Tuesday, April 25, 2006

So many leaks, so little time

CIA Leak Primer here, and
Patterico
Jeff Goldstein,
Ace,
Michelle Malkin,
Flopping Aces,
Tom Maguire,
Andrew McCarthy,
and Rick Moran
Byron York,
and her friend says this and
Captain Ed says" "Juan Williams attempted to defend her on Fox News yesterday evening as a principled dissenter, but that's hogwash. A principled dissenter would have gone through available channels, such as to the FBI, to Congress, or to the White House, to express her discontent on an issue. Failing that, she would have resigned and spoken openly about what she knew. McCarthy took none of those actions. Instead, she violated her confidentiality agreements, broke the law, and attempted to leak what she knew -- and only what suited her -- to the media. She wanted to keep her job rather than her honor."


In from the cold writes: "You'll note that many media accounts describe the leaker as an "analyst," suggesting that she was, at best, a mid-level staffer. That was hardly the case; few analysts make the jump from a regional desk at Langley to the White House. A "National Intelligence Officer" is the equivalent of a four-star general in the military, or a cardinal in the Catholic Church. There are only a handful of NIOs in the intelligence community; they are in charge of intelligence community efforts in a particular area. As a senior officer for Warning, Ms. McCarthy was tasked, essentially, with preventing future Pearl Harbors. Observers will note that McCarthy's tenure in that role coincided with early strikes by Islamofacists against the United States, including the first World Trade Center bombing, and the Khobar Towers attack. It could be argued that Ms. McCarthy's performance in the warning directorate was mediocre, at best--but it clearly didn't affect her rise in a Democratic Administration.

Equally interesting is her meteoric rise within the intelligence community. According to her bio, she joined the CIA as an analyst in 1984. Within seven years, she had rise to a Deputy NIO position, and reached full NIO status by 1994. To reach that level, she literally catapulted over dozens of more senior officers--and I'm guessing that her political connections didn't hurt. By comparison, I know a current NIO, with a resume and academic credentials more impressive than Ms. McCarthy's, who reached the position after more than 20 years of extraordinarily distinguished service. McCarthy's rapid advancement speaks volumes about how the Clinton Administration did business, and sheds new light on the intelligence failures that set the stage for 9-11. We can only wonder how many other political hacks climbed the intel food chain under Clinton--and remain in place to this day." And then follows this up with other interesting posts.

Whatever. Americans will only be worrying about the price of gasoline.

Update: Here's the problem: "McCarthy has a B.A. and M.A. in history from Michigan State University, an M.A. in library science from the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Minnesota. . ." her bio at CSIS (no longer listed)

2413 Sad news

You may recall our excitement in December when little Abby joined the family--a Chihuahua puppy. A month ago her lab tests in preparation for being spayed showed a liver problem, so surgery was postponed. The tests were rerun and today the vet called and said he is quite sure it is canine portal liver shunt disease. Our daughter and husband are devastated. She manages a medical practice and lab work that would mean nothing to me is quite clear to her. It had taken well over a year for them to even consider another dog after the death of their other dog. Like many their age who have no children, the pet is the child. And their other dog had almost a decade of expensive medical problems (heart). The prognosis for this kind of surgery is good, and the death is horrible if nothing is done. So if you have room on your prayer list tonight, whisper one for a broken hearted family and healing for a teeny tiny liver.

Monday, April 24, 2006

2412 Are you spoiled?

This meme is a little different. If you score more than 40, you are. I think this was planned for someone much younger. If you don't have a walk-in closet or good credit or a stock portfolio by the time you're my age, you may not be spoiled--but you just might be a poor planner. Tollef fog Heen

Even so, I scored 24.

Monday Memories


Did I ever tell you about the end of my childhood?


My 11th birthday was in the fall of 1950. During the summer of 1950 the curtain was slowly coming down on my childhood, but I didn't know it until much later. In fact, I was reminded of it last week when our writing group prompt was the comic strip Agnes who is supposed to be about 11 years old, lives with her grandmother and is always pondering life's difficult questions.

It was my last summer to ride a bike with my brother on the country roads and catch tadpoles to take home; the last summer to swing from vines in the dense woods on the road west of town; the last summer to visit our friends who had moved to Baileyville where you could still get a nickel ice cream cone; it was the summer I rode in the livestock truck with Charlie and Raymond; it was the last summer I would walk to the town baseball field in the evenings, sit up on the score board and run around being silly; it was the last fall I would build leaf castles in our front yard with my friends JoElla and Nancy; the last time I would play with dolls.

I started 6th grade in Miss Michael's fifth/sixth grade class in Forreston, IL in September in a building with grades one through twelve. On Sundays we worshipped at a small Lutheran Church in Forreston, although we weren't members, and my sisters attended their confirmation classes. We all sang in the choirs and my oldest sister took organ lessons there. On Sunday afternoons we would all get in the 1950 Chevrolet sedan and drive either to Mt. Morris to see my father's parents, or to a farm near Franklin Grove to visit my mother's parents. My parents would visit with my aunts and uncles and grandparents while we cousins would either walk to the Lamb Theater in Mt. Morris to see a B cowboy movie, or down the country lane into Franklin Grove.

In March 1951 my family moved back to Mt. Morris from which we had moved in 1946, and I finished 6th grade in a different school with a new teacher, new friends and a different church (where I had been baptized). I learned new slang, how to cope with cliques, and discovered the girls were gossiping about things I’d never heard of.

I'm in the front row right in this sixth grade class photo. I have a rather grown-up hair style and two piece dress and was probably close to my adult height and weight. There would still be time for child-like activities, but those times would be less and less Looking back, I think childhood was over during my 12th year, and like Agnes, I did start seeing things differently.



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Sunday, April 23, 2006

2410 Gas Prices

Friday night we went out for dinner--we always have a date night, and since I've been married over 45 years, you might want to tuck that away as a suggestion. The van was rolling on fumes, so I checked the web site to see where gas was cheapest, and at our corner it was $2.89 and across the river $2.69. For 15 gallons it looked like it might be worth it. After our $30.00 evening out at the pub and $5 at Cheryl's Cookies for dessert, we started for Mill Run. But it was barely after 6 p.m. and we hit all the traffic returning to the far out suburbs. Believe me, Columbus has nothing like Chicago, LA or DC, but we're spoiled. We pout if we sit a bit in traffic. So after sitting for 5 minutes through 3 stop lights, he pulled into a Speedway and got gas for $2.79.

So we saved $1.50 by not buying it on the way to the restaurant, and spent $1.50 more than if we'd added 10 minutes to our evening, sat on the bridge for awhile watching the ducks and got it for $2.69. Isn't that silly?

Last October on our trip to Illinois we were thrilled to find $2.89. Want money for gas? Buy one less carton of cigarettes a week--that'll fill up my tank. Stop at Speedway for your coffee instead of Starbucks. In a week, you'll more than make up the gas increase. Buy a medium pizza instead of a large, and eats some carrot sticks. Buy one six pack of beer instead of three--we'll all be safer if you plan to drive. Don't down load any tunes (.99 each) for a month and listen to the thousand you already have. Don't go to any first run movies for a month--hit the dollar theaters for what you missed 6 weeks ago. Or go to the library and get some free DVDs and make the popcorn at home. That'll be $15 for the tank right there.

Invite a neighbor on your next shopping trip or drive to work. Drive the speed limit and inflate your tires. Don't hop scotch around on the freeway--pretend you're fifty instead of 25, because you all end up at the light at the same time.

And if you are a Greenie, accept the credit and take a bow for these prices. You've kept the oil refineries from being built. You've stopped the drilling for oil on American soil. You've halted a lot of industry in the USA so we could have cleaner air, chasing people out of the cities where they had public transportation. People are reducing their driving because of you, especially poor people driving older, less fuel efficient cars. Be proud and puffed up when you hear your co-workers bitching. Smile. It's all your fault.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

2409 For Family Only

The rest of you won't care about this photo, but I'm just thrilled to have it. So just move along--if you don't like sappy and sentimental.


When I opened the envelope tears came to my eyes. I had seen this photo flash by in a DVD made by my second cousin (we have the same great-grand parents). I contacted her aunt to find out who they were. She wasn't sure, but said she'd find out. And then the photo arrived with a note from my cousin. This is the wedding photo of my grandmother's grandparents of Jefferson County, TN, James and Mary Ann Elizabeth Williford. It looks like it's been through some hard times--that it had been folded, and chipped, and maybe a cup or something placed on it. I don't know its provenance. Only one granddaughter of this couple is still living, the sister of my grandmother--she's 91 and I visited her last year. She probably has a copy of this, or this is a copy of hers. There are so many things I don't know about this couple that I'd like to ask.

So I go into my genealogy software and look them up. I found out quite a bit about this family on the internet some years ago because in Tennessee during the Depression there was an attempt to record family information from old Bibles, and that has since been put on the internet by county. James and Mary Ann Elizabeth had nine children. Leanor, my great-grandmother, was only 10 years old when her father, the handsome young bridegroom of this photo, died. I knew her. Used to run down the street and sit on her front porch swing and listen to her soft Southern drawl and gentle laugh. By then she'd probably buried those hurts of 60 years before. Why would she have even mentioned such a sadness to a little five year old whose own daddy was off in a war? How did such a large family survive with only a woman to head the household? James' father was over 50 years old when he was born, so how much help could they have been if still alive? Even my grandmother, Bessie, born in 1895, didn't know this couple. They had both died before she was born. For many years Grandma Bessie was our family archive--her phenomenal memory could retrieve the stories with ease. After her death, we'd ask my father. When he died it was like the library had been burned, and my paltry software is no match for the stories he heard from his parents and grandparents and at the Tennessee Reunions that were held in northern Illinois for many years.

However, we don't know what we don't know do we? So we don't ask.

2408 An Easter Walk

Cathy invited me along on an Easter Walk, 50 miles in 50 days. I don't have a pedometer, so I'm just clocking along at a mile for every 30 minutes. The park was really busy today--not only have the spring sports started, but Ohioans are so anxious for nice weather (probably less than 40% sunshine all year), that they tend to all rush outdoors at once.

Front row for Grandparents


Game's over; going home for lunch


He's just walking his dog


11 miles since Easter Sunday.

2407 Saving on blogger gas

To save you guys some gas, I'm going to combine several themes or thoughts into one blog entry instead of making them separate. OK? It will improve your mileage and save you money here. I've moved the gasoline prices to Sunday--just because I could.

Church stuff

We're having our SALT group here tomorrow evening. SALT is an acronym that someone with 70s angst thought up: Sharing and Living Together. I much prefer Serving and Learning Together because that's what we do. We have 3 campuses and 12 services (or is it eleven?), so if you don't participate in a small group you can become just a pew sitter. I think someone told me there are 144 ministries. Anyway. Back to SALT (no one took my suggestion, and at this point, staff has changed so often, I wouldn't even know to whom to re-suggest it, since no one but me is bothered by an inaccurate acronym). I've asked everyone to bring a favorite poem, verse, rhyme or limerick since April is National Poetry Month. I don't like to lead Bible studies, so my husband will do that part--I'll just do the warm up.

Dessert

I have a strawberry rhubarb pie in the oven, and the other one will be the peanut butter chocolate one I wrote about a few months back. My husband thinks I'm also making an apple pie (his favorite), but I sliced my thumb a little bit on the rhubarb, so I think I'll quit while I'm ahead. When he walked in while I was preparing the first one (never made it before), he asked why I would make something I never tried for company. Guys just don't get it, do they ladies? We all know that if you make something new, and there's just 2 of you to eat it, and one of you doesn't like it and pushes it around on the plate like it was brussel sprouts, then the other of you has to finish the whole thing! Right? But the second reason here is that even my bad pies are better than 90% of the good pies of everyone else. So there.

Update on my Exercise 13

I'm doing pretty good. I never set goals--hate goals, but promises aren't so bad. So I promised myself 30 minutes a day of exercise. I'm up to 50-60 minutes, but I'm not changing my promise because I'd rather go over than under. The weather has cooperated, so I'm getting about 30 minutes at the park, then later in the day, another 20-30 on the grounds. I'm walking in the grass and on hills when I can so my shins don't ache. I am consciously taking the stairs more often and parking further from stores. The sit-up plan, well, that didn't go so well. I'm finding more excuses not to do that.

New neighbors

New neighbors moved in this week. They just moved from across the ravine, but they are terrifically nice folks, so we're thrilled to have them. They are also Lakesiders, and my husband did their cottage for them. I saw their dog (with its owner) meeting another neighbor's dog this morning. Sniffing. Deciding who was going to be boss. If a dog has a blue ribbon in its hair is it a boy dog?

Another condo for sale just recently has also sold, I hear, to a single person. It has a dance studio in the lower level because the former owners were ballroom dancers. Our newish neighbors who moved in last year have added a hot tub. I guess they use it late at night, but so far I haven't heard anything.

Everyone says it's so hard to find a place here, but we've been here 4 years, and I think there have been 6 turnovers since we arrived. Out of 30 units, I'd say that's higher than our old neighborhood.

Mozart's Birthday

Our choir will be performing Mozart's Requiem, but since it was planned for Memorial Day week-end, I hadn't been practicing with them. Now the director might change the date because it conflicts with a wedding. As a result, I have a huge dilemma. I'm a really weak singer anyway, so do I try to catch up or mumble something that might pass as a lie? Actually, I don't like to perform in front of people--never have. I came down with Scarlet Fever just so I wouldn't have to be in a piano recital. I was in the junior class play in high school and hated being on stage and didn't try out for senior class play the next year. Our choir sings in a loft behind the congregation, so I've only been in front once, but it really increased my errors.

Check your mileage

See how many blog entries you can read here with only one stop for gas? And if you check my profile, you'll see that I have five more. Now Six, because I joined some Walkers.

Friday, April 21, 2006

2406 Leaving children unattended

Don't. Not for a minute. Even $5 million isn't worth it.

I really hope Chrysler wins on appeal. The child is left in the van, keys in the ignition so the guy washing the car could hear the radio, parked on a hill, emergency brake not set, mother not close by, and the child does what any kid would do who wants to "play driving" and puts it in gear. A device, not required in models of that year, might have been able to keep the van from rolling, but how do you protect children from adults who don't think?

2405 A Goldendoodle, a Dood, or a Golden-Poo

While walking in the park I've seen a man walking a large, cream colored dog, sort of fluffy. I used to keep breed posters of cats, horses and dogs posted on the bulletin board of the Vet Library, but I didn't recognize this one. So today I stopped and asked him the breed. "Not a breed, but a mix (hybrid) of a standard Poodle and a Golden." We chatted for awhile and he said they don't shed, and his was very good with his eight grandchildren. Apparently, Goldendoodles are good conversationalists, because when I got back to my car, the man was sitting on the curb smoking while talking to his blond friend: "Want some more water? How about some ice in that?" "Ready to go home? OK. Get in the car." Don't argue; don't try to run your life; great hair. Can't beat that, can you?

Update: Actually, I did blog about this in October--I'd never actually seen one. In this article it is called a Labradoodle, and is a lab poodle mix.

2404 Morning walk in the blossoms

My view as I step out the front door.



We love it here. The grounds are lovely; the neighbors are nice; and there's always someone around who knows how to keep things growing! It was dark when I left this morning and the spotlights were on the flowering crabs. The blossoms looked like dangling jewels. There are always birds and ducks, little critters, and big deer to watch. We never tire of looking out the window or walking around.









Our daughter drove down the street where we lived for 34 years the other evening on her way home from work. She called on her cell phone to report the new-new owners had a huge crop of dandelions in the front yard. She could hardly believe that her father who used to attack them every Spring would just say, "Oh really? Do you want to talk to Mom?" and hand the phone to me.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

2403 The Fashion Police

Another sketch from Panera's.

2402 Are you this desperate?

On Feb. 28 I said I was taking applications for a daughter-in-law. I don't know a woman (or man) in the world who would desperate enough to take this guy off his mama's hands. Cranky Beach has definitely found a first class jerk.

Thursday Thirteen


Thirteen things I know with absolute certainty

Have you noticed a shift to the phrase "I feel" when "I believe" or I think" or "I know" would sound too . . . dogmatic or pushy? Particularly women use this term. We all have opinions and beliefs, so why toss a perfectly good verb into the closet? Feelings are sweet, soft, and warm or loud and hurtful, and life would be boring without them, but for the long haul, give me a solid unshakable foundation any day. Your mileage will vary, but there are 13 things in my life I know.

1) I know with all my being and intelligence that I am special and unique because I was created in the image of God and am not a product from the slimy ooze 50 million years ago through endless cycles of trial, error and death.

2) I know God knew me personally as I was being formed cell and sinew in my mother's womb.

3) I even know when my own life began.

4) I also know when my present life on earth ends that I will be in heaven. In God's economy, nothing is wasted, including our experiences and pain. I will some day have a different kind of body, a resurrected, perfect physical body with a personality.

5) I know I was blessed to have two parents, married to each other for over 65 years, who loved me and made me feel secure even as an adult. I had a father who was always employed and a mother who was able to stay home with her children.

6) I know my parents also blessed me with two sisters and a brother, all wonderful people and friends, and a large extended family.

7) I know my parents loved me enough to mold my spiritual life and values and my formal education, seeing to it that this foundation was not left to chance, the government or to my own choices.

8) I know I am loved and cared for by a man who wanted to marry me and establish a home and a life together over 45 years ago.

9) I know that all my children are a blessing from God, chosen by him from the beginning of time to be in this family.

10) I know that having my adult children live in the same city as we do is a blessing few enjoy.

11) I know that friendship is a treasure and that old friends, some from childhood and many from years past, and new friends of just a few months duration are a blessing.

12) I know that good genes and good habits (examples from my parents) have provided me with good health, and I know I took this for granted when I was younger.

13) There's a well known radio commentator who claims to have "talent on loan from God," and I know this is true for all of us and loans must be paid back.

Christmas 1979


Christmas 25 years later



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Wednesday, April 19, 2006

2400 Harriet Coleridge

"The truth, if we're honest, is that the poems of Harriet Coleridge (if there were such a person) would by now be an unforgivable omission in every anthology."

Ouch! Now there's a slam at required women's studies courses if I've ever read one. There was a short article on the less than stunning career of Hartley Coleridge (1796-1849), son of the famous poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in the March 2006 issue of Poetry. He writes about being forever a child and unfulfilled promise. The writer of the article mentions he could have been a great poet if he had taken more than 10 minutes and if he could have forgotten whose son he was.

TO A CAT

by: Hartley Coleridge (1796-1849)

NELLY, methinks, 'twixt thee and me
There is a kind of sympathy;
And could we interchange our nature, --
If I were cat, thou human creature, --
I should, like thee, be no great mouser,
And thou, like me, no great composer;
For, like thy plaintive mews, my muse
With villainous whine doth fate abuse,
Because it hath not made me sleek
As golden down on Cupid's cheek;
And yet thou canst upon the rug lie,
Stretch'd out like snail, or curl'd up snugly,
As if thou wert not lean or ugly;
And I, who in poetic flights
Sometimes complain of sleepless nights,
Regardless of the sun in heaven,
Am apt to doze till past eleven, --
The world would just the same go round
If I were hang'd and thou wert drown'd;
There is one difference, 'tis true, --
Thou dost not know it, and I do.
Source


>

2399 The charges have been dropped

against an Ohio State University (Mansfield) librarian Scott Savage for sexual harassment because some gays didn't like the books he suggested for a recommended Freshman reading list designed to discuss issues. They might be afraid for a gay student to ask for help at the library reference desk. Yikes. I wish I had a dollar for every time librarians had to use material that violated their beliefs or that students had to sit in class and listen to something that stepped on their sensitivities! Story here at Inside Higher Ed.

Even so, these kinds of trivial, bizarre, frivolous charges have to have a chilling affect on academic freedom. Professors already can be shunned by colleagues, cut from grant proposals and denied staff help if they don't toe the political line of their department or college. Tenure doesn't do you much good if you get reassigned to all the freshman courses. The faculty at Mansfield should have put a stop to these whiners before it ever became national news. It's brought shame on that whole campus. And where was American Library Association? I'll have to check the 2 or 3 conservative library blogs to see if anyone responded. Even the account of the law suit in the above cited piece sounds hostile.

One of his suggestions was Freakonomics. But the one that hit the fan was The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised as Freedom, by David Kupelian. The account at Inside Higher Ed doesn't list the titles other faculty suggested, except for a Jimmy Carter book (probably his current anti-administration pout) and Maria Shriver. It would be interesting to see what Savage was trying to balance or if any of the faculty that supported the charges had even read the book. Although the University has dropped the investigation, Savage wasn't notified, according to this WorldNetDaily article.

The university will respond by offering more workshops in being sensitive. "We will be taking a number of steps to help create a more welcoming atmosphere on the Mansfield campus by offering additional training for faculty and staff. We also will work to reinforce a better understanding of the principles of academic rights and responsibilities, and to ensure the respect for diversity of all kinds." It's quite possible that the current faculty have never heard of the principles of academic rights and responsibilities, so maybe it's for the best.




2398 The new doctor

Actually, I could have walked to the dermatologist's office this morning. It was my first visit so I wasn't positive where he was located. He said the tiny spot on my lip was pre-cancerous and would need to come off--sometime. But not now. It comes and goes, and although it was around last week, it snuck out in time for this appointment, so he says to call when he can see it better. The spot on my arm that isn't pre-cancerous, just ugly, he zapped (froze) and now it has a blister about the size of a nickel. I'm very fair, and I've not tried to get a suntan since I was about 19, but apparently it is the sun exposure you get as a child that is so dangerous. My husband is 3 or 4 shades lighter than me (i.e., almost colorless), and is now really paying for attempting to warm up his skin tones each summer at the lake until he was about 50. If you have red hair, don't do that.

Speaking of suntans, April is National Cancer Month. It is also National Poetry Month. And National STD month. Maybe I would write a poem with these themes . . .

2397 Does your kitchen make you fat?

Maybe so, but not for the reasons you might think. Take a look.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

2396 A Free Education Site

Free- ed.net offers a number of courses (I looked at Spanish and Poetry) that are completely free. I didn't see any gimmicks and the site is easy to use with very little annoying bling and blash. It doesn't offer diplomas or certificates--this is for the self-motivated you. Read the FAQ carefully. I wandered into it looking for SweetHaven Publishing Services, which has apparently changed directions. The address is Westerville, OH.

2395 What puzzles us

is that any thinking person believes The Gospel of Judas is somehow going to rattle our faith. And of course, The DaVinci Code is leading the parade softening them up. Christianity Today author Darrel Bock writes:

"This is a time that tries many a believer's soul. Works are coming out like rounds from a machine gun. But none of the guns fired so far are the "smoking gun." They are more like pop guns, creating a lot of noise but no damage."

He did, however, find one redeeming quality in the book. Read about it here.

Saturday of Easter week-end, the holiest season for Christians around the world, one of the morning news shows--either CBS or NBC* (doesn't really matter since they are Tweedle Dum and Dummer)--had that theological giant, an editor from Newsweek, tell us the significance of Jesus. It was almost too comical to be insulted and outraged.

*My kitchen TV isn't connected to cable and the reception is so poor I can hear voices but not tell faces.

2394 What I saw at the library

The check out line was long at the public library last night. The middle-age woman in front of me had quite an armful and dropped some, and I got quite an eyeful. Hip huggers went down, short t-shirt went up and tattoos were revealed down the butt crack. EEyew! Fifty years from now someone in a nursing home will be changing her diapers and get quite a chuckle.

2393 Tuesdays with Morrie

While the rest of the nation was keeping this title by Mitch Albom on the best seller list for four years, I was working and reading committee reports, unjamming printers, and teaching search strategies about bovine diarrhea. But I saw a like-new copy at the Friends of the Library store yesterday for $1, so I bought it. Today we drove to our son's home for lunch (he's on vacation and putting in his garden) which is about a 40 minute drive, so I started reading it in the car. Marvelous book. Short. Well-written. Wonderful insights on illness and the end of life. I'm going to check with our book club archivist and see if this was a selection before I joined. If not, I will definitely recommend it for next year.

Read an excerpt

2392 Refer a friend, get a gift

When we moved here about 40 years ago, we selected a bank for very sound reasons--it was near by and it was the only one with Saturday morning hours. We're still with the same bank, and it may be the only one around that hasn't changed names.

This week we got a handsome flyer from a "banking office associate" suggesting we refer a friend for a checking account and we'll both receive a gift. So I looked at the picture of the gifts. The umbrella is the only item I can identify with certainty. It will require a $50 deposit to get the free gift, and there will be a $20 closing fee if you close it within 180 days. And you have to report the gift value on IRS Form 1099. Trust me. This is not a $20 umbrella, and the other two thingies, well, who knows? So, find your own bank.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Monday Memories

Did I ever tell you about the time we took the marriage test?

We don’t remember the exact date, but I think it was in the fall of 1965. We’d been married five years and I was in graduate school. A local television station in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois was planning to run a marriage advice news story with a test for viewers after the evening news. Somehow we became part of the control group. I believe “experts” at the university prepared the test. We in the control group were to take the test first, then the people watching at home would have a basis of comparison. We’re both a bit fuzzy on the details forty years later. It doesn’t seem like very sound methods to me now because all the control group was part of a young couples group at a local church in Champaign which means we were either students or employees of the university.

After taking the test, my husband and I waited for the results, feeling quite good about our answers and pleased that we’d been invited to participate. Imagine our surprise when we discovered we’d both scored in the 60% range! Almost everyone else got 90% or better. My husband, who rarely gets riled about anything, hissed, “They lied.” In fact, when I asked him about his recollections at dinner last night, he responded, “They all lied.”

To soothe our disappointment that we were a failure not high scorers, we were told that at least we’d scored high on “values,” (how we managed finances, aspirations, etc.) and that we both had similar low scores on the other questions, meaning I suppose we were in agreement on many topics, even if we were wrong. We were told then that more marriages fail over values (particularly how to handle money) than any other problem.

As the anniversaries piled up--10, 20, 30, 40, and moving on to 50, we’ve had some good laughs about the day we flunked the marriage test. And we've wondered about what became of the top scorers.
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2390 LARK Program for Terrorists

I saw this over at the blog of Father John, who is Russian Orthodox. It is a [made up obviously] response to people concerned about the treatment of Iraq War and Al Quaeda detainees:

"Thank you for your recent letter roundly criticizing our treatment of the Taliban and Al Quaeda detainees currently being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.Our administration takes these matters seriously and your opinion was heard loud and clear here in Washington.

You'll be pleased to learn that, thanks to the concerns of citizens like yourself, we are creating a new division of the Terrorist Retraining Program, to be called the "Liberals Accept Responsibility for Killers" program, or LARK for short.In accordance with the guidelines of this new program, we have decided to place one terrorist under your personal care. Your personal detainee has been selected and scheduled for transportation under heavily armed guard to your residence next Monday.Ali Mohammed Ahmed bin Mahmud (you can just call him Ahmed) is to be cared for pursuant to the standards you personally demanded in your letter of complaint.
It will likely be necessary for you to hire some assistant caretakers.

We will conduct weekly inspections to ensure that your standards of care for Ahmed are commensurate with those you so strongly recommended in your letter.Although Ahmed is a sociopath and extremely violent, we hope that your sensitivity to what you described as his "attitudinal problem" will help him overcome these character flaws. Perhaps you are correct in describing these problems as mere cultural differences. We understand that you plan to offer counseling and home schooling.Your adopted terrorist is extremely proficient in hand-to-hand combat and can extinguish human life with such simple items as a pencil or nail clippers. We advise that you do not ask him to demonstrate these skills at your next yoga group. He is also expert at making a wide variety of explosive devices from common household products, so you may wish to keep those items locked up, unless (in your opinion) this might offend him.

Ahmed will not wish to interact with you or your daughters (except sexually), since he views females as a subhuman form of property. This is a particularly sensitive subject for him and he has been known to show violent tendencies around women who fail to comply with the new dress code that he will recommend as more appropriate attire. I'm sure you will come to enjoy the anonymity offered by the burka --over time. Just remember that it is all part of "respecting his culture and his religious beliefs" -- wasn't that how you put it?

Thanks again for your letter. We truly appreciate it when folks like you keep us informed of the proper way to do our job. You take good care of Ahmed - and remember. . .we'll be watching. Good luck!

Cordially, your friend,Don Rumsfeld
posted by Fr. John McCuen April 10, 2006

2389 Tagged by Cozy Reader and Ames

Six weird things about me is this meme. So here they are. Then the rules say I go to another six sites and say, "You've been tagged. Visit my blog."

1. I think I've done this one, but I blog so much I can't remember. But that's not so weird. I've started some memes, and no one wants to play. Isn't that weird?

2. I have another blog about my hobby, and I haven't found anyone else with this hobby. I think that's really weird because anyone could love this hobby.

3. After almost 50 years of not singing with a group, I joined the church choir. That's not what is weird. Well, OK. Just a little. No one has asked me to leave yet. . . now that's weird.

4. I like deli cole slaw and potato salad. After I buy it I almost double the quantity by adding ingredients I have at home (like apples or carrots or raisins for the slaw or potatoes and eggs for the potato salad), but that isn't weird. What is weird is that it doesn't even change the flavor. Do you suppose they use a tad too much salad dressing and spice?

5. Blonde librarian says you can tell Americans (in Germany) because they eat their French fries with their fingers and wear white athletic shoes. I don't care if anyone knows I'm an American, isn't that just too weird, and when we go to Helsinki and St. Petersburg I will be wearing white athletic shoes if I have to walk far. I also say "WARSHINGTON DC" and I don't intend to change it for the Finns or the Russians.

6. I have deliberately removed an entry from my blog that was drawing too many hits. Call it ping-inflation-pong if you wish, but I didn't like it. Isn't that weird when so many people add all sorts of doo-dads, banners, and wiggles to attract pings that mean nothing in terms of readership and I'm going the other way?

Here's a bonus: this is Cozy Reader's site, but if you are using IE, it will shut you down, so you'd best use Firefox.
Ames is here.

2388 Bad news for the left

A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (354:11; 1147, March 16, 2006) apparently finds that differences among socioeconomic groups makes little difference in the quality of recommended health care. After collecting data for 439 indicators and 30 chronic and acute conditions they learned:

    women had higher scores than men

    younger people (under 31) had higher scores than those over 64

    Blacks and Hispanics had higher scores than whites

    household incomes of over $50,000 had higher scores than households with incomes less than $15,000

    Health insurance was unrelated to differences in quality of care.

It's hard to get grant money if you publish the heresy that gender, age and race don't matter in your health care quality, (or if you poo poo global warming) so I wonder if this group will even get a second chance to dig deeper--and I hope they do. Plus they really had to haul out the excuses and explanations.

    "We were measuring different dimensions or indicators of quality than had previously been studied."

    "When we confined our analysis to indicators used in previous studies, we found better care for whites."

    "Previous studies focused on invasive and expensive procedures rather than routine health care."

    We considered nonresponse bias, but that didn't explain it.

    We even looked at poor record keeping to explain our results.

    We might have missed the most vulnerable and screwed this up because they didn't have phones (paraphrase).

Well, they did their mea culpas and decided that what we really need is to make large scale system-wide changes anyway because veterans (using the VA health care system) were scoring much higher than the general population in quality of health care. So there are problems, but they just couldn't say it was based on income or social class or race or gender.

, , ,

2387 It's not the TV; it's the snacks

Why is an article about watching TV in a chronic disease journal, I wondered. So I took a peek. It was about obesity. Watching TV makes us fat. But I think you have to be eating while you watch it.

"More than 2 hours of television viewing per day was associated with a high mean body mass index and overweight or obesity in both men and women. Other characteristics associated with watching more than 2 hours of television per day were being 50 years of age or older, having a high school education or less, living in a household with income below 131% of the federal poverty level, and not being employed. Adults who watched more than 2 hours of television per day had high intakes of energy and macronutrients and were more likely to be overweight. They also obtained more energy from snacks and supper. A higher percentage of adults with health conditions watched more than 2 hours of television per day compared with adults without health conditions." Preventing Chronic Disease, April 2006

I don't snack while I watch TV in the living room because I don't want spots on the furniture or carpet. Now snacking while I blog. . .

Sunday, April 16, 2006

2386 Apologies are in order

To my family and friends who are church musicians [and you know who you are], I want to apologize for sitting in the pew all these years and being clueless about how hard you work every week to help us praise the Lord. The choir sang at three services this morning (jokes were being made about pitching tents); we sang Christ is Risen (Paul Sjolund), Wondrous Love (Alice Parker and Robert Shaw) and Hallelujah chorus (Handel) at the Sunrise service (practice at 6:30 a.m.); then at 8:30 Christ is Risen, When he comes again (Lari Goss), and Hallelujah (practice at 8 a.m.); and at 11:00 Christ is Risen, When he comes again, and Hallelujah. However, Allan Willis, our organist played Carillon de Westminster (Vierne) and Toccata from Symphony V (Widor) multiple times, the offertory 3 times, Finale Jubilante (Willan), plus all the hymns you sing on Easter for three services plus all the special music for the two communion services, plus playing with us when we sang and the brass ensemble. And Michael Martin, our choir director, did all those three services plus he played the piano at a fourth service at 9:45 directing the small group ensemble that sings for the contemporary service. This followed the services we sang on Maundy Thursday evening, Heavy (Nagy) and Remember Me (Sterling), and Good Friday evening, when we performed The Cross said it all (Goss), The Lamb (Tavenor), and O Love Divine (Helvey). And of course, there were preludes, hymns and offertories for those services, too.

I think I'm singing a little better than two months ago, but I'm still not contributing much except showing up. I'm practicing at home on the Midi that my son loaned me. I've got some squeaks and squawks that aren't going away. It's probably not a good plan to lay out for 50 years. I'll give it a little more time, but I'll never regret what I've learned about church musicians the past few months.




Saturday, April 15, 2006

2385 The Gay Book Burners at Ohio State University

Tammy Bruce writes about the strange case of a librarian who submitted a list of titles for consideration, and it made a gay guy feel "unsafe" (Christian books), so he sued for sexual harassment. The left is losing it. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom to read are in the deep freeze. What do you bet American Library Association won't come to this librarian's defense. Too busy distributing anti-Bush buttons.

See also Sister TolJah

Volokh Conspiracy

2384 Chris White now in Afghanistan

Here's his last entry from Ft. Bragg. Good photos too.

2383 A walk in the park

To get my 30 minute walk in this morning, I took along two items that needed to be returned to the library, then parked about 1/2 mile from the library, which is located in the park. So I was listening to the radio and when I tired of the garden guy making me feel guilty (cucumber peels will drive away ants I learned), I switched over to Dennis Prager. Actually, I didn't know he was available locally, but I've occasionally heard him via a California AM station on the internet.

"THE DENNIS PRAGER SHOW is different from every other radio talk show in America. First, Dennis talks about everything in life. Everything—from international relations to family issues to religion to sex. Second, Dennis is not only very smart, he is very funny. Third, he brings a moral perspective to every topic. Fourth, he is relentlessly interesting. That is why, after 20 years on Los Angeles radio, he is the most respected broadcaster in Southern California. He is now taking that reputation to a growing audience nationwide. The Los Angeles Times has described Prager as an “amazingly gifted man and moralist whose mission in life has been crystallized: to get people obsessed with what’s right and wrong.” That’s what he does everyday, for three terrific hours." Salem Communications

Prager, a Jew, said (this is a paraphrase) that although the right occasionally thinks unclearly, the left always does. The left sees morality in terms of rich and poor, and strength and weakness. If you are rich, you are bad. If you are strong, you are bad. Therefore, everything about the USA is bad. Israel is bad because it is richer and stronger than Palestine. The left hated Reagan more than Brezhnev. That's morality from the left (keep in mind I'm paraphrasing because I didn't have a pencil and paper with me).

Well, I used to be left of center; I was a humanist and a Democrat. But even when I was an evangelical Christian I was still voting and registering as a Democrat until 2001. Not all Democrats deny the role of personal responsibility--you can find a lot of them in AA and Al-Anon, and those folks know that it wasn't poverty or injustice that caused their elbows to bend so that their brains fell out.

Even in my most liberal days, I never believed that abortion was anything other than the destruction of a human being no matter what party supported it and never will. I've always disagreed with the "Palestinians just want their homeland back" argument that many mainline Christians support. At least during the last 30 years I've thought the UN and the National Council of Churches were sops for money of well meaning people. I've always thought it was our responsibility as Christians to take care of the earth, and thank you, if it had been up to the Republicans to get the job done, I wouldn't own a home on Lake Erie which is now clean enough to enjoy. For many years I was a pacifist, but that was my religious upbringing (Anabaptist), not politics. Most pacifists have lost their spiritual core as near as I can tell. They don't advocate peace in their personal lives, which is where it needs to start.

I part company with many evangelicals who may also be politically on the right in that I see nothing scriptural in denying ordination to and keeping women out of the pulpit, although it is practical and essential if you want a growing church. I don't believe in the death penalty and I don't think machine guns and uzzies are what the founding fathers had in mind. Nor do I think gun registration for law abiding citizens will reduce the crime rate at all, so there are other motives.

That said, if Prager is correct that the left thinks of morality in terms of rich and poor and strong and weak, then I agree, they cannot possibly think clearly about moral issues. I'm sure he's had much more to say on this topic, but it is something to think about, isn't it? While walking in the park.

2382 Dance with the one who brought you

is a charming idiom meaning you may have to do some payback from time to time to keep a job, a friend, an appointment to a board, an account, or your reputation. It's about a type of loyalty with your fingers crossed behind your back (or his back).

I have a hobby blog called In the Beginning which is about premier[e] or first issues of magazines, journals and serials. Today I was looking through my newest purchase which is Lily; beautiful living through faith, Spring 2006 (I can't find a link to this title). It is published by Meredith Inc., the publishing giant whose best known title is Better Homes and Gardens. I haven't finished looking through it, but the first issue is lovely. Knowing Meredith, we can look forward to a huge increase in advertising content, which for BHG must be about 70%.

My gripe is simple: Ellie Kay writes a column on finances, and the question she is responding to is about how to save money on food. According to the question, this family of four spends $700 a month on food. So how does Ellie Kay respond? She claims her family saved more than $8,000 last year on food and household goods by using, 1) manufacturers' coupons, 2) double coupons, 3) store coupons, 4) loss leaders, 5) price comps, 6) sales and clearances, and 7) comparison shopping.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. She's dancing with the guy who brung her. The advertisers. Food companies are not in business to give away their products, but she knows that most American shoppers believe they are. She knows that food companies are heavy advertisers in Meredith's publications. I'll give her #4 and #6, but #5 and #7 just take too much time. Either she's misplaced a digit, or she has a huge family of 24 children, because $8,000 is more than I spend on food in a year. All coupons are just advertising and they either introduce a new product or cover up a price increase. The time it takes to organize and combine them could be more effectively used by just popping that potato (twenty cents a pound) into the microwave, rather than "saving" twenty-five cents on a prepackaged or frozen item that figures out at about $5.00/lb.

She's wrong for these 10 reasons and maybe more. To reduce your food bill without coupons:

    1) contribute your own labor where ever possible. It's probably faster to prepare fresh broccoli and carrots than to use the frozen. If you used prepackaged greens for salads (wash very carefully) you can mix with those that are fresh.

    2) Shop the walls (or where ever the produce and dairy and meat are displayed). I often buy marked down meat if it isn't past the due date. You have to be really careful about reduced fruits and vegetables, but for applesauce or pie, there's no problem with a soft apple.

    3) Don't buy in huge quantity sizes, especially if you are overweight. Large sizes often are not cheaper per ounce, they'll go stale or past the due date, and you'll be tempted to "just clean up this last bit." I've never seen a cupboard or pantry of an overweight woman that wasn't loaded with "giant economy" sizes.

    4) Prepared snacks are extremely expensive per ounce and are loaded with all the calories, salt and fat your family doesn't need--switch to homemade or popcorn, or sliced fresh fruits and vegetables. But if you must have them, try the dollar brands or some of Trader Joe's which cost about half and actually taste better. If you want to cut the coupon habit and calories, just stop buying high salt, high sugar snacks. Roust your kids from the computer and teach them to spread some peanut butter on a cracker. It's cheaper. Don't take the kids shopping if you can help it, and definitely don't keep them quiet or entertained in the store or car by handing them a snack.

    5) Learn which house brands are good at about half the price and don't require any coupons for "savings." Do you really care if a peach is a bit ragged or the beans aren't uniform size?

    6) Loss leaders are just that--they are sold at a loss to bring you into the store. But don't waste gas at $2.80/gal driving from store to store to find them. Where I shop, milk and orange juice are almost always loss leaders, but I shop there because they don't have a loyalty card program, which also raises prices.

    7) Look carefully at what you buy in the name of "food." If you also buy a lot of Health and Beauty and cleaning products (in Ohio we call them taxables since food isn't taxed), at least recognize that you don't eat them. Perhaps a trip to a different type of store would be worthwhile. Because I shop at Meijer's I also buy most household taxables there.

    8) Read the labels. Refuse to buy water and fake, plastic food. If you look at anything "low fat" or "low calorie," water may be the first or second ingredient, and you'll pay more. Buy the regular, and add water at home. I add a little milk to creamy salad dressing when the bottle is low, and never notice a taste change. Don't buy fake cheese (cheese food?--yuk) or low calorie cheese. Such a waste of flavor and money. This fake food is heavily promoted with coupons.

    9) Don't be suckered with brand differentiation or repackaging coupons. Have you ever tried to buy a plain old Ritz cracker? Ridiculous. Sort through 12 kinds of Ritz to find what you want.

    10) I do buy prepared and frozen food, and I've found Trader Joe's to have the best and most reasonably priced in these categories. I can buy things that would be too expensive or wasteful to buy for just 2 people, or would lose nutritional value before we could use it up. But I never use a coupon unless the manufacturer has attached it to the package, and I already had intended to buy it.





Friday, April 14, 2006

2381 Praying about the public library

Can't say I've ever done that. Here's someone who does. Now why didn't I think of that?

2380 Cruciate ligament injury and repair in dogs

The Wall Street Journal ran an article this week on the possible $6,000 vet bill you might have down the road for knee surgery for your dog. Yup. Even that "free" pup you got from the neighbors which you now love, that sleeps with you and which you treat like a member of the family. Dogs have five times the number of knee procedures as humans--about 1.2 million a year, and it isn't because they have more legs. It only affects two of their legs. And if you get one repaired, whamo, the other one will most likely go. Also, it requires a lot of rest and inactivity for the healing time, so good luck Bucko, on keeping that small horse size dog in the laundry room quiet and happy while you're at work.

I tried doing a literature review of this topic because all the major core veterinary journals are indexed in Medline, which is available free in PubMed. However, one of the things I've learned since leaving the library profession is that most of these databases have been so tweaked, that whatever you knew last year, but especially five years ago, means nothing today and you might as well stick with Google. Google will give you not only the leads to scholarly articles, but to the various veterinary clinics that will put the surgery and recovery text into understandable English. But add the word "veterinary" into your search strategy to avoid getting the research on humans that might be done on dogs.

Call me just a cranky ol' cat owner, but here's my guess why this injury probably is on the increase:
    Some dogs are being bred to be way too large--given a natural selection without human interference, most breeds wouldn't be anywhere near the huge sizes you see today. Probably about 12-14" at the shoulder. This body mass is very hard on legs and joints and internal organs. They also don't live as long as smaller breeds.

    People are overfeeding and underexercising their pets, but especially the large dogs. Those extra pounds affect their knees just like they do the owner who is huffing and puffing along side him in the park.

    I want to holler at dog owners in the park who are jogging with their dogs making them run on concrete sidewalks. Would it be so bad to jog in the grass? Have someone else run him in front of you and take a hard look at the gait I'm seeing as you go past me.

    Taking a sedentary dog, cooped up in an apartment or kitchen for 14 hours, out for a chase or run in the park where he'll be twisting and turning and jumping for Frisbees, looks like a recipe for knee disaster to me. At least do a slow warm up. You'll both benefit.



2379 Three foodie events

Several weeks ago, someone who reads this blog suggested that I buy Trader Joe's frozen brown rice when I mentioned I couldn't cook a decent rice dish. I tried it; I loved it. Then over at Gekko's blog I saw an item that people who eat beans weigh less than people who don't. Then Tuesday at Meijer's I saw a product I'd never noticed before--canned purple hull peas--which I purchased after reading the nutrition content (high in fiber and protein).

After checking the internet, I learned that purple hull peas are really not peas, but beans. They are one of the versatile cowpea family and are also called black eyed peas, or pink eyed-purple hull peas. I think I can see why the label might say purple hull rather than pink-eye, since that is the name of a disease. They are more common in the south and may have come to this country from Africa with the slave ships and probably originated in India. They have their own promotion board and festival.

I opened the can, heated a small portion, and had some for lunch one day. I liked the flavor and texture better than any beans or peas. Then I decided to add them to the brown rice, which I'd been fixing in the microwave (3 minutes) and then refrigerating and using about 1/3 of a package mixed with fresh broccoli and a little butter for lunch. I've never cared much for red beans and rice, partly (my southern friends say) because you just can't get a decent canned red bean up north. I really don't care for the texture of kidney beans, pinto beans, red beans, navy beans, butter beans, etc. But purple hull peas. Now there's a bean a northerner can enjoy!

Ham and fresh purple hull peas

2378 An unfortunate expression

If I were going to reflect on the death of a man named Coffin, I probably wouldn't used this idiom:

"The Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., who died yesterday at 81, "was no ordinary man and he leaves no ordinary hole," said the general secretary of the National Council of Churches USA."

Yikes! Usually, you can only ridicule the NCC for their usual lefty policies.

However, being me, and not afraid to speak ill of the dead if they were dead wrong about something, I'll just add that although Coffin was a "Vietnam peace activist" and war protester and the model for a character in Doonesbury he contributed to the death of over two million of our Vietnamese allies when we turned tail an ran out on them in the 1970s, aided by your friendly peace and justice activists (whose grandchildren in spirit are helping to organize our illegal labor terrorists). If he trusted Jesus and not publicity for his salvation, he will be forgiven because his debt has been paid, but we'll all be judged. He may have to face some folks in heaven who will give him a perspective he wouldn't listen to on earth. Or maybe one of the perks of heaven is he'll have perfect understanding.

Perhaps I just not getting it, but I do wonder why he didn't learn from this experience when he was a WWII soldier and knew first hand how trustworthy the Communists were:

"His most affecting encounter with what he considered scalding injustice came at the end of the war, when he was asked to help repatriate about 2,000 Russian prisoners. They had fought with the Germans against their home country and were being shipped back to the Soviet Union to face prison and, most likely, death. Coffin knew it but never spoke up in their defense and did not warn them.

For the rest of his life he regretted his decision and swore to himself that he would never do that again. "It made it easier for me to commit civil disobedience in 1967, in opposition to the war in Vietnam," he later told the Chicago Tribune." Indianapolis Star




Thursday, April 13, 2006

2377 Local gas prices

There's a 30 cent spread in my zip code. Here's a web site that will tell you what gas sells for in yours. Thanks to Mickey for the info.

Thursday Thirteen


Exercise was another Thursday 13 topic I mentioned 2 weeks ago, so I think I can get 7 exercises and 6 excuses. First of all, my promise to myself is to get 30 minutes of exercise a day so that when we go to Helsinki and St. Petersburg this summer (3 months from now) I'll be in good shape to walk. I'll try to sneak work this in to my regular routine. It goes without saying that one of the exericses will be pushing myself away from the table and by-passing the free snacks at Panera's. Because eating less and moving more ALWAYS works. If you don't believe me, try it with your dog or cat.

1. Take the stairs every chance I get. This means instead of loading up my arms or stacking things on the bottom step for the next trip up (or down), I'll make as many trips as possible when I do the laundry. No more sheets, pillowcases and towels in one load. I'll make three trips.

2. Park as far away from the store, restaurant or coffee shop as possible (if the weather is good) and carry an umbrella (because it will be different when I return to the car).

3. Do some stretching while dressing, even if I don't want to look in the mirror. Stretch before checking the e-mail or blogging. Stretch before going upstairs. (Do you see a pattern?)

4. Do 5 sit ups for each blog entry I published yesterday to compensate for all that sedentary effort. So far today I owe myself 10 situps for Wednesday.

5. Walk at the park (a 3 minute drive) instead of outside our home, so I can't come inside after 8 minutes. Stomach in, shoulders back, long strides. Look sharp! Hup. Hup.

6. When I deliver the mail on Thursdays (for the church), walk around the parking lot of both locations for 5 minutes.

7. Watch a few minutes each day of a cable TV exercise program (or a DVD).

Then, the excuses I'll be using are:

8. Later. I'm in the middle of something.

9. I'm sleepy. Maybe after my nap.

10. My leg(s) (feet) (hip) hurt(s).

11. It's raining, (too hot) (too windy) (too cold).

12. The batteries are low (in my Walkman).

13. I hate these shoes (jeans) (sweats).


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

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2375 Marriages in the news today

These days with gay marriages and heterosexual serial marriages and over-blended families, it seems a bit hypercritical and hypocritical to condemn wayward Mormons for polygamy (USAToday). Fifty wives may seem strange to us now, but 40 or 50 years ago--or even 10--you would have had difficulty convincing the general public that you weren’t smoking something if you’d suggested we’d be considered homophobic if we objected to gay marriage or adoption. Or that we’d be watching on national TV (Dr. Phil) a counselor advising two lesbians about their child rearing practices when one was pregnant by the other’s husband.

And then there's the advice letter in the WSJ that begins: “We are a dual-earner couple with a blended family of three children from previous marriages. All attend an after-school program.”

In this case, the husband is siding with his ex-wife who doesn’t want the children left at home alone, as his current wife prefers since one of HER children doesn’t like the program.

Don’t you believe it that things will improve for a step-family. Stats show you need to wait until your children are grown and out of the house to remarry. After you have children, it's not about you anymore. Don't get mad at me; I'm just the bearer of bad news.

2374 Another tradition disappears

For Monday Memories I wrote about coloring Easter eggs as a tradition we personally no longer observe because we have no grandchildren with whom to share it--but we at least have a good reason. The snap shot in today’s USAToday of “Kids favorite Easter traditions” says that the favorites are

    46% receiving an Easter basket
    39% going on a Easter egg hunt
    8% getting dressed up
    6% Easter brunch
    1% going to see the Easter bunny

No one mentioned coloring eggs, or visiting with relatives or attending a sunrise church service, or any church service for that matter. Maybe the poll taker didn't mention those possibilities? Hope that was the reason.

Word games

Jerry Freewalt wants us to stop calling illegals--well, illegals. He says the word implies lawless rebels breaking up our nation. Yes, exactly. You've nailed it. I suggest we keep calling illegals what they are and use the word immigrants for those who have come legally. Freewalt is a reader of the Columbus Dispatch, and I think I know a member of which party.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

2372 Did "they" shut her up?

The Annoyed Librarian had some good stuff going, but seems to have been found out. Seemed to get a bit snarky about folks who tried to protect children in public libraries. She hasn't posted for awhile. Maybe she got married? Or got a few more cats?

There once was a frightful contrarian
Whose bottom was too big for marryin'
So she gave up on that
And bought fourteen cats
And became the Annoyed Librarian.

2371 Decade of nightmares or his years of lost dreams?

Philip Jenkins' Decade of Nightmares which redefines the 1960s to be 1964-1973 (death of JFK to resignation of Nixon) and the 1980s as the Carter-Reagan presidencies is an interesting study on how everything is the fault (or credit) of the conservatives, even the successes in the pop culture, politics and media that only look liberal. Whoever called this author a Christian neo-con must have been looking at a few books back, or else he's had a huge conversion going the other direction on the Road to Damascus. Chapter 6 is the wildest paen of praise to Jimmy Carter that I've ever read. It's so full of shoulda, coulda, woulda and crediting him with establishing the ground work for everything good that Reagan accomplished, that I had to pinch myself to make sure I'd lived through those years and had voted for Jimmy Carter twice and President Reagan never.

To take Jenkins point of view seriously, all the liberals should be ashamed that they haven't made a bit of progress since 1973--all these inroads women have made in sports or establishing abortion clinics, or blacks in business and academe, or gays in marriage and shifting huge federal investments to AIDS--pffft--give the conservatives all the credit (sarcasm alert here, for those of you who only read every third line). Reducing welfare and crime during Clinton's years? Gun control? Environmental red tape? Running religion out out of the schools? All because of conservatives and their crazy paranoia forcing their hand. If I were to accept Jenkins' thesis, I'd have to believe that nothing good came out of those years of Democratic control of our government because it was all just reactionary bungling caused by the Republicans who undid all those wonderful plans laid in the wonderful 1960s (which was really 1964-1973).

I pay a lot of attention to words. In context and out of context. Here's some phrases Jenkins uses for the right: archaic ideas, conspiracy interpretations, messy, disaster, growing mythology, diabolical claims, darkening vision, desperate measures, targeted regimes, allowed them to boast, powerful motives, distortion. And now the left: strong fight, social reform, a shift gone wrong, unjust power relations, the goal, curious, oddity, sexual frankness, social mainstream, overconfidence, political victories, engines of social change.

Pop culture buffs are going to think he doesn't give enough space or credit to films, TV, books, etc., but it was way more than enough for me. I'd seen a few of the films he mentions like Rocky and The way we were, but really, your mileage will vary depending on how much you let Hollywood influence you. I am a bit surprised that his book has had so little attention. Possibly he's not strident enough or too scholarly (it's well written and referenced) for today's political climate? Maybe no one cares?







Tuesday, April 11, 2006

2370 Gas Prices in Ohio

If I've heard one report today on gas prices, I've heard five. But I was also printing out my blog--I'm a bit behind, so I was doing October. Lookee here. October 14, 2005. The reasons we filled up that night in Oregon, was that prices had dropped considerably, and we thought we'd better grab it before they went back up. Right now it's about $2.65 here in Columbus.

"We filled up Wednesday evening in Oregon, Il at $2.79/gal and by the time we got to Columbus, it was $2.59. Also we got 27 mpg in my mini-van due to the better roads we have now. One of the Chicago radio stations was telling us to get better gas mileage by reducing our speed to 55 mph, but the limit for cars in Illinois and Indiana interstates is 70 (65 in Ohio), and I really doubt that we'd do better than 27. I don't know what you're driving, but I'm pretty sure a 1965 sedan got about 10-12 mpg."

2369 Photos of illegals demonstrating for rights they don't have and don't deserve

Bridges to nowhere. Gender politics. Pork Barrel Polkas. Deranged fringe elements of both parties. Killing the unborn legally with impunity. Really, I thought I'd seen every disaster our Congress could move out of committee, but this immigration thing takes the cake, doesn't it? And it's not immigration. That's what you do when it is legal.

Today I asked the Pakistani clerk at the grocery store and the Ghanian clerk at the department store, both of whom are here legally, have become citizens, and have relatives back home waiting on quotas, what they thought of this. "United States of Mexico" said the one; the other just rolled her eyes.

I am first and most mad at our do nothing Congress who can think no further than the next election. And then the President. What idiots. How can we fight insurgents in Iraq when we can't even keep out 11,000,000 "labor insurgents" in our own country? What must our brave service men and women be thinking? Particularly those who have shortened their residency requirements to become citizens by joining up to defend and protect us. Now they're being asked to defend a group large enough to be a 51st state who are illegal aliens?

Secondly, I'm angry at the American businesses who would employ these people because they are cheap and will work without benefits. It's like prostitution. It doesn't exist if only one group participates.

Third, I'm angry at the socialist/communist/progressive coalition who is gleefully rubbing their hands together, organizing "spontaneous" demonstrations and illegally registering these people to vote so they can tie up our next election in law suits. I heard them recruiting on a local call in radio show Saturday. The guy was so excited I thought he'd wet himself.

Fourth, I'm disappointed that the Democrats don't even see that #3 is stealing their party right out from under them.

Fifth, I'm furious at the Republicans because in a tight situation when leadership is called for they can only dither, wring their hands, wimp out, wet a finger and see if the wind is blowing their way.

Sixth, the border states' governments can't be absolved of responsibility. These millions of illegals didn't show up last year, or even the last decade. On a local radio show I heard a man who formerly worked in Arizona say illegals were given one-way bus tickets to northern states, which might explain why all our Ohio construction firms, landscape crews and restaurant kitchens speak only Spanish. So why a ticket north? It's too expensive (involving the INS, housing them, retaining them, food and medical care, to keep them in the border states until they can be returned to Mexico).

Seventh, our schools aren't doing such a hot job if these people don't know their history or ours and think our border states were once are part of Mexico. (Spain maybe, but never just a blip in time, Mexico.)

Eighth, I think it stinks that there are a lot of Americans who want a permanent underclass of maids to clean toilets and Pedros to pick tomatoes so they can vote Democratic in hopes of getting perks.

Ninth, the Mexican government and Mexico's wealthy, light-skinned, European power class can be blamed for not wanting to create wealth for their own darker skinned, mixed race poor. This mess could be resolved on the other side of the border through a few political improvements (maybe we could send them a Kennedy/Pelosi dog and pony show?)

Tenth, schools and businesses that have given their students and employees a pass to participate should be ashamed and don't deserve their position of responsibilty. The school administrators should be put on leave or fired; the businesses should be boycotted. They are stealing the American dream right out from under the very people they think they are helping.




Monday, April 10, 2006



Monday Memories

Did I ever tell you about our Easter egg tradition?
It's dead. This year I bought phony Easter eggs. Well, as phony as imitation colored eggs delivered by a rabbit could be. Turquoise, white, brown, pink and all plastic. I've arranged them in a little painted wooden wheelbarrow made by someone in China who was probably wondering what strange American custom required such a small garden implement. I didn't notice until I took them out of the package--a cute little fake wooden crate with make believe straw--that they had plastic strings so I could hang them on a bush or tree. Bunnies and eggs are pagan symbols that the Christian church absorbed years ago from some Germanic tribes who wanted to keep their own traditions of the Spring equinox. Easter bushes and trees, however, I'm sure were the invention of an American entrepreneur. But the little bunnies and eggs are sort of cute and a sure sign of Spring even if they have no spiritual meaning.



These days I have no one for whom to make an Easter basket. And even when my son's step-daughter was a part of our family, I can't remember if she ever colored eggs at our house. We probably just put candy and presents in a basket. Counting us, the poor little girl had eleven grandparents, so we really weren't needed for her holiday traditions, but she made ours more fun.

When my husband and I were children we always colored eggs for Easter on Saturday. In the kitchen. With lots of newspapers on the table. The dye came in little tablets sealed in cellophane in a cardboard package that cost about 39 cents. The package included cut-outs for ears and collars, little transfers for faces or scenes to put on a colored egg, and a wax white crayon for designing our own scheme. Our mothers would boil the eggs gently so there wouldn't be cracks. Then they poured hot water in a coffee cup with some vinegar and dropped in the tablets and gave us teaspoons so we could ease the hard cooked egg into the cup while stirring gently. At least that was the plan. We were soon moving the eggs from cup to cup, maybe getting a lovely purple going from blue to red, or violet going red to blue, or ending up with a hopeless dull gray from too many trips to and dips in a different cup. There was also a small wire loop to dip the egg half in one color and half in another. We'd apply the little transfers when the egg was dry so we'd have bunnies, or chickens with eyes, noses, or beaks. Then we'd add hats or collars.

At my home, we never got candy or chocolate that I can remember, but my husband's relatives did give the children jelly beans and chocolates. Early Sunday morning, our mothers would hide the eggs in the house and we'd search for them before going to church (often with new shoes or hat or gloves because people dressed up in the old days to worship God and left their faded jeans and torn t-shirts in the basement or garage). I'm not sure we even had baskets to gather the eggs (my husband did, he says), but the eggs could be found under couch cushions or in the drawers with the table linen, or inside the piano bench.

When my children were little, we had a very similar routine of coloring eggs and hiding them. One year we couldn't find one until weeks later when it started to smell--it was hidden in the bathroom under the plumber's helper. As they got older, I think we added some foil wrapped candy and bought baskets with pink and green fake grass. In 1973 we hid the eggs outside because my sister's family was visiting so we had 4 additional children coloring eggs. Another year when they were about 5 or 6 we took them to the "community egg roll." Ours is an affluent, suburban community, so our family was horrified to see hundreds of children swarming and screaming and beating on each other like they were starving in a mad scramble to grab the most foil covered candy eggs. My son came back to me crying because one little boy had snatched away from him the only egg he was able to find. We never went to another egg hunt and continued with our own little homegrown celebration that we had learned from our mothers back in the 40s.

Easter egg hunt 1973 in the apple blossoms


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2367 Don't count on it

This poem was posted at Sherri's site; she used to be a children's librarian, and I've learned so much about "kiddie lit" reading her blog that I didn't know. I took no courses in children's literature when I was in library school, and as near as I can tell, I didn't even read what others my age did, nor did I read much to my kids that was popular and recommended in the 70s (I liked My Book House when I was growing up and that's also what I read to my kids.)

The Reading Mother

I had a mother who read to me
Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea,
Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth,
“Blackbirds” stowed in the hold beneath.

I had a Mother who read me lays
Of ancient and gallant and golden days;
Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,
Which every boy has a right to know.

I had a Mother who read me tales
Of Gelert the hound of the hills of Wales,
True to his trust till his tragic death,
Faithfulness blent with his final breath.

I had a Mother who read me the things
That wholesome life to the boy heart brings —
Stories that stir with an upward touch,
Oh, that each mother of boys were such!

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be —
I had a Mother who read to me. - Strickland Gillilan

I've heard or seen this poem before--maybe on bookmarks, and I think I've remembered it because it doesn't reflect my own experience. My son doesn't read unless it is work related or concerns his hobby, and doesn't have a library card. My daughter has certain favorite authors, none of whom I've read, and she only buys books; I doubt if she has a library card. My husband uses the public library about once every two years. He read a book word-for-word recently, because one chapter was about him and his work. I go the the public library once or twice a week and to the OSU Libraries several times a month. I only read fiction if it is assigned in book club and there are several genres I've never tried nor do I want to. We all lived together, breathed the same air, and talked about the same things. If having a "reading mother" or wife made a bit of difference to my family, I haven't seen it.

My own theory is that you pop out of the womb with your learning style set to enjoy print on a page. Or not. If it brings you pleasure when something stimulates it, you'll continue to seek that experience. It can be thwarted or encouraged, but it can't be created. But reading aloud to children is always good for cuddle time even if they don't get much from the books, so keep that in mind.
From this site


2366 Corbett National Park

It's in India. Here. Ecotourism.

2365 Love your dog--in your own space

If you think solving the illegal immigration problem is tough, the Columbus City Council has been going around and around for two years about leash laws and dog parks. I try to go back to the origin of a problem, and it is always the owners, never the dogs. I ask myself,

  • "Why do people get puppies they know will grow up to be huge and which will need space to run if they live in areas where that can't happen?
  • Why do they want the rest of us to cough up $500,000 for special parks so their miniature horse sized pets can run because the owner is too blessed lazy to take the pet elephant out for a run with a plastic bag in hand?
  • Why do people let dogs run in public areas when they know darn well Fido won't come on command if he spots a squirrel or a smaller dog?
  • Why do people who own dogs, large or small, always think "My dog won't bite," or "My dog won't knock down a small child and break his leg," or "My dog won't drive everyone with half a brain for safety away from a public park," when all the evidence is to the contrary?


  • The answers to all the above is ignorance about animal behavior mixed with bad manners, rudeness, and a sense of entitlement so common in our society.

    Folks! Listen up. Any dog will bite if he or she senses danger or spots something to eat. You are not a dog and you don't see that a small child's movement may signal something totally different to a canine. This article I'm quoting below is about YOU! The 5,000 owners.

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

    The photo in today's paper shows two adults, one with a lab type dog, the other with a mastiff mix. The adults are hovering over these calf size animals; the child in the picture whose shoulder is about at the dog's shoulder is being ignored and seems to be looking for some space to run and play that would be safe and free of dog feces. Unfortunately these people seem to love dogs more than children.

    Man's best friend