1584 She used to be a full service blogger

but now that St. Casserole has returned home to Mississippi, only Katrina is on her mind.

"Katrina is a marker event and not just for me.

Believe me when I tell you that I am stunned at the number of people who went through hours of pitch black darkness with little children, old people and pets who held onto this life by sitting in a Boston Whaler they swam to in rising water then held onto the gutters of a neighbor's two storey home to wait out the storm. Jean, my young bankteller, swam out the second floor window of her apartment with her seven year old son. She broke the window and swam with her child to the safety of the roof. She climbed out the window into cold rising water with her child to try to stay alive. Rachel got into her attic with her two young children, husband, mother and dog to try to stay alive. People I know and strangers I meet did dramatic things to stay alive in all the water. We don't even live in a flood area. The water came up so high that Catfish let out his lines on his shrimp boat in the Back Bay 40 feet by swimming to the lines in the hurricane winds to save his boat. Strangers tell me remarkable stories of swimming to a neighbor's home for safety. I am stunned. These aren't young athletic kids. These are regular people who wanted to stay alive in a situation no one could predict. It is extraordinary that more people didn't drown."

St. Casserole's blog.

1583 Google's new blog finder

Google has a new feature whereby you can find blogs by the blogger's name, or topic. I tried it with my name and then my name + a topic and found it very easy to use. http://blogsearch.google.com. However, it also makes it easier for the blog spammers to be target specific. These are the "Hi, great blog. Come and visit mine on [your topic]. So I'll have to add the stronger filters to the comments. My topical blogs are all getting hit, Coffee Spills, Hugging and Chalking, Church of the Acronym. In the Beginning does not get comments. What are they going to say? It's my hobby and I'll blog about journals if I want to!

Not all bloggers use their own name, so that's where the topic helps. The results when I entered "Norma library" were pretty good. Also found a few librarian blogs I hadn't seen before that I'll check out. It also picks up "normal" and I certainly am that, right?

1582 Rescuing pets in disasters

There's been a lot of talk about the problem of getting people to evacuate without their pets. Before you work to get them included in the rescure efforts, ask yourself if you want your cat or small dog on the same helicopter as these pets.

They love their pets too and their pets might want to take yours to lunch

1581 Gertrude Bell, the Desert Queen

The selection for Book Club tonight is Desert Queen by Janet Wallach. This biography of Gertrude Bell, an English woman born in the 1860s is very interesting on several levels--her personal struggles as a multi-talented women who longed to be a wife and mother but was instead an advisor to Kings, her need for excitement and adventure to hold back depression and desire which took her on breath taking trips and explorations, and the feeling of today's front page news since she literally designed modern day Iraq after the end of WWI.



Unfortunately, I didn't find Wallach a particularly fascinating writer--certainly she didn't have the skill of Ron Chernow who wrote last month's selection, Alexander Hamilton. I did come across an erie quote by Winston Churchill (as Colonial Secretary one of the British drawing the boundaries of modern Iraq) in my side reading (may also be in the book).

June 14, 1921: it was Britain's intention to ". . . reduce our commitments and extricate ourselves from our burdens while at the same time discharging our obligations and building up an effective Arab Government which would always be a friend of Britain." Sort of has a familiar ring to it, doesn't it?

I have the 11th, 12th and 13th editions of Encyclopaedia Britanica, the last of which was published in 1926. So I looked up the Iraq article to see if Gertrude Bell was mentioned, but she wasn't. It was current through Spring 1926. Then I noticed the initials of the author of the article--and she had written it! Because she committeed suicide in July 1926, the article for Britannica must of been one of the last of her many publications.

1580 White Guilt

Blogger Oh Snap apologizes for a heavy post, but I think she’s needed on the team to rebuild New Orleans’ schools. She really, really wants to be a teacher but is finding the program a bit, um, harmful for children and teachers. She’s student teaching and for some odd reason, seems to be (in my opinion) a lot smarter than her co-workers and professors. She sees students setting the agenda, and progressive ideas holding students back with low expectations. I hope she makes it to the end of the term without bailing. The negative effects of white guilt have been known a long time, and I'm surprised no one but student teachers notice how damaging it is to the people they want to help.

“Someone with white guilt decides that she will go out and, in some small way, correct the wrongs done by her forefathers, and thus be able to live with herself. It is a daunting and burdensome task. And it is incredibly destructive for all those people she intends to help. This is why: everyone with whom she interacts, particularly African-Americans, becomes a living embodiment of the tragic past. This student standing in front of her represents "the African-American person" and she, "the white person." She is constantly anxious not to oppress this young man, this race of people. She walks on eggshells, always on edge. She goes out of her way to be friendly, ingratiating. She doesn't want to do anything to upset him, to repeat past wrongs. Consequently, she can ask nothing of the student. She makes excuses when he breaks the rules, when he forgets to do his homework, when he arrives an hour late, when he swears, when he acts immaturely, meanly, or inappropriately. She doesn't ascribe these negative behaviors as those of a child who needs guidance, but those of an oppressed minority who needs power. So she gives him more, and, being a child, he wastes it. She makes excuses, blames herself, gives him more, and round and round we go."

1579 Remembering Nancy Walker

This morning while cleaning the kitchen sink I thought about Nancy Walker who played "Rosie" in the Bounty commercials in the 1970s. According to Wikipedia, the 4'11" actress died in 1992. You occasionally see her in old films, but mainly she's known for pushing the paper towel that would hold up under a lot of abuse and as the mother of Rhoda on the Mary Tyler Moore show and its spin-off.

I was scrubbing the double ceramic sink with a single folded section of Bounty and a sprinkle of Bon Ami when her face and message came to mind. Then I rinsed it out, and wiped down all the cook-top and the tea kettle. I rinsed it again, then wiped all the counter tops. Rinsed again, then wiped the cabinets and the oven fronts and handles. That little piece of paper still looked pretty strong, so I rinsed it again, and wiped up the spots on the floor before I threw it out.

I never used paper towels in the 70s--much too extravagant for our budget. I doubt that I started using it because of the commercial, but through trial and error discovered it was a good buy. A paper towel that holds up that well and then can be tossed so you're not keeping the yucky rag around until you accumulate enough to wash a load, deserves a blog.

At the Bounty website, you can create your own Honey-do list.

1578 Substitute Blogger

St. Casserole is a member of the clergy who's been through Katrina and is just now returning home to Mississippi. She let one of her cats, Dibley D'Wayne, "guest blog" and it is really sweet. She has some amazing photos of the damage, too.

St. Casserole and her family got out of harm's way and stayed at a friend's home in NC.

1577 It's my Blogiversary

Two years ago I took the plunge and started blogging. I started on October 2, 2003 with this entry.

You'll see that I've since added some Oct. 1 entries, collecting some common threads, just to fill out the month, but I really did start on the second.

1576 Alvin and the Chipmunks

It's nice to know that classy stuff pays off, isn't it? Ross (Jr.) and Janice Bagdasarian are selling their Meditaerrian style mansion in Montecito, CA, for $24.9 million. It has 13,000 sq. ft., a 2,000 sq. ft. master suite, and sits on 4 acres. They create children's programming based on the ground breaking work of his father. His father Ross, created Alvin and the Chipmunks in 1958. Now there's a tune, Badaunt, you really don't want to hear over and over and over at Christmas (See comments at 1575). He also wrote those timeless classics, Come on a my house and Witch Doctor.

So it's a bit pricey. But these two really do sound like bargains. Near Tehachapi, CA in the Southern Sierras, you can buy 20 acres for only $159,900. Ad was in both WSJ and LA Times. "Clean, crisp mountain air with calendar cover views. Majestic oaks, streams, ideal for horses, Country getaway." Because its FSBO, I couldn't find a photo, but other houses in the area look nice and don't look even as expensive as homes in this area. Call the owner, 1-888-914-5253. This one sounds like it might have a view. Noticed in WSJ. 140 acres in New Mexico for $90,000. Call 1-877-670-7964.

1575 Buy it, burn it, return it

Some of you seem to think you need a thousand tunes on your iPods, or that you need to burn those CDs on your shelves to your computer. This is a phenom that has really passed me by. Who would want all that noise all the time, she wonders. I've noticed in the last 5 years it is increasingly difficult to understand what someone is saying if music, TV, or yard crew are in the background. Head phones, which I use occasionally while walking, are really irritating. My theory is your brain only can process so much sound in your lifetime and continue to make sense of it, so all that extra noise ends up growing nose and chin hairs. I think people now in their teens and twenties will probably be experiencing this by the time they are 35. So look out, kids. Anyway. . . Wall Street Journal featured a story on some music store owners who decided they'd have to join the downloaders or lose their business. Sort of like our church adding yet another X-Alt service to our already crowded worship schedule to satisfy worshipers who want damaged ear drums and racing heart rates along with their Bible.

"earlier this year, the four-store chain [Scotti's Record Shops] announced its new "Buy It, Burn It, Return It" policy. Customers can buy a used or new CD, take it home, listen and, if they want, burn a copy to a computer. Within 10 days, they can return the CD for 70% store credit."

They're running into legal problems, but maintain they need to remain creative or go out of business. Story here.

1574 Fashion Fugs won't worry about me

Go Fug Yourself is a fashion blog that tracks celebs. So I guess my entries about fashion and my photos of what to wear on a river cruise are safe. I'm not only not a fashionista, I'm not even a disaster. I see them at the coffee shop but I don't want to be one--especially not one of the over-50's in the short skimpy tops showing waistlines with love handles, or the strolling spandex follies. But Go Fug Yourself written by 30-somethings is a must read for some, even for the celebs it criticizes.

An aside. I was flipping channels and came across a Dukes of Hazzard rerun the other day and thought I'd look up Daisy Dukes and see what she looks like today--after all she's 51 and a lot of women in their 50s look smashing. EEEEEEEK. Don't do it. She's gained a tremendous amount of weight, but wears clothes that definitely don't flatter a larger woman.

Back on track: But blogging about fashion isn't easy, according the the site's webmistresses:

"Like a lot of people who have succumbed to the blogging craze, Ms. Cocks and Ms. Morgan are discovering that the medium has huge challenges. The money is minimal. So far, Go Fug Yourself is generating just $3,500 a month through advertising. Getty Images, the big digital photo supplier, threatened a copyright infringement lawsuit and temporarily shut them down. They sometimes wake up in the morning to profane, raving emails from readers.

Most of all, the blog treadmill is exhausting. Blogs require constant updates to recruit new fans and keep existing ones coming back. So the two women scramble to answer hundreds of emails from readers on their lunch breaks and spend hours scouring the Internet for photos to post. "Some days I start looking in the morning and there's just nobody who looks bad enough," says Ms. Cocks. "If I haven't found anything by midafternoon, I start panicking." "

I know just how they feel. Here it is 5:30 a.m. and I'm writing about people and clothes about which I have absolutely no interest.

1573 Happy Birthday

I had my birthday while on the Danube Cruise. At dinner they turned out the lights and brought out a fabulous chocolate cake/mousse spouting a huge sparkler, which is good, 'cause that many candles would have set the ship on fire. Our table of 6 was able to eat half the cake and then shared the other half with another table.



I took this quiz on what age I act, and first got a 24, so I went back and redid it trying to select more mature answers like Creme brulee instead of banana split, and I got it up to 29. Some questions, like TV shows I just had to take a stab since I didn't recognize them.

You Are 29 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

1572 Hugh Hewitt and James Lileks on the Media

Hugh Hewitt interviewed James Lileks, one of my favorite essayists/journalists who is on line and in Minnesota. It was recorded at Radioblogger.com on Thursday September 29.

"HH: Now let me talk about the media and New Orleans. I just did this...oh, it was so classic PBS, sitting around the table talking with three people about something that nobody's going to watch. But it was fun. And they're defending the media down there, and you know, the slashed baby throats, and the forty people in the freezer, et cetera, as, you know, they were the captives of Ray Nagin. What do you make of this?

JL: I think, I'm going to defend the media here, because I think that if somebody runs screaming out of the dome, shouting that a giant octopus is eating people in the upper deck, I think it's the duty of the media to report that. Because if the media went inside, they might be eaten by the giant octopus. So I'm on their side in this one.

HH: But couldn't they have spared a couple of cub reporters to snap a picture of the octopus before they got eaten?

JL: Cub reporters? No. Because generally, you know, there's a lot of investment with these people, because there's a whols rigmarole you got to go through with social security. I say send in some interns. And if they don't like it, you know, catapult them in. You know, use some sort of giant bungee cord to actually shoot them in, gather their impressions, and they'll spring right out, and you can run with that. No, Hugh, I think you're absolutely right. And it's fascinating to me to see how the pride and the chest thumping that went on after Katrina, the media had finally grown their kumquats back, and they were going to stick it to the administration. Now it seems to have been replaced by sort of a muttered coughing and a looking away, and saying oh my."

1571 How MoveOn.org will fix New Orleans

They don't seem to have a plan for the white Texans hurt by Hurricane Rita, but here is the plan for NOLA.

"Liberal Group Lays Out Its Agenda"

Step 1. Throw in the kitchen sink. Repeat as often as necessary, but have no rebuilding plan.

The group is demanding "a responsible exit strategy from Iraq with a timeline that starts now."

How would an exit strategy have gotten drowned busses to the convention center; caused a levee secure for category 3 to withstand a category 4 hurricane; and correct all the past greedy politicians of both parties, local and state, who have kept New Orleans poor all these years through graft and corruption?

That means increasing the minimum wage, the group said.

2.7 % of working Americans make minimum wage or less. What does this have to do with damaged levees or terrible schools? Teachers and construction workers are protected by unions and make big bucks.

"We'll also work to prevent Republicans from privatizing Social Security and offering more tax cuts for millionaires -- policies which benefit the very rich and leave most of us behind," the press release said.

Adding a private plan to an overburdened government benefit program that gets borrowed to fund other programs won’t stop levees from failing, but won’t build them either; it won’t graduate students from poor schools, nor building new schools. Focus, people. Keep with the program, please.

And under the heading of "sustainability," MoveOn.org mentions global warming - which "almost certainly increased the force of Hurricane Katrina."

So will you also be telling China what to do with their industry? Their use of natural resources, particularly oil, will soon surpass ours. There’s not a shred of evidence that global warming caused this hurricane, unless it was a problem in the 1940s when there were more.

It also mentions out-of-control gas prices and says it will fight for "energy independence."

Don’t suppose that independence includes drilling in Alaska, or more refineries in the lower 48?

MoveOn.org also said its members want electoral reform - and Supreme Court justices that "serve the public, not just their friends."

Liberals have controlled the Supreme Court for years, so just what are you saying? Be careful what you wish for. Cronyism has served you well.

MoveOn.org has one goal only--to get us out of Iraq and allow millions of Iraqi people to die in the chaos that will follow--just like we did in VietNam, and to keep the Middle East destabilized so Israel can be destroyed.

1570 Bush is spending money like a Democrat

I'm not the only Bruce unhappy with the way Bush throws money at problems when government programs consistently have been proven to be a huge part of those same problems. Tammy Bruce agrees with me. He will never win the admiration or votes of Democrats for imitating them, and he most certainly alienates Republicans and Libertarians, who unlike Dems, have a reputation for NOT standing by their man.

1569 Good Samaritans and Katrina

A "Good Samaritan" is a term for someone who helps someone else without thought of pay back. It's based on Jesus' story in the New Testament. In veterinary medicine there are donor dogs and cats called "good Sams." We saw many Good Samaritans on the scene after Katrina. As I noted early in September, I sent my donation to the Southern Baptists after seeing the Central Ohio Chain Saw team get ready to go south before the flooding to clear trees. The rest of the country thought the hurricane had by-passed NOLA at that time and had gone back to business as usual.

There are also Good Samaritan laws intended to protect people, organizations or corporations that may be performing a service that places them in harm's way (i.e., in the cross hairs of lawyers). The American Institute of Architects has a whole package of proposals, one of which the passage of federal and state "Good Samaritan" legislation that protects architects and other design professionals from tort liability during the voluntary provision of free services to governmental authorities in times of disaster and catastrophic events.

I have only one problem with AIA's package. The AIA v.p. of Government Advocacy is a former Louisiana legislator. I have no idea if he is a Democrat or Republican, if he was good or bad in that position of responsibility. I do know this package comes with a huge price tag, and Louisiana has a really poor track record for abusing government funding, whether it's for pulling people out of poverty, educating children for employment and college, or building levees.

I do believe that professionals working in a volunteer capacity in their field should be shielded from law suits, however. Now that law firms are increasingly outsourcing legal work to India, it will be cheaper and cheaper for them to litigate, but more and more expensive for the rest of us.

1568 Graduate school in Education

Oh Snap is a very interesting blog (new I think).

"Today I had a seminar in which we discuss our student teaching experience. It was interesting--a LOT of the people in my seminar have the same kind of complaints about their schools that I do: lack of discipline, lack of consequences, not enough attention to basic skills and knowledge, etc. Somehow the entire seminar agreed that these schools were examples of "liberalism run amok." So that was amusing.

That whole seminar is hilarious. The guy who runs it is probably the most intense person ever. He has wild black hair and I could tell from the first time I saw him that he holds views that are "radical." He's a great guy, and definitely has sound educational views--a result of teaching for three years in the worst high schools in Philadelphia. But somehow he always steers the seminar away from discussing teaching and schools and toward other social ills that we are really not going to be able to deal with. For example, today somehow we got to the prison-industrial complex."

1567 Bill Bennett's comments on abortion

Bill Bennett on his radio show tried to refute an article in a book (Freakonomics) that says abortions would reduce crime, and he gets strung up by the liberals who cooked up this scheme? Really! Liberals have been saying for years that killing the unborn will "save" children from poverty and a terrible life (and help our taxes). They've also published this crime theory and blacks in scholarly journals.

"Fertility declines for black women are three times greater than for whites (12 percent compared to 4 percent). Given that homicide rates of black youths are roughly nine times higher than those of white youths, racial differences in the fertility effects of abortion are likely to translate into greater homicide reductions." Quarterly Journal of Economics "The impact of legalized abortion on crime" by John Donohue III and Steven D. Levitt. (2001) James Taranto suggests that what really made them mad was his suggesting it was immoral.

Where was the outrage when academics proposed it? Where was Nancy Pelosi then? That woman's hypocrisy really gravels me for some reason. She and Feinstein are so whiny. How do you Californians stand it?

1566 I'll bet you're surprised, but I'm not

You are a Social Moderate (56% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (61% permissive) You are best described as a: Centrist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

1565 How to control poverty in New Orleans

With very little government interference. Support and promote intact families in the media, in entertainment, in books, in churches, in the entire culture. Women, save your children from poverty.

1564 No slippery slope?

We could just pass the homosexual unions discussion and go directly to legalizing polygamous unions like the Netherlands. LaShawn Barber reports. Once you decide marriage is not between a man and woman, there is really no logical reason not to include any sort of union so the group can get their benefits. We've had serial monogamy for many years with men and women supporting by court decree spouses and children from various unions including those they never married.

1563 What to wear on a river cruise

Casual. I checked with my friend Nancy who travels a lot--in fact, she’d been on a Rhine cruise earlier this year. Casual, she said, very casual. So I carefully went through my Wal-Mart and K-Mart clothes and threw in a few better quality accessories, like Chadwick's and Kohl’s. I really didn’t need my basic, dressy black dress (plus it was a bit snug), but we had plenty of room, so I did take it just in case we had a dress-up occasion. Our weather was great--about 50s in the morning, maybe 65 in afternoon. Cool is better than hot, when you're struggling through cobblestone streets and hills. Here’s what I took.

We had 2 carry-ons bags and one smaller and one larger suitcases. We divided our clothes between the 2 larger suitcases, so that if one got lost, we’d each have at least 3 changes of clothes. Medications and make-up were in the carry-ons. We each packed one change of clothes in our carry-on and a change of shoes. One couple on the cruise did not have their luggage until the 5th day, and had only their carry-on. So pack that bag very carefully!

I chose a brown, black, cream and beige color scheme, with just a couple of other colors, like a bright blue and moss green thrown in so I didn't get too bored.

black, brown, cream

Brown knit slacks
Black knit slacks
Black cotton pull-on slacks to wear on the plane

Black knit skirt (rolled up for carry on)
Brown print skirt
Denim skirt

Cream knit short sleeve sweater (rolled up for carry on)
Cream long sleeve blouse
Black, brown, cream striped turtleneck
Cream long sleeve cotton knit shirt with small blue brown print
Moss green long sleeve turtleneck
White 3/4 sleeve blouse to wear on the plane
Dressy blue/black/pink jacket with sleeveless blue blouse
Short sleeve white knit shirt (never used)

Beige moleskin over-shirt, cardigan style
Beige linen blazer
White cardigan (never used)
Two scarves, one in blue tones, one in autumn colors
Lined, light weight, rain resistent blue jacket with hood

PJ’s, underwear, hose, anklets etc.
Black athletic shoes, loafers, sandals, heels
Tan sandals

If I'd packed differently, I would have left out the dress and bought a dressy sweater set to wear with slacks or a skirt. Dresses do seem to be a dying breed. My husband had two sport coats and two ties, but one would have been sufficient.

Because this is hurricane season, we chose to fly out of O'Hare rather than Charlotte, and it is actually a shorter distance to Frankfurt. But I like Charlotte's airport better.

1562 More work for lawyers

News that Paxil may cause birth defects during the first trimester, should fill in the time for any lawyers not flogging the Vioxx cases and Katrina mold.

1561 Not yet, but maybe someday

Viet D. Dinh, suggests Vietpundit. I would say it's pretty remarkable he's made it this far.

1560 More comments on the Chronicle Librarian article

Paul provides some real horror stories about some instructors in his library school education. Wow. Wasn't that way when I went to college--I think the professors kept their politics to themselves. We talked about really old fashioned concepts like books, serials, history of information and the future of computers and how to make information accessible. I think the most dramatic thing I remember is discussing "In cold blood" by Truman Capote. Seems a little tame now. Must have been the blue jeans. No instructor--or even students--wore jeans to class in grad school. Raises the standards if you need to look nice to keep your job.

Paul recalls, "The head of the program, since departed, gave a seminar on the Robert Maplethorpe pictures that caused so much controversy due to their explicit depictions and federal funding. We got to see the famous photo of a naked Maplethorpe with a bullwhip stuck in his anus. She also showed us a photo by Mapplethorpe's protege which showed a four-year-old girl sitting down, raising her dress to reveal her vagina (no panties). She had, as our Director said, an "impish grin that revealed her hidden sexuality." Me and the woman sitting to my right were horrified, but we seemed to be the only ones. But, as David Durant points out, many often choose not to speak out in order to fit in."

1559 Little quiz time

You Are A: Lamb!

Peaceful and gentle, lambs have been used in religious imagery for millennia. Lambs are baby sheep, an animal tended by shephards since the dawn of history. As a lamb, you tend to stay together in a flock and graze on grassy land. Lambs don't mind being led and tend not to go off on their own.

You were almost a: Duckling or a Chipmunk
You are least like a: Monkey or a PuppyWhat Cute Animal Are You?

I saw this at Jenna's site.

1558 Why women?

"Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) affects approximately 2 million people in the United States. RA is prevalent across all ethnic groups, and can occur at any age, although most cases are seen in adults between ages 30 and 60 years. Women comprise 75% of all cases.[1] The disease accounts for more than 9 million physician visits and 250,000 hospitalizations annually, presenting a huge economic burden on society.[1] RA is a chronic, progressive autoimmune inflammatory disease of unknown etiology that attacks the synovial tissue leading to irreversible joint damage, chronic pain, stiffness, and functional impairment.[2] Most patients with RA develop permanent bone erosions and joint space narrowing and with time, many are disabled and may require joint replacement surgery. RA can reduce the average life expectancy by about a decade.[3]" From www.medscape.com. The sooner it is diagnosed, the more successful the treatment, but there is no cure.

"Autoimmune diseases run the gamut from mild to disabling and potentially life threatening. Nearly all affect women at far greater rates than men. The question before the scientific community is "why?" We have come a long way in the diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune disease. But more work is needed, especially in the areas of discovering the causes and developing more effective treatments and prevention strategies." from AARDA page

My daughter has Hashimoto's Disease, an autoimmune disease with a female to male ratio of 50:1. This disease destroys the thyroid. Do you suppose it is unreasonable to wonder if this was reversed--75% of RA cases were male--we'd have more answers? More funding? Just a thought.

1557 The Democrats may be socialists

but the Republicans are liars, opines Professor Chaos, who attended a party and didn't like what he heard.

1556 Telenovelas on Time Warner

So I was a few months late discovering our Spanish language channel. I was out of town all summer. I'm having a blast watching what I think are the telenovelas, or maybe they are just Latin soaps. Yesterday there was the most incredible cat fight between two women, with screaming, hair flying, eyes popping, slapping, kicking, and one helpless older guy watching and another peeking from behind a door snickering. The fashions, hair-dos, sets, story lines, family fueds, automobiles and other toys are way beyond your usual (yawn) suds stories. Even the commercials are less objectionable when you don't know what they are saying. I'd supply some links, but I haven't been able to catch the titles.

1555 Why Paula dumped me

She says it was this post that unlinked me from her blogroll. I have my doubts. She's got thicker skin than that. I'm old enough to be her mother and am from northern Illinois where she's from--maybe she's got issues? I've been reading her stuff since pre-blog days. She's a Romance writer--not sure if she's published, but I know someday she'll be rich and famous. Of course, I've never read a romance novel, so how would I know? But she loves what she does and that's part of it. Maybe luck? Possibly. Right time, right place? Follows guidelines? Probably. Most likely after the kids are out of the nest and she has plenty of time to concentrate.

Many writer-wannabes back in the 90s thought the internet would launch their writing careers. I think it eats up their energy and writing juices. The really good ones eventually get published, along with some really awful ones if the Half Price Book Store shelves are telling the truth. Since I have no idea what Paula's real name is, I may never know if I pass up her best seller in the bookstore.

1554 Ready to stay home for awhile

After a week in Florida in February, a week in Illinois in April, July and August at Lakeside interrupted by five days in Oklahoma and Arkansas for a Frank Lloyd Wright - Fay Jones architectural tour, and a September Danube River cruise in Germany and Austria to be followed by another week in Illinois, I'm ready to stay home for awhile. My husband's had even more travel with two trips to California to be with his dying father and then his funeral in March and May. That's why this poem written by my girlfriend Lynne (since highschool) which arrived yesterday in the mail, means so much.

It's grand to go on holiday
and break the set routine.
It's nice to get away, you say
and have a change of scene.
It's tonic, so they say,
to see and to explore
The exciting world outside your door.

But then comes the moment--
you have had enough!

Then it's home you long for
Your own small, cozy kingdom
Where you know just where you are.
Oh, it's good to get back home
and breathe your native air,
And settle in your very own
familiar easy chair.

Thanks, Lynne, my thoughts exactly.

1554 How to clean your iPod and Nano

See what I told you? I don't have a niche. This guy explains, with photos, how to clean your iPod with Brasso, and he gets 45 comments. I think I know what an iPod is, but have no idea about nanos. I thought that was Mork and Mindy talk. Oh, that was nanu. I saw Todd's blog at the Make.blog which I saw at Lethal Librarian, who belly dances.

Update: See how the bloggers are getting the jump on the news writers? Today's paper had an article about the Apple iPod and Nano--it gets good marks for features like holding 1,000 songs (who in the world needs that?), pictures of album covers, photos, podcasts and audiobooks. But bad marks for scratching!

1553 Library Juice runs dry

Not sure that you would care--I don’t really. Library Juice is a radical left wing librarian's on-line serial, whose writer/editor smugly proclaimed to be above the blogging fray. I don’t link to him although I do link to liberal blogs about librarianship (the majority of librarians are liberals, but many can stay on topic, promote the profession and do an excellent job in their blogs). Jack Stephens has a note about this at Conservator, referring to Lethal Librarian and reports that while proclaiming to support freedom of information, Library Juice also published 7 different issues in support of Fidel Castro, old Mr. Fuzzy Bear himself.

I hope Mr. Litwin can find himself (he's going to start blogging). He seems to violate everything our profession used to stand for, and now that the profession is struggling to stay afloat, maybe he's jumping the [librarian]ship.

Blake, at LISNews.com also commented on Library Juice. "Rory was a big part of LISNews for years, and if I remember right, one of his big problems with LISNews is how I let everyone have a say. I don't subscribe to that theory in any way. However much I may want to start firewalling people that annoy me, I'll just never do it. I'll never avoid conversations I don't want to have by silencing everyone. It's easy to figure out who is a delusional nut job and who is interesting and informative, and I read people based on the reputation they've made for themselves. I don't think it does any of us any good if I silence them. I welcome constructive criticism, and I also welcome people I disagree with into my world."

1552 The value of a college education

My post on this topic about 18 months ago really raised some hackles. You just don't gore this sacred cow! However, this week I noticed in our local paper that a young man I watched grow up (sat in front of us in church on Sunday) who is about three years younger than my son, had been hired by the local school board as treasurer--for $108,000 a year. Obviously, some areas of education pay much better than others--especially if you are not directly involved in educating!

1551 The blog roll

Paula cut me loose; Mr. Cloud says I'm hanging by a thread because of my politics. Twyla gave up blogging. Lori doesn't have a blog roll. Other bloggers who linked to me have just disappeared, with no explanation. Moved on, gone on vacation, on hiatis, died, divorced, whatever.

I'm coming up on the second anniversary of blogging--October 2003 I started. If I'd been smart or if I'd wanted fab stats, I would have never admitted to being a retired librarian, and I would have used my daughter's photo (she's gorgeous). I would have used lots of sexually loaded language, like certain popular sites, and found a niche like knitting dog hair, or buying shoes. The internet may be the new communication/information medium, but no one wants to hang out with senior citizens. Not even other seniors. I've taught about 10 over-55 year olds how to blog, and none have kept up. They posted about 2 or 3 then went back to golf, or publishing books, or drinking coffee. Even my best friend won't read blogs, and my sister and brother rarely check in. Murray, who has an opinion on everything and is a good writer, seems to have lost his password; Eric is quiet, thoughtful and philosphical, but must have writer's block.

The number of Americans who say they read blogs jumped 58% in 2004, to 32,000,000 people, according to Pew. And there are supposed to be 18,000,000 blogs, which means I should get at least 2 regulars. Those who follow the trends say "pungent entries" bring people back. "Pungent" means being sharp, incisive, and to the point--even irritating, from the Latin words meaning fist or fight. Hmmm. Paula and Mr. Cloud find me irritating, but it doesn't seem to work with them.

Update: Just checked on Eric. He's got his third entry. Oh, praise the Lord!

1550 Our new Spanish cable station

We've recently had a Spanish language channel added to our regular selection, 99 on our local Time-Warner. I've been watching/listening (TV is actually behind me in my office) and have noticed again, that all Latinas on TV news, commercials and soap operas look like Jennifer Lopez's sister. The men however, come in all shapes, sizes and ethnicities. The men can be much more Indian looking, or northern European looking, they can be round or thin, short or tall, and it doesn't seem to hurt their careers. The women, however, seem to need a certain look. And a lot of cleavage.

1549 Finally, my question is answered

Michael Brown, in his testimony about Katrina, has answered my question, "What part of this is Bush's fault?" Dems just had vague, political-based criticism. Mushy, weak verbs. Hate that. I never heard specifics. Brown had one, although he didn't say Bush, you know where this buck stops.

He testified that FEMA has been starved and broken being stuck in Homeland Security. Interestingly, Democrats had had the same criticism about three weeks ago--until someone reminded them that the huge umbrella agency was their off-spring (Lieberman) and not Bush's idea (I think he initially rejected it). Then they sort of muffled that and spewed their hatred for Bush. Then Brown said the federal agencies who should have responded to FEMA's requests didn't, and he specifically pointed to the Department of Defense. Well now, if you can't blame the President for his people not working together, who else is there? This inter-agency squabbling and turf protection sounds just like the CIA/FBI communication break downs in pre-9/11. I think it is like a mold that grows on big government. Bush's solution, which is to grow the federal government even bigger and moldier, sounds like he isn't listening. Crony or not, Brown has a valid point.

Even so, the Democrats acted like spoiled children by boycotting the hearings--listening is difficult for them as we saw during the Roberts hearings.

1548 Why he blogs

David Durrant, a librarian on my list of links, says he feels better about his conservative views now that he is blogging. Librarianship is a left wing "politicized atmosphere of groupthink and intolerance echo chamber." His op ed appears in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

"The open politicization of the ALA [American Library Association] has also trampled on the association's commitment to intellectual freedom and diversity of opinion. The ALA's Social Responsibilities Round Table, for example, has become the exclusive plaything of radical leftists, and they have made it abundantly clear that those holding differing viewpoints are not welcome. For instance, conservative posts to the SRRT e-mail list are treated with open hostility.

The ALA's annual conferences have become akin to MoveOn.org meetings, where Bush bashing and liberal groupthink are the order of the day. At the association's June 2003 convention, in Toronto, the lineup of speakers included Ralph Nader, U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, Naomi Klein, and Gloria Steinem. That was merely a warm-up, however, for the blatantly political event that was the 2004 convention in Orlando, Fla."

None of this will surprise librarians, but I'm guessing the other academics won't care. (For those of you outside the university/college milieu, The Chronicle is a cross between the Bible and the New York Times and is read by most.) Although they may be surprised to see that as a group, librarians are much further to the left than professors.

1546 The Red Cross money pit

The Los Angeles times has an editorial questioning the 70% of all the relief money for the hurricanes that the Red Cross has received.

"This skewed giving to Red Cross would be justified if the organization had to pay the cost of the 300,000 people it has sheltered. But FEMA and the affected states are reimbursing the Red Cross under preexisting contracts for emergency shelter and other disaster services. The existence of these contracts is no secret to anyone but the American public. The Red Cross carefully says it functions only by the grace of the American people — but "people" includes government, national and local. What we've now come to expect from a major disaster is a Red Cross media blitz."

"The Red Cross expects to raise more than $2 billion before Hurricane Katrina-related giving subsides. If it takes care of 300,000 people, that's $7,000 per victim. I doubt each victim under Red Cross care will see more than a doughnut, an interview with a social worker and a short-term voucher for a cheap motel, with a few miscellaneous items such as clothes and cooking pots thrown in.

The Red Cross' 3 million unpaid volunteers, 156,000 of whom it says are deployed in Hurricane Katrina, are salt-of-the-Earth Americans. But asking where all the privately collected money will go and how much Red Cross is billing FEMA and the affected states is a legitimate question — even if posed by the president of a small relief agency."

My donations haven't gone to the Red Cross, but if yours have, you may want to read the entire article and do your own research on where your money will do the most good.

1545 Speaking of Germany

"Josef Goebbels would have been happy with much of the mainstream media in the past few weeks since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Goebbels, for those of you too young to know, was Hitler's propaganda minister. He is credited with creating the concept of The Big Lie. The idea was that if you tell a lie big enough often enough, people will believe it.

The big lie of the Hurricane Katrina story is that it reveals deep and hateful racism in America, that blacks were treated worse than other people because they were black, and that this shows the hypocrisy of this supposedly egalitarian nation."

But here's the truth. Most of the horrible things we were told by our cable news networks about murder, mayhem, looting and rape, just didn't happen. Their reports kept FEMA teams out of the area. When body recovery teams from the military entered the evacuation facilities in NOLA they expected to find many bodies based on the news coverage. They found six. Gosh, five people died in Texas from using a generator improperly during Rita! The murder rate apparently slowed during the storm's aftermath. Reporters were not inside those facilities, remember. They were outside on the freeways and had no way to check the rumors. Fox News to its credit, is now correcting that image with interviews of people who are or were on the scene. I don't think they've admitted complicity in creating an anti-America news story, however. I have no idea how CNN is handling their missteps.

In addition, according to Ben Stein in this article quoted above, the blacks were victims not of racism, but geography, a terrible storm, and mass confusion. The people who came to their aid were white churches and black churches working together. People all over the country have opened their homes and businesses to these people.

So who are these racists trying to stir up hatred among us? Well, so far, they've all been liberals and Bush-bashers. It's their plantation mentality.

More on the media's role in distorting the news about the storm

Rep. Peter King (NY) on MSNBC Chris Matthews show, Hardball, Sept. 26

PK: I'm not talking about distorting the damage [of the hurricane]. I'm talking about distorting President Bush's role. Somehow, this was almost entirely blamed on him. That was a certain impression given by the media from the very first moment, when the levees broke. And you had Andrea Mitchell on talking about how that was because President Bush didn't put enough money into the water projects in Louisiana, or the levee control projects, when it turns out that he put more money in, in his first five years, than Bill Clinton did in his last five years. And no state gets more money in the country than Louisiana does. And use that as an example, and then go right through.

There was much more focus put on what President Bush was supposedly not doing, when the fact is it was the mayor who didn't provide the trucks, the buses to evacuate the people, sent the people to the Superdome without adequate food or water. And then also, there's the governor. The governor of Louisiana, and I was down there last week, she said every report that was done before this, said that a storm of this magnitude would kill 20,000 people. The fact is, so far there's less than 800. Every death is tragic, but why isn't your story less than 4% of those who were supposed to have been killed were not killed, because of the efforts of the federal government? The Coast Guard, remember, is part of Homeland Security. They were in the very first day rescuing thousands and thousands of people. That's just an example of the distortion. It's continuing today, the way you're questioning the contracts, assuming something is wrong when the president is fully following the law."

Lots of mp.3 clips well worth listening to.

"PK: [The President] was relying on what everyone, including Page 1 of the New York Times said, which was that New Orleans had ducked the storm. It wasn't until Tuesday that we realized how bad the situation was. And by then, the president had no way of knowing that the New Orleans Police and Fire Departments were going to disappear, that the governor wasn't going to adequately use the National Guard, and that the mayor had not put sufficient water and food into the Superdome. It takes a good 36 to 48 hours to move troops, the amount that were necessary, to provide relief in the Superdome."

And here's the best part.

PK to CM: "Just because the president doesn't watch you on television, it doesn't mean he's not doing his job. You know, Franklin Roosevelt wasn't hired to listen to radio accounts of D-Day. You're hired to do the job, and the president can do his job without having to listen to Chris Matthews or Andrea Mitchell or Tim Russert, or any of the others. He is doing his job."

1544 Am I the only one

who gains weight because I like to eat? I've gained 15 pounds this year and I'm not troubled, I don't blame my parents, and it's no one's fault but mine. And blogging, of course, which is very broadening. And that is PJ and Paula's fault.

Isn't this a stupid thesis?

"Mostly, fat people are fat because they're troubled, and if they lose weight, they become troubled slim people, and then they just start overeating again, and become fat people who are even more troubled than they were before." New book called Hunger.

1543 My biggest mistake

was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional," [Michael] Brown told a special congressional panel set up by House Republican leaders to investigate the catastrophe.

"I very strongly personally regret that I was unable to persuade Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin to sit down, get over their differences, and work together. I just couldn't pull that off."

At last. A breath of fresh air. I suppose since he's been made the scapegoat he doesn't have to mince words. I hope the party doesn't make him take it all back. He looks good with that backbone.

Naturally William Jefferson, the LA congressman who tied up rescue helicopters and trucks checking his house and removing items, was outraged.


Clueless Congressman

1542 Does USAToday hate black people?

If today's cover story had appeared at an RNC or administration web site, all hell would break loose. I don't think the paper's writers deliberately put a negative spin on blacks waiting at an evacuation center, but it couldn't sound worse if that had been the intention.

First, the photos. Five photos of people waiting--all evacuees, all had had jobs and homes in New Orleans. The only white person in the five photos is shown looking for jobs in the want ads of a newspaper while eleven African American women and men sit in the background staring into space.

Second, the human interest stories. One evacuee, Wayne Scardino (who I assume is white from his surname), had a successful lawn care business before Katrina destroyed his house and business, and he was planning to relocate to another city and take advantage of small business loans from the government to get started again. He had taken the initiative and responded to a flier posted at the center. The other stories, mostly about unmarried couples with children, reported how they'd refused offers from churches and relatives to relocate to different states. One woman had refused to move to a trailer. They are waiting for FEMA to "do something" and the woman whose rented duplex had been destroyed complained about the lack of privacy at the center, but said, "We could do better," than taking those other housing options. One black man who had been employed in a hotel chain is reported as saying, "It's like a vacation," and he is satisfied to just wait for the government to do something.

Also, this article quoted some Louisiana officials saying some unsavory things (to this tax payer's ear), like Blanco wants FEMA to put people up in hotels rather than trailers. So that's apparently why only 99 trailers for evacuees have been set up in LA, but 2,325 trailers have already been occupied in Mississippi and Alabama. Do you suppose FEMA will be blamed for this "slow response" to housing needs in LA?

Also, according to Kim Hunter Reed, the state policy and planning director, who is quoted in the article, New Orleans had a severe housing shortage before Katrina! There are two things that cause housing shortages: rent control and new construction red tape, including environmental hoops to jump through to get permits. Government interference in the market causes housing shortages. It happened after WWII, and continues in cities like New York which have rent control. I don't mind helping people when they are down, but New Orleans was by any reasonable woman's standard a mess before Katrina.

1541 A Cajun East Germany

Last week during our Danube River Cruise we enjoyed many outstanding lectures. Tour guide Robert who is British and has lived and studied both in the USSR and the GDR, lectured about post WWII Germany and reunification. He said (according to my notes) that USSR had hoped it could build a model country from the ashes, and in 1949 the GDR (East Germany) was formed. While the USA poured money into Germany building housing, businesses, and currency reform, the GDR stagnated. 100,000 people a year were leaving the East for better opportunities in the West. The Berlin Wall was built and the Iron Curtain fell cutting off what had been Prussia. On the 40th anniversary, 1989, the people knocked down the wall, and no one in the West had a plan B, because no one believed the Soviets would so totally fail. After 1990, things went sour. 16 million East Germans and 4,000,000 Volga Germans had to be absorbed into the rather generous German social system and economy. It was a disaster--"Too risky to invest in a work force that had been under Communism for 45 years."

Two days later Dr. Hans Hillerbrand picked up the theme with "What is a German?" He said Germany had had one of the most generous social systems in the west, with no unemployment and few pensioners in the 1980s. But as the work forced aged, and the East Germans came into the system not having contributed anything, 1.4 trillion Euros were transferred west to east to get the former GDR's economy going again. But it is a black hole. In the GDR, 8 workers were employed where 2 were needed, but easterners wanted the same salaries as westerns, who were far more capable and productive.

In today's WSJ George Melloan writes in the "Global View" column about how government handouts and subsidies to the East Germans to bring them "up" to West German standards has failed, causing high unemployment, anger and a growing Communist party, which made a small showing in the election that took place while we were there. Unemployment in east Germany is at 19%. He notes that the ambitious 4 milllion left, resulting in a Darwinian downward spiral in the population, leaving the elderly, the lazy and the indigent.

As I was reading it I kept thinking how much it sounded like Louisiana politics and government props (before Katrina) and how much worse the federal infusion of "aid" could make life there. And then in his last sentence I see we were really "on the same page," when he mentioned the hurricane aid was going to turn Louisiana into a "Cajan East Germany."

1540 Write down those stories!

In two weeks I'll be visiting family in Illinois. While I'm "home" I hope to visit a great aunt who just celebrated her 90th birthday. I'm going to take along the genealogy information I've accumulated over the years and try to fill in a few blanks, and I hope to hear some "stories." Not everyone is a story teller, so sometimes you have to ask questions like "Where was your family living when you were born? Did you hear stories about your parents' early life you could share with me?"

Here's an essay I wrote in June 2002 about a story I heard from a neighbor. He can no longer communicate, so I hope someone in his family will write down for the great grandchildren his "library."

At age 77 my neighbor climbed down the ladder from the roof of his 2 story house, wiped away the sweat, and told me how sad he was that he was now an orphan. Two brothers and a sister had died the previous year, and he was the last one--the youngest of 9. The one brother was the family story-teller--always pumping the aunts and uncles, cousins and sibs for stories which he would then retell and embellish at family get-togethers--a bard, a chronicler of their life and times. "We lost a library," my neighbor said sadly, "no one ever wrote them down, and I'm no story teller."

But then, as though lying about his own ability, he told me the story of how his father watched 3 friends die in mine fires in south eastern Ohio, and decided to move his family to Cleveland for better opportunity and a safer job. All eleven of them took the train ride to Cleveland to find the one man he knew there. All he knew was that his friend worked for the railroad, so the family sat, ate, and slept in the train station for three days until the man came through on a train. The children swept floors and ran errands for people to get a little cash together. Finally his father saw his friend, who immediately took them home with him. Within 3 days, the father had a job, and within a year, he'd made a down payment on a house for his family. I can't repeat the story the way he did, but he had quickly stepped into his brother's shoes.

Now he has Alzheimer's. He doesn't recognize his wife, children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren. But the family still gathers and treats him with great tenderness and respect. The house bustles with friends and children running in and out, but the library has closed forever. Write your stories.

1539 The Michael Jackson Treatment

Cindy Sheehan gets my Jacko moves. Whenever a story about her comes on the news, I pick-up the remote and change channels, a method I used during the trial. I've also e-mailed NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox (don't watch CNN) asking them to stop making her into news. So far, I've seen snippets of "King of the Hill" and some shopping channel gems, but that's better than watching non-news.

1538 Blew her out of the media

A certain grieving mother got blown out of the limelight by Hurricane Katrina, and now can be found grinning and laughing as she is arrested in what appears to be a mosh pit for storming the White House in a war protest. Ah Cindy. I think your 15 minutes of fame is over. You are so yesterday I'm not even going to post the photo I came across while looking for something. . .interesting. . . relevant. . . and age appropriate.

1537 Why weren't they prepared for this?

"Speaking at a symposium in New York last week, Arthur Jones, chief of disaster recovery for Louisiana's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, told the Associated Press that his agency he was caught off guard by the tidal wave of violence.

No disaster planner, he said, predicted that people would loot gun stores after the storm and shoot at police, rescue officials and helicopters." Katrina death toll

Hello! 1. Law abiding citizens leave. 2. Crooks stay. 3. Gun stores are unguarded. Not my field of expertise, but I think I could have figured this one out. Number 4 is Looting.

Who hires these local Homeland Security "experts." And they were supposed to protect us from terrorists?

Update: I heard today that there were no more murders during the Katrina aftermath than any other week. Can't confirm it yet, but I was hoping someone would subtract the usual death toll from the Katrina toll to come up with a figure. Also, Michael Brown says FEMA does not send volunteers or staff into unsafe areas because they are not military or police, and the media was reporting violence and gunfire. Now it appears much of that was way over-hyped and exaggerated.

1536 Roberts is in; who's next?

A strong judiciary and a weak Congress is not what our Founders had in mind, but that's the hand we've chosen to put in our glove. So who's next? This will be Bush's real legacy--Supreme Court members stay on for 30 years or more--and we know there will be a battle.

All we'll hear from liberals is ABORTION and various thinly veiled issues dealing with "morality." I'm assuming the rest of the issues are all code words for ABORTION. Do we really want the next 30 years of court battles determined by that and the direction it has taken us?

"Most of all, perhaps, [legalized abortion] has corrupted liberalism. For all its flaws, liberalism could until the early seventies claim a proud history of standing up for the powerless and downtrodden, of expanding the definition of the community for whom we pledge protection, of resisting the idea that might makes right. The Democratic Party has casually abandoned that legacy. Liberals’ commitment to civil rights, it turns out, ends when the constituency in question can offer neither votes nor revenues." Richard John Neuhaus

In most areas of traditional morality Christians (according to polls) have been willingly co-opted by the larger culture in divorce, remarriage, gambling, pornography, addictions, cheating on tests, and over-all bad behavior. Even 30 years ago, there was a clear difference in behavior, but we've lost our witness. So let's at least hang on to honesty and recognize that we've pretty much lost the ABORTION battle, even among Christians. We might as well look at the next candidate's expertise on other issues--areas dealing with business, the environment, education, etc.

It was interesting that during the Democrats' grilling of Roberts the biggest complaint was his "silence." Oh, that we had some of that precious commodity from the committee members! My oh my. Don't they love a camera! Like that has-been in Sunset Boulevard, Norma Desmond played by Gloria Swanson. "This is my life. It always will be. Nothing else...just us. The camera...and those wonderful people out there in the dark."

Yes, for all of us people out here in the dark.

1535 Women may regret this

If men behaving badly, but not sexually, creates a hostile environment for women, then will men be able to sue for sex discrimination when women in the work place just do the usual girl thang using all the codes women understand and men don't? Gossiping. Sniping. Whispering. Whining. Changing their minds. Giggling. Glaring. Sighing. Procrastinating. Interrupting. Wearing too much perfume. Taking off their expensive shoes because their feet hurt. Adjusting the themostat during menopause. Temper trantrums. Kitchen sink arguments. And of course, intuition.

"Screaming and yelling by men at work may now be sex-based discrimination if women at work find the behavior more intimidating than men do. On September 2, 2005, in E.E.O.C. v. National Education Association, (No. 04-35029), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the “reasonable woman” standard applies to workplace abusive conduct, even if there is no sexual content to the behavior. This decision significantly expands the types of behaviors that may furnish a basis for a claim of discrimination." ASAP

And what is this reasonable woman standard? Was Governor Blanco "reasonable" to ask for more time to think about about the federal government's involvement in Katrina? Yes, a woman being hounded by shouting male advisors on all sides in a crisis would be "reasonable," but completely ineffective.

Screaming at anyone is bad behavior and that supervisor should fail on his or her own merit. Or lack thereof.

Photos of our Danube Cruise: Linz and Melk, Austria

Austria is a rather small country today, having lost much of its vast Austro-Hungarian Empire after WWI. Linz is the provincial capital of Upper Austria, with the oldest church in Austria. This is also where we toured a modern university and had a lecture on the Austrian educational system. Melk was Bob's favorite of the whole trip, and after we docked he walked into town and got an amazing view of the massive Benedictine Abbey before our tour the next day. I, of course, was wowed by its library.

Linz Main Square

Linz trolley

Linz, Johannes Kepler University

Melk Abbey

Melk Abbey interior

Melk Abbey Library

Melk, town view

Photos of our Danube Cruise: Regensburg and Passau

Columbus, Ohio is about 200 years old--Regensburg is about 2,500! I thought my architect husband would have a melt down--Romanesque, Gothic, Italianate, Baroque, Roccoco, neoclassical and romantic all within a few blocks. One thing we heard from all our outstanding local German and Austrian guides, important for any era--fame, power, ruling families, governments, churches and wealth come and go. A "global economy" was flourishing in Regensburg 1000 years ago due in large part to the Jews for 500 years then they were driven out, according to our guide. Around 500 B.C. Regensburg was a Celt settlement, and then the Romans used its strategic location to build a fortress, the walls of which are exposed and showing beneath many of the "modern" (17th century) buildings.

The Roman fort walls peeking out below

St. Peter's Cathedral, started in 1254 and finished around 1520.

Steinerne Brucke, over the Danube, built in the 12th century

Our story-teller guide showing us a door used during the black plague

The organ of the Cathedral at Passau where we heard a wonderful noon concert

Parish church in Passau

Photos of our Danube Cruise

Photos will not do this trip justice. Every village and city we saw was lovely; our boat and crew were wonderful; our guides were fabulous. Still, I want to record just a few to save in my blog. We still do the old fashioned photo album so we view our photos more than once.

Nuremberg: Let's start with the most sobering, and then move on. Hitler loved Nuremberg. Here Hitler convinced millions they were the master race in mass rallies. This concrete expanse was designed to make the individual feel both insignificant and part of something larger at the same time (according to our guide). With huge spotlights, it became a Cathedral of Lights.



Where the war trials were held.

Lovely scene in old Nuremberg, with a Starbucks nearby

On the upper deck enjoying the river view

1534 Cheney's heart problems

Surely I'm not the only Republican who thinks it is time for Cheney to step down. These latest problems are not minor. It's common to say the vice president is "a heart beat away from the Presidency," but that expression should not refer to Dennis Hastert.

1533 I'm still waiting

for someone to give the specifics on what President Bush should have done differently during Hurricane Katrina that would have made a difference--saving lives, property or speeding evacuation. If John Kerry had been President, or Bill Clinton, I think the results would have been the same . . . and so would the criticism, only it would have come from the Republicans. But it would have been John Kerry on vacation (in France? at one of his wife's mansions?). The Red Cross still wouldn't have been allowed in to provide water and food to 20,000 people waiting for buses. The buses still would have been windshield deep in water if Kerry hadn't lost by 180,000 votes in Ohio. People still would have refused to leave their homes if Hillary were still first lady. The hurricane category 3 levee still would have been breached if Bill Clinton were in office. Louisiana's National Guard still would have been the Governor's responsibility to call up.

Truly, all I've read or heard is, "Bush was clueless," "Bush didn't care," "Bush was on vacation," "ineffective response," or equally vague put downs, but nothing pointed like the criticism of Louisiana's governor and New Orleans' Mayor, who had very specific responsibilities for the safety and well-being of their citizens and functioning communication systems, but were unable to coordinate them or give up power to the next higher agency. In fact, right before Rita hit, weren't we hearing complaints from Nagin that New Orleans seemed to have a federal mayor? Wasn't he asking for that just two weeks ago?

I just think it is important all Americans understand what the federal government's response is supposed to be. After all, Bush accepted the responsibility for a slow response. We've got FEMA, and a whole alphabet soup of government agencies, and all sorts of laws and regulations that stop at our state borders. I don't want to see the Bush administration just holler Mea Culpa without some pretty careful explanation, because it just means the federal government will grow and more laws and regs that no one understands will be on the books. I'd like to see the books closed on some older disasters--have those families and businesses recovered? I think it is important because there are other disasters, like earthquakes and tsunamis that could wipe out transportation routes. So, just who is in charge here?

1532 Economic literacy

Should a course on economic literacy be taught in schools? Not just budgeting. Not how to read a stock report. But something with a little history?

"I break economic literacy into two components -- factual and conceptual. Alas, most well-educated Americans are illiterate in both areas. First, the facts. Whenever I teach a seminar on basic economics, I always survey the audience: What proportion of the American labor force earns the minimum wage or less and what is the standard of living of the average American today relative to 100 years ago?

Even among highly-educated groups such as journalists or congressional staffers, the median answer is depressingly similar -- they think 20% of the American work force earns the minimum wage or less. In fact, the actual number is something less than 3%. Usually a non-trivial portion of each group thinks that our material well-being is lower today than 100 years ago. Their median answer is that we are 50% better off than we were 100 years ago. In fact, the average American is at least five and maybe 30 times better off than we were in the good old days. There's a dramatic range because it's hard to value the opportunity to listen to your iPod while recovering from open heart surgery. But 50% is a very bad answer." Russell Roberts replies to WSJ's question about what the public doesn't know. . .

Imagine how news stories would change if journalists were required to be literate in economics! Think of the trees that have died to produce stories about families that can't survive on minimum wage.

1531 Cottage; America's favorite home inside and out

The book is finally ready--it was waiting for us in the pile of mail. Last year I'd noticed an item in the AIA newsletter about a deadline for submitting suggestions for a book about cottages. I printed it out and put it in my husband's line of vision with an extremely strong suggestion that he enter one of his Lakeside designs. He submitted some photographs along with a paragraph or two about "the healthy house" and Lakeside which is on the National Historic Register. The authors, M. Caren Connolly and Louis Wasserman contacted him, and last May sent a photographer Rob Karosis to Lakeside. The book had a proposed publication date of summer 2005 and we're sorry it wasn't available to the Lakeside market this summer, but now it's out and absolutely lovely!



We are so thrilled with it, and the photographer of Foley's home did a fabulous job. Take a peek inside the book--Cottage; America's Favorite Home Inside and Out.

From the introduction: "For many people, cottage living is a dream come true. And, as the cottages in our book show, every dream is different. Cottage owners typically ignore the commonly accepted real estate maxims, such as building for resale, maximizing square footage, including a bathroom for every bedroom, and tacking on a three-car garage. Instead they think outside the box and create intimate homes that express their personalities and how they enjoy living their lives. The cottages in this book, and the dreams of their owners, have cast a spell over us. We invite you to read their stories and imagine yourself enjoying the hospitality each cottage graciously offers."

Bob's healthy house is pages 29-35.

Lakeside, Ohio

1530 Big and Little Things I noticed

Obese Americans. I didn't see any. Travel though old cities of Europe with cobblestone streets, hills to climb, many irregular steps, and much less handicapped access than what we have come to expect, limits travelers and tourists to those in reasonably good health. The ages of the tour members ranged from early 40s at the lower end to mid-80s in the upper, but despite some frailty among a few of our older members, no one was what I would call obese. Nor did I see obese Germans and Austrians, who seem to look quite healthy and athletic based on what you see in American cities. (They obviously are running off all those wonderful breads and pastries.) I know I've read that they are catching up with us, but it is very noticeable the minute you step back inside an American airport.

Toilets. When you could find public toilets, they were well designed and managed. Toilet paper in Germany and Austria seems to be universally supplied by companies that produce paper towels and only know that product. A few places we experienced pay toilets which seems a throw back to the system we had here in bus and train stations in the 1950s. I didn't notice that they were any cleaner or nicer than those that didn't charge, but it does provide jobs. The stalls seem to be more sturdy, intended to last longer than a few months or years, mostly covered with ceramic tiles with stainless steel doors and really solid locks.

Churches and cathedrals. These seemed to be maintained by the state by taxing the Catholics (I suppose it is the same for Lutherans, but we didn't go through any protestant churches on a tour). Europeans like to criticize our American politics being influenced by religion, however, I think Americans would really balk at having the state collect taxes to support the churches. The cathedrals are a huge draw for tourists who bring in millions of Euros to support the economy. If anything, the state ought to do all it can to support these wonderful old buildings, which cost millions to maintain. We rarely saw a cathedral without scaffolding and plastic to catch debris.

Minorities. Although there were many African Americans on our flight to Frankfurt, they must have all been going elsewhere for a holiday. I literally saw only Caucasians and Japanese in Europe. I know there are "guest workers" in Germany and Austria who are darker, but I didn't see them. A few security personnel in the airports looked exactly the same as in the United States. I saw only one or two people in wheelchairs (it would be extremely difficult in the cities we visited), and only one retarded person. You know what? I think I missed the diversity of our large cities (disclaimer: we have almost none in our suburb which is pretty WASPish). For all our complaints about political correctness, affirmative this and that, and immigration policies, we are still a nation that accepts everyone as a goal, even if we haven't reached it yet. As unemployment soars in Europe, I think we'll see increasing resentment against minorities who have never become citizens, and even those who have.

Smoking. May I say a big thank you to all those liberals who have pushed cigarettes and cigars out of our faces, and eliminated the stink from our clothes and hair. Oh, how quickly you forget how unpleasant it is to sit in a smokey restaurant, or even to sit or stand outside with something that smells like old dirty clothes smoldering. Pugh!

Television. We had TV in our cabins, and unless we were going through one of the 21 locks on the Danube, we had fairly decent reception. I would sometimes watch German programming while trying to fall asleep (time change you know). Did you know you can watch a home make-over in German and pretty much figure out what is going on? They seem to love something that looks like a Judge Judy show, only it appears to have actors, not real plaintiffs and defendants. One time while flipping through I found three running simultaneously. We could also get BBC and CNN International. So we kept up with Hurricane Rita. One of the oddest things I heard on CNN (which I rarely watch at home) was a comment and clip of President Bush warning people to evacuate and take safety. The commentators said he was responding much more quickly than he did with Katrina having learned from the government's poor response. But after the video clip of his warning, she said, "This is the same speech he gave to the people in the path of Katrina in late August." Now why a warning has more impact if he is in a suit and tie in DC than in boots and jeans in Crawford, I have no idea.

Part I: Our Wonderful Trip
Part II: Our Danube Cruise
Part III: Photos: Nuremberg
Part IV: Photos: Regensburg and Passau
Part V: Linz and Melk
Part VI: Photos: Durnstein and Vienna--under construction
Part VII: East Germany Lessons for us
Part VIII: What to wear on a cruise
Part IX: Dancing on the Danube

1529 Our Danube Cruise

Our tour was arranged by the University of Illinois Alumni Association through AHI (Alumni Holidays International) which was the host for our cruise on the Danube River from Nuremberg to Vienna. I must say, it is an outstanding tour company and we literally didn't have a worry in the world. Every little detail was taken care of, and the ship they hired, MS Switzerland, was outstanding with attentive staff, fabulous food, and lovely decor.

Our Campus Directors were Cecilia R. Berry a native of Hungary and resident of California who works for AHI and Robert A. Dalton, of England who is a private contractor. They were both outstanding, and as we floated down the Danube, other lecturers joined us providing information on German history and culture, German reunification and its political and economic implications, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Austrian education system. Particularly interesting was Dr. Hans Hillerbrand, a professor of religion at Duke University. He began his career as an exchange student in the 1950s at Goshen College in Indiana and is a well known author in the area of religion.

Here's the site and description from Notre Dame's Alumni.

"Once upon a time, Charlemagne dreamed of connecting the waterways of Europe into one vast thoroughfare from the North Sea to the Black Sea. The formidable engineering and political challenges this vision presented took nearly 1200 years to overcome. The Main-Danube Canal, one of the most impressive engineering feats of all time, was the realization of this dream and, since September 25, 1992, has linked an enchanting world of fairytale castles and cities steeped in tradition.

On this exciting journey through the heartland of the Bavarian Alps and the breathtaking Wachau Valley, you’ll marvel at spectacular natural beauty, well-preserved medieval charm and architectural splendor. You’ll traverse the Main-Danube Canal and the Danube River as you relax in comfort aboard the elegant M/S Swiss Pearl. You’ll explore historic Nuremberg, regal Regensburg, picturesque Passau, the Wachauer towns of Linz, amazing Melk and Dürnstein and of course classic Vienna!"

1528 We had a wonderful trip

but it is good to be home. Our daughter and son-in-law met us at the airport last night and offered to take us out to eat (their wedding anniversary). But we'd been up for about 20 hours, so we declined. She took home the pumpkin pie and topping she'd brought over. Maybe today. . .

I'll be writing more as I find my notes and thoughts. First a comment about airports. We saw many. Columbus, Chicago O'Hare, Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Vienna, Munich. The only place I encountered rude staff with incomprehensible English was in Chicago!

I felt so sorry for one elderly Asian traveler at O'Hare trying to decipher verbal instructions. I would have taken him aside and in a gesture of American welcome and kindness helped him, but I couldn't understand a word the staff woman said. Elegant hairdo, long brilliant fingernails, and a spotless uniform, but not an understandable syllable or phrase of standard English. What a shame. Except there was that guy named Spencer where our passports were checked. He smiled, he was friendly, and he welcomed us home.

O'Hare was also our only experience with a delayed connection. Our international flight from Munich (Lufthansa) was within a minute of the scheduled arrival time. Our flight home had been coming in from Dallas and was redirected to Indianapolis. They scrambled to find another plane, and we were on the runway only 30 minutes late, then sat behind 26 others because it had been raining. Even so, in what must have been the shortest in air time I've ever had between Chicago and Columbus, we were only one hour late getting in.

Now, that's all out of my system, so on to happier thoughts to collect.

Signing off for awhile

While I'm gone, stop and read my archive column for Lakeside, Ohio stories and my recollections of long ago and far away. See you when we get back.


Lovely Wachau Valley


Beautiful Ogle County

This one's for you--son

Take a look.