524 The Librarian's Job

Robert Dodsley was an 18th century publisher who "discovered" Samuel Johnson. But first he tried his hand at being a Footman, then a poet. He wrote a poem called "Servitude" about his life as a servant. Using his poem as a model, I wrote about being a librarian. When I wrote this, the Veterinary Medicine Library was located in Sisson Hall (torn down in 2001), located across the river from the main campus and Library, and was furnished with its original equipment made by prisoners. You'll see references to these things in the poem.

Servitude, a la Dodsley ( Robert Dodsley, 18th cent. British publisher and poet)
By Norma J. Bruce(1)

If it be worth your while to know
A true librarian's business woe,
I'll try to tell in easy rhyme,
How I, in C'lumbus, spend my time.
As soon as laziness will let me,
I rise from bed, and down I set me,
To read journals my head above
Which (by the bye) is what I love.
This done; with expeditious care
To dress myself I straight prepare,
I clean my teeth and black my lashes
Powder my nose, and put on glasses.
Take off to McDonald's, a cup of Joe,
the paper, and I'm ready, set to Go.

I with uniformity and care
Open the library and prepare
10 keys and 3 wrenches releasing gloom
In book drop, hall doors, and cluttered back room.
Chairs are arranged; orange, black, yellow and red--
Built by prisoners now probably dead. (2)
I leap from copier to terminal to phone
To answer quick questions before I roam
Across the river where colleagues wait
In meetings that run 'til dinner plate;
Disputes maintained without digression,
With ready wit, and fine expression.
And seem to understand no more
Than what was said the week before.

To Sisson Hall on Reeboked feet
The trip across I then repeat (3)
To teach a class on BVD
(You'll be sorry, just don't ask me)
I hear, and note incredible phrases,
"Who was Art Nouveau" amazes,
Or, "I'm looking for a book,
Please just tell me where to look".
Whilst I at keyboard begin to pour
Out reports, booklists, and guides galore,
SilverPlatter from my hand,
MESH advice from where I stand.
Then with book trucks piled high and creaking
It's into the stacks, for night is creeping.

1. Written while Head, Veterinary Medicine Library, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
2. Built by Prison Industries of Ohio Penitentiary.
3. Sisson Hall was named for Septimus Sisson, whose personal library was the foundation of the Veterinary Medicine Library. It was separated from the main Ohio State campus by the Olentangy River.

523 John Edwards on the Iraq War

John Edwards on Iraq, September 19, 2002, (remember he saw all the same intelligence reports that the President saw):

“Here's what I believe the resolution should say. First and foremost, it should clearly endorse the use of all necessary means to eliminate the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

Second, the resolution should call for an effort to rally the international community under a U.N. Security Council mandate. The president's speech last week was an important first step, and his belated diplomatic efforts have already borne fruit. At the same time, we must not tie our own hands by requiring Security Council action. Congress should authorize the United States to act with whatever allies will join us if the Security Council is prevented from supporting action to enforce the more than 16 resolutions against Iraq.

Third, Congress should demand that the administration take real steps to win the peace. The only chance for Iraq to become a democratic, tolerant state -- and a model for the Arab world -- will be through sustained American involvement. We will need to help provide security inside Iraq after Hussein is gone, work with the various Iraqi opposition groups, reassure Iraq's neighbors about its future stability and support the Iraqi people as they rebuild their lives. Congress also should consider authorizing funds now to support such efforts, rather than waiting for events to force us to act with emergency spending.”

Look at that! “We will need to help provide security inside Iraq after Hussein is gone, work with the various Iraqi opposition groups, . . Etc. From Roger Simon blog. Glenn Beck on Wednesday was impersonating Edwards, "Fiiavvve Points," but there seems to be only three here. The photos on Beck's web site of the Star Wars connection to the compaign are awesome.

521 Ten things to do before the election

The Sojourner's Magazine has a commentary on "10 things to do before the election," in the October 2004 issue (selected articles on-line).

Number 2 is: "Register to vote. One out of four people of voting age weren’t registered to vote in 2000. For information on how to register, visit a public library or contact the Federal Election Commission (www. fec.gov). If you are already registered, get five other people to register."

I was reading an editorial in the Ogle County Life (Illinois) about the excuses people give for not voting, "Most will stay home on election day". My own son has never voted--he will be 36! How will I get five other people to register, if I can't even persuade him? I've even handed him the form that I picked up at church. All he had to do was fill it out and mail it. How hard is that?

How hard is it to think about young American men and women dying so people in Afghanistan and Iraq can vote?

520 Kanye West's Jesus Walks with Me

Bunnie Diehl's blog parses the words of Kanye West's Jesus Walks With Me, a popular Christian rap number. She says, "Not your, how do we say, traditional Christian song, Kanye discusses strippers, coke and drug dealers in his ode to the Savior. Profanities, too." This one I've actually heard--and like.

Making peace with the culture is the unending song of Christian music. My grandparents thought "Old rugged cross" (waltz music) and "Onward Christian Soldiers" (they were Anabaptists) were not fit for the hymnal.

519 Boys are fragile

About 125 boys are conceived for every 100 girls, and by birth there are about 106 males to 100 females, at least in the United States, and that figure differs by ethnic group, with black males being more fragile than white males. Because boys are more susceptible to childhood diseases and are more likely to be involved in accidents or violence, the ratio is about even by the teen years. Into adulthood, women steadily outpace the men in longevity. So, apparently, men needed that head start at conception. A new study in Italy shows that there is a premium time of the year for the conception of males--apparently the cooler months. There is also some concern that the birth ratio is changing with fewer boys being born, but no one knows why.

In many developing countries like India and China, boys are valued more than girls, and now with sex selection possible before birth, more girls than boys are being aborted. By the age of marriage, this is creating terrible social problems, with not enough women available. This doesn't improve choices for women--it makes them more susceptible to kidnapping, rape and violence.

518 Just a bagel and cream cheese

Two young 30-something married women (big rings, left hand) sat down near me at the coffee shop Wednesday morning. I watched them slice their bagels, open the plastic containers of cream cheese, spread the nutritious calcium and protein onto the wheat product and open bottles of fruit juice. Not bad nutrition--although more calories than two donuts.

They were eating, not dying, unless you think negatively that we are all using up our time here on earth. Terri Schiavo is a young married woman who uses a tube for her nutrition and fluids. She can't experience the texture and flavor of dairy and wheat products, but she can get the same nutrition. Terri is eating; not dying.

To withhold a feeding tube from a dying person may be an act of kindness because you aren't prolonging the death process. To withhold nutrition from someone who isn't dying is cruel, and a painful murder. Terri's husband wants to legally murder her by pulling out the tube.

If the husbands of the women I saw at Panera's came into the shop and grabbed away their food and locked them in a closet for 10 days, I suppose they might die. The husbands would go to jail, I hope. And what would those of us sitting around enjoying our coffee and bagels do?

517 Cat Lovers of Lakeside

A group of cat lovers here in Lakeside in 2003 developed a simple plan to control the growing feral cat population. The components are, 1) place kittens in loving homes, 2) spay/neuter the adults and return them to the community, and 3) feed the feral cats.

The feeding allows the helpers to get the feral cats to trust them so the adults can be caught and neutered and the kittens can be handled. It also prevents the cats from becoming sick and spreading disease. Over 30 kittens have been placed in homes. After the adults are neutered (small ear notch so they can be identified), they are returned to the community because cats are territorial and will prevent new cats from coming into the community.

The volunteers work with Noah’s Ark pet store in Port Clinton after having the kittens checked by Harborview Animal Hospital which also gives them a discount on the necessary surgeries. So far, 36 cats have been spayed or neutered, 25 of which are females. Since each female cat can have 10-12 kittens a year, these volunteers are contributing a significant service to the community.

In honor of our sweet kitty, and in memory of our two dear deceased felines, I will make a contribution to this group.

Saving babies is more complicated

You can’t speak out for baby-life on your license plates.

You can promote NASCAR, the Girl Scouts, or Saving Feral Cats, but if you want to “choose life” on your license plates, you’ll have a problem. Aren’t those plates made by prisoners? If given a choice between a less than perfect life and the electric chair, I wonder which they’d choose.

I guess the feminists deep down believe their position is so weak that a license plate slogan might convert a NOW member or make a young woman feel bad while driving to an appointment with the abortionist (if you google this topic hundreds of left web sites bounce up decrying this violation of the first amendment--these folks are really terrified they might lose an abortion). Tennessee and other states are trying to stifle this freedom of expression according to USAToday, Oct. 7, 7A. The anti-life-for-babies crowd must really be afraid of bumper stickers--bigger print.

516 The Sports Cafe

Tired from a day of painting the bathroom, we went to the Sports Cafe for supper (he painted, I blogged). Looking over the menu, I noticed that after sandwiches we could order "deserts."

515 Lakeside is humming

The neighbor to the north is having a driveway widened and a new car port roof built; the neighbor across the street is repairing the tree storm damage to the roof with new shingles; another neighbor is repairing a chimney that has pulled away from his house. Down the street the big house with the round porch is being wrapped in its blue winter underwear with snaps and is having the air blown out of the pipes; two restaurants are open for either lunch or dinner; the Fountain Inn is entertaining guests; Marilyn's shop is open; the movie theater will be open this week-end with "De-lovely" and there will be a program in the auditorium Saturday evening--The Air National Guard Band of the Great Lakes; and the weather is gorgeous. The Third Annual Fall Festival will begin Saturday at 3 p.m.--the Marblehead Festival ends at 4 p.m. Miniature golf and shuffleboard will be open and there is a pie contest--apple only. I'll submit my sugar free pie. The apple sour cream is a secret.

We are doing our part; we are painting the bathroom. I always use "we" for physical labor. I don't paint, wallpaper, or drive 500 miles, but I love to say "we are. . ." We bought the cottage in 1988, and "we" spent about 12 week-ends driving up from Columbus to repair, paint and have appliances repaired and carpet installed. However, the wall paper border with a cute nautical theme was drooping and mildewing, and the paint chipping around the windows after 15 years. I couldn't find a border as sweet and precious as what I had (have you noticed how HUGE borders have become?), so I had to settle for blue and pink flowers, but it will be fresh.

514 I heard it on the radio, pt. 1

While driving to the coffee shop this morning, Chocolate Cafe, I was listening to WJR out of Detroit. Apparently there are some local problems in the 'burbs with political signs. A caller to the show yesterday complained that his Bush-Cheney signs were being torn up or stolen. The radio host checked it out with the police who told him that 85% of the complaints they get about this are because the Bush signs are being vandalized or destroyed. Must be that ABB crowd. Hatred overpowers the normally honest person.

The host also reported that he was flooded with e-mail and calls after he interviewed a columnist who pointed out that despite what we're hearing here in Ohio (and Michigan) about out-sourcing, that isn't the problem. Only 1% of the lost jobs in 2003 were a result of out-sourcing, and in-sourcing is providing much higher paid jobs (in the car capital, that would be firms like Toyota, Hyundai, BMW, etc.). People had apparently believed the screed of Kerry-Edwards. Technology is the big cause of job loss, as it has been for the last 200 years.

While at the coffee shop (did I mention the chocolate theme?) I read in USAToday there has been a net increase of 36 million jobs in the last 20 years. "Studies show that the migration of U.S. jobs overseas is a tiny factor in weak employment growth. A Labor Department study of job losses in the first three months of the year found that only 2% went overseas. Other studies have put the figure closer to 1%. . . .Technology lets companies do more with fewer people. In 2002 and 2003, output for each U.S. worker increased by more than 4% a year, the first time productivity was that high two years in a row, according to the Labor Department. Health care costs. Federal Reserve Board surveys show rising medical expenses — more than 10% annually for four years running — are dampening hiring as firms worry about paying for new employees' benefits." So apparently the USAToday op/ed was using the same Commerce Dept. report.

I heard it on the radio, pt. 2

"When I'm 64" is a Beatles song written by Paul McCartney; John Lennon would be 64. It is the basis of an article in USAToday about how much more active and valuable to the economy older people are today than in the past. After bulleting a few choice statistics (all good), the editor suggests: "It seems clear that older adults today aren't, as the Beatles song goes, "wasting away." They won't be "knitting sweaters by the fireside." And they won't be fitting easily into other stereotypes, either. "

Let's hold on a minute here. My four grandparents lived into their 80s and 90s; six of my eight great-grandparents did too. There was no retirement for farmers and housewives in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the myths we live with today is modern longevity. Actually, if you lived past the dangerous childhood years, your chances of having a long life, busy life, were excellent, if I read my genealogies correctly. Stop by any cemetery--after you get past the babies and the women who died in childbirth, you'll find "old people."

Ours is not the first generation to remain healthy and useful past 60. People remained busy and useful to their family and society long before the 21st century. They were happy and although they didn't have medical care as we think of it today with check-ups and testing, they weren't so unhealthy. They may have had fewer self-induced diseases caused by obesity, nicotine and alcohol.

Great aunt Rachel is a good example. A widow, she travelled the midwest taking care of new babies and infirm elders, assisting with laundry, the garden, cooking, and canning, staying six months or a year at the homes of her siblings and nieces. Then she would return to Pennsylvania and take care of those relatives. My great grandmother in the early 20th century shared her home with her mother-in-law and the retarded step-son of her daughter. I'm guessing her mother-in-law helped with the babies, the garden and the canning.

I'm grateful for the many conveniences and miracle drugs that give us a healthy life, but let's not pretend we're the first to have useful, active senior years.

We're following in some mighty big footprints.

513 What are your librarians buying for your library?

If you are a Democrat and think your library is doing an outstanding job with the "newest arrivals" shelf, or if you are a Republican constantly submitting suggestions for purchase and think you are getting lame excuses, Tomeboy has crunched the numbers and found out why you are both correct. In his article 223:1 (the ratio of Democrat librarians to Republican), he has taken the best seller lists of politically biased books, left and right, and compared them to OCLC WorldCat holdings records.

If you're not a librarian [what in the world is an OCLC? what is a holding?], some of this will seem a bit arcane, but you'll understand the conclusions--twice as many current, best-selling liberal books will make it to the shelves of your local library.

512 Credit for lunch

Joanne Jacobs points out an article about students at Berkeley public schools which reports they will be getting credit for lunch. They’ll be eating, and learning about nutrition and organic foods, as well table manners and the art of conversation. Big deal. When I was in junior high school, we called that class home economics and we had to eat what we cooked.

511 Mount St. Helen's volcanocam

Mount St. Helen’s volcanocam. We used something like this to track the fires at Glacier National Park last year. When we left Ohio (Amtrak) stopping in Arizona and California, we thought the fires would be gone before we got to Glacier in two weeks. We were wrong.

510 A Spat about Beer

About a month ago I wrote about updating my blogroll at Church of the Acronym and adding some Lutherans, rejecting some Christian sites because of trash talking. With some reluctance, I added Daniel, a Lutheran, http://beerisforamateurs.blogspot.com/. Daniel loves beer, but doesn’t think much of non-LCMS Lutherans. He has also taken the word “Lutheran” out of Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the synod to which my church belongs, and replaced it with an asterisk. Nice guy, huh? (Christians don’t need enemies; they’ve got each other.) But, I reasoned, maybe he is Gen-X or an Echo-Boomer and thinks it is cute. Generational differences, you know, so maybe he would mature.

I left a comment for him (e-mail) that I didn’t think much of his promotion of beer on a site intending to speak to the claims of Christ. (His only graphic is a grinning beer babe.) Now, according to one of his rants about me and my church, (“Who is Norma,” Oct. 3) Daniel the LCMS blogger has demanded to be removed from my blogroll. It is really tough to leave a comment at his website, or track back to his articles--you get e-mail or a web address, but no way for your comment to show in the context of the original.

I’ve got four blogs, a journal and three 3-mail addresses, and all my blogs are comment enabled. I’ve never received a message from Daniel. Somewhere in blogland another Norma is puzzling over a very odd message about beer.

509 Another September 11 story

“Michael Jacob was officially adopted by Karen and Pat Moan on September 11, 2003. He lives with his family in Southern California and is looking forward to celebrating his third birthday on March 31st.”

Read about an amazing charity, The Garden of Angels, that pays for burials of babies thrown in the trash and creates a safe haven and finds adoptive homes for newborns who could have ended up there. Their stories will leave tiny footprints on your heart.

Thanks to Sherry for the tip.

508 Adding photos

Through Picasa and something called Hello I can now add photos to my blog. The teeny-boppers do it all the time, but so far I keep taking pictures of the instructions and adding that. But I have successfully added one of my paintings to the Catablogging topic from last week. Scroll down. That's my cat sitting on the porch at our Lakeside house. Since I retired, I've been painting small, topical watercolors. I scan them onto notecards and sell them at a local gift shop. If you want to add my cat painting to your blog, you can (it's copyrighted, but I'm giving you the artist's permission), but please credit me and give this URL. Thanks.

And for your added enjoyment, I've added a wedding photo to my September 11 blog. We look like children playing dress-ups! That's my childhood friend and college roommate JoElla, as maid of honor, and my husband's childhood friend Tom, as best man. This is fun. I'll have to dig through some more old pictures.

507 When magazines multiply--what do you do?

Esther has the same problem we do with magazine subscriptions. We are gradually letting subscriptions to various architectural and home magazines die off--sometimes a slow painful death, as the subscription agencies continue to send pleas for renewals and special offers. Her description of how to say good-bye is hilarious. I'll have to send it to my friend, Lynne (who works in magazine fulfillment).

I’ve been so disappointed with my New Yorker--it was much better when my friend Nancy would give me her left-overs. When Esther is deciding how to winnow her supply she writes:

“Then, I kissed The New Yorker goodbye. The cartoons had failed to amuse me one too many times, and I found their articles pretentious and appallingly long; as an editor, I saw, in my mind’s eye, a kinder, simpler world, where each of the feature articles was a third shorter and no one missed the extra verbiage. Hasta la vista, you longwinded, overhyped, affected publication.”

Perfect. I knew I’d have something in common with Esther. At least she doesn’t collect first issues and get behind in that blog.

506 It's been a bad summer for the media

John Leo writes, "In truth, the news business had a disastrous summer. In July, a Senate intelligence committee and an official British investigation both concluded that President Bush had been on firm ground when he spoke the famous 16 words in his 2003 State of the Union message (that the British had learned Saddam Hussein had sought to acquire uranium in Africa). When the 16 words appeared to be untrue, the press endlessly trumpeted them, often on the front page, but when Bush drew heavy support from the two investigations, you could hardly find the news with a magnifying glass. In the New York Times, the British report was carried way inside the paper and read like a muddled translation from classical Urdu. This seems to happen a lot when the Times is forced to report news it doesn't like. On July 25, the Washington Post press critic, Howard Kurtz, reported that his newspaper had carried 96 references to the issue when Bush appeared to be wrong and only two after the revelation that he looked to be right. The totals for the three major networks and three elite newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, were 302 before and nine after. According to Kurtz, CBS never did get around to mentioning that the investigations had supported the president.

Media handling of the charges by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was even more peculiar. Most major news media stayed silent for nine or 10 days as the story of the charges spread over radio and the Internet. A few bloggers argued that this was an attempt by big-time media outlets to rule the Swifties' charges out of bounds. It seemed that way to me, too. When big media finally did rouse themselves and address the issue, they tended to focus tightly on Democratic talking points, such as who provided the funding and were the Swifties illegal surrogates for the Bush campaign. In many news outlets, the adjective "unsubstantiated" seemed welded to the noun "charges." "

U.S. News.com John Leo, “Self-Inflicted Wounds”

505 He'd Rather not have an agenda

The Washington Post has an article on Dan Rather today. That surprises me. People have such a short attention span. Sure, we'd like to continue talking about the bias of the press and why they don't see it, but there really are more important issues for conservatives. Like the Republicans who are falling away from Bush because they don't like the neo-cons (mostly former Democrats). That's what got Clinton elected the first time--unhappy Republicans defecting from Bush 41.

It is so strange that Dan Rather can't see his own bias*. I have biases and opinions. Most people do. Why does he think he is immune just because he went to journalism school and has been in front of a camera for years. That actually makes him more susceptible! How could you not get a big head if millions of people were hanging on your every word, and the press quoted you, and movie stars knew YOUR name. Gosh, Dan. Get real. My little blog gets about 50 hits on a good day--when it is up to 100, you probably won't be able to talk to me.

*"I'm an independent journalist," Rather said. "I don't have a political agenda. What I'm trying to do is be an honest broker of information. I'm going to make my mistakes . . . and not give in to those" who are themselves "biased." WaPo story here by Howard Kurtz.

504 Happy Blogiversary

Today is the one year anniversary of my first web log post. My first one looked like this

Thursday, October 02, 2003
#1

Most of my writing has been sent via e-mail to friends and family in attachments, which increasingly no one is eager to open. I don't blame them. Last week I was receiving about 50 worm infested e-mails a day, about half with attachments.

So I'm thinking, if I had a blog home, I could just ask the good folks from Montana, Florida, Virginia, Illinois, Nebraska, Georgia, California, Washington and Michigan to check out my blog for the latest details on what I'm thinking or writing. I've put out a compilation of my poetry and essays, "Let me collect my thoughts," and this will be an extension of that. Web Logs are perfect for people like me who like to write but don't want to publish.

503 The Blind Man at the Bus Stop

We saw the blind man at the bus stop as the bus was pulling away to the east. We were driving west at 35 mph, so we don't know if he was a bus rider, or just waiting to cross busy North Broadway near Kenny Road.

No one has more respect than I for the parenting abilities of the blind. My grandmother was blind and raised nine children on the farm with no electricity or indoor plumbing. Even so, not even that incredible woman would have attempted to cross a four lane street with a toddler on her back in a child carrier with only a white cane for guidance.

502 The Debate

I went to bed about 30 minutes into the debate. Kerry was clearly the better debater, to my inexperienced ear. But what made it intolerable for me was his image at congressional hearings 30 years ago. It just kept popping up. He was good lying then too. Really good. Probably caused many deaths with his deceptions. Anyway, there are many bloggers who blogged throughout. One of the best I read was at NRO after people began commenting on Kerry's body language, which apparently looked like signing:

"I'm listening on radio, so I'm missing all-important body language. But Kerry seems marginally better than Bush. The President sounds determined, but dull-witted. Kerry sounds urgent, but empty."

Yes, that's what was bothering me. Empty.

501 I've got my eye on. . .

Women bloggers. As luck would have it, I clicked through "next blog" today and found three women bloggers who look like good possibilities for my blogroll. Two are using the same brown wallpaper template (which looks better on my laptop screen than my pc, for some reason). The three are (da dah):

Jo's Blog

The Anchoress and

Cindy Swanson.

They all appear to be conservative (from their blogrolls) and Christians.

Then there is Esther, urban and Jewish, My Urban Kvetch.

To my list of librarians, I've added Michelle Kraft's KraftyLibrarian, about medical librarianship. I was surprised how quickly my medical searching skills left me when I retired, so I'll be watching her for pointers.

500 Catablogging--Traveling with a Cat, pt. 1

A Globblog is a blog that supports the global economy; a clogblog is a blog from Holland; and a catablog is blog written by cat people. We only have one cat, so I don't do much catablogging--although some bloggers--usually women--make that their total focus.

If we can drive the 120 miles to our lake house without the cat throwing up or pooping, it has been a successful trip. Last week's round trip and this week's trip here have been in that rare category. Meds didn't help much, because by grabbing her, wrapping her in a towel and stuffing a fraction of a tiny Dramamine down her throat made her very unhappy about traveling anywhere. And the towel didn't protect us against biting.

Now we have a method that works much better. Thirty minutes before the car trip, we pick her up gently and place her in the carrier and put it in a quiet room and close the door so she can't see us scurrying around the house packing suitcases, and loading the cooler. It cuts her anxiety level way down--especially by not force feeding medication. We also began taking a straighter road, less scenic for us, but easier on her nervous system and tummy.


Cat on on Cool Pink Porch

Catablogging pt. 2

After we were settled in at the cottage, my husband couldn't find the cell phone. "Check under the seats of the car," I reminded him. That's where it was lost for several months last year. "I did, but it isn't there."

We'd had a slight mishap on the way up. The cat mewed like she needed to use the facilities, but it was just a ruse. Once out of her carrier, she decided to wander around and look out the windows. She made a move for the front at the same time I braked, and she slid forward struggling and scrambling. My husband lunged for her and yelled (I was driving), and I steadied the coffee cups. This frightened the cat and her back claws caught us both, causing some blood gushing on his arm. But he caught her and put her back in the carrier.

It was this incident that caused me to tell him to check under the seats. The cell phone had been riding peacefully between the coffees, last time I saw it. So I told him I would dial the number on our land line, while he sat in the car. I did so and could hear a very faint tune in our living room. I went through my book bag, his camera bag and my purse. No phone. I motioned him to come in the house.

"When did you change the ring? I distinctly heard a classical tune when I dialed the cell phone." He seemed puzzled. I guess I've never actually heard the full glory of our cell phone alert. So I dialed again. The music was coming from the couch area. I dumped everything out of my bookbag and there it was, wedged between magazines and books, a black phone in a black bag.

The cat watched with great interest wondering what we were doing crawling around on the floor. Or perhaps she knew and was laughing at us.

499 Going without health insurance

We did that--the first year we were married. When you were young in the 60s you didn’t think much about it. Most young people are healthy (if they don‘t drink or smoke)--they also think nothing will ever happen to them. Our kids did the same when they left home at 18. Most companies today that offer health insurance have a waiting period--a month, three months--or it is an option that the employee needs to help pay for through payroll deductions. And what 18 year old thinks he should pay for anything?

So we paid up front in 1961 and sort of “lay away” for our first baby, from the time I found out I was pregnant. Later we bought a hospital insurance policy--but all our doctor visits we still paid out of pocket. Yes, doctor visits were cheaper then, probably about $10-$15, but our income was only about $4,000 a year--so you crunch the numbers and see what the difference is in today‘s dollars.

But this post isn’t about me but about the poor who lack health insurance today. The Current Population Survey of the Census Report got a lot of negative media play last month, particularly here in Ohio where Cleveland made the list of poorest cities. It being campaign time, of course, President Bush got a lot of blame as though he personally had insisted parents have babies without marriage or not earn high school degrees, the major cause of poverty in the USA.

American Heritage Foundation has issued WebMemo 556 which includes some interesting details that the MSM and many in the alternative press left out of their coverage. He refers to the U.S. Census Bureau, “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2003.” Report No. P60-226, August 2004, at http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p60-226.pdf and summaries from this and other sources. The CPS is a snapshot, but other data in the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), also provided by the Census Bureau, follow individuals.

Poverty is often short-lived. More than half of all poverty “spells” (time spent in poverty) last less than four months, and about 80 percent last less than a year. In fact, very few people—only about 2 percent of the total population—are chronically poor in America, as defined by living in poverty for four years or more.

Substantial income mobility, both upward and downward, exists in America. About 38 percent of all households in the lowest income quintile rose to a higher quintile within three years. An almost equal percentage (34 percent) of all households in the top quintile fell within three years.

Spells of uninsurance are short-lived. The typical family that loses health insurance is uninsured for only 5.6 months on average.

Very few people lack health insurance long-term. Only 3.3 percent of all Americans went without some kind of health insurance for four or more years. Additionally, only one in nine people were without health insurance for more than two years of the four-year study period.

Health insurance coverage rates have risen over time. In 1996, some 8.8 percent were without health insurance for the entire year, a figure that dropped to 8.0 percent by 1999. Conversely, 78.2 percent of all Americans had health insurance for the entire year in 1996, which rose to 80.4 percent by 1999.

Read the entire report to see the references.

498 Why an old computer game can't pick a president

Over at Tech Central, Nelson Hernandez Jr. explains why Douglas Kern's recent article ("President Elect - 2004") using the model of Commodore 64-era political game President Elect 1988 to predict the upcoming election, will not work in 2004. He gives numerous thoughtful explanations of the differences in time and culture, but I thought this paragraph particularly worth the whole article.

“. . . this election has seemed less about articulated policy issues and political ideology than any in the past. To editorialize, political campaigns are now more about entertainment and political theater because substantive, intellectual discussions of complex public policy topics result in poor television ratings and apparently have no positive effect on "swing voter" behavior. Try to imagine the show-stopping absurdity of Bush and Kerry earnestly arguing the particularities of an issue as technical and specific as the fate of the islands Quemoy and Matsu (as Kennedy and Nixon did in 1960) and you get a sense of how far we have come toward presidential politics becoming just a high-stakes reality television show, where the tactical objective is to simply to entertain, titillate and seduce the fickle "swing voter". “

If not Kerry, who? Hernandez offers Gephardt.

“My sense is that none of the Democrats who ran this year would have been likely to defeat Bush under the above circumstances. I think Dick Gephardt would have presented the most formidable opponent: he could have picked up a few close Midwestern states (e.g. Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota) while retaining all the states Kerry will win this year. In addition he would have been more likeable, less liberal and less vulnerable to attack than Kerry. Combined with moderate-to-conservative running mate from a battleground state capable of definitively swinging his home state into the Democratic column, and this election would have been very tight indeed. But even the optimal ticket (from a purely tactical standpoint) from the roster of candidates that ran this year would not have offered the Democrats a cakewalk.”

The entire article is here.

497 A Rich Childhood

"You can't describe the vastness of the Panavision prairie to East Coasters. Either the idea bores them--sorry, if there's not an all-night Thai take-out every ten blocks I am so not there. Or it's incomprehensible--what, a dirt ocean that just sits there?

Yes. That's it. The earth is flat and the sky is big, and you're a small lone thing rolling between the two. True Midwesterners have no time for oceans--all that pointless motion. It comes in, it goes out. What's the point? True Midwesterners have no time for mountains. They're so obvious. They don't do anything. We have mountains, in a way; they're called clouds. And they move. Can yours do that? "

Read the whole essay by James Lileks here.

496 Head Start is a Dead End for Children

Strengthening “Head Start” is under Bush’s budget plan if he is re-elected. The program is nearly 40 years old and has shown no appreciable long term results for education. Children have been immunized, families have been linked with various social service agencies, and a huge number of people have been employed--about 27% of them parents of the children. A program that started out planning to cost $17 million the first year (but cost $100 million), had ballooned to 1.4 billion in 1991 under Bush 41, and about 8 billion in 2004 under G.W. Bush. That’s about $7,362 for each of the 910,000 enrolled children.

The Head Start program is administered by the Head Start Bureau, the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACFY), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Grants are awarded by the ACF Regional Offices and the Head Start Bureau’s American Indian and Migrant Program Branches directly to local public agencies, private non-profit and for-profit organizations, Indian Tribes and school systems for the purpose of operating Head Start programs at the community level. (DHHS web site)

Using Google, it’s practically impossible to find an independent assessment of this program. If a politician votes to freeze the program at current levels, he is accused of “dismantling it.” Here’s an example from New Hampshire--I have no idea who Charlie Bass is, but this statement called “Voting to Dismantle Head Start,“ shows the problem:

"[Charlie] Bass voted for a bill that dismantles some of the high-quality standards and comprehensive services that have made Head Start a successful early childhood education program for New Hampshire’s toddlers. Current funding only allows 3 out of 5 eligible children to be served by Head Start, but Bass froze current funding levels and cut enrollment in Head Start for the first time in history. It also created block grants that provide no standards for minimum class sizes, child-teacher ratios or curriculum effectiveness. Bass’s vote was decisive - it passed by 1 vote, 217-216. [GOP Head Start Reauthorization Bill - Passage, H.R. 2210, Vote #444, 7/24/03. Adopted 217-216 (R 217-12; D 0-203)]" http://www.nh-democrats.org/Blog.asp?id=49 6/8/04

Unfortunately, Head Start has no high-quality standards, and it has no high-profile “graduates.“ Funding requests just call for more money to expand the failed program and to hire more degreed teachers--as though that were the problem all along. The NCLB of President Bush created great controversy when it attempted to test the program and was criticized for testing pre-schoolers.

After 40 years shouldn't we be seeing improvement in scores, behavior and over-all quality of inner city and minority districts? The “jewel” of the Great Society is made of paste--library paste, it seems. If you know of a study that claims that Head Start is a success, that isn’t written by someone who takes it to the bank, I’d sure like to hear about it. I think our children deserve better, but no one knows how to do it.

495 Phones in Dorm Rooms Disappearing

The Keptup Librarian points to an article that reports how phones in dorm rooms are disappearing and being replaced by cell phones.

Phones in dorm rooms? What's the fun in that? I still remember checking the bulletin board by the phone in the office at Oakwood Hall (now torn down) in November 1957 and finding out my nephew David had been born. And at McKinley Hall at the University of Illinois where we had one phone per floor (more advanced than little Manchester College), I'd watch for that note: "MC 2:15 WCL." If you are of a certain age, you'll know how that message caused the pulse to pick up.

494 House by the side of the road

Every morning this past summer on my way to the coffee shop near Lake Erie, I passed a 1950s ranch along the side of the road. It looked like the typical 3 bedroom, 1 car garage, big picture window in the living room I remember from my youth--a "modern" house. It was sitting on a truck bed waiting for a foundation. Then a second ranch, maybe from the 60s, moved in next to it, sitting on supports for weeks. The owners of the lots who had moved them there to catch the summer renters, probably lost a prime $1200-$1500 a week from fishermen or vacationers anxious to enjoy the lake.

Cement shortage, I wondered? We import cement from China (takes 44 days), but impose high import duties for cement from Mexico (takes only 4 days), probably to protect American companies. This is hurting our housing industry and will impede the rebuilding in Florida which has just been through four hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding. I'd like the USA to give Mexico all the help it can in free trade or trade concessions, so Mexican workers can stop risking their lives by coming here illegally.

Of course, it's much more complicated that that as this Houston Chronicle article shows: "Cemex, the world's third-largest cement company, acknowledges that Mexican prices are high compared to many other markets, and only slightly cheaper than in the United States. But company officials blame expensive energy, labor, transport, distribution and regulatory costs in Mexico, and the absence of government subsidies given to many foreign producers."

493 Wired Magazine: The Plot to Kill Evolution

Inside the crusade to bring Creationism 2.0 to America's classrooms is the subtitle of this "scary" cover story. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. How do you kill what doesn't exist? I haven't opened the October issue yet, but it will probably soon be up on the Wired website. Arnold was still on the cover when I last looked (September issue). Wired is one of my favorite magazines, much more satisfying in paper than on-line, and great to take along as a companion on trips to the coffee shop. Science and technology are really amazing, but occasionally, the authors who bring them to life for the layman don't have a clue about who started it all.

492 Is he Nixon? Dean? Edwards? Clark? Gebhardt? Sharpton? Or just plain ol’ 1970s John Kerry?

Kerry’s campaign made Vietnam an issue, and continues to do so. If he’d stepped up to the podium and said, “Reporting for Duty” and then apologized to all the veterans he maligned in the 70s, he’d have gotten the bounce he wanted. These guys are getting old and are willing to forgive and forget. But the wounds he caused are raw and open. Since he became Howard Dean this past week, I don’t know where he’s going now--it’s a crap shoot. Democrats have all their primary candidates rolled into one guy--except maybe Joe Lieberman--depending on the week or month and whether the words are James Carville’s or John Kerry‘s.

The Swiftboat Vets will probably never forgive--O’Neil (who says he would have been voting for Edwards had he been the candidate) debated Kerry 30 years ago and has never backed down--makes the same points today but with more documentation. The Swiftboat Vets 527s are using recordings of Kerry at the hearings, and some left 527s are using recordings of Bush, but far less effectively. Some 527s are just stringing Kerry’s remarks about the war and Saddam in a long series of sound/video bites. Bush has denounced the 527s and Kerry has denounced the publisher of the “Unfit for command” book and demanded that bookstores stop selling it. So much for freedom of speech. Swifties have spent about $500,000 and liberal 527s have spent $63 million. Plus the Dems have that paragon of virtue and character, Michael Moore, playing at first run theaters. For bottom of the barrel advertising, it is the Democrats, hands down.

Now Kerry is repeating history and denigrating our allies, insulting our soldiers and calling the new Iraq leader a liar. He’s hinting at the draft as a possibility. Not a good way to start his administration, if he is going to be the Commander in Chief after January. His billionaire wife calls people she disagrees with “scumbags,“ and tells reporters to “shove it,“ and thinks blacks should support her because she is an “African-American.” We had France and Germany in the coalition for the Gulf War and Kerry voted against it. Last night sound bites on the news had him sounding more unilateral and bellicose than I’ve ever heard from our President. But just days ago he sounded eerily like Nixon promising to get us out of Vietnam and then dragging it out 4 more years. What a team for the White House.

Keep in mind, even if Kerry loses, and I definitely believe he could win, the liberals have won all the wars--presidencies are just battles. Everything the Democrats and I agreed on and supported in the 1970s and 1980s has come about. We parted ways on abortion, but eventually the Republicans will slide into that quicksand too, because they‘ve mimicked their opposition on everything else. I always thought the party that claimed to care about the weakest and poorest, should have stood up for the unborn, but it didn’t.

In my opinion, George W. Bush is far more to the left and liberal than John Kennedy was in 1960--that’s just the movement and direction of the country. I’ve drawn a line in the shifting sand and said I think we’ve gone far enough with the laws on environment, sexual harassment, medical socialism, victimization of every personal problem, and crummy education that demands nothing from the students. Democrats want more laws, I want fewer, or at least I’d like to have the laws on the books enforced (which is what the NCLB was intended to do).

491 Kitty Kelley's Three Reasons to Elect Bush

Andrew Ferguson's review of Kitty Kelley's Bush Family "pathography" begins with a quote from Nancy Sinatra and moves hilariously on from there. He sums it up with three positive anecdotes which he thinks may be reason enough to re-elect President Bush.

I don't want to suggest that "The Family" is completely one-dimensional. Occasionally you come across anecdotes that a lawyer would call an "admission against interest" -- charming stories running counter to Kelley's theme of unrelieved Bush depravity and which can therefore, by the rules of evidence, be presumed true.

Since you won't find these in more sensational accounts of "The Family," I will close with three of them.

Story one: Laura Welch, the future first lady, was still a mystery to the Bush family on the day she married George W. in 1978. The Bush matriarch, Prescott's widow, tried to interrogate her after the ceremony.

``What do you do?'' the old lady asked her.

``I read,'' Laura replied.

Story Two: In 1976 CIA Director George H.W. Bush was tired of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's gold-plated reputation for brilliance -- exemplified by his insistence on being called ``Dr.''

One CIA aide, referring to ``Dr. Kissinger,'' was quickly corrected by his boss.

``The (expletive deleted) doesn't perform surgery or make house calls, does he?''

Story Three: Though he's disdained Yale since his graduation in 1968, George W. Bush agreed to host a 35th class reunion.

One classmate, Petra Leilani Akwai, had undergone a sex change since graduation, and partygoers waited to see the reaction of Bush -- understood by all correct-thinking liberals to be a crude and backward boor.

Akwai greeted the president in the receiving line.

``You might remember me as Peter when we left Yale,'' she said.

``And now you've come back as yourself,'' Bush said.

It has been said by pious historians that we elect not only a man but his family to the presidency. Taken together, I'd say these three anecdotes -- funny and poignant and revealing -- form the best reason yet for President Bush's re-election. All thanks go to Kitty Kelley.

Full review of Andrew Ferguson at Bloomberg News. Thanks to Independent Women's Forum for the tip.

490 Women Bloggers--Where are You?

My blogroll has a small list of women bloggers, but it has certainly been a pain to track them down. To be fair, a number of women are listed under the library and media category, and there seems to be no shortage of them in that category. Ambra (Nykola.com) is wonderfully refreshing in the under 25 group (perhaps a group of one?), because I see such awful writing, both in content and style, from that group.

Here's my criteria: No trash talking, four letter words, dirty jokes; interests beyond the latest entertainment fluff job; as little angst as possible about being 1) fat, 2) single/divorced or 3) underemployed ; capital letters and standard English; Christian or Jew if possible, but will take any belief system not based on the writer's own navel gazing and "inner spirituality;" some evidence that she has read a newspaper or book recently; liberal or conservative or libertarian is OK, but must adhere to the previous criteria.

I prowl through other's blogrolls; I click through "next blog" at the top of the screen. I know they are out there. Four of them are mine.

489 There is no free lunch

Apparently, the Oprah audience who received the new Pontiacs will be paying about $7,000 in taxes. This was reported on both Fox and NBC local last night, but originally recipients were told the taxes were covered.

488 Kemp and Cisneros--What a Team!

"Of all the Cabinet secretaries who have served in recent decades in Washington, none has done more to energize their bureaucracies than Jack Kemp and Henry Cisneros. Running the backwater Department of Housing and Urban Development between 1989 and 1997, Republican Kemp and Democrat Cisneros used their competitive drive and enthusiasm to draw attention to what may well be America's most neglected issue.

Now the two men have teamed to produce an election-season report outlining a housing agenda for the nation - one that could command support in Congress whatever the outcome of the November vote."

I saw them interviewed on Fox News' Cavuto show last night. This quote is from David Broder's column, and the full article is here. He says the 12 point agenda is neither right or left, but good for those who want to build, preserve or rehab affordable housing. Finally. Now let's hope someone in Congress will pay attention.

487 Martha and Teresa

George Washington’s election as President was a disappointment to his wife, according to a web site on the Presidents. She wanted to continue living in quiet retirement at Mount Vernon after the war. Nevertheless, she quickly assumed the role of hostess, and first First Lady.

When Teresa Heinz married John Kerry she said, “I’ll go down the aisle, but I won’t cross the aisle.” (Her first husband, whose name she retains, was a Republican.) She added, according to an article in W (a must-read for fashion, beauty and arts insiders, which I looked at today in the doctor‘s office), “for anyone who loves life the prospect of becoming First Lady was worse than going to a Carmelite convent.”

486 Hurricanes and Politics

I've now heard three things about how the hurricanes in Florida and the southeast might affect the coming elections. The first, which I originally heard on Fox News, was that after natural disasters people are so miserable they'll vote against any incumbant;* second, if Bush had been more aggressive about environmental issues, there wouldn't have been so many hurricanes,** and third, more counties that voted for Bush in 2000 were hit than the Gore counties, so it is punishment from God (a liberal's blog comment).*** I haven't heard it mentioned, but if polling places are damaged or voting machines out of whack, there will be law suits to hold up the results. Although the Haitians have suffered the most casualties, and they won't be voting.

*The now-famous quote that August [1992] from Dade County's emergency operations director, Kate Hale — “Where in the hell is the cavalry on this one? For God's sake, where are they?'' — summed up the frustration that many people in Florida voiced in the days after Andrew hit. (Some of Floridians’ anger was also directed at then-Gov. Lawton Chiles, a Democrat, who delayed asking for federal troops.)MSNBC

**BlameBush!

***Crooked Timber

485 Is this the medical care liberals want for us?

Although I have a degree in Library Science, I never took a "kiddie lit" or young adult lit class, focusing instead on my interests of the 1960s--Soviet studies, Russian literature and cataloging (so much for what you plan for at 24). But I came across a blog today written by a Brit called An Englishman's Castle in which he asks for suggestions for reading for his teen-age son who will be having a replacement cranioplasty and will be hospitalized for awhile.

Then he goes on to the scary part: "his doctor has suggested that he takes his own cup and cutlery in as well as cleaning materials and also to keep a large box of antiseptic wipes by his bed and insist that anyone coming to examine him cleans their hands. I hope he has the balls to do so..."

Even with our system, I remember asking a young medical tech to please wash his hands after he sneezed into them while preparing to examine my eye before the "real" doctor got there. "Oh, it's just allergies," he insisted. But I too insisted, and he reluctantly did as I asked. Some days you gotta have the balls. . .

484 The joy of cartoon memories

Did you have a favorite book at Grandma's house? When visiting my father's parents we cousins could walk to the town movie theater to get away from the boring adult conversation. However, when visiting my maternal grandparents, who lived on a farm, entertainment was a bit more old fashioned--playing in the out buildings, climbing trees, creating villages with a box of wooden blocks, playing the card game "Authors," or looking through dusty, old books. Not a bad way to spend a boring Sunday afternoon.

When my family visited that same farm house, about a decade after my grandparents were gone and my mother had converted the house to a retreat center for church groups and family reunions, my own children entertained themselves with the same activities (no TV). They would reach for a favorite book which was a compilation of cartoons from the late 19th century through the 1940s, Cartoon Cavalcade. It was most likely a People's Book Club selection (like Book of the Month but through Sears). It was my mother's book, and I had spent many hours browsing it when I was little. Many of her books migrated to the farm house to provide just such entertainment for quiet week-ends.

Good cartoons are difficult to create and probably even harder to understand from a distance of 50 years. For that reason I thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful entry at Library Dust for September 19 on H. T. Webster, the creator of the Casper Milquetoast character, whose work is now rarely seen except in libraries' cartoon collections. McGrorty writes:

"Where I will go is out on a limb enough to suggest that Webster is one of the finest cartoonists the country has ever seen in the pages of its newspapers. Cartooning is a difficult line of work. The artist has to create images that will become familiar without going stale over a considerable period of time, and always be amusing: funny, wry, hysterical or any of the other degrees of mirth must be produced with regularity, which effect requires a great understanding of human nature and an evocative power that must be strong but operate with no wires showing. If you do not think this is so, try to sketch the future panels of your favorite strip in your head—just see if you can follow the formula. It is difficult because the cartoon is such a precise balance of things, all familiar and practically sacred to the regular reader—who nevertheless requires frequent shifts in focus and theme upon the established base."

Click over to Library Dust and read some excellent writing about this cartoonist. Then blow the dust off one of your favorite books.

483 Yet another position for Kerry

Last week in the Washington Post Charles Krauthammer wrote, “If the election were held today, John Kerry would lose by between 58 and 100 electoral votes. The reason is simple: the central vulnerability of this president -- the central issue of this campaign -- is the Iraq War. And Mr. Kerry has nothing left to say. Why? Because, until now, he has said everything conceivable regarding Iraq. Having taken every possible position on the war, there is nothing he can now say that is even remotely credible.”

Not so. John Kerry has changed his stance again. He’s taking a very hard line now--sort of sounds more like Howard Dean in the primaries than Dean. I heard the latest version (along with recordings of his previous pro-war positions in 2002 and 2003) on talk radio this morning. I wanted to cite a specific neutral source. I “googled” the phrase, “John Kerry’s latest position Iraq” just now and got over 100,000 matches. Now, there really haven’t been that many, but I’d guess easily 9 or 10.

One Democrat I read today said that finally Kerry had a message that people could understand--it had a subject, verb and predicate. And he laughs at President Bush’s speech?

482 Stars and Stripes in her Eyes

Melanie Phillips has returned to Britian after a brief stay in New York with "stars and stripes in her eyes," she says in the September 15 Jewish Chronicle.

"It’s the sheer energy of the place that strikes you, the sense of can-do, the certainty that people can improve life for themselves and others and that setbacks can be overcome. Serving others is not a chore but a pleasure, because satisfaction is to be gained from making someone’s life that bit easier or nicer. You get the impression that people are glad to be part of the same human race as you.

What a difference from cynical, depressed, defeatist Britain. Yes, the US lacks subtlety; yes, sometimes it’s brutal and primitive (think of its prison system). But that sense of optimism, the belief in the future, is a precious commodity."

A Brit I met at the coffee shop last year said the same thing--and he'd been here for thirty years! He said he noticed the difference immediately.

481 Don't Mess with this Mama!

Lauri homeschools her brood and is proud of it. She home schools because she believes it is the best way for her children to get an excellent education. And she's really irritated that some feminist is questioning her motives.

"The crux of Ms. Boyce's problem with home schooling, I suspect, is the "don't tread on me" American ingenuity that is HS. To HS one has to believe they can educate their children not the state, that they, not the state, know what is best. And most folks do not question the superiority of HS because it is obvious, they question their ability to hs because it takes hard work and dedication. The honest folks state they couldn't do it (HS), the dishonest tell others they shouldn't do it (HS)."

Read her excellent rant here.

Note: I'm trying to update my "blogroll," but after several hours, still can't find the error, so the page may not be working quite right. I'll try later. Right now it is time to go. . . to the library!

480 How Myths about Librarians Get Started

Although I have two shelves of older unanalyzed first issues, I was reading two of my newer titles, Cottage Living and Find! to put in my hobby blog, In the Beginning, which is about first issue magazines. A man I see frequently in the coffee shop stopped at my table.

"You're always reading," he said. "I wish I had more time, I'd read." (This is either a lie or a fantasy told by most non-readers--he probably finds time to do what he really enjoys. Golf. Fishing. Watching TV.)

"I'm a retired librarian--you know, that's all we ever do--just read," I joked.

He asked where I had worked and I told him the Veterinary Medicine Library at Ohio State, and he said he is there frequently in his job as a caterer. He was quite jolly, and I'm sure he believed me that librarians read all day--that's how rumors get started--over coffee and jokes.

479 Christmas is Coming!

Harry and David, L.L. Bean, and Cheryl's Cookies catalogs all arrived last week. Sigh.

478 The Price of Pork

Was it Hurricane Opal or Floyd or both that brought us all those photos of dead pigs floating in flooded fields at those huge hog farms in the south? There’s another kind of rotten pork, and that’s the smelly stuff that gets included in bills intended to help people in the devastated areas. Both parties do it--pork is an equal opportunity diet--and apparently it will be added to hurricane relief in supplemental bills.

“Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today issued a Category 5 warning to taxpayers that members of Congress are preparing to take advantage of the devastation caused by Hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Ivan to fund their own parochial projects. House Appropriations Chairman Bill Young (R-Fla.) will introduce an emergency supplemental bill to help pay for damages caused by the storms, and members are already looking for ways to tack on pork.

“Congress simply has no shame. Knowing that this is most likely the last opportunity to bring home the bacon before the election, members are busy maneuvering behind the scenes to add their pet projects to the emergency supplemental,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said. “Considering the record $422 billion budget deficit this year, loading the bill with pork could be more costly than cleaning up after the three hurricanes.” "

Full comments on this story with other pork classics at this site. The “King of Pork” is Democrat Robert Byrd according the CAGW.

477 The Reunion

Books in my house have conversations with each other and me. They complain that they aren’t happy here at the condo because of the stationary shelving. They have to congregate and socialize with volumes of similar size instead of similar interests--as though our home were some sort of storage facility!

Books aren’t the only physical objects that speak to me. In the morning I take out a china cup decorated with rabbits that belonged to my Mother, and I say, “Hi, Mom, let‘s have tea.” When I need just a little coverage from the fall breezes I slip on Dad’s oversized, shabby, royal blue baseball jacket and say, “Thanks for the protection, Dad.”

Today I’ve planned a reunion for my parents’ bedroom suite from the 1950s. I’m guessing that the pieces have been separated for over 40 years. My father always suffered from painful back spasms and was a restless sleeper who rose before 5 a.m. to go out on his truck. So the earliest bedroom suite I remember is a deep reddish brown, hard rock maple set with twin beds, a dressing table with a mirror, and a five drawer tall bureau. There used to be a dressing table bench, but that seems to have disappeared.

In the 1960s I believe my parents converted to a king size bed and tried several styles, including a waterbed. The twin beds and dressing table went to the farm home of my grandparents which my mother was converting into a religious retreat center. They kept the bureau for their own use. After they gave the farm to my brother in the late 1980s, the beds and dressing table came to us in Columbus, and in a few years they migrated to our second home in Lakeside on Lake Erie.

Mother died in 2000 and Dad in 2002. Because his house was to be sold, children and grandchildren took what they could immediately after the funeral. We could just get the bureau into the back of the SUV. It came to live with us here in the condo guest room, and we brought the dressing table down from the cottage to keep it company. Today my husband and son-in-law are driving to the Lake in the remnants of Hurricane Ivan to bring the beds back to Columbus. Our double bed from the guest room and my daughter’s baby dresser (both green) will settle in at the Lake house to welcome guests there.

The room is freshly painted and matching bedspreads and sheets in moss green and pastels have been purchased. A “South Hannah Avenue” street sign will be attached to the wall. A painting of lilacs similar to those on the bush that decorated our yard on Hannah Avenue will hang in the room, and a 1950s photo of my parents will be on the dresser. Mother liked to read at night so I may put a book or two from the 50s near one of the beds. If my memory has failed here and the set originated in another house in another decade, just don’t tell me. I’m having too much fun planning this reunion.

476 Today's Nest Egg Hasn't Changed Much

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had an article about Social Security in which it claims that people didn’t have retirement nest eggs before the 1930s--this apparently written by a young person who believes owning stock is the only way to a sound retirement--therefore Social Security was born. The pre-1930 plan was to own assets and to have adult children to help. Not everyone did, of course, just as today not everyone buys stock or has 401(k)s or IRAs.

Social Security was never intended to be a retirement fund which could support any standard of living above rock bottom. It has been an extremely badly managed government program and will never be as good as privately managed funds because the government has never invested it for growth, but used it for other programs. It is a safety net period, and should be reserved for those who were unable to work to contribute to their own accounts. Today’s workers are paying for my husband’s check--he is not receiving the payout of his efforts.

My husband contributed the maximum every year he worked, and his monthly Social Security is about $1,500. My STRS pension is about the same, and I’m not eligible for the wife’s portion of Social Security. Although it might be possible to live on this, we’d certainly have to slim down somewhere--our auto and house insurance bill came this week and it is over $2,000. Our long-term care insurance is over $3,000 a year. Our annual health insurance I haven’t exactly figured out yet, but even with Medicare, it will be around $5,700 for the two of us. So just our insurance takes close to one-third of our retirement income, and we haven’t even gotten to taxes yet.

Our real estate taxes are over $5,000. Our local income taxes are about $300 a quarter and our federal taxes about $1500 a quarter, plus the $360 annually taken from my pension which I think totals about $7,560. Add to the taxes and insurance, our church tithe of 10% of our gross income, and I think we’re left with less than $100 a month for both of us from our combined pension/social security.

So please, Mr. Young Guy at the Wall Street Journal, don’t tell me retired people today are a lot better off than the 1930s because of Social Security! Fortunately, we do have adult children, and have invested in real estate, just the way our grandparents did.

474 A Car for Dan Rather

The USAToday (4b) has an article on fake, vintage automobiles. The 1972 Oldsmobile 442 is one of the more common fakes. It was (is) a beautiful car. We could have purchased a red convertible 442 in 1985 from a neighbor. I think he wanted $5,000, but I don't remember exactly. It was within the realm of possibility. But I said no--after all, we had a 16 year old son.

"It takes someone with a lot of knowledge to catch a phony," says Dan Mershon of Springfield, OH. He was fooled and sold one--but gave the buyer his money back five years later when the forgery was discovered.

Imagine that. A used car salesman more honest than a TV journalist!

I was a bit puzzled Tuesday when watching coverage of Bush's speech before the National Guard members. I saw coverage on CNN, Fox, ABC, and read the story Wednesday in the Columbus Dispatch, and USAToday. All the news media pointed out that Bush didn't mention the controversy surrounding his time in the Guard. CNN made it the high point of its story, not the speech itself--and replayed it numerous times.

Should he have cast aspersions on Dan Rather's forged documents? Should he have asked why he has called Kerry's service honorable, but Kerry has maligned all the Guard by disparaging Bush's service? Should he have pointed out how all Guard service during Vietnam has been impuned by the Democrats since Dan Quayle was the Vice President?

50,000 Guard and Reservists are on active duty. Every time the Democrats cast doubt on one, they probably send two more to the voting booth for Bush.

473 A teen-ager is a murderer, but a doctor provides a service?

Here in Ohio, a young teen-ager (15) went to jail for murdering her newborn. She says the baby was dead when born and she was frightened and put the body in a trash can.

Jill Stanek says she has talked to hospital staff who say that after “live birth abortions” the still alive, viable baby is put in a biohazard bag and smothered or drowned. This what a nurse told her:

“I saw a lot of babies born alive…. Dr. X said that was a side effect of a medication. They always said to leave the baby alone, and they would stop breathing…. Two hours was the longest I saw a baby live…. One girl was 26-27 weeks….

They put the babies in red biohazard bags when they were still moving… tied the bag up… put them in a biohazard box. The biohazard medical service would pick boxes up Monday and Thursday.

Dr. X would insert the medication and send the women home. They were told to come back the next day.

There was one incident where the woman had the baby while she was waiting at the door for the clinic to open. She got there at 7a. The clinic opened at 8a. She said the baby was born alive. The baby was now dead, and she was holding the baby in a bag. She was bleeding.

I was in the room when Dr. X gave the digoxin to stop that baby’s heartbeat beforehand. [Digoxin is a medication inserted by needle through a mother’s abdomen into a baby’s heart to cause instant cardiac arrest.]

Well, he didn’t have an ultrasound machine that day. He inserted the needle blindly. He said he’d been doing it so many years, he knew the location. But he didn’t actually know if he hit the heart.

I know this nurse Bridget. She was working there when the new doctor held a baby under water in a bucket when she told him the baby was alive. That baby was between 25-26 weeks. Bridget left two months ago because of that.

I left because I got tired of everything going on and the fact Dr. X would coach women into saying they were going to kill themselves if they didn’t abort. Then he said he had a legal right to do it past viability. He did them all the way to 40.” weeks.

Full story here.

471 New Charges Against Bush--He Lied in 1978!

Now there is a new Democratic 527 campaign to say that Bush lied about being in the Air Force, because he was in the Air National Guard. This complaint is about the wording in campaign literature from a 1978 race. Why are the Democratic 527s into this hanging chad mentality? If they are trying to establish a pattern of lies, this is really weak. Kerry’s is much stronger--the pattern, that is.

But if you look at all the papers which have been released, they say he is in the Air Force Reserves AND the Air National Guard. Kerry was in the Naval Reserve, but I’m quite sure I’ve heard him referred to as a Navy officer, and also a solider. His own website calls his records, “Naval Records.” Then if you go to Air Force online magazine and click on “Almanac,” you’ll see all the various parts of the Air Force displayed, and it includes both the Air Force Reserves and the Air National Guard.

Here’s what Jerry Killian wrote about George W. Bush upon promotion to 2nd Lt.

3. Lt Bush is a dynamic outstanding young officer. He clearly stands out as a top notch fighter interceptor pilot. Lt Bush is possessed of sound judgement, yet is a tenacious competitor and an aggressive pilot. He is mature beyond his age and experience level as evidenced by his recent participation in the unit firing deployment. During his deployment, Lt Bush delivered both primary and secondary weapons from the F-102. The tactics and procedures conformed to a test project and were, therefore, more difficult to perform. Lt Bush performed in an outstanding manner, bringing credit to himself and the unit. He also participated in a practice element deployment and practiced simulated weapons delivery on varying geometrics and tactics solutions. Lt Bush’s skills far exceed his contemporaries. He is a natural leader whom his contemporaries look to for leadership. Lt Bush is also a good follower with outstanding disciplinary traits and an impeccable military bearning. He reflects credit upon himself and the Air National Guard. Lt Bush possesses vast potential and should be promoted well ahead of his contemporaries.

Read all the Bush papers at this site.

I don’t believe John Kerry has released all his records, but there are some files about his medals (did you know he had medals?) and requests on his Kerry Edwards Page.

470 The Forgeries--Who Dunnit?

I used to write my library's newsletter in the mid-80s with an old IBM Selectric (possibly early 70s?) and was pretty good at it--had correctible type (a white ribbon) and balls for changing type fonts. It was tricky changing the font, but I learned. Reading this story about the IBM Selectric Composer which may be the only typewriter in the early 70s that could have come close to creating those forged Bush Guard memos, really brought back memories, and reminded me of how grateful I am for word processing and for the 70-80 wpm speed I learned on a typewriter. Even so, no researcher, not even a librarian, could have pulled this together so quickly before Google.

The web site of the Selectric History page has this message:

"Sorry, but due to excessive hits, this page is temporarily out of service.

Please check back after the election.

For those who want my opinion...the documents appear to be done in Word, and then copied repeatedly to make them "fuzzy". They use features that were not available on office typewriters the 1970s, specifically the combination of proportional spacing with superscript font. The IBM Executive has proportional spacing, but used fixed type bars. The Selectric has changeable type elements, but fixed spacing (some models could be selected at 10 or 12 pitch, but that's all). The Selectric Composer was not an office typewriter, but apparently did use proportional spacing. These were very expensive machines, used by printing offices, not administrative offices."

If you are too young to remember electric typewriters or had secretaries to do your typing, you would not want to use even the office model Selectric typewriter today . Photo of type balls in e-bay.

Who created and planted the forgeries? I'm leaning toward the Clinton camp as pulling a scam on CBS. The Republicans wouldn't want to put anything out there that kept up the discussion, even misinformation, about the guard service. Especially the way the media covers things--sometimes when I've heard this story on the radio, the majority of it deals not with the possible scam of CBS, but the content of the memo, even though the report claims to be about the forgery. Some commentators (Juan Williams, for instance) seem to think it is the message, not the forgery, that is important.

The Clintons have apparently successfully unloaded James Carville, a CNN employee, on the Kerry-Edwards campaign, which sets them up for all sorts of problems. Carville is married to Mary Matalin, a Bush advisor, so I suppose he could be just posing as a Kedwards supporter, but it sets the Democrats up for even more accusations of media bias than they already have. Plus, Carville regularly makes a fool of himself in front of millions as a loud mouth, news analyst (entertainer) on cable. He can make Rush Limbaugh look and sound like a mild mannered Episcopalian priest.

The Old Media has tried to disparage the bloggers who uncovered the forgeries. Jonathan Klein of CBS looks down on bloggers: "A guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas." Amy Ridenour says, “Let make sure some of these jammies are pink nighties, so when people in jammies are running rings around his well-dressed ace reporters, Jonny will receive a reminder that not all bloggers are guys." Amy is on my blogroll.

469 Letters from the Guard

Letters are posted anonymously at Andrew Sullivan, who dislikes Bush intensely, because he is gay and doesn’t like Bush’s stand on marriage. The letters aren’t particularly easy to find, or read (white on navy, narrow columns, almost indistinguishable from Sullivan’s comments), otherwise I‘d just link to this. But I thought this one was interesting.

“RE: The Bush AWOL charges: I have worked fulltime for the National Guard for 20 years have been in charge of payroll documents, which are what are mainly used to chronicle reserve service. I have followed this stuff when it was exposed by the LA Times back in 2000 and I was prepared to not support Bush if the charges were proven true. I've seen copies of the records and what Dems are saying is a distortion of the record. A drilling guardsman is required to have 50 points per year to have a "good" year. His records show that he met this requirement, sometimes many times over . . .

The press approach to Kerrys service records has been the exact opposite of their approach concerning Bush's service records, which should be a big enough clue as to what the objective is here. This isn't a quest for objective truth telling. It's a naked attempt to try to lift their rather pathetic candidate out of the ditch he has dug for himself. Also, the only reason the press has any of these records is because President Bush signed a SF 180 authorizing them to access his records. John Kerry won't sign one. I wonder why?”

468 The September 11 Anniversary

September 11, 1960 

It is our 44th wedding anniversary. For our 40th, we went to Illinois and worshipped in the Church of the Brethren where we were married. At my father’s home we hosted a brunch for the dwindling group of relatives and friends who still live there. I was on vacation that September, due to retire from Ohio State on October 1 and running out the clock on my vacation time.

We laughed about what an unusual anniversary it was--we'd spent the week-end in lumber stores and paint shops helping my Dad fix up the Lustron he bought after my mother died. And I always say "we" although only my husband did the exhausting work. I just cooked and cleaned, using ingenuity since Dad thought no one would visit after Mom died and had disposed of most of the cooking utensils and had only 2 plates and flatware settings.

Yes, we thought it an odd anniversary. Little did we know that the next one, September 11, 2001, would be so different, no one would forget it. I watched the re-cap/memorial on CNN that was apparently put together for the 2002 anniversary (I‘m guessing from the copyright date). Although it brought back a lot of horrifying memories, I also saw many things I hadn’t seen before, such as recollections of the press core that was with President Bush on that day and footage of the minutes and hours immediately following the news. He definitely has a stunned look on his face as he sits with the children and you can almost see him composing words of comfort and rallying points--which he then did effortlessly before he rushed to his plane to go to an underground site for a strategy meeting. Hardly a word was different than what he says today.

As I’ve watched Al Gore implode over the last four years from a capable, honest statesman in Clinton’s shadow who won the 2000 popular vote but not the electoral vote into a bitter, hysterical enemy of the administration, I wonder if he could have possibly shown the strength, endurance and steadfastness President Bush has shown, or would he have collapsed under the weight and pressure?

467 Desk top icons

The desktop icons always seem to be either congregating when I don't want them, or disappearing when I do. Now The Illustrated Librarian refers to a site that shows what happens to them when we aren't looking. Caution--violence. Get the children out of the room. Unless they are helping you with the computer.

Club for Growth has a Kerry ad I haven't seen in Ohio, called Blowing in the Wind. CFG is a 527. Democrats have raised much more money in their 527s, but the GOP is catching up, according to this Washington Times article.

There's a photo of the source of the forgery plaguing CBS at their own site! Upper left column. Typewriter looks quite authentic.

Wonderful postcards of motels from the 1950s, arranged by state. You're sure to recognize some of them.

466 How the American Library Association responded to September 11

Greg over at Shush has taken a nostalgic stroll through American Libraries, November 2001, the house organ of American Library Association. The article is not online--for all ALA says about freedom of information, its own archives are only available for subscribers, even though many professional and commercial journals allow readers to see non-current issues.

Greg points out the paucity of information on the terrorist attacks, and the immediate launch into warnings about anti-terrorism bills being proposed in Washington.

Another anniversary piece is at Victor Davis Hanson's site:

Chechen Islamicists burn up Russian airliners and shoot schoolgirls . . . Beheaders in Iraq decapitate Americans, Pakistanis, Koreans, Japanese, and Nepalese . . . Italian humanitarians and charity workers are kidnapped by Islamicists. In the "holy" city of Najaf, religious extremists bomb innocents . . . Islamic terrorists kidnap French journalists and threaten them with execution . . . Hamas "freedom fighters" blow up buses inside Israel and call the dead children Zionists who belong in the sea . . . Islamic fascists incinerate dozens in Madrid. . . Australians in Bali are engulfed in flame by car bombers for the felony of being Western visitors in an Islamic enclave . . ." and so forth.

Meanwhile, back in the United States, it is business as usual for the ALA. Even if it kills you, no government official will ever see your library record. Especially if you are a terrorist.

Thanks Greg, for reminding so many of us why we never joined.

465 Pondering the ceilings

Some women encounter the "glass ceiling" in their professions--i.e., you can see the top, you just can't get there. Then there is the expression "hit the ceiling" meaning to loose your temper. I spend a lot of time pondering the ceilings in our condo. It took me awhile to discover that the deep hued wall colors had also been on the ceiling when the guy decorators lived here. The next two owners had lightened things up a bit, and painted the den ceiling and living room ceiling and the bedroom ceilings white. The ceiling of the dining room was still orange and the ceiling of the family room and hall were still red when we moved here in January 2002.

Today I decided to climb on a stool and try to wipe what I thought was glue from the wall paper off the ceiling of my bathroom. It is wild wallpaper, but I sort of like it. It looks like huge voluptuous folds of beige satan with red/pink tassles around the border. The cabinets are painted black and the marble is sort of beige/cream. Really, a bit decadent, but a fun place to wake up in at 5 a.m.

Well, when I steadied myself on the stool grasping the door for support, imagine my surprise when I found out that it wasn't glue at all, but the formerly red/pink ceiling color. I suppose whoever painted the ceiling white missed a few spots trying to avoid those tassles.

464 Former VVAW wants to apologize to veterans

Steven J. Pitkin appeared at the "Winter Soldier Investigation" conducted in Detroit in 1971 by former Navy Lieutenant John Kerry and his group, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, but now says he never intended to testify and that his statements were coerced. . . He says that he wants to apologize to Vietnam veterans for what he did and said as a young man.

"The VVAW found me during a difficult time in my life, and I let them use me to advance their political agenda," Pitkin said. "They pressured me to tell their lies, but that's no excuse for what I did. I just want people to know the truth and to make amends as best I can. I'd hate to see the troops serving today have to go through what Vietnam veterans did."

Another group, Vietnam Veterans for the Truth, will hold a rally in Washington, DC on September 12.”

Full story is here.

463 Military deferments in the 1960s

After watching the Democrats complain about Cheney's deferments, I asked my husband if he knew how many deferments he had had during the 60s. He didn't have a clue. Most men of that era probably don't. I wonder how long it would take to dig up records of the Indianapolis draft board from 1957-1967. (I haven't researched this date, but I think after age 28, you weren't drafted, so age was also a factor. During WWI my grandfather was required to sign up for the draft at age 44.)

It is my recollection that we had to report anything that would change his classification. One time he was out of school to earn money and found out he was within 2 numbers of being called, so he re-enrolled. It was a constant roller coaster, and whether each change was a deferment, I don't know.

There were many ways to get deferments--education was the big one, and having a baby was probably next. Then they decided to defer all married men, so I assume some guys got married. There was nothing "fair" about the draft, just like taxes on the rich--there are always loop-holes for those who can afford accountants and tax lawyers and shelter their wealth in foundations. We were poor and at the bottom, so that only left an educational deferment (besides, we had married while undergraduates).

It was a very badly run war and I never met a single guy who wanted to go. "Volunteers," like Kerry, had been denied their deferments (he told the Harvard Crimson when the war was unpopular). I'm sure there were actual volunteers; I just never met any. I had a classmate who had enlisted in 1957, and went back for the Gulf War, but I think he was out when VietNam heated up.

There are many urban legends out there about Bill Clinton's deferments, but this site seems to set the record straight. The fact is, deferments were legal, and I don't recall anyone my age or 10 years younger who turned down the opportunity to defer their military service.

Democrats had no problem with Clinton’s record. The so called “new” revelations about Bush’s National Guard service don’t sound particularly startling. It has long been known that during his final year he served the minimum days. All this was vetted in 2000 by his opponents in the Republican primaries. What is clear is that he hasn’t asked anyone to elect him because of his VietNam era service.

462 Title Inflation

A young acquaintance is job hunting. She's 18 and just graduated from high school (looks about 12). So I looked through the OSU job postings on-line. No one is a file clerk, gardener or janitor anymore. There are no technicians or mechanics or waiters.

Now we have instructional aides and assistants, custodial workers, nutrition aides, patient care assistants and associates, communication coordinators and team members. We have classroom technologies specialists and restaurant servers. In one category a "worker" gets three cents more an hour than "attendant," but the job description isn't terribly informative. Only the wage scale tells me it is entry level.

Many departments have information assistants and associates. I think my field would do well to hang on to "librarian." Forget that "information specialist" and "information architect" nonsense. Stay with a term that has some class.

461 Kerry the Politician

Brendan Miniter says Kerry will lose because he isn’t a very good politician. I wouldn’t count on that. The hatred for Bush is palpable even for people who don’t particularly like or support Kerry. Here’s what Miniter wrote in the September 7 Wall Street Journal.

“Mr. Kerry's problem is much worse than having phoned it in for 20 years in the Senate. Somehow he has built a political career without ever developing the skill of connecting with people or being able to read the pulse of the electorate. In the 1980s, he opposed nearly every new weapons system the Reagan administration rolled out. In the 1990s he fought to slash intelligence funding. Both look like clear mistakes now. On Vietnam, he misread how the electorate would react to his antiwar record. Some Democrats actually argued Mr. Kerry would be popular among veterans. So Mr. Kerry thought he was giving voters what they wanted to hear when he responded to the GOP convention by getting on TV at midnight to talk about Vietnam and whine about imagined attacks on his patriotism. Democrats politely say that he's not very charismatic, but the truth is that he's like a tone-deaf musician who stumbles into a gig at Carnegie Hall and can't understand why the crowd doesn't cheer.”

Full editorial here. [Unlike the New York Times, the WSJ doesn’t try to pass of editorial opinion as “news.”]

460 The Recession and the Recovery

The Kerry Campaign posted 143 inaccuracies heard during the speeches of the four day Republican National Convention last week in New York. Unfortunately, they didn’t provide the information to refute them. Now they’ve taken the list down. With all that money in the 527s couldn’t they hire a few librarians to double check the record? Anyway, Captain’s Quarters has cached the list so I looked at them. Democrats didn’t like #65 and #66 at all.

“65. Cheney: “As President Bush and I were sworn into office, our nation was sliding into recession…” [Cheney Remarks, 9/1/04]

66. Chao: “Thanks to President Bush’s tax relief, the economy is expanding, creating more than 1.5 million new jobs in the last eleven months. Today, the national unemployment rate is lower than the average for the 1970s, 80s, and 90s.” [Remarks at the Republican National Convention, 9/1/04]

But I can show anyone who wants to look at my portfolio of mid-2000, six months before the current administration took office, when the tech sector was beginning to implode, and that same portfolio in December 2003 when it had more than recovered.

Mr. Kerry, you and your staff as you swing through Ohio are welcome at my house. I’ll dig out the files and show you. Just don’t ask me to make coffee.