The exclusiveness of being Norma

There are no men named Norma. There are no similar or even fairly similar names to Norma for either men or women. But there are a small number of men named Annie. And a huge number of similar names to Annie for both men (Ernie, Ananias) and women (Alexandrea, Ginny). You're probably thinking, What about Norman, but there are actually some women named Norman; but no men named Norma. So, I'm special.

The popularity of my name peaked in 1931, long before I was born. I think there were some movie stars named Norma (Shearer, Talmadge and the fictional Desmond) and for some reason, mommies want to name their babies after people who can't put three words together unless someone else has written it down for them. Marilyn Monroe didn't like her name and changed it. Maybe she didn't know about those other famous stars named Norma.

I was named by my father, a story my mother often told me when Dad was out of the room and mad at me for something. Apparently, with his third child he decided to try the daddy thing and was bouncing me around when I was an infant, tossed me in the air, and I hit my head on the ceiling light fixture. It was a long time before he picked up a baby again. By the time the great-granddaughters came along, he was getting pretty good at it, although I don't think he ever changed a diaper.

If you are choosing a baby's name and you wish the child to totally confuse future employers and the draft board, pick either Byrd or Kendall, the top two sexually ambiguous names. But if you want your daughter to stand out in a crowd, name her Norma.The special one
To check out your own name, try The Name Playground.

Citizens Against Government Waste

was founded following the lead of President Ronald Reagan in establishing the President’s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control, or the "Grace Commission," after Chairman J. Peter Grace, in 1982. In its more than 20 years of existence, CAGW has grown to include more than one million members who have helped reduce government spending by three-quarters of a billion dollars. The work of CAGW has also identified as much as $200 billion in unrealized one-year savings and more than $1.6 trillion in five-year savings. (Ohio Piglet Book)

Whichever party is in power, is the big offender, so for 2006 it was the Republicans. "The 2006 Congressional Pig Book is the latest installment of Citizens Against Government Waste’s (CAGW) 16-year exposé of pork-barrel spending. This year’s list includes: $13,500,000 for the International Fund for Ireland, which helped finance the World Toilet Summit; $6,435,000 for wood utilization research; $1,000,000 for the Waterfree Urinal Conservation Initiative; and $500,000 for the Sparta Teapot Museum in Sparta, N.C."

Some states have their own Piglet Book. Here is Ohio's for 2006, "The book Columbus doesn't want you to read." Congratulations to Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Florida and Georgia for being the states that are the least greedy in bringing home the federal pork. Alaska is number one, and Hawaii number two.

The terrible, sad marriage of Annie and Frank

You never know the tales you'll find when browsing a digitized, obscure record in the New York Public Library! I found Annie's photo in Cabinet Card Portraits in the Collection of Radical Publisher Benjamin R. Tucker. Tucker was publisher of The Radical Review from 1877 to 1878, and the anarchist magazine Liberty from 1881 to 1908. His magazine was the first to publish George Bernard Shaw in the U.S., and to translate Pierre Joseph Proudhon. Tucker also published other works considered radical at the time, such as Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, Tolstoy's Kreutzer Sonata, and Oscar Wilde's Ballad of Reading Gaol. [notes from the catalog record at NYPL]

The Besants
by Norma Bruce
February 23, 2007

Frankie and Annie were married,
Oh Lordy, how they could fight.
Clergy was he, a writer she,
taking her fees was his right.

Frankie preached long dull sermons,
Short stories Annie would write.
Divorce for them was unthinkable--
society and God would smite.

Annie helped farmers to unionize,
Frank to the landlords leaned.
The couple was split by politics,
you’ve probably already gleaned.

"You read too many damn books,"
Frank was known to tell his wife.
He got custody of their children,
And she kept his name for life.

3522 Baldism

Today I was reading the Nov/Dec 2006 issue of Where to Retire and noticed something very odd. Although this magazine is supposed to focus on people over 50, it leaves out bald men. Zip, nada, zilch. What? They don't own property, stock, go fishing or play golf? There were no bald men in the ads--not one, and that's the major part of this very fat journal (over 260 pages). There was a bald man on p. 64 and p. 130 in news stories with candid shots. To the magazine's credit there were also no bad hair pieces or comb overs ala Donald Trump.

Murray had hair the last time I saw him (2002?) and my brother did the last time I saw him (2006), and my neighbor Jerry, and my friend Nancy's husband, but most of the men my age are bald, or so close to it they should just shave what's left. So, let's give a shout out for bald, male models who need the work.

Britney Spears

3521 Friday Family Photo--The story of Beau

A few weeks ago I told you the tragic story of my niece's husband, who manages a ranch in Illinois, developing a terrible infection in his hand when a thorn went through his glove, which required surgery, hospitalization and then physical therapy (still going on). While he was in the hospital, some of the horses got out of the corral before dawn, and two were hit in the road by a passing car, injuring severely the driver and two passengers, killing the one horse outright, and disabling the other. The injured horse was Beau, my niece's special pet, and this is his story.



Beau and Amy saved each others' lives five or six years ago. She was about as down and depressed as a young single mom could be, and he was headed for the slaughter house to become dog food. A girlfriend called her about two horses she heard about and Amy, who surely didn't need another pet to complicate her life (she already had a burro that was stretching her budget), fell in love at first sight. Beau was a young, unbroken stallion--had never worn a saddle or bridle. She got books and read everything she could about gentling and training horses--although I've seen her with animals and personally know she always has had a special knack with them. They spent a lot of time just loving each other, talking about life, sorting through the problems and walking--for miles. People used to ask her how her "dog" was because she wasn't riding him--just walking along with him. He would lay his head on her chest and come when she called his name. Eventually, the riding stage was no big deal because there was such a trust between them.

The night of the accident someone came to the house and told Amy some horses had escaped from the corral and been hit. It was dark so she couldn't see which ones, but in the headlights of the stopped traffic, she could see Beau standing along the road. She'd brought a halter with her, slipped it on his head, which he rested on her just like he always did, and she asked someone standing nearby to hold him while she checked on the other horses. She told him Beau wouldn't go anywhere, that he was gentle, but got a very strange response she didn't understand. Then the vet came up to her as she was about to lead Beau to the barn. The vet stopped her and said that wouldn't be possible, the horse was in shock and critically injured. Just then the traffic from the other direction started to move, and the headlights shone on Beau. She was horrified to see his injuries and knew right away, that he would need to be put down.

Beau will always have a special place in her heart, and I suspect he is irreplaceable even if someday she owns another horse. He came into her life when she rescued him, he then rescued her, worked his equine magic, and moved on.

After Amy told me this story I asked her if she knew that Beau had been her father's nickname when he was a little boy. She didn't.

Pure Evil

Three adults, a dead child and one of the most awful, strangest cases I've ever heard about people who appeared on the surface to be normal, acting out unbelievable evil, has been on the news here in Ohio. Supposedly, the child was developmentally disabled, but I'd say the adult caretakers were definitely at the shallow end of the gene pool! The murder case of Liz Carroll in Cincinnati for killing her foster child, Marcus, by wrapping him in a blanket with duct tape and storing him in a closet while she, her husband and her husband's girlfriend went off to a family reunion for the week-end to leave him to suffocate has been playing out in Cincinnati this week. Today she was sentenced to what seemed to me, not nearly long enough. The girl friend, Amy Baker, who participated in this will apparently go free for turning on her lover/friend, and regain custody of her own children. I assume the husband will come to trial too.

I listened to the summation on the radio today on WLW. It was the most awful thing I'd ever heard. I don't believe in the death penalty, and this case in Ohio didn't even qualify, but I think all three of these people need to be put away forever, and ever. 54 years to life hardly seems adequate given the parole system for good behavior. Poor little guy. His life must have been pretty bad to be taken away from his parents, and then to end his life as someone else's punching bag. How awful for him.

It makes me wonder where were the social workers who placed this child, Butler County Children Services Board and its foster care contractor, Lifeway for Youth? What's their punishment? Where were the neighbors who noticed that all the children--foster and biological--in that family were roaming the neighborhood without supervision. The lady who thought about reporting it but didn't. What about the other girl friends who seemed to float in and out. Did no one notice how strange, weird and evil these people were?

The WLW reporter I heard alluded to something awful about the dog. He actually refused to report it. Yesterday I watched an interview with a humane society employee who said when they get a report about a mistreated pet, there are usually other charges against the owners for domestic violence, child abuse, gun violations, etc. Watch the pets. Save a child.

Trip Tales, Haiti #5

Hugues Bastien has also had a medical clinic built not far from the school. So far, it is not permanently staffed, but medical mission teams are also going there. The day our construction team left for Haiti, we had a medical team returning. Bill, who did all the organizing for the construction group, is married to a nurse, and she returned from Haiti the day he left, and picked up their car at the airport. They are an amazing couple, really committed to the welfare of the people in Ouanaminthe.

Modern medical clinic in Ouanaminthe
Pam, our pastor's wife, teaches Bible at the school, however, she is a trained artist and has done this mural. In Columbus, she had done a number of murals at Highland Elementary School where many of our members volunteer and mentor.
Jesus with the people of Ouanaminthe--you can see the town square in the background of the mural, and the girl is wearing the school's uniform
Friday evening before the team left on Saturday for DR to fly home on Sunday, they had a party for all the school staff and their family members to thank them for the help they'd given the team.
The school choir sang, and that is pastor Dave standing by the stage. Each staff person received a gift bag from the team members--with 1400 students you can see it is a fairly large staff, possibly the 2nd largest employer in the city. In addition to the gift bags, the church also sent down ahead of the team, 200 bicycles to be given to children who didn't have any.
Hugues performing at the party for the staff

Read part #1. Read part #2. Read part #3. Read part #4.

3518 Technological tics

Did you know no one cares enough about Haiti to make a map? You know, the kind that you fold up for the glove compartment and tells you how far you are from the border? My husband wants one. We've checked with all the bookstores in the city and he drove up to the map store in Dublin, which has closed. Then I checked the OSU map library and I think there were 4--3 topographical and 1 satellite. It's not hard to see why. No one goes there, and all the residents are trying to leave. The government is in shambles and it is one of the poorest countries in the world and it has no infrastructure. So, what cartographer/printer would ever try to make money selling a map of Haiti?

So we scanned the teeny tiny one we had in an atlas. But I didn't notice how many megabytes it was and when I clicked on "print" it came up with something like a bazillion, so my poor little printer has grabbed a sheet of paper and is making a clicking noise every 5 minutes or so.

So I'm sitting in the kitchen with the cat, who is watching the snow melt at about the speed of my printer, using the laptop. Also, when I tried to get into my second Blogger account (which hadn't been moved to the new now out of beta blogger) it reminded me to type in my Google account, which I did, and it threw me back to this dashboard where I have 8 blogs instead of the other one where I have 2. Now I can't add anything over there at mmhs1957.

I sure hope it is finished by morning. I have a really great family photo to show you. It's residing on the other computer. It's possible that both contraptions will work at the same time, but I don't want to push it.

Confidential except for. . .

The IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, the Privacy Act of 1974, and the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 requires that the IRS ask for information. But first they want me to know why, and who else might see it, and what would happen to me if they didn't receive it.

The IRS has a right to ask and it is mandatory for me to answer this because of the Internal Revenue Code sections 6001, 6011, and 6012(a). But here's my favorite part:

My tax returns are confidential BUT Code section 6103 allows or requires the IRS to give it to a whole bunch of others such as

• Department of Justice
• cities
• states
• DC
• U.S. commonwealths or possessions
• certain foreign governments
• so they can carry out their tax laws.

The IRS may disclose my tax information to obtain information it can't get any other way to the

• Department of Treasury
• its contractors
• other persons as necessary

The IRS can disclose my tax information to

• The Comptroller General of the United States
• the Committees of Congress
• federal, state, and local child support agencies
• other federal agencies concerning entitlement for benefits or repayment of loans
• other countries under a tax treaty
• federal and state agencies to enforce federal nontax criminal laws
• federal law enforcement
• federal intelligence agencies to combat terrorism.

This information is on page 22 of the 35 page instruction booklet for the 1040EZ for filing electronically (so much for paper reduction). But the booklet does not contain any tax forms.

The pie chart on p. 33 says that 37% of the federal income goes for Social Security, Medicare, and support for the disabled and elderly; 20% goes for social programs like Medicaid, food stamps, assistance for the needy, Supplemental security income and related programs like health research and unemployment compensation; 10% goes for physical, human and community development such as agriculture, natural resources, environment, space, energy, science, etc.; and ta-dah, 24% for national defense, veterans and foreign affairs, of which 20% is funding the global war on terror.

Poetry Thursday #8

This week's (completely and totally optional) idea for Poetry Thursday is this phrase: "the body knows." I'm submitting here a poem I wrote in January. One of the ways (other than aches and pains) that our bodies speak to us is discreetly via a mirror--maybe it's in the bathroom or a department store cubicle, or the quick glance in the rear view mirror as we travel to work, sipping the latte, skipping through and humming along with the radio.

Mirror, mirror on the wall
January 26, 2007
by Norma Bruce

You used to be my friend.
We’d hang out together
for hours of girly talk,
share secrets, giggle over
girdles and bobbi pins,
lipstick, powder and mascara.

You used to wait for me.
Chat in the dressing room,
whispering gossip
at the counter where
we’d go to order
double chocolate cherry cokes.

When did you change?
Sometimes I feel you’ve joined
the witness protection program,
embarrassed to see me.
Now you’re pious and prim--
no longer zealous for my best.

Oh, how I miss you, dear heart!
Your face isn’t clear when I squint,
your motives are obscured.
What did I do to offend?
Can’t we go back to the old days,
make silly faces and stay out late?

Here are two others I wrote this week; if you've got a moment. . .:
The vows
When you're falling in love

3515 Maid in the USA

It's been suggested by a sibling I'm a bit of a pack-rat. If so, I'm a tidy one (except for my office). I have small, intimate, personal collections--like Hull pottery, first issues of magazines, glass children's dishes, a few household items from my great-grandparents' home, some of my high school dresses, my grandmother's scrapbooks, sewing patterns from the 1950s, and my mother's handwritten recipe cards. But today proves it. I am wearing a pair of jeans with a "Made in the USA" tag that I'm pretty sure my daughter gave me in 1986. She was either losing weight or gaining it--don't remember--and for some reason gave me 4 or 5 pair of her jeans. She was 19 and living on her own, buying clothes with every paycheck. So maybe she was just tired of them. I remember selling one pair at a yard sale because they were so small I never could get them on--and I'm not sure what happened to the others. The pair I'm wearing today is really tough--the denim is very heavy. I remember wearing them in the late 80s when my library (Veterinary Medicine, OSU) was recarpeted and painted and I had to move a 50,000 volume collection. I think they've been on a few bike rides on my no-speed 1968, white-side-wall, fat tire bicycle. I don't have much occasion to wear jeans--although I grew up in them--but these seem just about right for a cold, foggy February morning and wondering about whatever happened to the U.S. textile and clothing industry.

3514 The global slave trade

Last night I watched an interesting program on the misogyny, criminality and homoeroticism in hip-hop music. Would you believe one guy interviewed actually found a way to tie the problem to President Bush? Then today I was reading "The new Global slave trade," by Ethan B. Kapstein, Foreign Affairs, Nov/Dec 2006. There were clues in the first four paragraphs whose fault it would be (the United States because we have the powers of physical force to stop it), but I asked myself, "How far will he go before it is George W. Bush's fault?" Paragraph Five.

"Meanwhile, President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may have made some bold pronouncements about eliminating slavery, but the U.S. administration is so focused on the war on terror that Bush and Rice rarely press matters such as slavery at meetings with relevant governments." (p. 104)

Eighty percent of the slaves are women and children, 43% of which are being used in prostitution. Multinational criminal gangs capture, transport and sell them for huge profits, estimated at $10 billion a year--much higher than the 18th century slave trade--with the protection of their own governments. Incidentally, I don't know where the UN and Kapstein have been all these years, but this has been reported for at least 15 years in Christian magazines and websites because that's where I first read about it.

As you move through the article, you learn that the U.S. is the ONLY country speaking out about this abomination, President Bush is the only world leader to include it in a major speech, that the UN has passed its usual resolutions and then done nothing, and that other countries have tried legalizing prostitution, regulating prostitution, criminalizing prostitution, promoting economic growth, condemning economic growth and tried "naming and shaming" sanctions. The U.S. actually prosecutes the traffickers (unless they are from you know where). Any guess what country the California police are complaining about when they say they arrest the slave traffickers but they just get deported? (The author doesn't cite a source for this comment.)

The author, who condemns the war on terror, wants to see the United States use FORCE against, India, Russia, China and any wealthy Mideastern country using camel jockeys (there goes the economic theory) as well as about 30 other countries including Algeria, Brazil, Cambodia, Egypt, South Africa, North Korea, Syria, and Zimbabwe.

World wide the author estimates possibly 800,000 people are subjected to bondage each year. The Department of Justice estimates about 17,500 come to the United States each year. Still and yet, Kapstein persists in his wrong headed belief that if it just weren't for this pesky old war on terror, Bush would be mopping this problem up with the police, intelligence and military force of the United States.

3513 On-line genealogy and tourism

Is on-line research about our ancestors hurting the tourist business in Ireland?

"In the last decade, with the increase in the digitization of genealogical documents and the prevalence of the Internet across the globe, online genealogical research has become a popular pastime among the citizens of the western countries. While this increase in popularity has been an economic boost for online companies that specialize in genealogy, it has had the unintended consequence on Ireland of decreasing the incoming revenue of the genealogy tourism industry." Read article here.

What about Scotland and Germany?

My Social Security and yours

It's been mentioned here before that although I am retired, I am not eligible under my own or my husband's Social Security account for any pension from our "trust fund". But illegals who worked in the U.S. using false documents are. My case is because I have a Teacher's Pension (STRS Ohio), and since the mid-80s (I returned to work in 1986), this has been considered "double dipping." The teacher glitch is not a mistake or a loophole; it was intentional. It is OK for Congress to double dip, but not teachers. The case for the illegals is because of a loophole.

"After numerous refusals over three and a half years, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has released the first known public copy of the U.S.-Mexico Social Security Totalization Agreement. The government made the disclosure in response to lawsuits filed under the Freedom of Information Act by TREA Senior Citizens League, a 1.2 million member nonpartisan seniors advocacy group.

The Totalization Agreement could allow millions of illegal Mexican workers to draw billions of dollars from the U.S. Social Security Trust Fund.

A loophole in current Social Security law could allow millions of today's Mexican workers to eventually collect billions of dollars worth of Social Security benefits for earnings under fraudulent or "non-work authorized" Social Security numbers, putting huge new pressures on the Social Security Trust Fund.

If an illegal worker working in the United States today gets a "work authorized" Social Security number through guest worker immigration legislation, the Totalization Agreement, or perhaps just over time, that worker could eventually apply for Social Security benefits once he or she has met eligibility requirements.

In addition, that worker could be able to claim credits for work performed while in the U.S. illegally. The SSA maintains an "earnings suspense file," which tracks wages that cannot be posted to individual workers' records because there is no match for a name and Social Security number. Once an immigrant gains access to a work authorized Social Security number -- whether a legal citizen or not -- wages earned while in the U.S. unlawfully could be reinstated to the worker's new Social Security account."
Source: "U.S.-Mexico Social Security Agreement Released After 3 Year FOIA Battle; Mexican Illegals Could Get Billions of Social Security Dollars." The America's Intelligence Wire, 01/04/2007 via "Access my Library."

We have an agreement with a number of countries, and some of the benefits are more generous than for our own citizens. But the difference with Mexico can be found here, along with the information on stopping it.

3511 Trip Tales, Haiti #4

Read part #1. Read part #2. Read part #3. Here are some scenes of the town of Ouanaminthe, Haiti, an area of about 100,000 residents, on the very northeast corner of Haiti, bordering the Dominican Republic.

Women on their way to set up shop at. . .
the market where you can buy food, clothing, art, and household goods
But there are also small businesses in buildings.
The customers of this barber also enjoyed some music.

3510 Trip Tales, Haiti #3

Read part #1. Read part #2. In addition to working construction jobs, many of the team members also offered special classes for the children at the school--art classes, tin whistle classes, perspective drawing classes and a bicycle repair clinic. My husband taught the upper grades perspective drawing and he says they were outstanding students who caught on very quickly. Most classes had a translator, but one class didn't (the students were all learning English) and he said they had no problem. He'd prepared a multi-page handout ahead of time for the 75 students.


On Friday the children performed with their tin whistles. A red shirt indicated academic excellence.
The bicycle repair clinic was very popular. Bicycles are a major means of transportation.

3509 Trip Tales, Haiti #2

Read part #1. The mission team's purpose was to help with construction at the school--building platforms for the school rooms (European style with the teacher somewhat elevated) and wiring for lighting. The heavier pieces of lumber and equipment had been coordinated and sent ahead by Howard, who before retirement was a construction manager. The younger men primarily worked with the wiring (crawling around above the ceiling) and the older men built the platforms with help from some local men. The dirt and dust (no paved roads) plus the heat was almost overwhelming, so some of the men had breathing difficulties by the end of the week.

Howard and his crew building the platforms
Lunch was in the main cafeteria with the children--beans and brown rice, or rice and beans, and there was plenty for all.
Exterior of the school
In the U.S., we having vending machines in schools; in Haiti, the vendors set up shop in the school compound.

3508 Autism statistics

Many of us over age-50 parents are stunned by the autism statistics we see in the TV PSAs and news stories. Where were all these autistic kids when we were growing up or when our children were in school? Children with learning problems were not hidden away in the 1970s--they were side by side with my children, and I was a volunteer in the classroom. For one thing, there has been a redefinition--now thousands of children that use to be called retarded (or one of the challenged words), or ADD or ADHD, are now being called autistic. It seems that any kind of attention deficit or repetitive behavior has to be pathologized, which then qualifies a child for special classes or teachers or programs. A pediatrician, David Safir, had a letter in the USAToday last week saying that in the 1990s the definition of autism began to include many children with a milder collection of symptoms--now called autism spectrum disorder, and this new umbrella definition has created hysteria and an epidemic of austism.

I checked his letter on-line, and he is being attacked by the true believers, the blame the vaccines crowd. I wonder how loud they'd be yelling if they lived in the days when children were mutilated by small pox eating their flesh, or crippled by polio? And this mommy has the best advice: "My son will never die from Autism, but he could die from childhood diseases if not vaccinated. Or he could die from the flu, as has 4 other children already this season in the state I live, because they did not vaccinate. Stop arguing and start helping our little ones to be accepted and to get the proper therapies they need."

3507 Deere John

Earnings are up at John Deere--a wet finger in the wind senses alternative fuel--which means new demand for large farm equipment (which can be used only on huge farms, with huge government subsidies). You've got to hand it to the greenies and tree huggers. They pave the way for new technology and profits for business. Located in Moline, IL, John Deere's focus on ethanol probably makes the unions, big-ag and investors rejoice.

The company started in Grand Detour, Illinois, where the river takes a mighty turn, or detour. Deere found a way to open up the prairie sod with a better blade to cut through the deep, matted roots of the grass. I think my grandparents were living on a farm there when my dad was born (and the doctor never filled in his name on the birth certificate so he found out at age 65 when applying for Social Security that he was "baby boy" in the county record.) We used to take our children to the John Deere Museum in Grand Detour (between Dixon and Oregon) in the 1970s.

3506 Trip tales: Haiti #1

When the team arrived at the airport in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, they were greeted by Dave and Pam, our pastor and wife, who are on assignment there at Institution Univers school, and the school director Hugues. Because it was a large team, they all boarded a school bus, and the luggage went into a truck. They headed for the border between DR and Haiti where they would spend the night--normally a four hour trip. But the truck broke down, so the bus had to tow it, slowing things down to a bumpy crawl, and six and a half hours.
Pam and Hugues

The border between Dominican Republic and Haiti
The day they entered Haiti was Sunday, so they went directly to the school and mission house where they would be living, and then walked to church.

The mission house was very nice with modern facilities including plumbing and electricity (part of the day).
Despite the extreme poverty, the Haitians are a proud people and dress well--the women in dresses and hats, and the men in white shirts and ties--to attend church.
The service was jammed (Baptist Church) and lasted for 2 hours, with a lot of beautiful singing and a full choir.
It wasn't unusual to see partially completed buildings in use. They make the cement blocks or bricks by hand, and when they have enough, the building constuction continues.

How many anti-Bush books does one library need?

While browsing the new book shelves at the Upper Arlington Public Library today I glanced through the 973.931 section. In the Dewey classification system this is "Administration of George W. Bush, 2001- ." On the shelf were 1) Pretentions to an empire, 2) Impeachment of George W. Bush, 3) Static; government liars, media cheerleaders and the people who fight back, 4) Voting to kill, 5) U.S. v. George W. Bush, 6) How Bush rules, 7) Vice; Dick Cheney and the hijacking of the American presidency, 8) The architect; Karl Rove and the master plan for absolute power, preceded by two Clinton books, a his and hers (positive, glowing) in 973.927.

Just out of curiosity, I went into the stacks and checked this class number--the Bush years. There were 4 packed shelves, about 30 books to a shelf (ca. 120 books), and only four were positive, balanced or fair to the President of the United States. Some titles had multiple copies. Within this class are also the books on 9/11, ranging from touching to wild to absurd, John Kerry's campaign hype, a bio of Tommy Franks, an anti-Bush women title and two on Hillary Clinton, but compared to the anti-Bush tirades, they don't account for much space. Included in the stacks were items like Gore Vidal's Dreaming War, Woodward's Plan of attack, and James Bovard's Bush betrayal. The previous 5 shelves (ca. 150 books) covered the presidencies of Carter, Reagan, Bush 41 and Clinton (973.926-973.929).

Someone at UAPL REALLY believes in the power of print, because I'm guessing that well over half of the voting residents within our city limits are Republicans. I used to be a Democrat--voted right across the street from the library at St. Mark's Episcopal, and I never ever had to wait in line. Those poor poll attendants looked like the Maytag repairman. Now I'm a registered Republican voting at a Catholic church further north, and there is always a wait. So it appears that either the director or her bibliographer-in-charge of current events thinks if they just buy enough anti-Bush titles they can move this white, suburban, business class community on the edge of the University to the left. Meanwhile, they aren't serving the people who vote on their bond issues.

Book banning begins with the publishers, then moves to the reviewers at LJ, PW and NYT who act as gatekeepers for the public, and then on to the libraries where the few conservative titles that squeak through are carefully scrutinized to make sure they are safe and politically bland.

3504 Will Bush be blamed?

Women soared ahead of men in the U.S. job market in this decade. They posted a net increase of 1.7 million jobs paying above the median salary and 52.5% of the total increase in jobs.

The myth still persists that there is a wage gap between the genders, but studies show when you adjust for career track behavior, sometimes women are ahead of the men who won't move, won't apply for advancement, won't take additional courses, and won't take risks.

This report (which appears in WSJ today) might leave reporters in a rut, but fortunately for them, illegal immigrants continue to depress many wage and social indicators, so they are a two-fer for the media who need to trot out sad stories of working class America about every six weeks and also report on how heartless we are not to want an open border policy.

My indiscretions

While my husband was in Haiti, I committed a few acts of random wildness. The first Sunday, I walked right into Talbot's and bought a pair of size 8 fashion jeans on sale that started out near $100 last fall and I got them for $18. All sorts of shiny beads, bangles and appliqued leaves and stuff. Then on Monday, while shopping at Meijer's for groceries, I picked up a package of mini-Tater Tots! I enjoyed them four nights for dinner, while eating alone--twice with steak. On Thursday I stopped at a book sale and blew $2.00 on a frayed copy of That Printer of Udell's, by Harold Bell Wright--rumored to be President Reagan's favorite book. The following Sunday I just skipped church altogether! Then on Monday I bought two chartreuse pillows for the couch, because I'd sat by myself through an entire show on HGTV about decorating a living room for $5,000 copying one that cost $50,000. The room was monochromatic with splashes of color, the two chartreuse pillows on a tan couch particularly caught my eye. So here's my poem about my new pillows.

The Vows

Polyester pillow chartreuse chamois,
in accordance with the law
Federal RN# 57893
[or is it Reg. No UT 1417 (MO)],
I will not cut off your precious tag
until we are one,
or bleach you
or place you on the furniture
or on the floor
while you are wet.

And you in turn vow that you
are 100% polyester,
certified by your manufacturer,
that the materials of which you are made
are described in accordance with law,
exclusive of ornamentation,
and that you are 19-21284CSE,
Key 67, $9.99, bar code 0 86268 05831 1
and that you were made in China
and are bilingual in Spanish.

Snip. Snip. Snip.

Flight Delays

My husband's trip home from Haiti has been delayed twice, and now the word is, "Don't come to the airport until I call you as we get off the plane." In Columbus, this is not hard to do--it's an awfully easy city to get around in--unless I'm driving. I usually start out about an hour early for this 20 minute drive so I can ask directions after I get lost. I double checked with my friend AZ on how to get onto 670 this morning. She even offered to ride along to direct me, but I think the arrival is a bit too iffy.

However, when I talked to him this morning, not even an unexpected night in New York could dampen his enthusiasm. I asked him if he wanted to go back to Haiti, and he said, "It's not IF, it's WHEN."

Speaking of driving, last week I had another one of those rude men in a pick-up roll down his window and scream at me. And I do mean screaming--his face was purple, my windows were rolled up and the radio was on, but I could hear him. I guess he had been behind me until the stop light for which I had slowed down in order not to rear end the car in front of me. I was driving the speed-limit--seems he wanted to go faster. I just gave him the "Yo mama wears combat boots" look.

Monday Memories--Salt Dough

Are your kids home on winter/bad weather break? In central Ohio schools were closed 3 days due to cold two weeks ago, and then the following week we got snow, then sleet, then more snow, so they closed again, along with some businesses and malls. Well, turn off the TV and computer and make some Salt Dough. I guarantee a good time with lots of built-in memories for their future winters. My mom used to make this for us kids by the bowlful when we were bored and couldn't play outside, and I used it with my kids too. You can add food coloring. Or maybe kids are so high tech these days that they no longer say (in a whiny voice), "Mommy, there's nothing to do!" This recipe is small, but it can be doubled.

Salt Dough

1 c salt
4 c flour
1 1/2 c water
4 T oil

Mix salt and flour. Add water and oil. After making objects or shapes, bake 45 min at 350 degrees. Paint if you wish. But most of the fun is in the sticky, gooey shaping.

I was reminded of this reading through In the kitchen with Krista.

View More Monday Memories Participants
Not many will be doing this meme today, but here are links to those I'll visit to see what's going on: Chelle, Chelle Y., Cozy Reader, Friday's Child, Gracey, Irish Church Lady, Janene, Janene in Ohio, Jen, Katia, Lady Bug, Lazy Daisy, Ma, Mrs. Lifecruiser, Melli, Michelle, Paul, Susan, Viamarie,

3500 Donating books to a library

If your public library is worth diddly squat, you shouldn't have to donate books which balance, common sense and current events require be on the shelves. CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America has a list at its website of suggested titles for you to purchase and donate to your public library. First of all, donations are not "free"--it costs a lot of money to process and add a book to a collection; second, why should your library, supported by your tax money, be taking sides on the middle east question? If they've bought everything President Carter and leftist, anti-semitic organizations have written on the topic in multiple copies, why shouldn't they include some titles from the pro-Israeli camp? Third, I think this list needs some updating.

Do your homework, and then submit the list to the library director. If you get no response, ask some questions about fairness when the next bond issue comes up. Librarians, as a profession, lean heavily to the left, and occasionally have to be reminded about what they learned in library school.

The puzzling media frenzy

The hype about Ms. Smith's death has really puzzled me. She had a talent only for getting herself in the news, even at the end, so I suppose that's something. I'm guessing that a few more potential dads will step forward for the riches of her daughter, but then DNA will show she wasn't the biological mother, so the brainless, aimless coverage will heat up even more. Still, it seems unfortunate to be a blonde celebrity, or at least one who posed for Playboy. Jayne Mansfield. Marilyn Monroe. Anna Nicole. All dead before 40. And the earlier blondes didn't fare all that well, either. Jean Harlow dead at 26. Betty Grable, bless her beautiful legs, did make it to 56.

These paper dolls I think may have belonged originally to my sister Carol, who passed them down to me when she moved on to movie magazines and photos. Also, they are pretty beat up--there's ancient scotch tape holding some of the limbs together. I've also got Mary Martin and Marguerite O'Brien, but as collections go, it's pretty sad.

Betty Grable, paper dolls, celebrity, Anna Nicole Smith

3498 A poem about love and marriage

Today I read a story in our paper about a couple married in 1943 when he was still in uniform, who were both living in a nursing home at the end--she from Alzheimer’s and he from a fall. They died at the same time on Valentine’s Day this week.

When you’re falling in love
Feb. 18, 2007
by Norma Bruce

When you’re falling in love
you probably don’t think about
pre-nups and the rug color
that you’ll argue about some day.

When you’re falling in love
you might think about
romantic dinners for two
and not KFC in front of the TV.

When you’re falling in love
you probably don’t think about
why her mother is obese
or his dad is such a gossip.

When you’re falling in love
you might think about
an Hawaiian cruise and moonlight
and not the small lake when he fishes.

When you’re falling in love
you probably don’t think about
her toddler who will be a teen someday
or that he’s changed jobs so often.

When you’re falling in love
you might think about
a cute house with a picket fence
and not missing where you grew up.

When you’re falling in love
you probably don’t think about
when he is old and deaf
and when she’s forgotten your name.

These are the building blocks of love
you probably should think about,
you might want to think about
when you’re falling in love today.


Technorati: poems, love, marriage

Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Western culture

I've enjoyed watching Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Book-TV talking about her new book, Infidel, and then answering questions from the audience. Ali, a Somali with Dutch citizenship, commented on Europeans' lack of appreciation for freedom and individual liberty (said she hadn't been in the U.S. long enough to make a judgement about us). She said Europeans have little appreciation for their advantages because they've never been denied it or had to fight for it (speaking of the post WWII generation). A woman in the audience who had attended college in Cairo said women there were beginning to cover their heads. Ms. Ali said the belief behind covering of women was so that men would not become inflamed and out of control at the sight of a woman's body. Wouldn't it be better, she said, for men to learn to control themselves and develop some discipline rather than depend the women to keep them reined in. (Obviously, I'm paraphrasing.) When the prophet developed these guidelines for dress it was the 7th century--and things have changed. She received a rather hostile comment from a male Muslim in the audience who thought she was disparaging Muslim culture while claiming to be Muslim. He asked about poverty [in the West?], and she responded, "I would rather be poor and free, than poor and a slave." She also suggested to him that he try that question in a Muslim country--that only in the U.S. would he not be in danger and only laughed at.

Also, when she was asked about the difference between Muslim and Christian immigrants (in Holland), she said the first and second generation immigrant Muslims were better integrated than the third, but with the Christians it was just the opposite--they had a hard time with the first generation fitting in, but by the third, all the performance and attitudes was the same as the native Dutch. She said that Americans are too concerned with the growing Muslim population in Europe, but that the Muslim culture is growing much faster in Latin America. Radical Muslims in the U.S. she says, are very well funded, and very patient. She also said Americans are much too apologetic when trying to have an open dialogue with Muslims. She suggests treating Muslims as equals who will understand what you say.

3496 Brain aging--a test

The book Making a good brain great has a quiz for risk factors for diseases of brain aging. The number in parentheses indicates how significant the risk factor is.

1.____(3.5) One family member with Alzheimer's or other dementia.
2.____(7.5) More than one family member with Alzheimer's or other dementia.
3.____(2.0) A single head injury with loss of consciousness for more than a few minutes.
4.____(2.0) Several head injuries without lost of consciousness.
5.____(4.4) Alcohol dependence or drug dependence in past or present.
6.____(2.0) Major depression diagnosed by a physician in past or present.
7.____(10) Stroke
8.____(2.5) Heart disease or heart attack.
9.____(2.1) High cholesterol.
10.___(2.3) High blood pressure.
11.___(3.4) Diabetes
12.___(3.0) History of cancer or cancer treatment.
13.___(1.5) Seizures in past or present.
14.___(2.0) Limited exercise (less than twice a week).
15.___(2.0) Less than a high school education.
16.___(2.0) Jobs that do not require periodically learning new information.
17.___(2.3) Smoking cigarettes for 10 years or longer.
18.___(2.5) One apolipoprotein E4 gene (if known)
19.___(5.0) Two apolipoprotein E4 genes (if known)

_____ Total Score (Add up the numbers in parentheses for checked items)

Score 0,1,or 2, you have low risk factors for developing brain diseases of aging.
Score 3,4,5, or 6, moderate risk
Score greater than 6, then prevention strategies should be part of your life.

Book: Making a good brain great, by Daniel G. Amen, Harmony Books, 2005. p.180

Note: This author makes a BIG deal about keeping a journal (which if you're blogging, you're already doing), and taking supplements, and exercising regularly. Well, 2 out of 3 isn't bad. He also likes meditation, extra sleep, affection, salmon, and practicing gratitude.

There is a chart on p. 178 that shows what happens to the cerebral cortex over time, based on 4,000 people. Looks like the biggest drop in blood flow to the brain is during adolescence; about age 30 it bumps up again, then levels out. The author says that if you go to a party, have a little too much champagne, go home and sleep it off, several hundred thousand neurons have died from alcohol toxicity by the time you wake up. No wonder alcohol dependence scores right around Alzheimer's in the family!

Friday Family Photo

Yesterday I decided to banish some old, old warrantees and sales slips (there's not much else to do when the weather is this cold.) They really didn't need to be in the kitchen (prime real estate), but I had the cutest little red notebook that stored them. Most instructions for modern appliances, even a watch or a TV remote are so large and printed in multiple languages they won't fit in that little notebook. But it was fun looking through it. For instance, I found the warranty for "Counselor," my bathroom scale that weighs 3 lbs light. It is now almost 47 years old and I remember the couple who gave it to us--who were from Indianapolis, but it was made in Rockford, just up the road from where we were married. It even shows who printed the form.

I also found my Lifetime guarantee for my Community Silverplate, 52 pc. set, Coronation pattern, which the Bruce aunties and uncles gave us as a wedding gift. Aunt Marg, who never had children, made sure that her nieces and nephews always knew their roots, despite the many divorces in the family. The booklet that came with it reprinted endearing remarks from long-married couples probably from the 1940s and 1950s--none as long as us today however. So I e-mailed the company and let them know that although they no longer make my pattern, it still works great for family dinners. Who knows? I might appear in an advertisement some day! Only one piece is damaged--in 1986 we had a break-in and the burglar bent a fork to see if it was sterling (but he did steal my ugly high school class ring and some other gold jewelry).


Update: If you click on the label below "family photo A" you will find other photos of us. A means our little family of 4, B is for the larger Bruce family, and C is for all my relatives. I haven't gone back and relabeled every thing yet, but it really works well.

3494 Why we need dissenters in science

Global-warming predictions are currently hampered by uncertainties about the amount of heat and carbon dioxide that the southern ocean will take up according to a report in the Journal of Climate, v. 19, 2006:6382-6390. A computer model developed by Joellen Russell of the University of Arizona in Tucson suggests that the ocean will be able to absorb more than previously thought. How much more? No way to know, plus she has to bow before the warming throne to even get this much research published.

And they've decided upon analyzing 580 million years old rock* that oxygen entered the deep oceans at the end of an ice age known as the Gaskiers glaciation. Fossil evidence indicates that large multicellular organisms appeared on the sea floor shortly after (i.e., 5 million years). End of an ice age? This was apparently some time before the industrial revolution and humankind messing everything up. Science: Vol. 314. no. 5805, p. 1529

Egyptologists have been arguing with materials scientists for about 20 years on whether the pyramids have blocks made up of a synthetic mix like concrete. Fifteen samples scanned by electron microscopes show calcium and magnesium which do not exist in nearby limestone. See? Scientists don't agree on a lot of things. The limestone guys probably are trying to shut down the synthetic mix guys with threats of "denial" charges. Journal of American Ceramics Society v.89, 2006:3788-3796.

Battle of the biofuels is heating up. Follow the money. Prairie grass will mop up more carbon than it produces, dwarfing the amount of carbon dioxide released during production and combustion. Look out corn and soybean growers. I still think the inputs will cost more than any benefit we get from this, so we REALLY need to encourage dissension in this field.

A 60 year old Somalian woman has had her IUD removed in Seattle. She continued to have children after it was inserted and (it) migrated after perforating her uterus. Seems they do that about 1-2 cases per 1000 insertions. Would you fly if 1-2 out of every 1000 jets disappeared? New England Journal of Medicine 356(2007);4:397

*I personally don't believe the earth is that old, but I can read and report it without having my mind all bent out of shape like the evolution people.

3493 WMD--Women, mothers, daughters

In 2003, the U.S. allocated $27 million dollars to support women's programs in Iraq. Under the guidance of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S. and other foreign sources funded Iraqi women to organize a number of national women's conferences and to support newly formed local NGOs that focus on women's issues. Groups like The Iraqi Women's league, The Iraqi Higher Council for Women, and the Organization of Women's Freedom are actively working for women's full representation in the political process and to ensure that the women's rights agenda does not get marginalized in the country's road to democracy.

In the 1970s, Iraq had a quality health care system, which began to decline in the mid-1980s and by the 1990s, it was in crisis. This took the greatest toll on the elderly, women, and children. The Gulf War had a particularly drastic effect on the large and increasing number of widows in Iraq who are heads of households. . . by the late 1980s the government had stopped assistance to the widows of the Iraq-Iran war. There are many unmarried women in Iraq today due to the deteriorating conditions since the early 1980s.

There was no freedom during the Saddam regime, but Iraqi women are talking today like never before and they are concerned that fundamentalist Islamic groups, Sunni and Sh'ia alike will succeed in introducting legislation that will control and limit them again. When the U.S. military commander in Najaf appointed an Iraqi woman lawyer as the first female judge in Najaf, it drew protests and death threats, and she was forced to resign.

To win support of tribal and conservative religious factions after the Gulf War, Saddam reversed many of the advances women had made in the professions and universities in the 1970s--40% of teachers, 30% of doctors, 50% of dentists, etc. By 2003 they were found--if employed--primarily in the agricultural and service sector. When schools reopened in 2003 after the U.S. occupation, the women principals and teachers went back to classes and they are well represented in the media.

Source: Women's rights in the Middle East and North Africa, Freedom House, 2005, Chapter on Iraq written by Amal Rassam, co-author with Daniel Bates of Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East.

And all this will be lost if the Democrats have their way, because they really don't believe there are WMD in Iraq.

Being a bilious feminist

Apparently, that phrase doesn't appear in all the articles and blogs indexed on the internet. At least, Google didn't find it. Yet. I think it is quite handsome. I love a clever turn of phrase. Here's the context:

"Being a bilious feminist with a potty mouth doesn't much distinguish one in the blogosphere these days." That's in an article by Mary Eberstadt who writes about Democratic presidential candidates, closing their eyes and folding their hands in an appearance of prayer in order to woo Christians--and needing to fire their on-board bloggers of the liberal left who loathe Christians and can get really foul mouthed and nasty.

That--being a potty mouth--can get you banished from my links quickly. And unfortunately, it isn't limited to Christian bashers. I've also found some Christian bloggers who think you fight mud with mud. They throw in the occasional F word too, only it isn't Fascist.

Eberstadt goes on to feature some unrestrained Christian bashing in recent titles, all of which I think I've mentioned here in posts about our public library's bias:

Theocons
Kingdom Coming
American Theocracy
Thy Kingdom come
Religion gone bad
American fascists

You get the drift. They make Ann Coulter's "Godless" seem mild by comparison, and I also wrote that she was over the edge. Eberstadt points out that the left doesn't reserve its hate for Islamofascists, but instead is blatantly anti-Christian, and these authors and bloggers are embedding themselves in the Democratic party and campaigns.

Speaking of which, we've had an interesting turn of events here in Ohio. Our new Democratic Governor Strickland ran on that warm, fuzzy, "I'm a Christian too" platform and won. I think he said he was a former Methodist minister--but don't quote me on that. He could have been blind, deaf, dumb and a pagan plumber, and still have won because of our former governor's miserable record (a Republican). But I digress. Yesterday I heard he doesn't want any Iraq refugees (who will inevitably need to be resettled if Democrats are successful in their cut and run strategy) coming to Ohio because he was against the war. I hope this is absolutely false or taken completely out of context. It will make Democrats and Christians look really bad.

Update: On Feb. 17, there were 4 entries on Google for "bilious feminist," mine and 3 others, so I wasn't the only one who thought it a descriptive phrase. Also I checked my public library for those 6 titles she mentioned, and there are 2 copies of each, except American Theocracy has seven copies--5 regular, 1 large print, and 1 audio for a total of 7--the cataloger assigned it the subject heading "George W. Bush." For every one conservative librarian, there are 223 liberals. Censorship begins with the purchase.

Update 2: Dr. Helen comments on the fired blogging potty mouths who are claiming sexism got them fired: "My guess is that Edwards hired these women to make the point that he was a "progressive feminist" who took women's views seriously. His mistake was to believe that the average woman, or man for that matter, would take the views of a bigot and a hater like Marcotte seriously regardless of sex. Sexism may have played a part in Marcotte and her fellow-hater getting hired but it certainly played no part in getting them fired--their unprofessional conduct and rantings did that for them all by itself."

Update 3: on Marcotte's writing a commenter at Cathy's blog says, "This is something that I've never been able to comprehend: Why are so many Liberals unable to acknowledge the obvious in this case? Aren't they supposed to be super-sensitive to bigotry? Is it really that hard for them to notice the elephant in the drawing room? That the empress has no clothes?"

Poetry Thursday #7

Truthfully, I have no idea what a prose poem is--today’s assignment for Poetry Thursday. Poetry Previews describes it: "Although the prose poem resembles a short piece of prose, its allegiance to poetry can be seen in the use of rhythms, figures of speech, rhyme, internal rhyme, assonance (repetition of similar vowel sounds), consonance (repetition of similar consonant sounds), and images."

I’ve read a lot of poems that I would rewrite as prose and think them a better use of words and sound, or prose so lovely when read aloud I’d swear there was a poet in there somewhere. So here’s the background for today's poem:

We had a mini-blizzard (really hit northwest and south of Columbus) with snow, then hours of sleet, and then more snow overnight. Most schools and many businesses closed. So going to the coffee shop Wednesday morning at 6 a.m. was a challenge just to back out of my drive-way; it was dark and cold and I had the streets to myself. I drafted this there, and rewrote and revised at home. The more I revised, the less prose-like it became. If you’re not a regular reader here, it’s just about a coffee shop on a snowy day. Now here’s the poem:

Come sit by the fire with me. Sit by the gas flames rising from fake logs. Warm us bright blaze in the dark by the pseudo-bricks as we tip Styrofoam cups with plastic lids, sip black brew browned with cream factory made. Animate brain cells, stir up stiff tongues tropical beans, red and bright when picked by dark hands, traveling on tankers guided by pale hands to bring us warmth and happy thoughts, brown after roasting in mills and bursting to dark beans, trucked by many hands along concrete interstates and asphalt by-ways to loading docks at dark coffee shops. Come sit by the fire with me in the dark, tasting warmth, watching the snow fall on icy lines--pity the bird toes--sending power to heat water piped and purified, dripping hot in the pot held by ethnic hands that fill my cup which warms my nose by the fire where we sit.

And Happy First Birthday, Poetry Thursday.

3490 Does this smoker bear responsibility

for his lung cancer? Was it his pack a day habit that caused his disease, or was it his employer's fault, or his post 9/11 work environment, or the government? Story here at Overlawyered.

"New York City police officer Cesar Borja died tragically young of lung disease last month. Advocacy groups (including a website that regularly accuses tort reformers of using oversimplified "pop" anecdotes) and Senator Clinton pushed his story to the media to promote a multi-billion-dollar taxpayer giveaway program (that, not incidentally, would provide contingent fees for attorneys) by claiming that Borja was sickened as a hero working "fourteen-hour days in the smoldering pit", and was killed by alleged government lies about the safety of the air (though the government did call for respirators that they admitted Borja didn't wear) and the media bought it in front-page tabloid stories."

We all want to blame someone else when we mess up. It's human. But if you smoke, accept that you will probably die at a younger age, and in much more pain, than if you didn't; don't finger point at your employer who allowed it, or your government which legalized it, or your military unit that supplied it, or your buddies who thought it was cool. You bought them, you lit them, you smoked them. You will suffer.

Valentine greeting from Haiti

My husband called tonight to wish me Happy Valentine's Day. He's in Haiti on a mission trip and it's 90 degrees! It's very cold and snowy here, so he picked a great week to be gone. My daughter trudged through the snow today about noon to deliver his card (and one from the cat). He says he's got lots of photos and a thousand stories to tell. Here is the story of the director of the school in Ouanaminthe where the team is working this week. He told me to imagine the worst possible poverty, and it was way beyond that. They have beans and rice and rice and beans for lunch, but supper has a little more variety.

Happy Valentine's Day

This is a valentine my mother received when she was in Pine View school in Lee County, Illinois, from a schoolmate named Belva. From what mother said, they did not make a big deal about Christmas, but obviously from her collection of valentines (which included some belonging to her older brother) that she saved over 80 years, this was a time of great fun for the children. The inside message:
Here's a little valentine
For you, little friend of
mine,
You were first to win my
heart,
And will always hold the
larger part

The card is made of embossed paper with a cut-out edge by Whitney Made of Worcester, Mass.

I commented on the value of paper collectibles here, and show two others from her collection.

I selected this one today because of the snow scene, and because it is contemporary realism for the era. Most of her valentines depict 19th and 18th century scenes with a lot of lace, or are sort of cartoonish.

Enjoy the day!

3487 My agenda for the green groups

In June, I outlined the changes I'd like to see so we could have a cleaner, healthier, more productive environment. Now that the green groups are going to invest in the global warming bandwagon at the expense of their usual causes, I thought I'd rerun my list. I particularly liked #13, allowing squatters to have gardens on the estates of celebrities.

1. Cleaner burning coal and safer mines.
2. Drilling for oil in Alaska, which is what Alaskans want.
3. Don't allow western and southern states to drain the Great Lakes so they can farm non-agricultural land.
4. Rebuild the barrier islands while restricting coast-line communities--even for the rich. Or the poor.
5. Don't allow mega-Casinos by Indians or Cajuns or Hispanics or the Mafia or people of any special interest in coastal-tourist areas. Work on developing "real" jobs that produce something.
6. Restore the fence rows in the Midwest so the birds can eat the bugs and less pesticide will be needed, plus it is just prettier and more colorful. Encourage living snow fences to protect soil from erosion in winter.
7. Get rid of welfare for farmers (price supports) which encourages mismanagement and misuse of the land and creates ever larger farms.
8. Strict enforcement of keeping out agricultural and waterway pests. (Actually we do a better job of restricting harmful bugs that hurt our economy than we do illegal people who do it by stealth.)
9. More solar power; forget wind turbines--looks ridiculous, kills birds and changes air currents which will have long term bad effects on agriculture.
10. More bicycle paths and set asides for parks. More sidewalks for walking. Discourage culs-de-sac to reduce congestion on feeder roads.
11. Give small, efficient cars a tax break instead of trucks, or eliminate it all together.
12. Reduce the government's dependence on oil by cutting gasoline taxes at the pump.
13. Have Hollywood's falling stars let squatters use their land for gardens for the poor.

Blizzard Warning for Ohio

Central Ohio isn't getting it as bad as a bit north and west of us, but so far at 5:15, there are 305 "closings," that's schools, businesses, and malls. We've had about 5" of snow, and then about 3 p.m. it started to sleet, and sometime tonight the snow will return. Nasty! I think I heard that Hancock County [Findlay] had some 5' snow drifts. Some counties have level three conditions (means don't drive or you'll get a ticket). Unless the ice causes a break in the electricity from downed lines, it's warm and cozy here. Two years ago an ice storm around Christmas caused power outages for some of our neighborhoods for two weeks or more.

3485 This little piggy

This is definitely not on my weight loss plan. And I'm not sure where I would wear that nose.

HT Geoff.

3484 Environmental Groups

I'm all for taking care of the planet. I wish more people would treat the planet with the respect my mother had. She used to say, and then lived her beliefs, "I can't save the world, but I can clean up four acres." I get so irritated at people who throw trash from their cars along the highway and build homes along the coasts, expecting the rest of us to clean up their mess or bail them out when a hurricane blows through. The January 27, 2007 issue of National Journal reports that groups like National Audubon Society and Sierra Club are all putting their tithes, offerings, and investments into the Greenhouse Gas Church of Global Warming. The article lists the priorities of the environmental groups now that they believe they can get in bed with the Democrats. And they're playing footsie with some outside their usual group. My comments in brackets.

1) Regulate carbon dioxide. [More jobs will say good-bye. And it won't even help global warming, if it exists.]
2) Broaden alliances with other groups, some are not known to be friendly, but politics as usual.
3) Make cozy cooing noises with religious groups. [See what I mean?]
4) Work with the Democrats. [No surprises here.]
5) Promote clean energy technology. [There will be a lot of opportunity for businesses and investment here unless Pelosi kills it with higher taxes.]
6) Expand farm bill's conservation. [Farmers are already on the receiving end of government aid and bail outs. Do they need more?]
7) Protect more federal lands. [Probably just from ordinary folks like us--celebrities will still be able to have their multi-million dollar vacation lodges.]
8) Shift priorities in EPA, Interior and Forest Service. [Whatever Bush has been doing, do it differently and charge the taxpayer more.]
9) Cheer for Pelosi no matter what. [See #4]
10) Cut subsidies for "big oil." [So do they plan to increase exploration and refineries or just punish American interests by making us more dependent on foreign owned oil?]
11) Force electric utilities to use wind power. [Ever driven through a central Illinois wind farm and watched what looks like robotic giant chickens? Not a pretty picture, but celebrities won't be building there.]
12) Require automakers to produce more efficient vehicles. [We did that in the 70s--now we have more cars than ever on the road. My van gets 26 mpg--would a celebrity drive a mini-van?]
13) Revamp farm subsidies. [I'm all for this--how about a free market and no welfare for farmers? What about putting back the fence rows and not planting right up to the highways? Frences are homes for birds that eat bugs and wildlife and cuts down on erosion.]
14) Open ranch and farm land for hunting and fishing. [Whoa! They're going to talk to the NRA?]
15) Revitalize the Endangered Species Act. [Yes, good idea. Let's remove the species that aren't endangered and start worrying about endangered people.]
16) Tax incentives for property owners who provide habitats for wildlife. [Does Oprah really need this for her California coast ranch? We've got gobs of these tax credits now, and the small holder can't use them.]
17) Review the Army Corps of Engineers projects. [Yes, and while we're at it, let's look at all the environmental protection lawsuits that kept those levees from getting built in NOLA because of impact statements.]
18] Wilderness legislation to protect federal land. [Do you suppose the Forestry folks and home owners in western states could be allowed to cut down and remove diseased and dying trees? Might help with those expensive forest fires and bring back tourism.]
19) Legislation to protect coastal areas. [Here's a thought. Let's stop bailing out millionaires and factory farms who build close to the coast. That should do more than any new legislation which will only protect contributors to the green causes and the lawyers.]
20) Reinstate Superfund Tax on oil and chemical industries to pay for cleanup. [You mean actually fund legislation? Will you stop telling gas station owners to close up and then give them no money to get the oil out of the underground tanks? Will that be on all laws and regulations, or will you be selective? You do know when you tax oil companies that we pay more at the pump, don't you?]
21) Rewrite the 1872 Mining Act. [Anything that old, fat and lazy should definitely be looked at for its usefulness--I've got a few eastern Senators in mind.]
22) Fight the coal and oil industries at all levels of government, including state and local. [Fine. My investments in energy are in Canada shale. The machines to extract the oil were probably built in Japan because you've made them too expensive to build on our soil. You'll be sending more American dollars and jobs abroad with this tactic.]

3483 What I know about women and money

It's a bit tedious relabeling old blogs, but I really like this feature in the new Blogger template. Now I'll be able to sort and print only the ones I really like. It is really useful for the memory and family photo blogs. This morning I'm reviewing (all cozy and warm during our latest Ohio snow storm) what I've written about women. I liked this one enough to give it a rerun in case you missed it. These points are all common sense, so you might not see them anywhere but here.

I haven't read the [census] report. But here's what I know for a fact going in.

• Married people are wealthier than unmarried;
• children of divorce are poorer than children of in tact families;
• divorced and unmarried fathers are less likely to provide a college education for their children than fathers married to the children's mother;
• people who work have more money than people who don't work;
• government programs often encourage people not to work, or at least reward them for working less, so they have the unintended consequence of creating a poor class;
• people in the bottom quintile usually don't stay there because their age, education or marital status changes;
• inexpensive leisure activities and entertainment lull people into not doing their best but create great wealth for a small number;
• millions of destitute people sneak into our country every year and are added to the poverty rolls;
• marijuana and alcohol keep a lot of people poor and dysfunctional while making a small number rich;
• for 30+ years schools have encouraged students to seek non-monetary satisfactions and rewards in life and liberals shouldn't complain if it is working.

Women (of certain types and political thought) have been leading the charge that keep families poor for over 30 years. Wake up and smell the coffee, ladies.