2972 On parenting

Are you a good parent? I noticed this at The Corner--can't vouch for the statistics--don't know the author:

"Your life outcomes are determined 45-50 percent by genetics, 45-50 percent by outside-the-home socialization (which is affected by parental decisions about housing, schooling, etc.), 0-10 percent by in-home socialization (=parenting). That's what the evidence tells us, as I read it. Parenting has been WAY over-sold. And Freudianism (in-home socialization determines 100 percent of life outcome) is dog poop." The Corner, July 26, 2006

I agree--although I'd put genetics (personality, intelligence, physical attributes, talents) a bit higher, and parenting (values, discipline, religion) I'd put at about 1-2%. You've pretty much got the game plan when the baby pops out of the womb. If your daughter is 5'8" and a size 10, she just will never work for Abercrombie & Fitch no matter what you do. You can chose a good school, or have a good health plan to help things along, but the kid will grow up to be the one God gave you at the beginning. If you're a parent, it would be smart (and gracious) to not take the credit and never take the blame.

Parenting comes at you in stages. What works at 2 definitely doesn't fly at 12. I was a fabulous parent for the early years--not so great for teens. The kids are 38 and 39 (or is that 39 and 40?); just ask 'em. Had the proverbial eyes in the back of my head, I did. Although most of the time they were growing up, my hair was too long to peek through. Now, we socialize occasionally and help each other out--my husband's helping our son paint his house and our daughter has been taking care of our cat during all our travels lately. I do try to mind my own business, and only nag occasionally--usually about health--but it's tough considering I was very over protective. Afterall, I want them to take care of me in my old age!

As children they never missed church; never even asked. As adults they attend on Christmas Eve. I think my husband and I said prayers with them every night practically until they left home--or at least until they were bigger than we were. As the saying goes, God has no grandchildren. My husband still prays for them every day!

I was room mother, choir mother, Campfire leader, and VBS teacher. I took them to art shows and libraries. Heck, I taught them to read before kindergarten, and supervised all the homework. I used to storm into the school and demand that the teacher keep my kid after school until the work was completed! (They were sooo happy to have my kids graduate!) I gave up all sorts of perks I probably didn't need and ate macaroni at the end of the month just so we could live in the best school district in Columbus. I made sure they always had holidays with the relatives so they knew what an extended family was (we have no relatives here).

I taught them to cook, clean and sew (don't bother with the sewing--Wal-Mart is cheaper). We took them to restaurants for family time, but also they learned how to behave in public. They ate better than most of their peers and we always ate meals as a family, so they learned good table manners. Fast food or pop? They didn't get it in our home. I remember the shocked look when they were adults and found pop in our refrigerator and learned we occasionally went to McDonald's.

They took piano lessons and one even had 2 clarinet lessons! Our daughter took voice lessons for awhile. I hired a really neat guy to teach my son to play the guitar by ear; and 25 years later he still plays and once had long stringy hair and played in bars with other guys who thought they'd be famous some day.

My kids were in every imaginable sport activity when they were young, and one is a natural athlete. But I was on the job and didn't let them join up until at least 3rd or 4th grade because I thought I was smarter than the other mommies and that kids needed time to be kids. Of course, that meant no one else was around to play with--so you're fighting a losing battle there. Swimming, tennis, and ice skating lessons. Neither one of us plays golf, but we talked a golfer friend into teaching our son a few basics as a teen, and I think he still goes to the course and throws his back out from time to time.

I said "No," a lot. Much more than was necessary. "No, 6 weeks in France in 5th grade will not benefit your education." "No, you can't go to Florida on Spring break with your friends." "No, you can't leave the house until you write Grandma a thank-you note." "No, that outfit is too expensive." "No, you're not leaving the house looking like that." Playing with matches with friends? I called the fire chief and arranged a little chat while the other mommies said their little sweeties would never do such a thing.

We laughed and played a lot--went on picnics down by the river, bike rides around the neighborhood, put on records and danced, played dress ups and made forts, had overnights with friends, family camp, birthday parties, made a zillion crafts at the kitchen table, dressed the cat in doll clothes, went to Tullers for fresh cider and donuts on Saturday mornings, ice skating, movies--the same kind of stuff I did when I was young. In fact, except for the TV and the community sports, I was surprised by how similar the activities were.


Oh sure, I made mistakes. They could probably tell more than I know about. The teen years I would never want to do over. But if I could have a "do over," I'd never sign a permit for my teen-ager to work. This wasn't the 50s or 60s; it was the 80s. Fast food and retail jobs don't build character, work ethic, or good values, etc., it just puts them under the influence of 22 year old assistant managers, and in close association with school drop outs and kids you'd never let through your front door. Let's see, what else. I'd never put a child in a special class unless the regular work was totally out of reach--and even then I'd tighten the belt and go for tutoring. If the school says your daughter doesn't pronouce a consonant correctly, just lisp at the teacher and tell her that's how it's done in your family. No one wants to be your pet project--children don't like to feel like they need to be fixed, and they hate being different.

Another mistake I admit to--I'd never let a minor living under my roof own an automobile, not even with their own money. Because of insurance laws, you actually have this decision in your hands. A 17 year old that can afford a car, probably can't afford the insurance. You might think it will help transportation problems, but trust me, mommies and daddies, you want to keep them driving 4 door sedans as long as possible. Some things need to be done or not done just to help the parents!

But we hope it all pays off. Parents try to raise up adults, not children. They grow up, come home to visit, invite us for dinner, visit when we're sick, call just to chat and make us proud. The Bible says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it." Scripture is a bit vague about just when "Old" takes place, however.

parenting, children, family, Education, children's sports

Monday Memories

Brethren Volunteer Service, pt.1
Brethren Volunteer Service was started in 1948 training young people and adults in groups to help in a variety of community projects in many countries. Service might be in a hospital, a small struggling church, Appalachia, a migrant camp, blighted urban area, nursing home, or school. Both my sisters had served, so I signed up for a summer unit in 1957 and left for California right after high school graduation, traveling to Fresno by myself on the Greyhound Bus. This memory is not about all the strange people I met on the bus, but rather I want to post some photos because my album has fallen apart after almost 50 years. I've adjusted the posting time so you can scroll down, instead of up. There are 3 parts, otherwise it would take too long to load.

I was assigned to a community center that served Black agricultural workers. The community looked rural and had tidy little houses; the house in which the volunteers lived looked much the same as the rest of the community. We had 4 rooms, no air conditioning. The director of the project and his family lived next door in a slightly better house. All the land for the center and the two houses had been donated by a Hoff family who were members of the Church of the Brethren.
121 West North Ave., Fresno 6, California, front of the volunteers' residence
Back of our house on W. North Ave. There was a large garden, but I don't think we took care of it. Laundry is on the line--wringer washer, no dryer. Addition to the back was the laundry room and tool shed. Addition on the side was two bedrooms, one for four women, one for four or five men. With 9 people living in a tiny house we had to be scrupulously neat; beds made up first thing; dishes washed and put away after meals; no clutter at all.
Our BVS group, but I don't remember all the names. Judy Haldeman, Imogene Traughber, in front, Rufus Wagner, Terry Thoreen, back. The other three guys are Don Jordan, next a relative of the director, Clare Stein (can't remember his name) and possibly Tim Guest. We had a "housemother" a few years older than me whose name was Barbara, but she isn't in the photo. From the clothing, we must have been at church. I was the photographer using my little Brownie Hawkeye. Only 3 of us were summer workers--the rest had been through regular training in Maryland.

Check the two previous posts for pt. 2 and pt. 3, rather than scrolling up.

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Brethren Volunteer Service
Church of the Brethren
Fresno, California
community centers
volunteerism

Monday Memories

Brethren Volunteer Service, pt.2
To make this load faster, I'm dividing the photos into 3 entries. Go up one for the first part.

Generally, the girls did all the shopping, cooking, cleaning and laundry for the whole unit; the guys took care of the grounds, maintenance and vehicles. We all had playground duty; taught classes to the children; did surveys in the community about needs. On Friday nights there were movies for the community, and candy was sold at the center. There were sports teams coached by our volunteer staff, and the children were in leagues and transported around the area to play. Also ping pong tournaments. The BVSers worked hard and played even harder. We took some interesting trips to the California parks and mountains, agricultural areas, miniature golf, and to Sacramento in the center's van. For someone from a tiny town in Illinois, there was a lot to see and do. But I was only 17 and had never been away from home except for camp; so I think I would have been more useful had I been older.

Making ice cream; Barbara standing on the pail and Rufus churning. I believe this block building was built by the BVS-ers who came before us by a year or two.
Enjoying the ice cream. This looks like we were in the director's house and one of his small children is in the foreground. I think I see a Bible or two, so maybe we had a lesson before the treat?
We didn't have a TV, but we had a record player and we sang. The fan in the living room window was connected to a hose which helped cool the house with running water.
My Bible class. We had made potato head puppets (I learned this from my mother) and put on a play we wrote. I believe they performed for the community and parents, because usually they wore play clothes when they came to the community center (built by the volunteers).

Brethren Volunteer Service, Church of the Brethren, Fresno, California, community centers,
volunteerism, Monday Memories

Monday Memories

Brethren Volunteer Service, pt. 3
Here's a few more photos. Scroll up for pt. 2 and pt. 1 and the explanation of what you're seeing. I reversed them.

The kitchen was really pretty nice, and we had great meals--many of the Cal-Mex type things I'd never had before. Lots of beans, rice and onions, smothered in cheese, seconds on bread and milk. We had one tiny bathroom off the kitchen and 9 people living in the house. We must have had assigned times. I think the women got up first. Someone would turn on Mahalia Jackson gospel and blast everyone out of bed in the a.m.

I doubt that we could all sit down at the same time in the living room, and I'm certainly taking up more than my share here, so perhaps some were out this evening at a ball game with the kids.

It must have been my day to cook because I have on an apron--the same one Genie is wearing in the above photo. I'm showing off my new shoes bought in Fresno. Our pay was $7.50/month (or was it a week?), which actually goes pretty far if your board and room is taken care of (or it did 50 years ago), so I probably saved mine and bought new high heels. And yes, that is a sun tan because we were outside much of the day.

Please check out pt. 1 (above) for the beginning of the story.

Brethren Volunteer Service
Church of the Brethren
Fresno, California
community centers
volunteerism
Monday Memories

2968 There is no media conspiracy

They aren't colluding. They are just liberals doing what they do best. Reporting what they truly believe. That's not conspiracy; it's ignorance. Recent media bias stories that report otherwise are analyzing "talking heads," not the basic news stories. Anybody can scare up a few minutes of a former Republican senator or a fading moving star. The only professionals more liberal than journalists (4:1) would be university faculty (estimates range between 7:1 and 30:1) and librarians (224:1). I'm not counting Hollywood because most aren't professionals; they are unemployed a large part of their working life.

Mark Foley stories: NBC 56; ABC 50; CBS 46. Via Glenn Beck radio, 10-16-06. So far, the only sure thing is the Page was no longer a Page and was over 18. It was e-mail and IMs, not sex with a minor like Congressman Studds, who mercifully died last week before his tawdry behavior and the Democrats' support of him (including Nancy Pelosi) gets any more publicity. The other charges against Foley, which are coming to a call-in line, until they are investigated may be at the same level as the rape charges against the Duke la crosse players, all of whom proved innocent with DNA tests, and the "victim" says no condoms were used.

Death and taxes. Politics and sex. Democrats with no program. Sigh.

"Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, with CBS' "Evening News," The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ranking second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal." UCLA study

Brian Ross
Media bias
Mark Foley
Liberal MSM

2967 Voting for King and Queen of Homecoming

Doesn't that sound--I don't know--so retro? I noticed a photo of the court in today's OSU Lantern. I discovered I actually can vote by using my university login, but I didn't--didn't seem fair. I really don't consider myself a "Buckeye" even though that's where I spent most of my working years.



But back to the court. This is one good looking bunch! Wow! I've clicked under their photos and read the little bios. They seem to be limited to listing 5 activites while on campus. A number are in sororities or fraternities, and Stephanie Wiseman is President of Panhellenic. I was never a greek, but that's a big deal! Three seem to be of middle eastern or east Indian ethnicity, and one appears to be Asian, despite a Scots Irish surname. No one is overweight--chubby maybe, but just a bit. Considering Ohio is one of the fattest states in the country, I find that awesome. Maybe I'll post this at my Hugging and Chalking blog.

None of the girls have short hair and none of the guys have long hair. These hair styles look right out of the 1970s for the women. Pressed and straight. Put heavier mascara on them and you probably can't tell them from their mothers. The majors are interesting too (all are seniors)--criminology (2); international business, finance, marketing and economics (3); political science (5); sciences--microbiology, biology, geriatrics, nutrition, physics; special education (2). Two are from my community; four are out of state. Looks like a very bright, beautiful, and socially alert group. I have no idea how the court was selected, but the country looks to be in good hands.

Ohio State University, Homecoming, Buckeyes, college students, college majors, hair styles

2966 The Education Myths

"Few people are aware that our education spending per pupil has been growing steadily for 50 years. At the end of World War II, public schools in the United States spent a total of $1,214 per student in inflation-adjusted 2002 dollars. By the middle of the 1950s that figure had roughly doubled to $2,345. By 1972 it had almost doubled again, reaching $4,479. And since then, it has doubled a third time, climbing to $8,745 in 2002." The American Enterprise.

If spending more money on education worked, why don't we see better results? Instead, we just get asked for more money. Sometimes they don't even pretend they need it, like Danbury in Ottawa County, OH. That's where we have our summer home. They've just raised our taxes by 30%--but most of us don't live there and don't send any children to their schools. They must have gold plated computers--two for each child.

"Economist Eric Hanushek of Stanford University examined every solid study on spending and outcomes--a total of 163 research papers--and concluded that extra resources are more likely to be squandered than to have a productive effect."

Feeling sorry for poorly paid teacher? Don't.

"Data from the U.S. Department of Labor show that in 2002, elementary school teachers averaged $30.75 per hour and high school teachers made $31.01. That is about the same as other professionals like architects, economists, biologists, civil engineers, chemists, physicists and astronomers, and computer systems analysts and scientists. Even demanding, education-intensive professions like electrical and electronic engineering, dentistry, and nuclear engineering didn't make much more than teachers per hour worked."

Read the whole article for more myths about class size, school choice, insurmountable social problems and the effectiveness of certification.

2965 Sprint to the Finish

"I just went through the list of all 40 competitive House races on Real Clear Politics, and I found only 8 clear pickups for the Democrats."

Read the whole blog, then go up and read Dafydd at Big Lizards Manifesto

2964 Judges are not free to create rights and rewrite statutes

A decision by the California First District Court:

"All can agree that California has not deprived its gay and lesbian citizens of a right they previously enjoyed; same-sex couples have never before had the right to enter a civil marriage. It is also beyond dispute that our society has historically understood “marriage” to refer to the union of a man and a woman. These facts do not mean the opposite-sex nature of marriage can never change, or should never change, but they do limit our ability as a court to effect such change. The respondents in these appeals are asking this court to recognize a new right. Courts simply do not have the authority to create new rights, especially when doing so involves changing the definition of so fundamental an institution as marriage. "The role of the judiciary is not to rewrite legislation to satisfy the court's, rather than the Legislature's, sense of balance and order. Judges are not ' "knight[s]-errant, roaming at will in pursuit of [their] own ideal of beauty or of goodness." ' [Citation.]" (People v. Carter (1997) 58 Cal.App.4th 128, 134.) In other words, judges are not free to rewrite statutes to say what they would like, or what they believe to be better social policy."

2963 Putting Mark Foley in perspective

The U.S. government estimates that 600,000 to 800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year. Of these, approximately 80% are women and girls, and most are sold into the sex industry. President Bush denounced this at the U.N. in 2002 (Yeah, that should get some action) and in 2005 and 2006, and the U.S. Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act to expand existing laws. Many Christian organizations have pushed for stronger action. (Stats from Christian History, Issue 90, Spring 2006)

"Many victims of human trafficking are forced to work in prostitution or the sex entertainment industry. But trafficking also occurs in forms of labor exploitation, such as domestic servitude, restaurant work, janitorial work, sweatshop factory work and migrant agricultural work.

Traffickers use various techniques to instill fear in victims and to keep them enslaved. Some traffickers keep their victims under lock and key. However, the more frequent practice is to use less obvious techniques including:

• Debt bondage - financial obligations, honor-bound to satisfy debt

• Isolation from the public - limiting contact with outsiders and making sure that any contact is monitored or superficial in nature

• Isolation from family members and members of their ethnic and religious community

• Confiscation of passports, visas and/or identification documents

• Use or threat of violence toward victims and/or families of victims

• The threat of shaming victims by exposing circumstances to family

• Telling victims they will be imprisoned or deported for immigration violations if they contact authorities

• Control of the victims' money, e.g., holding their money for "safe-keeping"
Gayle Christie

The Democrats and the $oros organi$ation who knew about the page homosexual problem and did nothing until it suited their political purposes (i.e., more important to embarrass a Republican than save a child), need to find a bigger target. This might be a place to start. Or will saving women and children not get as much publicity?

We spent millions investigating the non-issue of Plamegate, ruining reputations and careers willy-nilly, finding out in September that Richard Armitage and Patrick Fitzgerald knew all along what the score was. THERE WAS NO CRIME. Let's not waste more time and money on another trumped-up-by-Democrats scandal. If they want to win an election, let them come up with some issues and solutions--the old fashioned way.

2962 Behind closed doors

It's time to see what's in the closets, cabinets, and under the sinks and be ruthless. In our home of 34 years--a 3 bedroom house--we didn't have an attic or a basement, and I was much better about clutter. Now we're in a condo and have both. And we have clutter! Yesterday I was going to make a list--thought it might be a good Thursday Thirteen topic, but I made the mistake of looking in a box that had photos, so I spent 4 hours scanning and drafting a Monday Memories about my time in Brethren Volunteer Service. Hope to have it ready by tomorrow.

However, I did strap on my audio book of "Master and Commander" and rearranged two shelves in my bathroom linen closet. I really didn't throw out much. My sister Carol sold Avon when she was in high school, and I see I still have a blue tin of bath powder that I got from her--oh, maybe 50 years ago. That would be fine if I collected Avon memorabilia, but I don't. And half used bottles of various lotions, mouth wash, tiny bottles of goop from hotels, a stash of bath soap, and not even the kind I really like (Palmolive).

My clothes closet had become a jumble over the summer--after each trip things were hung anywhere. So I moved the hot weather items to the guest room, moved some sweaters to my closet, and color coded. There's nothing like putting your shirts and sweaters on the pole by color to see that you have things you'll never wear or haven't worn in 4 years. I have four black skirts, 2 for summer, 2 for winter; 2 denim skirts; maybe 5 or 6 black slacks, only 2 of which fit (hope to change that, but then the larger sizes won't fit). Usually I buy cheap stuff, so I don't know why I hang on to them for such a long time. I pulled out a really lovely outfit--blazer and straight skirt--(in a size 8 and doesn't fit) that my daughter bought me maybe in 2001. I do have a storage area for clothing I love but don't wear anymore that goes back 50 years. So I may retire it. I looked at 3 plaid wool skirts--from my working days--that must be over 20 years old. They definitely need to go to the archives.

Then I popped over to read Neo-neocon, and I see she is cleaning closets too, while she tries on clothes for a trip, destination is a surprise. Maybe I should have cleaned the closets before we traveled.

2961 This post is about sex

While I was making a wonderful salad with dark green leafy stuff ("absolutely no spinach" the package read), two hard cooked eggs, grilled onions and broccoli, and about a third of a cup of mild salsa, I was listening to WOSU NPR, which is doing a fund raiser (what a concept!).

Much to my surprise it was two guys talking about testosterone. Except one guy started out as a woman, attended a woman's college, and had grown up accepting all the feminists said about the differences between men and women all being a social and cultural construct. Then, after she decides to become transgendered (don't know if that is the right term, but she is on her way to being a he with no penis), she starts getting hormone injections--testosterone. S/he discovered that her brain changed!

Griffin (the female to male person) talked about being filled with lust and pornographic thoughts on the subway--not from noticing a sexy babe, but from seeing just an ankle or a knee. He was terribly embarrassed and really had to struggle to avoid being crude, but the thoughts were unstoppable.

He began to lose some of his verbal acuity over time. He now has to look up more words than he used to as a woman, and the stumbles more in his speech.

He began having trouble crying when he was upset or stressed. Even when he can cry, it isn't the same with very few tears.

He developed an interest in science (this caused so much laughter I wasn't sure he was serious, but he said he'd been reading in areas that had never interested him before).

He became more visual. He now enjoys pornography and strip joints, whereas before he had no interest and thought that was sexist.

I didn't find the exact interview but here is one on Grrl Talk Borders that covers pretty much the same thing, except the interviewer is a woman and the two were girl friends in college.

2960 Family Man Librarian comments

on the world of evil he sees around him, including the killing of children:

"I haven’t felt this way — highly concerned and anxious about the state of affairs around me — since September 11, 2001. I know who is the author and promoter of evil: Satan. I know that his power is great and that his weapons include fear, doubt, and destruction. But I also know that his power is in no way comparable to God's; that his efforts are ultimately fruitless; that the only sure thing I have in this world is the promise that God will never leave me or forsake me. Jesus said to his followers: "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)" Family Man Librarian

2959 What's a Democrat to do?

Campaign issues are tough. The Democrats have no plan--not just for Iraq, but for anything. 1) The economy is going great guns, 2) The Dow nears 12000, 3) unemployment is very low--even older workers are in demand, 4) gasoline prices are down--they were below $2 here in Ohio last week, 5) there have been no new terrorist attacks on our soil--they seem to be killing only Muslims, 6) the Jew-baiting hasn't been successful and Joe Leiberman is pulling ahead. So what's left? Go after the gays! That's novel. It's never been tried in the time I've been following politics for a work-up to an impeachment.

Here in Ohio Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy is running against Republican incumbant Deborah Pryce. The ads have been negative all along, but Pryce's haven't been Miss Nicey-Nice either reporting how incompetent Kilroy has been in previous low level, local jobs. However, now Kilroy is accusing Pryce of being friends with Mark Foley! Even best friends. Now we all know, that if we have gay friends we're supposed to know what they are doing with their private sex life, right?

All Kilroy is trying to do is keep Republicans from showing up at the polls. I'm betting she even can say, "some of my best friends are gay," and keep a straight face. I don't know a single Republican who doesn't have a gay friend or gay relative, which may come as a shock to her ad agency, so this simply looks like gay bashing. John Kerry looked stupid when he did it, and so does Mary Jo Kilroy.

Mary Jo Kilroy
Mark Foley
negative campaigning
Democrat campaigns

2958 Friday Family Photo

Isn't this the most magnificent woodwork? It is called "pumpkin pine" and was used throughout my grandparents' home in Franklin Grove, IL. It is the heart wood from old growth white pine, so is extinct, I think. When I was a little girl, it had darkened, or may have even been stained dark, but my mother refinished every square inch in the house in the late 1960s. In fact, because she did it all by hand, she developed carpal tunnel and had surgery on her wrists. At one time there was a huge left over board in the garage--boards that width just don't exist anymore for pine.
My grandparents were lured back to Illinois from Kansas around 1908 with this farm (my interpretation) to help her father, then in his 80s. She was the only survivor of their four children, her oldest brother having recently died of blood poisoning from an injury on his farm near Ashton. The farm house was pieced together from a small house ca. 1850s, and a larger early 1900's style. Grandma completely remodeled it, adding this gracious dining room with a bedroom and balcony above it where she had hanging plants and flowers.

The photo was taken in July 1987 at an impromptu family picnic with a bunch of cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents and siblings from both sides of my family, some meeting for the first time and probably last time. For over a decade, Mother had used the house as a retreat center for church groups and family reunions, but by 1987, my niece was renting it from her and that very happy period of Mom's life was over.

Mother is the little one on the left--all the furniture you see--the oak dining room table and chairs, and the birch kitchen chairs--was refinished and recaned by her in the 1960s. Next to her is my father's cousin Sharon, her daughter Christie, then my sister and me. I think we had about 20 people at the picnic--played badminton, croquet and enjoyed the beautiful scenery, which might just look like soy beans, corn, towering pine trees and acres of blue sky to the rest of you, but looks like home to me.

HT to my niece Amy, who gave me this photo, languishing in the attic of the farm house for years.

2957 High tech, high touch

That's an old 80s expression for people who worked on computers all day then went home to eat tofu and quilt by the light of homemade candles. While I was on the road in California and Illinois, two new stores opened, side by side, near my home. Stitching Post Super Store and a Sunflower Market. Sunflower was very pleasant and had many nice items, but I think it is higher priced than Trader Joe's, but I'll definitely run in there from time to time just because it is so close. Stitching Post is amazing, but I think it is basically a store to sell robotic sewing machines with tiny human brains. There was one doing some fancy embroidery all by itself as I walked by. The store also has huge classroom all set up with cutting tables, machines, pressing stations, etc., and a large floor area devoted to cutting and sewing tables. I used to sew. . .

Story of this dress is at my pattern blog.

sewing machines, Crafts, organic produce, high tech high touch, Trader Joe's

2956 Checking the triggers

On September 28 I wrote a Thursday Thirteen on my food triggers, those items or events that make me hungry. I've done pretty good. By paying attention to this list and walking more, I've dropped 5 lbs., which could come back in a flash I'm sure with the first pizza. We were with family and friends this week, so that is a huge test. One day my niece brought over pumpkin donuts. OH my! One of my favorites. But I resisted.

When we went out to eat at Maxon's to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday (actually today), I ordered a Chef's salad--the only time I've ever seen sliced processed cheese on a bed of lettuce. Need I say more? I did eat a few low-cal desserts, one stale saltine, and sprinkled some salt on a few rice cakes she had in the cupboard (without the salt they taste like fresh wall board). Monday and Tuesday we had great weather, so I walked 3 or 4 miles each day. On Tuesday I had a breakfast date with a high school friend, so we walked in the park, then stopped at a restaurant and she had coffee and I had water. No use getting the taste of pancakes in my mouth. But I did leave a tip--the waitress doesn't need to suffer too.

Driving home yesterday I did discover that McDonald's has a fruit cup with yogurt which comes with a low cal granola sprinkle. It was really pretty good, strawberries and blueberries. And the price was right--$1.00. Not exactly the yummy sausage biscuit I usually get on long trips, but a nice treat.

Friday is my indiscretion day--we go out to eat with friends, and I get my Philly-cheese sandwich with french fries and a glass of wine. I'll dream about it all day! The sandwich is so huge I bring 1/2 home--but now I let my husband have it for Saturday lunch instead of enjoying it twice.

2955 Happy Birthday, Jerry Rice

Two "old" Jerrys have made it this far in Dancing with the Stars, Jerry Rice, and Jerry Springer. Rice is a decent dancer--probably his 15 years of running around and dodging other big guys on the football field. Springer is a talking clown, but his performance on Tuesday night pleased even the judges, who consistently rated him low. Because he has a lot of fans, his audience votes pull him through.

"Wide receiver Jerry Rice is the National Football League's all-time leader in receptions, yards and touchdowns. Rice played college ball at Mississippi Valley State, where he caught 310 passes for 4,856 yards and 51 touchdowns in 42 games. He began his professional career in 1985 when he was picked 16th in the first round of the draft by the San Francisco 49ers. With the 49ers he became one of the NFL's biggest stars, catching pass after pass from quarterback Joe Montana and then from Montana's successor, Steve Young. Rice played for the 49ers from 1985-2000, winning Super Bowls in 1989, 1990 and 1995. He later played for the Oakland Raiders (2001-2004) and the Seattle Seahawks (2004). . . Rice is credited with 38 different NFL records, including career totals of 1,549 receptions, 22,895 yards and 197 touchdowns." From Answers.com.

Jerry Rice
Jerry Springer
Dancing with the Stars

No Thursday Thirteen this week

We're heading back to Columbus, so I don't have time to write a 13 (we'll be 9.5 hours in the car and then off to a meeting at church right after we get home). Actually, I did write one about the 13 people (10 relatives, 3 friends) I saw this week, but it looked a bit silly, since you don't know them. I deleted it. So I'll try to come up with something next Thursday. Have a good week.

2953 Freedom of thought control

Isn't this odd. Kooky I hope. Is "global warming" science so fragile, so insecure that it can't stand a little competition? I can be an advocate for saving trees and a proponent for safe and abundant water without believing puny human beings are changing the ever changing climate cycle. But some folks are just threatened by the idea that human beings aren't the end-all, be-all of the universe.

"A U.S. based environmental magazine that both former Vice President Al Gore and PBS newsman Bill Moyers, for his October 11th global warming edition of “Moyers on America” titled “Is God Green?” have deemed respectable enough to grant one-on-one interviews to promote their projects, is now advocating Nuremberg-style war crimes trials for skeptics of human caused catastrophic global warming. Grist Magazine’s staff writer David Roberts called for the Nuremberg-style trials for the “bastards” who were members of what he termed the global warming “denial industry.”

Roberts wrote in the online publication on September 19, 2006, "When we've finally gotten serious about global warming, when the impacts are really hitting us and we're in a full worldwide scramble to minimize the damage, we should have war crimes trials for these bastards -- some sort of climate Nuremberg.” Read full account here. It will supply links.

Hat tip Amy

2952 Not Cheap

No wonder so many people depend on the internet to do genealogy. Yesterday I went to the court house and got copies with the official stamp of 8 birth certificates, 3 death certificates and one marriage license, and it cost $97! Wow. I had no idea. We went in the wrong building first, made some inquiries about genealogy, and were ushered into a small room with a film reader. But when I said I wanted birth certificates she said I had to go to the "county building" (I thought I was there), that she had only the criminal stuff! So I must have looked like someone checking out the skeletons in the closets. We said we didn't think we'd find any relatives in her department and went across the street.

I think everyone around here goes to Rockford or Freeport (different counties) to die, so the sources were limited, which is probably good considering how much I had to pay.

2951 A brief genealogy trip

We're here in the county seat this week, so we plan to take a trip to the court house and see what relatives we can dig up. I'm not sure what resources are here, but I think getting all your information from the internet probably isn't the best way to do it.

Had a nice long walk at a park in Mt. Morris today with a high school friend. The weather has changed and it is quite nippy today. We got a lot of nice autumn photographs yesterday when the sun was out. My niece and great-niece came by today bringing pumpkin donuts for tea time, and my brother came for dinner last night. We visited my aunt Muriel in Mt. Morris yesterday. She will be 90 soon but looks good.

Tiny Library

I think I'm in the country's smallest public library--in Oregon, Il. May add some photos later. The sign says I must register at the desk. Good old fashioned library rules. Gotta love 'em.

Updated October 14:

Oregon, IL Public Library

The building is on the historic register which is probably working against getting a larger facility for a thriving small town.

Monday Memories

For some reason, when I was in my 20s I thought a home wasn't complete without a piano. We bought our second home (keeping the first as a rental) in 1965 when I was a graduate student in library science at the University of Illinois, and I was spending my graduate stipend making payments on a piano! I didn't even play--had stopped taking lessons in grade school. After I bought it, my husband and I both took piano lessons from a grad student, but very briefly. I think we must have broken the poor girl's heart, we were so bad.


Our son could play piano by ear and even did a little composing, and our daughter took lessons in elementary school. When I stopped lessons around age 10 or 11, I just rarely played, but after she quit, she would play the piano almost every evening after supper for an hour or so for her own enjoyment. I was careful not to tell her how much I loved it, because you know how teens are! When she would come to visit (with her laundry) after she had her own apartment, she always spent time playing the piano. After she bought a house in 1996, I gave her the piano. And now it is just as lonesome and quiet in her house as it was in ours.

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2948 We've arrived

We rolled into Oregon about 1:30 p.m. and worked our way through streets jammed with cars for the "Autumn on parade." I'm not sure how strangers get through not knowing the streets and detours, but we finally made it to my sister's house on the other edge of town. We unpacked a few items, then went back to watch the parade, which seemed to be about 2 hours long.

The craft booths, as I understand it, are all by people from Ogle County, and we saw some wonderful items and great food (too bad, since I'm watching that). We would have stayed longer, however, there was a drill team from Chicago in the parade with amplified, canned music (no instruments that I could see). They were so loud that I could feel the vibrations through the sidewalks even a block away. We finally had to leave the area to get away from them. I think it is a form of child abuse to subject teenagers to that level of decibels, which must be like standing next to a jet plane holding a chain saw if you are in the group!

Later my Uncle Gene and Aunt Betty stopped by for a visit. Always good to see them. He is the next to youngest of my Dad's siblings. This week, I have some friends and relatives to see, but each time I come, there are fewer and fewer people I know.

I'm using a borrowed machine--can't find a spell check, so will just have to trust my instincts.

2947 Gitmo prisoners getting fat and well read

The detainees at Guantanomo Bay have access to a nice Arabic language library according to ABC News (HT Conservator):

"Nonfiction particularly philosophy, biographies and Arabic history is most popular, the librarians say. But fiction is also big. Popular authors include Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese-American; Agatha Christie; and J.K. Rowling, who penned the Harry Potter series about an English wizard in training.

The detainees are avid readers, according to the librarians. With detainees largely confined to cramped cells most of the day, reading provides an outlet and can help take their minds off the prospect that they may be jailed for years or even the rest of their lives with no trial."

But they are also getting fat because they can choose from a selection of about 4200 calories, one guy blimping up to 410. They get special cuisine and meals for holy days. The defenders will complain about lack of exercise, but we all know what taking in too many calories will do. And they can't even blame McDonald's or the fast food industry. They are choosing to over eat. What other bad Western habits are they absorbing?

"Most of the prisoners at Guantanamo picked up in Afghanistan and other conflict zones were slightly underweight when they arrived. Since then, they've gained an average of 20 pounds, and most are now"normal to mildly overweight or mildly obese,"according to the most recent measurements, he said.

The meals include meats prepared according to Islamic guidelines, along with fresh bread, vegetables and yogurt. With nearly all detainees fasting in the daytime during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, authorities have arranged for a post-sunset meal and a midnight meal. Traditional desserts and honey also are served during the Ramadan observances."

Guantanamo Bay
Terrorists
Muslims
libraries

2946 We're back

My blog has been displaying a blank page; have no idea why, but that's certainly scary. I periodically save my template as a text file, but I'm not sure I'd know how to reload it if I had to. I've made a bazillion changes in it over the years, some of which I don't know how to undo.

But actually, we're leaving again. First to Lake Erie, then to Illinois. I never know if I'll be able to log in somewhere. Maybe the library in Oregon (IL) has Wi-Fi. Oregon is having its "Autumn on Parade"--not sure we'll see much of it except for the traffic jam. Fall events are nice. There's one at Lakeside and Marblehead next week-end too, but we'll miss that.

"AUTUMN ON PARADE
Corner of Rt 64 & Rt 2, Oregon
Autumn is celebrated with enthusiasm in Oregon, Illinois at the annual Autumn on Parade (AOP) festival. Autumn on Parade features a Farmer's Market, with homemade items from over 100 vendors, plenty of live entertainment, a variety of food, and the ever popular Harvest Time Parade held on Sunday afternoon. Most of the activities and vendors will be found at the Ogle County Courthouse Square located at the corner of Ill. 64 and Ill. 2 in downtown Oregon." Oregon site

2945 Ross has been Rathered

So a blogger got the identity of the 21 year old former Congressional page (who was 18 at the time of the IM exchange with Foley) from the ABC servers which kept it available for 5 days. Hmmm. And the former page has hired a lawyer. Do you suppose he'll go after a penniless blogger or a deep pockets network television station for ruining his career? (He's working for an Oklahoman pol.) Hmmmm?

And the media and Democrats and even Republicans running for cover are still calling Foley's behavior "sick," even though it was with a consenting adult. What is this? Bash the nearest gay week?

Now that Hastert has brought in the big guns "for a thorough investigation," and we've found out the identity of the page who blew the whistle, and that some of the pages who knew Foley was gay were egging him on as a joke, I have this observation:

We wasted months on the Clinton sex scandal which probably did distract him from protecting the country--not his encounter with an intern, but the mess Republicans made of it trying to impeach him. Let's not tie up our very expensive talent in Washington with another consenting adults picadillo.

Only the lawyers are laughing. All the way to the bank.

Brian Ross
Dan Rather
Mark Foley
Dennis Hastert

Thursday Thirteen

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Thirteen things about the Thursday Thirteen I deleted.
1) I started working on it several days ago.
2) When I saved it in draft, I changed the date and time to read Oct. 5, 8:15.
3) Began polishing it yesterday afternoon.
4) Went to Google and found just the right photograph to illustrate it.
5) Brought up the photo, and for once was able to get the words "Thursday Thirteen" in the right size and color just where I wanted it, first try.
6) Decided it was sort of lengthy, so I cut one entire introductory paragraph.
7) At 6 p.m. Columbus had a huge storm with tornado warnings.
8) We talked to both of our kids twice.
9) Our daughter who lives a few miles west of us had baseball size hail in her yard.
10) Then it hit here.
11) To be really cautious and not lose my work, I turned off the computer, and watched that TV show about people who disappear on TNT.
12) When I rebooted after the storm, my carefully crafted TT really didn't look that great.
13) So I hit the delete key and went to bed.

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2943 Democrats are circulating a list

of gay Republican staffers. Nice touch. The magnanimous supporters of gay and lesbian rights, the folks pushing gay marriage legislation, seem to be saying there should be no gay Republicans, or that before a Republican hires a staffer, he much check into his or her sexual preference. Or maybe they'd prefer no gays at all in the government if it would bring down Bush?

"It would seem that if you can't win an election on the issues, you win it on outing the gay members of the opposite party. Color me not surprised. Politics as pure perversion. If the moderates of this country have come to believe that the Republicans are "capable of anything," just wait until they get a load of what the New! Improved! and Even More Degenerate Democrats can do." American Digest

The motive, of course, is to win congressional seats so they can impeach Bush. But does the gay community want to take the fall for this?

Here's what Gay Patriot has to say to Mr. Corn (the liberal with the list):

"Did it ever occur to Mr. Corn that the representatives and Senators he mentions that may or may not have gay staffers do not care about their sexual orientation yet value their participation as public servants? Is it not rational that you can hire a gay staffer, but at the same time oppose PUBLIC POLICY POSITIONS that you are morally or philosophically opposed to without being labeled a homophobe?

Perhaps Mr. Corn is ignoring the fact that most gay conservatives identify more strongly in our American Identity than our Gay Identity. Did that ever cross your mind, Mr. Corn? Probably not since you seem to have had no problem outing a CIA agent and then letting others take the fall for your actions." Gay Patriot on the Democrats' Witchhunt(Just an idiomatic expression for burning at the stake--I have a Witch who comments here)

Remember when John Kerry decided to "out" Dick Cheney's daughter--he personally doesn't care I'm sure, but he wanted to divide and conquer the Republicans so he threw her overboard. I see a pattern of gay intimidation here.

Mark Foley
Democratic Party

2942 Homophobia in Washington

Sometimes "homophobia" is just disgust by non-homosexuals; sometimes it is throwing your natural gay allies over the side of the boat for the sharks for political gain; and sometimes it is hate by fellow gays for homosexuals who pretend to be something else. All this and more is going on in the Halls of Congress and the Closets of the DNC and GOP.

I find it interesting and disgusting that a U.S. Congressman who happens to be a Republican, gets more press inches and words on cable and network news and pixels on blogs for his perverted Instant Messages than a heterosexual pervert who planned to tie up and rape little girls, but instead murdered them. If the little girls hadn't been Amish so that half of the story could be a popular culture rehash about the quaint Amish custom of forgiving enemies, that story would have been even smaller. If the pervert had gone after little boys, it might have been a match for the Foley story for a day or two. But girls and women are assaulted, raped, fondled and receive attention from "dirty old men" in positions of authority and power every minute of the day, and the press just looks the other way; as does Congress. (Unless it happens in Aruba.)

And even though the age of consent is 16 in DC, and the "children" were mature teens considered the best and brightest, able to live away from home in a sexual cesspool of political intrigue, and so far there is no evidence of kiddie porn being sent, groping, touching, fondling or oral sex with a subordinate, the Democrats continue with their phony outrage and real outing. They want every Republican who knew to resign.

Buried in the stories, usually at the bottom where stuff like this belongs, is the information that there's quite a political in-crowd of influential gays in DC whose loyalty transcends party. Sort of a bi-partisan, bi-sexual, buy-me-for-information-or-sex sort of club. Maybe it's not as dicey as the Barney Franks' lover running a gay sex-for-sale house, or Congressman Studds and his young page lover getting a wrist slap. But they are protecting each other, and obviously were protecting Mark Foley from harm. The Democrats, in hopes of disgusting the conservative base, have "outed" the whole smarmy mess.

So who are the real homophobes?

Update: I heard an interview this morning with the guy who took the Instant Messages off AOL and figured out who MAF54 was and who the page was, then tracked him to MySpace. At the time of the IMs, he was 18 and no longer a page and living in Oklahoma. Hmmm. Have they outed all these folks for consensual sex between gays?

2941 Old Aprons

Last November I started a memory blog using an old apron as my idea to jog my memory. Now here's a really cute apron blog. I think the whole blog's about this and using thrift store items for decorating. She's really good at using the colors and themes. The 40s and 50s colors, fabrics and dishes look a lot better in the 21st century than they did in the 20th!

2940 Would you be more likely to. . .

Last night I received a telephone political poll and I stayed on the line just for the jollies--it was so obviously slanted to the Democrats. The young man was so garbled and talked so fast that at first I thought it might be phone sex! If Democrats are using these polls to rally the troops, they are in trouble. John Kerry was in town yesterday campaigning, and I think there was even a question on him.

The questions are never gray or middle of the road or multiple choice. It was something like: "Are you perfectly 100% satisfied with the direction of this country, or is Bush taking us to Hell in a handbasket" (I'm paraphrasing here). No one is completely happy with Bush's performance. He's made a mess of immigration trying to satisfy the Democrats; he couldn't rally his own troops to straighten out and save Social Security; and on education he's spent money like a drunken Kennedy. When the final question was on Mark Foley, it was BINGO. Gotcha.

Here are the questions I'd like to hear from a pollster:

• Who is more likely to put radicals or progressives on the Supreme Court? The Democrats.
  
• Who are more likely to raise your taxes? The Democrats.
  
• Who are more likely to restrict our basic rights? The Democrats.
  
• Who are more likely to let more illegals into the country? The Democrats.
  
• Who are more likely to register them to vote? The Democrats.
  
• Who are more likely to fight voter ID laws? The Democrats.
  
• Who are more likely to try to destroy the largest employer in the world? The Democrats.
  
• Who are more likely to want poor people to have your tax money, rather than lower priced consumer goods?
  
• Who are more likely to tell you the economy is tanking and is the worst since the Depression? The Democrats
  
• Who are more likely to blame a Republican President for being on vacation, rather than a Democratic Governor and Mayor who were on site? The Democrats.
  
• Who are more likely to release private phone records to the media of a U.S. Congressman while screaming for protection of the phone records of international jihadists released to the Department of Justice? The Democrats.
  
• Who are more likely to snoop in your pantry and your church pew? The Democrats.
  
• Who are more likely to encourage you to abort your children? The Democrats.
  
• Who are more likely to disrupt investment in medical drugs research and technology? The Democrats.
  
• Who are more likely to have moles within the government who can provide leaks to the press? The Democrats.
  
• Who are more likely to fail to protect our interests at home and abroad against terrorists?
  
• Who are more likely to abandon the Iraqi people as we did the Vietnamese? The Democrats.
  
• Who are more likely to stand up to Iran? North Korea? China? The Democrats. Yeah, that'll happen.
  
• Who are more likely to abandon Israel? The Democrats.
  

Political polls
Democratic party
Franklin County, Ohio
Pollsters

2939 Squats

The cure for this.

2938 Calorie Restriction is . . . boring!

OK, so you live longer on a calorie restriction diet because it is better for your heart. Or does it just feel that way because it's no fun? Just eating half a hamburger and fewer French fries doesn't officially compute as "calorie restriction." Darn. You must be eating "nutrient dense." Garlic, lentils, chickpeas? Are you kidding me?

This may be artistic, but it is inaccurate. I don't think mushrooms or eggplant have any food value at all--but I suppose they take up space in your tummy.
Also, you should lose weight slowly. Losing quickly will actually shorten your life, not extend it.

Getting started with calorie restriction (very boring, and you probably already knew all this--I did).

This is the Journal of American College of Cardiology article (in common English) that I cited a few days ago.

"It may even be possible that eating a very low-calorie, nutrient dense diet reverses declines in diastolic function. People in the study averaged only six years on the diet, but their hearts looked 15 years younger." It probably felt like 15 years, too.

2937 Спутник

Not even my kids know this story. I'm not sure I've ever told anyone about how one little event that the whole world knew about completely changed the direction of my life. Спутник. Sputnik.

My date, D.B., and I were returning to Manchester College after seeing a movie in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and we heard about the Sputnik launch on the car radio. I doubt if I paid much attention to the news in those days, and even TV news, which I never saw until 1960 was only 15 minutes when I did start. But D.B. knew the score. He was a sophomore chemistry major and today we would call him a geek, but in 1957, he was just a brain. I was a freshman no-major and I'd describe myself if I could, but really have little memory of that girl's personality. But both of us were sort of overcome with a feeling of dread--that the Soviet Union was now going to overwhelm the United States. I imagine I listened to him explain the seriousness of it--because I still remember how frightened I was in those days of the Cold War.

A few weeks later I walked past an article posted on a bulletin board about the USSR's superiority in science and math, and it had a graphic of the cyrillic alphabet. I stopped to examine it and was fascinated--and made the instant decision I wanted to study Russian. Since Russian wasn't offered at Manchester, I would need to transfer. It was offered at the University of Illinois, my home state, and so I made preparations to transfer for my sophomore year.

And that's how I got to Columbus, Ohio, to take a position in the Ohio State University Library in Slavic, where I put down roots, raised a family, and retired (from the veterinary medicine library, not Russian, which I've totally forgotten), and started writing blogs. Thank you, Спутник.

Where were you October 4, 1957?

Sputnik
Cold War
1950s
career decisions
serendipity

2936 Fall down go poof

My F: drive has stopped working. It recognizes files on a disk, I can even use them. But if I try to copy from my hard drive to a disk, it tells me to put a disk in. This means if I down load my photos to my computer I can't select and copy to a disk to have them printed, because the drive never finds the disk. Also can't back anything up on a disk. Anyone know what the problem is?

2935 Is Brian Ross being Rathered?

The amount of Foley material being amassed by Brian Ross at ABC, and the length of time he has held it just to release right before the election is "Rather" suspicious. Is it gay bashing when you get this explicit Mr. Ross, or is it a gay outing by a militant gay group mad at Foley for not supporting them, or is it just politics as usual for the Democrats and their media buddies who are hoping Republicans will split over this? There is no type face to compare as there was in the CBS Dan Rather meltdown, just some instant messages from "who knows who?" An astute page clever enough to save that many messages? My, he must have a future. If these are real, I'm surprised Foley was bright enough to run for dog catcher let alone Congress.

The folks behind the folks behind Ross.

Brian Ross
Dan Rather
Mark Foley

2934 Glenn Beck's off base today

He's horrified, as we all are, by the killing of school children in Pennsylvania yesterday. The man who picked up the Amish farmers' milk everyday slaughtered their daughters and granddaughters and no one knows why. It is so unthinkable that even finding a motive won't clear your brain. Glenn's website.

But Glenn is using one man's madness to launch an attack on modern society. Why I don't know. He's tossed in cell phones, Hollywood, mothers who work, and families not eating together into one big foul stew. I think a lot of things are wrong with society, like Nagin being reelected by the people he failed in New Orleans, like our former pastor's adultery, like allowing felons to work at our ports, like encouraging young girls to yearn for stick like bodies, like U.S. Moslems turning a blind eye to Jihadism. But no, I'm not going to accept any of the blame for one crazy milk man from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania who murders children after hugging his own good-bye at the bus stop.

Glenn Beck
Amish

2933 And if he were your boss or colleague?

What would you have done? Because I was a librarian, I worked with many, openly gay men (and some that were in the closet). Certain careers have been gay-friendly over the years, and gay men have enjoyed positions of prominence, power, and publishing in library science and technology. Back in the 60s we just assumed the aging spinster librarians living together were doing so for convenience and security--the fact that they were lesbians in long term relationships went right over my head.

I knew the monogamous and the promiscuous ones, and several who had also formerly been married. One of my former male employees was still married to his wife the last time he visited me, but he's now a she, so I'm a bit out of the loop on the sexual dynamics of that coupling. It's just more than I want to know. My favorite boss of many years was gay, and his long time partner was often included in social activities. Even in the weeks before he died and I visited him in hospice, he tried to be cheerful and up-to-date on what was happening at the library despite his pain. And so the dilemma of what Foley's colleagues knew and when they knew, hits close to home for me. I truly don't know what I would have done, because it is human nature to make excuses for the failings of friends and colleagues. And it is also human nature to guard your own career ladder and not chop off any of the rungs you need to advance.

Mark Foley was openly gay, his homosexuality apparently well-known on the Hill, and a Republican congressman from Florida. The mainstream media isn't praising his fellow Republicans for accepting him for years as a colleague and friend. No, Foley's homosexuality is never mentioned, but the "failure" of his colleagues and superiors to protect underage boys is. Tricky business, ratting on a friend, a superior, or a "protected" person in today's political climate, isn't it?

In today's upside down world of political correctness, Foley's colleagues' assumed failures are looming much larger in the media than his known disgusting behavior. I think ABC was the first to break the story. A story they sat on for some time before it was trotted out after the deadline for a new Republican to get on the Florida ballot. They showed even less concern "for the children" than Foley did.

There's an editorial about this in the Wall Street Journal today, which has implications for your job and community too. Here's my thoughts:

• Do you assume the colleague's behavior is predatory if you notice something odd,
• or do you wonder if you're being homophobic, or prudish if the colleague isn't gay
• Or are you afraid you'll be accused of being homophobic putting your own career in jeopardy if you say something?
• Do you ask or tell another colleague about it
• or is that gossip if your suspicions are groundless?
• Do you talk privately to the offending colleague or boss (yeah, boss, that's gonna happen!) assuming he won't torpedo your career at the next team evaluation?
• Would you instigated an investigation of e-mail at work?
• Would you go to the ombudsman or personnel director if you knew they were also homosexual, or known to be promiscuous
• Would you know which privacy laws you might be violating?
• Would your private discussion go into your personnel record?
• Do you assume gay men are going to be targeting gay boys?
• And what if the gay boys like and encourage the attention the same way straight teens enjoy attention?
• is this another round of political correctness because of the big push for children to become comfortable with their sexuality?
• Would you alert the child's parents, who may not even be aware of his sexual orientation.

Yes, a lot to think about before you rat out a colleague.

It's my blogiversary

Three years ago today I started blogging. Counting my group blog and my LIS journal and my six other blogs besides this one, I show a little over 4200 entries. Then I went back and filled in October 1, because it didn't look tidy. And I'm really posting this on October 3, because I forgot the date.

2932 Rush was right

While listening to Rush on my walk today, I heard him say that Republicans wouldn't know how to smear cream cheese on a bagel, referring to how Democrats are bringing out various smear stories in the remaining weeks before the election. "Oh come on--don't you remember Lewinsky?" I said to myself. "Or Condit?" "Or Kennedy?" "Or labor unions' links with mafia?" or when Dick Armey called Barney Frank, Barney Fag (although that's not exactly a smear).

However, when I brought up Explorer today, my RoadRunner news flashed the story, "Scandal rocks GOP." So I typed that into Google and got about 1.5 million. I only glanced at 10-20. Then (since there is not an equivalent acronym for the Dems) I tried DNC, but those were mostly about the DNC smearing Republican candidates written by angry bloggers. Then I tried with quotes, "scandal rocks Democrats" and I think I got 3 or 4. Republicans never even got a good shot at Sandy Berger, even though I'd be in jail if I tried to do what he did.

Rush was right. They couldn't smear a bagel. Or the media is awfully silent when the page is on the other hand.

Monday Memories

Last week my husband took some of his watercolor paintings up to Delaware, OH for an art show. All were accepted. So today's Monday Memories is a photo from the Upper Arlington Art Show of 1975. This show started as an art exhibit for local artists in 1966 near the Miller Park Library with about a dozen artists. Don Dodrill, a painter friend of ours got the ball rolling. Then when it outgrew that space, it moved to Jones Middle School for a few years, then up to the city building on Kenney Road, across from the OSU golf course. That's where this photo was taken. The show is now in Northam Park each Labor Day and attracts tens of thousands.

1975 Labor Day Art Show
Although we have lots of paintings in our house, and many at our children's and relatives' homes, we also buy art. We bought 2 watercolors in Russia this summer, and here is the painting we bought from Don Dodrill, the founder of the Upper Arlington Labor Day show.

This is a bit fuzzy, but I wanted Don in the picture.

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2930 It may come back to bite them

The left branch media and those that like salacious news stories (that about covers it, doesn't it) should probably slow down on this Congressman Foley story. They are shifting the spotlight from the one to blame and making noise about the lack of supervision by other Republicans. Yeah, like the Democrats supervised Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton's sexual behavior. They got reelected.

However, The Man-Boy sex lobby is much bigger with Democrats than Republicans; after the gay marriage and polygamous marriage lobbies finish with us, saying we're denying civil rights to people who are just doing what's natural for them, we'll hear a lot more from the pedophiles. I'd show you the websites of both gays and lesbians who promote sex with minors, but I don't want them dribbling their cookies on my hard drive.

Why Foley's checked himself into alcohol rehab, I don't know. Alcoholics don't become pedophiles from pickling their brains. Pedophiles have screwed up values and might drink on the side to forget their problems. No 10 step program is going to help him. In our 21st century world, people who have sex outside the marriage bed (as described in the Bible), whether it is with their own gender, their neighbor's wife, or their uncle's dog, want to claim all that matters is their feelings. Foley is in the group that thinks sex with male children is his natural right.

Foley is obviously a gay pedophile, just like there are heterosexuals who are pedophiles. Or the bi-sexual, married blonde female teacher having sex with young male students is another example. That doesn't mean all gay men solicit underage males, but a lot do, and they have their own political agenda. That agenda is to decriminalize sex between minors and adults. They're hoping to get the law changed so they don't go to jail, in my opinion, or they want legal, disease-free sex. Sure, the rest of us call this abomination pedophilia, but they don't.

Democrats can be outed for all sorts of kinky, illegal and weird behavior and get reelected. It just doesn't seem to work for Republicans. For that I'm glad and I said good riddance, Mr. Foley.

2918 Two political sleazeballs

Don Surber's got a good one today about the Democrat's glee about Foley, the Florida Congressman caught with his pants almost down chasing some male pages via the internet while writing legislation to protect children. However, their own sleaze monkey, former Governor McGreevey, was allowed to time his resignation so the Dems didn't lose the office and then appeared on Oprah as a victim. Oh yes, and a book. Always a book. And since I'm retired, I'll just suggest you go into the stacks and find it by yourself. But look out for the weirdos. They aren't all on the internet.

2917 A cancer blog

Larry Sievers writes a Cancer Blog at NPR. It's pretty interesting because he addresses many of the thoughts and platitudes that appear in the lives of the survivors, patients, family, friends and co-workers. The above link is to the entry on how a cancer patient should respond to a smoker.

Update: Sievers died in August 2008. This link no longer works.

My vote would be for knocking him down and stomping on his cigarettes, but I was definitely in the minority. See comments.

Every teenager who thinks it looks so cool to light up and have smoke burn your eyes and nose and make you stink should read Ruth's comment:

"I have smoked since I was 13-years-old and I am 61 now. Smoking to me is like second nature. Yes I have tried to quit but without success. In my life I've been told that I have achieved things others could not do on their own. I lost over 60 lbs with sheer will power and kept it off. I used to drink vodka everyday; I knew it was not good for me but couldn't stop for the longest time. I no longer drink today, sheer willpower. I've been told if you could quit eating and drinking you should be able to quit smoking, but I just can't. I have cancer and am going to have surgery to remove (hopefully) the entire tumor within 30 days. I've finished the pre surgery chemo, it did shrink it a little bit so now I have to see one more doctor, a lung doctor and were ready to schedule. I have esophageal/stomach cancer, I'll have two surgeons operating, one on my stomach and one maybe on my chest. I know I'm a damn fool but I think the only way I can quit smoking, is if they lock me up, which is about to happen. I have to stay in the hospital between seven and ten days, it scares me to death. Wish me the best. No lectures please."

2916 The Truth is Inconvenient

"In May, our nation was exposed to perhaps one of the slickest science propaganda films of all time: former Vice President Gore’s "An Inconvenient Truth." In addition to having the backing of Paramount Pictures to market this film, Gore had the full backing of the media, and leading the cheerleading charge was none other than the Associated Press.

On June 27, the Associated Press ran an article by Seth Borenstein that boldly declared “Scientists give two thumbs up to Gore's movie.” The article quoted only five scientists praising Gore’s science, despite AP’s having contacted over 100 scientists. http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/2006-06-27-inconvenient-truth-reviews_x.htm

The fact that over 80% of the scientists contacted by the AP had not even seen the movie or that many scientists have harshly criticized the science presented by Gore did not dissuade the news outlet one bit from its mission to promote Gore’s brand of climate alarmism. http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=257909

I am almost at a loss as to how to begin to address the series of errors, misleading science and unfounded speculation that appear in the former Vice President’s film Here is what Richard Lindzen, a meteorologist from MIT has written about "An Inconvenient Truth." "A general characteristic of Mr. Gore's approach is to assiduously ignore the fact that the earth and its climate are dynamic; they are always changing even without any external forcing. To treat all change as something to fear is bad enough; to do so in order to exploit that fear is much worse." http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008597 "

From "Hot & Cold Media Spin: A Challenge To Journalists Who Cover Global Warming" speech by Senator James Inhofe, Chairman, Senate Enivornment and Public Works Committee, September 25, 2006

The one area I might disagree with Sen. Inhofe, is when he says, "The American people know when their intelligence is being insulted--when they are being used and duped." For starters, that's almost a campaign slogan used both by the right and left. But more tragically, I meet a lot of gullible people who have swallowed these lies and truly believe that humans have the power to control the climate. They have refused to look at centuries of climate data and trends and can only remember a decade of mild winters, or last year's hurricanes, if that. The previous global warming scare was around the time I was born, so mostly I remember the coming ice age scare of the 70s and 80s. That's warmed up a bit now. The Gullibles (or Democrats or Humanists) don't want to look at the Kyoto results, or the increasing population of polar bears, or the huge sums environmental groups spend on political campaigns. They just want to be afraid, worried, and in power.

Climate Change
global warming
An Inconvenient Truth

See also:

http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=212247
http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=213589