Boys performed their gospel and praise music. One member is retired from the OSU College of Food Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (where I was once a librarian). Here's a little piece about them at the Scioto Ridge Methodist Church website.

The always popular OSU Alumni Marching Band is the largest all brass band and percussion college alumni band in the United States, and they always pack the house at Hoover. Each year they return to the OSU Stadium for the first home football game where they can still perform "script Ohio." They don't do that at Hoover, but two drum majors did that twirlly thing Saturday night.

Friday night we took a trip back to the 50s (happens often around here) with the Diamonds, their do-wop and excellent instrumental skills (2 trombones, trumpet and sax). They began in 1956 and two of the guys in the photo in the Lakeside News weren't on stage, so they must be somewhat interchangeable. This photo looks like the group we saw. I thought they did a good job of keeping their act contemporary while not losing the nostalgia. Their signature hit "Little Darlin'" is remembered by most people from 50-70.

Eye, yi-eye-eye-eye
Yi-eye-eye-eye
Ya-ya-ya-ahh

Little darlin', oh, little darlin'
Oh-oh-oh where a-are you?
My love-a, I was wrong-a (la-la-la-la-la-la)
To-oo try to lo-ove two
A-hoopa, a-hoopa, hoopa
Kno-ow well-a that my love-a (la-la-la-la-la-la)
Wa-as just fo-or you, oh only-ee-ee-ee you

SPOKEN: My darlin', I NEED you (la-la-la-la-la-la) to call my own and NEVER do wrong. To
hold in mine your little hand (la-la-la-la-la-la). I'll know too soon that ALL is so grand.
Please,
hold my hand

My dear-a I-I was wrong-a
To-oo try to lo-ove two
A-hoopa, a-hoopa, hoopa
Know well that my love-a (la-la-la-la-la-la)
Wa-as just for you, oh only-ee-ee-ee you

Technically, this is the first "rap" with a spoken voice over, according to Lyrics XP.com.

Tom Chapin was the program on Thursday evening, July 22. I've seen him here several times, and Thursday he had a "back-up" guitarist whom I thought added a nice touch. He tells funny stories and always provides a good family show with good audience participation. The local story says he has performed for the American Library Association, which this year made the unfortunate choice of showing Michael Moore's disgusting and shameful movie at its annual meeting in Florida.

404 The complementary colors

In art class today we were told that surgeons' scrubs are green because it is the complementary color of red, the color of blood, and therefore soothing and calming for a tense atmosphere.

So maybe we should have left the red walls and green carpet in the family room and halls of the condo. Soothing. Hmmm. We found the color combination a bit jarring. Even the ceiling was red.

The big news from art class: Sharon says I'm bold. She looked at my painting, and was, I think, speechless. Instead of saying "Yuk," which might have been off-putting and discouraged me, she said, "It is so bold."

Last summer I wrote a poem about painting still lifes based on an article I saw in American Artist. When asked how she paints a still life, the artist said she paints first what will die first. I read it to the class and gave it to our instructor.

The artist’s eye
August 17, 2003

“What do artists paint first?”
And she would then reply
to questions they asked her,
“Whatever’s gonna’ die.”

Apple before basket
and rose before the bowl,
the dog before the pup
and mare before the foal.

Worm before fisherman
and wave before the storm,
Stars before horizon
and fog before the horn.

The creek before river
and leaf before the tree,
finally I’m painting
my lover before me.

For life is not forever
we do the best we can,
I squint my artist eye
and always have a plan.

401 Enmity at the Archives

In Friday's Wall Street Journal there is an article, "Enmity at the archives" about the book store at the National Archives. It carries lots of books about presidents like Jefferson, Lincoln and LBJ. It also carries smear titles about our current President. "The New Nuclear Danger: George W. Bush's Military Industrial Complex;" "American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush." And then the oh so non-biased "Imperial Crusades: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yugoslavia," (left wing essays); "Hoodwinked: The Documents that reveal how Bush Sold us a War;" "The Great unraveling: Losing our way. . ."; and some polemic, boring, academic titles which the author lists.

The author, Jonathan V. Last, says there is not one neutral or admiring book on President Bush, just the anti-Bush, anybody-but-Bush, bashes. I've seen these political tables at Barnes and Noble Bookstores, but they at least make an effort to present a variety of views. Last said something to the clerk, who apparently assumed he was approving of the staff choices, and he responded, "We tell [the people who complain about the titles] that they're not anti-Bush. They're just correcting the facts." The accompanying cartoon shows a puzzled customer at book tables labeled: Harangues, Screeds, Conspiracy Theories, and Rants. Last's final paragraph is priceless:

"It's possible that George W. Bush is an illegitimately installed fascist monster leading America's military-industrial complex on a nuclear crusade for world domination. But what kind of dime-store dictator can't even crush dissent at his own bookstore?"

Convention Behind the Scenes

In an expose story that would leave a bad taste in my mouth if I were the party faithful laboring back home, ABC News (6:30 EDT) just featured a behind the scenes look at the partying and bankrolling of the Democratic convention--parties, golf outings, concerts, paid for by donors who don't have to make an accounting of it as political donations to influence votes. I'm sure ABC will be even more heavy handed with their coverage of the Republican convention--but Peter Jennings will smirk more. He rushed away from this one as quickly as possible.

403 What are great vacations made of?

Take a look at Hip Liz's blog for a great road trip through California, Oregon and Washington. Hip is a guy, a dad, and a native Californian going through some values turmoil in his life (according to his bio). So it isn't like he hasn't done some road trips, but he's got some interesting stuff about his vacation. I met him in a writers' group and liked his stuff.

It is gray and cloudy here and I'm doing laundry and listening to reruns of Ellen (from Christmas time). Also, took a 2 hour nap. Where does the time go!

No masterpiece forthcoming from this morning's art class. Sharon set up some great still lifes, but because all my paintings usually tell a story (standing on the corner talking, sitting on the pier fishing, 4 old bikes for sale, children sitting on rocks in front of the lighthouse, middle age man watching a freighter, etc.) I'm having a hard time getting this straw hat and gloves to talk to me. I loved how they looked. I think this is the problem with most of my still lifes--they are so still. I picked lint out of the hair dryer for awhile, changed water in the jar, and admired Connie's painting, but still it didn't come. Sigh.

402 First donut of the season

With no car for a few days, I needed to improvise on my usual routine, so I tucked $2.00 in my pocket and headed for the lake front for a brisk walk to burn up a few calories before I stopped at the Patio Restaurant for a hot cinnamon donut and coffee. Prices have gone up, so it was $1.92 instead of the amount last summer when I could leave a decent tip. I apologized to the waitress. The coffee isn't very good, but the donuts are fab.

Along the lakefront I was joined by my friend Nancy who has been coming here since she was about 10 years old. Although it is not terribly cold, the wind is very brisk, so we both were bundled up for the weather, with jackets and head gear.

Art class starts today. The registration yesterday at the Rhein Center was a mob scene, and it started to rain while the line began to circle around the outside of the building. Sharon Borror will be teaching both a beginner and intermediate class. I think I've only painted 3 paintings since last summer, so she may wonder why I haven't improved.

When I got home from my walk, I switched out of my warm clothes and put on a t-shirt that we designed for my husband's Lakeside clients 10 years ago. (Our son was in the t-shirt screening business then.) It says:

Worker's Compensation
A Cottage at Lakeside

400 Pleasant surprises

A stranger knocked on the door yesterday afternoon to inquire about our paintings. She's decided that next year she'll come to the opening of the art show so she can purchase one from my husband. She also asked me for a reprint of my shuffleboard painting (my husband and kids in 1974) to give to her mother. The Cottage Assessories owner also knocked on the door and said she had a rush order for my gazebo cards because there were two weddings in the park, and that always sells that card design.

The "Perspective Drawing" class taught by my husband with the assistance of Bev who is a member of our Visual Arts Ministry at church was a big success. Again we were surprised when two different members of the class gave him gifts in appreciation. We printed up certificates in the morning and Bev wrote in their names. It will be offered again during the 8th week and I'll take it then. Angela, a neighbor, said she sees everything differently now. Pat says the class filled a hole in her art ability and is looking forward to better paintings. One woman actually extended her vacation so she could complete the class. He is a wonderful teacher, very kind and patient.

Bev started for home about 10 a.m. yesterday. I think we've made a Lakesider out of her. She's planning to come back in August and may teach her own bag of tricks. She is also bringing her parents who used to come here as young people.

Plans are moving along for next Saturday's "Client Appreciation Party" with gifts, food and displays just about in the finishing stages. We've hired the archivist down the street to be our musician. It will be at the Hotel Lakeside in one of the air conditioned dining rooms. We've only had about two really roaring hot days this summer, so we may not need the air.

399 A view of the two Americas

Consider these two statements, quotations that open the essay on “Two Americas” by Kim du Toit . He’s a pro-gun essayist, but this one on individualism vs. collectivism isn’t about guns, but basic values.

"In this country there are two Americas: one for the privileged who get everything they want, and one for everyone else who struggle for the things they need." -- Sen. John Edwards

Now this, earlier statement:

"There are two Americas -- and millions of the people already distinguish between them. One is the America of the imperialists -- of the little clique of capitalists, landlords, and militarists who are threatening and terrifying the world. This is the America the people of the world hate and fear. There is the other America -- the America of the workers and farmers and the 'little people'." -- James P. Cannon, to the 1948 convention of the Socialist Workers Party.

The two Americas, he says, is philosophical, not economic, because

“America is not divided into the "haves" and the "have-nots" -- at least, it's not a static condition. Anyone in America with a work ethic, application and a little luck can make it big, from humble beginnings. Edwards himself is the proof thereof. But it's not even that difficult to "make it" in America: almost anyone can get into the middle class with just a modicum of hard work -- which is why the American standard of living is higher than that of any other nation in the world. The division between the classes is both flexible and permeable.”

I'd been thinking about Edward's two Americas statement since reading contradictory statistics over at Tech Central Station by Arnold Kling in "How much worse off are we." . He pretty much dumps the whole idea of a "rich vs. poor" nation by showing that most "poor" people have and enjoy today what a small percentage of Americans had 30 years ago. In fact, if you can wade through the statistics the lower class is disappearing.

Then how will politicians use the envy card? Well, every one needs a 3 car garage and 4 cell phones, I suppose? Today about 75% of poor people in the USA have VCRs. Not that I think that is terrific considering the level of movies, but it does mean they also have electricity, and color TV and enough money to buy them and the accoutrements--no wonder poor people are willing to risk life, limb and family to come here.

In the 1960s when we were married college students, we had no car, no washer or dryer, no dishwasher, (microwaves weren't invented yet, but didn't have one until 1986). We lived in an apartment furnished with our own used furniture and we paid for our own medical insurance because in those days, employers didn't and government didn't. I don't know if food stamps were around in those days, but we would have been eligible. This would make us among the most poverty stricken households in 2004. But we weren't poor, we were young and moving up. But John Edwards, who was still in elementary school then, would have wanted us to be envious instead of self-reliant. Is it because that's how he became rich? No, he worked hard and grew up in a solid, middle class family--so why is he trying to play the envy card?

398 Plastic Nation

“Hi, I’m calling on behalf of Dippity do dah-express to let you know we have a plan for your credit card debt and can probably lower it to 1% interest.” I listened for a few more sentences (our lake house phone is not on a “do not call” list) until he asked me to press one and I realized this lovely, articulate voice was a recording. I was going to let him know in no uncertain terms that we have no credit card debt and have never had credit card debt.

Maybe al-Qaeda won’t bring us down, but plastic cards might. The column headline in the Wall Street Journal this morning was, “As cash fades, America becomes a plastic nation.” According to the article even a 17 year old trash hauler carries a cellphone with a card swiper to record his credit card customers. Speeders can give the cop their plastic, vending machines, subways and charities take plastic. Servicemen are issued plastic and their pay is added to the card. When we took an Alaskan cruise in 2001, all purchases on board were added to a special Princess Cruise credit card. Isn’t it all just too high tech and convenient?

It is so convenient, you get to pretend it isn’t real money. “Consumer debt is expected to hit $838 billion this year, an increase of 6.8% from 2003 and more than double what it was ten years ago.” Eventually, plastic will be phased out since it is really only the number that matters, and that can be linked to you in other ways, like biometrics. You could just as easily, as the technology improves, put yourself in debt with the blink of an eye or a swipe of your finger.

397 Thinking how John Edwards became a rich man

I’ve paid more attention to legal matters since I served on a jury two years ago. On the one hand, I was filled with pride to be part of such an amazing system with a long history, one which many in the world will never enjoy. On the other, I was appalled by the ignorance and malleability of some of my fellow citizen jurors. I’m not sure the wet noodles were balanced by the bullies, nor did we bond the way some juries did, who continue to meet for lunch and friendship according to the bulletin board in the jury selection room. With John Edwards in the spotlight and his specialty being suing doctors for malpractice, we’ll be hearing more about lawyers contributing to the drying up of medical services in many areas, and the rising cost of medical care.

Some awards do seem really strange. In the latest Columbus Bar Briefs (Summer 2004), both some small awards ($0.00) and large ($25,700,00) seem a bit odd. In one case a 20 year old woman was mistakenly given a blood transfusion for cosmetic surgery, to which she didn't need and had not signed a consent form other than what she had deposited. The blood donor was HIV positive. Becoming infected with HIV the old fashioned way is relatively difficult for women unless they are having oral or anal sex--but through a blood transfusion the virus is 100% effective in transmission. The jury awarded $4,000,000 for present damages and $8,000,000 for future damages, but then reduced it to $8,150,000 when it was determined that future medical care would be $150,000 not $4,000,000.

A man who was told to have elective surgery after a diagnosis of diverticulitis, ended up with a second surgery to repair a leak at the site of anastomosis, prolonged wound healing, development of multiple hernias and hernia surgery. He was suing for $1,200,000 for medical bills, future medical expenses, and economic losses. Considering the discomfort, pain and costs, I thought this was pretty low, but he got nothing after a 7 day trial.

Compare those medical malpractice suits with another case reported in the same issue; a 55 year old man relocated by his company sued for age discrimination and was awarded $25,000,000 in damages and $700,000 for emotional distress. Am I crazy to think that a woman who has to live in fear of a chronic and/or terminal disease should have a higher award than a man who is upset that he can’t earn $100,000 a year in Indiana instead of Ohio? Or that a man with an abdominal wound that doesn’t heal from surgery he probably didn’t need should have more than the guy who had to move to Gary, Indiana to keep his job?

Yes, a good lawyer is very important. Even in small potatoes cases, she/he gets 30%. So the awards aren’t as big as they look, for the plaintiff. (Although 30% of nothing is zero.) But there appear to be a few other kinks in the thread. With Edwards’ record, we’re sure to be learning more about how medical malpractice serves the profession. More than we ever wanted to know.

396 Linda, Whoopie and Elton

Some people are screaming "freedom of speech," and “it’s censorship.” That is nonsense. It is capitalism, period. These are paid performers hired by businesses to work for the company. If you cause people to NOT purchase the product, then you're not a good or valuable worker, no matter your color, age or sexual orientation.

Linda, who incorporated her politics into her act, apparently has done this before and then enjoyed the fights in the audience. This time, someone didn't buy her hustle. But what better or cheaper publicity could an aging, plump diva get--wow! The Janet Jackson of the menopausal set. If you’ve agreed to hawk Slim-Fast, don’t ask the buyers to swallow your politics. And Elton John, since when is he an expert on the U.S. Bill of Rights? Dr. Laura, an entertainer, got dumped by Clear Channel because she said gay couples shouldn't adopt infants. Her sponsors got heat from certain political groups and poof, she was gone.

Last week at Lakeside John McCutcheon sang some political and slightly off-color original ditties inappropriate for an audience that was about half Republican (who didn’t pay to be insulted) and maybe a fourth children. Although I'm sure it was cut way back from his regular performances. I would imagine the program arranger has heard about it from the people who left the auditorium. It’s a little different than turning the channel or clicking to off. You’ve paid to be there.

395 Man’s best friend has a problem--the man

Having worked in a veterinary medicine library for 14 years, I've seen more than my share of photos of dog bite injuries (usually young male dogs, owned by young adult males, biting male children--a pattern of out of control testosterone and risky behavior). The case cited below obviously was outside that when a father of 3, well educated, owned dangerous dogs known for breaking loose. And his lawyer will try to get the guy's license reinstated.

“A young doctor rarely home enough to care for his three Rottweilers was sentenced yesterday to six months in jail and fined $5,000 after admitting that two of his dogs attacked two women, killing one, last year.” Columbus Dispatch July 20, 2004

Franklin County Common Pleas Court: $252,500 for a dog bite causing injuries to the plaintiff's upper lip requiring plastic surgery in the future. The defendant was visiting the plaintiff and his dog was unprovoked. Case No. 01CVC-06-6093 (2003) reported in "Courthouse Beat", Columbus Bar Briefs, Summer 2004.

And then there are the dog owners who insist their dogs are “under control” running loose in our city and suburban parks. Hearings are pitting dog owners (not the brightest bulbs in the batch when under the influence of Fluffy, Muffy, and Moe) against other park users.

“[Dr. Aaron] Messer said an estimated 5,000 people in Columbus are bitten by dogs each year, a majority of which are children. Mark Young, assistant director of the city's Recreation and Parks Department, said many people call his department, concerned about unleashed dogs running around. [Includes details about barking, defecating, knocking down children, chasing bicyclers, attacking other dogs.] “ SNP Publications March 31, 2004

Even in our condo complex. Yesterday I heard my neighbor's Havanese (very small, dust-mop type dog) barking furiously. I looked out to see him on a leash in his owner's arms to protect him, just in case another neighbor's loose German Shepherd thought he was a snack. This is private property where city law doesn't require a leash--but common sense would be nice. Large dogs that may not bite a person can easily snap the neck of a smaller dog.

Top breeds for dog bite aggression are

Pit Bulls
Rottweilers
German Shepherds
Huskies
Doberman Pinschers
Chow Chows

But all dogs will bite.

Take a look--it's not pretty.

394 Do you know where your car is?

There’s an article today at American Spectator about EDRs--event data recorders, or “black boxes” that currently are installed in 15-20% of all cars and trucks in service, and most rental cars. Within a few years, as many as 90% of new cars will have this system tied to the GPS navigational computers already in many cars. With EDRs, motorists can be easily tracked to see if they are observing the law, and conceivably tickets could be issued when speeding is detected, although no policeman is near-by to observe it.

“The automakers are just as eager to keep tabs on us as the government -- in part to keep the shyster lawyers that have been so successfully digging into their deep pockets at bay. EDRs would provide irrefutable evidence of high-speed driving, for example, or make it impossible for a person injured in a crash to deny he wasn't wearing a seat belt.

Insurance companies will launch "safety" campaigns urging that "we use available technology" to identify "unsafe" drivers -- and who will be able to argue against that? . . . It's all for our own good.

But if you get edgy thinking about the government -- and our friends in corporate America -- being able to monitor where we go and how we go whenever they feel like checking in on us, take the time to write a "Thanks, but no thanks" letter to NHTSA at dms.dot.gov. The public comment period is open until August 2004.”

I suppose when you get out of the car and go into a store, the RFID can take over.

Full article here. Looks like a job for the American Library Association.

393 How do they do that?

There are greater issues to think about--the war, the election, why Blacks think they need to vote for Democrats, who in the world was better off in the 70s (a Kerry Edwards motif)--but today I am wondering how people live with remodeling and redecorating chaos.

The painters start today, doing two rooms, and the house is completely torn up because everything had to be moved. I'm writing in the dining room with all the equipment that was moveable on top of the dining room table, with the extra desk, toilet seat cover, light fixtures, and sink mirror gracing the living room. Fabric samples are dangling over the kitchen counter. Oh, how I wish we'd done this in 2002 before we moved in and painted everything but these two rooms. But they looked OK then. Really. OK, a little odd--the electric yellow guest room with the funeral style drapes, but I just closed the door. As months graduated to years, my office started looking darker, especially after I started blogging. When we purchased this place, it was the lightest, brightest room.

392 If it were your Mother, should he get to vote?

Now the Democats want ex-felons to vote. What a constituency! I'm wondering if this 30 year old thinks the murderer of his mother should have that right.

He was in the room asleep in a crib when his mother's boyfriend shot her. His father was in prison. So was a half-brother. His mother's two teen-age daughters, his half-sisters, were in foster care. The state of Ohio released his father on shock parole (he had created this new life after escaping for a brief period) to care for the baby, who was then most likely raised by a grandmother and his father's married daughter.

I haven't seen him since 1974--he waved bye-bye after we dropped him and his Dad off at grammy's. I like to think that maybe he had a better life than mom, dad, grandma and sibs. Maybe he finished high-school, I fantasize. Possibly went to junior college. Dad hadn't learned to read or write until he went to prison and a cell mate (white collar criminal) taught him. Mom was smart too, even if she was 3 bricks short of a load when it came to relationships. So I have this fantasy, that he's out there doing well, and like me, probably wondering why Democrats don't care about his mother's life. And how long before the "ex-" is removed from this push?

391 Art Show Opening

The Katharine Crampton Memorial Art Show opened last night here in Lakeside with a sneak preview at 5 p.m. Huge crowd. Because both of us had entered paintings, we had tickets. The featured artist this year is Neil Glaser, an architect who has a home in Lakeside. The poster artist is Chelsea Meyers, a college student who works at the Rhein Center for the Arts during the summer on the grounds. The show will run for 2 weeks and will be followed by a photography show. We both sold a painting (at least one of the three entries had to be for sale). We also bought a lovely small watercolor of East Harbor State Park shoreline by Neil, a scene I remembered from our very first visit to Lake Erie and Lakeside in 1974. I was so surprised to see a white sand beach with trees. We like to say we buy a painting for our anniversary (September 11), but often select one from this show.

We saw Sharon Borror, OWS, at the show. She will be here week after next to teach watercolor, and we own two of her paintings. She bought the "Best of Show" painting which was done by Chelsea.

Good friends Andy and Mary Frances drove over from Port Clinton where their sailboat is docked because he also entered three paintings (also sold one last night). After the opening we came back to the cottage and I popped a pizza in the oven, made a salad, and we had a nice evening on the deck, until a thunderstorm blew in and we moved to the porch.

The Cottage Assessories gift shop bought another 22 of my cards featuring scenes of Lakeside and the northcoast.

390 Blogger Test

Here's an interesting site to test your blogging personality.  Here's how I tested--although I think the number of questions is really too small to accurately gauge anything.

"Because of your desire for action and independance [sic], you will change the format of blogging or design frequently to keep it interesting and different. Your loyalty may have you reading the same blogs over a long period of time. Even though you could be easily bored with blogging, you might find that because you like following a project through, this is a good way for you to use your alone time to sort the facts you pick up through the day. "

I'm an ISTP.  Seems to be based on the Myers/Briggs.

389 The week's entertainment

Tonight’s entertainment was a walk along the lakefront and sitting on a park bench watching the sunset over a very active, white-capped Lake Erie. Wallpaper scenes of Lake Erie coast.

Last night was a wonderful group from the Chicago area, New Odyssey.  The 3 men, Gary Todd, Michael Jay, and Gary Polkow, performed almost every imaginable style and played 30 instruments. The drummer, Todd, did impersonations of Tina Turner and Elvis Presley. The audience loved this show, which was suitable for all ages.

Tuesday night was the Brass Band of Columbus which has been performing for 20 years. Many are OSU alumni and music educators. They performed a medley of service hymns with the veterans in the audience standing--always a time for moist eyes as the group grows smaller each year.

Monday night we took a cruise on Lake Erie with other Lakesiders and had a lovely buffet and enjoyed a leisurely trip about Put-in-Bay with a nice view of Perry’s Monument.

Sunday night was the Burchfield Brothers from Nashville who played some gospel, jazz and pop and entertained us with stories. Guitar and Mallet Kat were their instruments. The Mallet Kat is sort of an electronic marimba--played with mallets, but with unlimited sounds.

388 Collecting Thoughts before they're gone

On the way to the coffee shop this morning I was listening to NPR--from what city, I don't know. A young announcer who sounded like he had a mouth of mashed potatoes and an affected eastern accent was reading a story about road side trash in Ohio. If I heard him correctly, something like 12 million dollars are spent cleaning up the roadsides. (I can find nothing close to this figure using Google, but spent only a minute.) Then he went on to say an analysis of the trash revealed 1 million bottles of beer (beer bottles?). This led to an investigation of whether we need more roadside rest stops. Long pause. I think he was covering the microphone and laughing, because I really don't think that was in the story. It's probably a boring place to work and he wanted to liven things up.

I stopped at Wal-Mart on my way back to the cottage and bought a pair of Faded Glory jeans for my husband, 34 x 30. This brand seems to fit him best, and although his weight hasn't changed I think I was buying 33 x 30 two years ago. Probably should have looked for 34 x 29, but the odd leg size is hard to find in any brand. So you're thinking you won't patronize Wal-Mart because it hurts small towns? It buys foreign made? So you want to go to a large mall and pay $30 for jeans also foreign made?

On my way out of Wal-Mart, I met the owner of the small shop, Cottage Assessories where I sell my greeting cards, going in from the parking lot. She said business had picked up and she's about sold out, so I'll take in some more.

The other night at Hoover Auditorium (where the entertainment is) I heard a sound I don't think I'd heard in over 50 years. I really think someone in there had whooping cough. Then yesterday I noticed an article in the WSJ that the CDC is reporting a resurrgence of whooping cough, and may recommend booster shots. Then ABC covered the story today.

Next door is a big white, 19th century cottage with gingerbread trim and a wrap around porch with a porch swing and old rockers. It was probably built about 1885--the porch was probably replaced around 1920. On it most days was a four generation family who bring along friends and extended family. We watched the 3rd generation grow up, hang out, get married, and bring a new round of babies to that porch. We always wave as we walk by or chat a bit through the screens; sometimes in the evenings on our way back from Hoover we'd see them playing cards or board games.

I remember when we didn't have a phone here going next door to borrow theirs. They didn't have one either. Yesterday the Adelphia truck was parked between our houses. They've got cable now. Last night, there was no one on the porch. I could see the TV flickering in the living room.

387 How the media sees productivity gains

Over at Tech Central Station, Arnold Kling, on July 12 comments on rising productivity, noting that President Bush hasn’t taken the credit, nor should he, because it takes years for trends and policies to shake out.

“The most likely explanation for the faster productivity growth of recent years is the gradual diffusion and exploitation of computer technology . . . And [It is not usually news because] it takes years for changes in productivity trends to manifest themselves, one quarter's data release is not terribly significant.” And he makes a referral to Virginia Postrel who has written on "operations research."

The news is also ignored because it is positive, he concludes. “The media always prefer economic stories which show America going to hell in a handbasket. In the 1970's, we were supposedly running out of oil. In the 1980's, we were being beaten by Japan. More recently, the media have tried to make the outsourcing phenomenon carry the narrative for the story of gloom and despair. . . the current Administration is unpopular with the media. As much as the media is averse to reporting good news, I think that productivity would receive greater coverage if the big gains were taking place on a Democratic President's watch. The upbeat productivity data would "fit" the story of competent Democratic stewardship of the economy. But it would spoil the narrative of the Bush Administration as bumbling and Hoover-esque to point out that the most fundamental measure of our economic strength is shooting through the roof.”

The only two ads for Kerry I see here in Lakeside are on outsourcing jobs. Neither makes much sense, but they have a lot of appeal for blaming Bush for things he probably has no control over. Especially the ABB crowd.

386 Developing a reading plan for the education I didn't have

I'm currently reading a book recommended on Sherry's blog , The well-educated mind, a guide to the classical education you never had, by Susan Wise Bauer, about reading with a plan. She recommends that in having or developing a serious reading plan that one not look at e-mail first--or you'll never get around to it. Agreed. Turning on the computer is a huge time waster. She has other good advice.

1. Set a time for self-education.
2. Start short--30 minutes is better than 2 hours to begin.
3. Schedule 4 days instead of 7.
4. Guard your reading time--resist immediate gratification (good advice on any effort).
5. Start now--schedule 4 weekly reading periods of 30 minutes.

She recommends a method of reading that I’ve actually been using the last 5 years, but thought I was doing it because I can’t remember anything from day to day. She suggests keeping a notebook--sort of a commonplace book--including not only quotes, but summaries and original thoughts on what you’re reading.

I’ve discovered that the notebook and pencil (occasionally ball point) have to feel right too. Since I read early with my coffee at the coffee shop, I am also following her advice to read early rather than later in the day.

Two of my suspicions--that I read too slowly and that my vocabulary is weak--she shoots down as excuses not to read more difficult, deep titles. She includes a brief test which I passed with no trouble. Darn. I have no excuse, not even lack of time, since she wants you to start with 30 minutes a day.

Her list of “great books” is daunting, however. She suggests reading chronologically, regardless of topic, when reading for the well-educated mind. I’d like to skip Bunyun, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, the only novelists on the list I’ve read.

Novels:
Don Quixote
Pilgrim’s Progress
Gulliver’s Travels
Pride and Prejudice
Oliver Twist
Jane Eyre
Scarlett Letter
Moby Dick (which she has attempted 7 times, I think)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (I read the comic book)
Madame Bovary
Crime and Punishment
Anna Karenina
Return of the Native
Portrait of a lady
Huckleberry Finn
Red Badge of Courage
Heart of Darkness
House of Mirth
Great Gatsby
Mrs. Dalloway
The Trial
Native Son
The Stranger
1984
Invisible Man
Seize the day
One hundred years of solitude
If on a winter’s night a traveler
Song of Solomon (Morrison)
White Noise
Possession

And she wants them read in this order. “When you read chronologically, you reunite 2 fields that should never have been separated in the fir place: history and literature.”

Also, she doesn’t want you to read the preface unless the author has written it, so you form your own conclusions. Also, don’t read a critical or annotated edition for the same reason.

She promises to hold my hand through the whole thing. But I think I will be 85.

385 Do Libraries Have Obligations to the Rich?

I asked this question over at LISNews.com, but no one suggested a referral or a link. Are there any library documents out there on the responsibilities or obligations of librarians to serve the rich?

In this country, we have more rich than poor, and perhaps some of the rich can thank libraries (and probably do through endowments and certainly through their real estate taxes and help with bond issues) for their good fortune.

When I was at Ohio State, my library had the largest endowment of any of the dept. libraries. Before he died, no one knew the donor had money, and no one knew he had a soft spot for the veterinary library. So no one cultivated or recruited him--which was my good fortune, incidentally.

Just what are libraries' responsibilities to the rich, if they really are supposed to serve all? Wouldn't the poor be served best if the rich were well taken care of? And just who is rich and what is a luxury? Thirty years ago, I couldn't afford a microwave or a VCR. Rich people buying them soon made them affordable for me. The last microwave I bought was about $49 and the new VCR under $50.

Check out this fairy tale. It tells of a man who wished the rich would lose all their luxuries, and got his wish much to the disruption of his own life.

384 Friends of the Hotel Lakeside Sale

After taking my 3 paintings to the train station to check them in for the upcoming art show, I stopped at the sale in South Auditorium. Lakesiders donate their cast-offs and attic treasures for the sale--even turn around and then pay $5 for an early bird sticker to get in before the crowds to see what every one else has donated. The Friends use the proceeds to upgrade the rooms at the hotel, and many are quite lovely. The trinkets, trash and treasures are laid out on long tables--cookie tins, table lamps, Christmas decorations, 8-track tapes, old toasters, ancient microwaves, bedspreads faded with two-decade-old color schemes, black and white TVs, an occasional small computer, and hand-made crafts lovingly presented to the reluctant host.

There was a time when the cottages were full of the outdated and less than perfect--I know well, having been a renter for 13 years before purchasing a cottage. We would eat out a lot then because I was reluctant to use the kitchen utensils in some of the rental cottages. But now many of the cottages, even some rentals, could be photographed for Architectural Digest or Home.

When the Archives had its fund raising yard sale on Memorial Day, I noticed a coffee table size book on photographs of WWI. It was starting to rain and it was getting wet, but no one moved it. I think it was maybe $5.00. Yesterday I saw it in a local antique store for $45.00. So there are bargains to be had in these old cast-offs if you know what to look for.

My friends from art class, Elaine and Elaine, drove up for the day to drop off their paintings. We had a lovely lunch at the Abigail and then walked along the lake front back to the cottage. Elaine has been in the show before, but Elaine had never been here, and we had a good time showing her the 19th century cottages and the many homes my husband has improved as the local architect.

After Elaine and Elaine left, my husband's former partner, Andy, pulled in the drive-way. He has a sailboat parked over at Port Clinton. He'd just entered something in the show, and was stopping by before he drove to Marblehead to attend Mass.

Tonight's program is supposed to be really good--a Judy and Liza impersonator duo--and both are women!

383 Cutting labor costs through innovation

Not all jobs lost are outsourced overseas, Mr. Kerry (who seems a bit naive about this, in my opinion). Some become victims of innovation. At Meijer’s the other day I noticed carousels of plastic bags immediately behind the cashiers have taken the place of baggers, most of whom were either new immigrants who spoke little English, mentally or physically challenged, or retirees from other jobs. Most of the baggers have probably been put to work in other places in the store like stocking shelves if they have the skills to read and use small computers, but I know some have been let go. It will be hard for people with no communication skills to find other work.

There are also self-check out stalls in most stores now, (also in some libraries) but I don’t see that reducing labor costs much, since a staff person needs to be near by to assist, but it speeds things up for people with a few items. Barcodes--now 30 years old--put a lot of clerks into other jobs and moved customers through lines faster--saving billions a year for retailers in labor costs. And barcodes will probably be replaced by RFIDs.

382 Noted in passing at the Lake

On Rt. 4 just south of the intersection with Rt. 2, someone, a woman I hope, has a snazzy pickup truck. It is bright fuscia pink with a lavender hood and grill.

At the coffee shop, the deli-mail continues as two customers leave notes for each other on the receipts and attach to a paper cup:

“Your girl friend will have to let you out more & earlier.”

“She don’t send me out after milk and bread anymore.”

We’ve moved the cedar chest out of the bedroom on to the porch, thanks to a neighbor’s help. He will get the wooden box we had in that spot for his grandchildren’s toys. Both came with the house--as did the helpful neighbor--when we bought it in 1988. I estimate the cedar chest is from the 1920s or 1930s, but the box may be much older. The previous owner covered it with contact paper, and restoring the box looked like too much work to me. We’re trying to make room for both of us to be able to paint without tying up the kitchen table. 750 sq. ft. is not a large house.

John McCutcheon performed his popular and up-dated folk singing and humor. He was born in Wisconsin, educated in Minnesota and now lives in Virginia. He tells funny stories--and he is often the butt of the joke. He played banjo, guitar, dulcimer and for an encore, played his body by slapping. Some of his songs are pointed and political--although he was careful, it being Lakeside. I did see a few people get up and leave after his nasty Ashcroft song, but some loved it. I did manage to stay for the entire performance.

381 The Little People

Michelle Malkin has an article revealing the names of some of the big donors to the Democratic war chest for Kerry's campaign in her July 7 column. I don't have a problem with people contributing to the party of their choice, but I have wondered why the Democrats claim to be the party of the little people. We have two rich, white guys, graduates of Yale, running for President. They are both raising an obscene amount of money so they can be President of the richest country in the world.

A very tiny percentage of Americans are really rich, and very few are desperately poor. We're changing quintiles again. We were in the bottom 20% in the early 1960s, along with most students living in apartments on the fringes of the University of Illinois. Then we rose to the top during our peak earning years, as a librarian and an architect with grown children (DINKS), and will be settling comfortably at the bottom next year. I don't want any candidate making appalling ignorant remarks or feeling sorry for me.

380 Totally decadent

I picked up a recipe insert from the Peninsula News. It had the usual high calorie, high fat summer grill stuff--Easy Peasy Potato Wedges, Sweet Baby Ribs, Pumpkin Fluff Dip, and so on. But this one really set my teeth on edge and answered for all time, why Americans are so overweight:

Plastic Bag Fudge
1/3 cup semi-sweet cocoa
3 oz. cream cheese
1 lb. powdered sugar
1/4 cup margarine
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1. Place all ingredients in gallon-sized zipper plastic bag.
2. Squish ingredients until well mixed. As ingredients mix together, fudge will set up to a stiff icing texture.
3. Pass bag around with spoons and eat.