3802

The Kansas Tornadoes

Have you seen the photographs of the flattened Greensberg, KS? Then before they could even pull people out of the rubble, some more came through the same area. Fortunately, the people were prepared with a warning system, or there would have been a huge loss of life. But. . .



Did you hear the Kansas Governor, Kathleen Sebelius, thinks that if Bush weren't in office, the National Guard could make this terrible scene better? Better than what? What is left to guard? It amazes me how the Bush Derangement Syndrome blows into town to affect otherwise intelligent, capable people, aka Democrats. Before this silly comment, she'd been a Democratic rising star. Must be burn out.

I looked at the death count--10, for a town of 1,600. Isn't that a higher percentage than New Orleans' Katrina? Does Bush hate white folk? Rural people? He waited 4 or 5 days before going there. Did Kansas have tornadoes before Global Warming?

3801

Porn again Christians?

You can go to this site for all the details and follow the links to come to your own conclusions. I'll just pull out a few. I wouldn't say I've seen porn on Christian blogs and websites, but I have seen some pretty unseemly, sloppy stuff, and I've heard of it creeping into our local churches in careless attempts to be "relevant" in reaching out to unbelievers.

Said [Chris] Rosebrough, "Rupert Murdoch is a born-again Christian and Rick Warren claims to be his pastor. As a Christian, Murdoch is committing an egregious sin by owning, expanding and profiting from pornographic channels and Rick Warren, as his pastor, has a Biblical duty to call Murdoch to repentance and/or put him out of the church."

I didn't know that Murdoch owns Zondervan, the publisher of Warren's best selling Purpose Driven Life. This is sad, sad indeed.

I just scored 100% in that quiz on religion that Newsweek ran about 2 months ago. You don't have to get an A in religion to know in your gut that pornography hurts women and children, hurts marriages, hurts society, grinds the soul and mind into the dirt, and makes mega-millions for the owners and producers. Mixing Christian books into the TV soft porn business? Come on, Pastor Warren, step up [to the collection plate] and do some counseling. I like a good investment portfolio, but there are certain products I won't buy--alcohol, nicotine, and viaticals. But I thought I was pretty safe with Christian books.

3800

Book club selections for 2007-2008

In May our book club meets at Barb's lovely home. It has never looked more lovely that last night--almost like a park with trimmed beds and lovely perennials and potted flowers. Our final and fun selection for our book year was Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray, who published her first novel when she was 60. Then with one minute to lobby our choices, the members offered suggestions for next year's reading, with the absentees sending theirs with another. Here's what we'll be reading, although all of the suggestions sounded terrific.

September: Learning to Bow by Bruce Feiler. My caution would be that this is based on his teaching experience in Japan in 1987-88--20 years ago, and was published in 1991. We probably wouldn't want our culture evaluated by a just-out-of-college, one year visitor's first book.

October: Field work by Mischa Berlinski. A first novel by another American visiting a foreign country. A trained classicist, Berlinski worked as a journalist in Thailand where this story of two clashing American cultures--anthropologist and missionary--takes place.

November: 1776 by David McCullough. This is the title I threw into the mix. McCullough's use of diaries and letters and his ability to weave in the stories of the little people we never heard in our history texts is just awesome. George Washington managed to write almost 950 letters in that year, while running the war campaign.

December: Inside the Kingdom by Carmen Bin Ladin, Osama's sister-in-law (half brothers whose father had 22 wives), affords a peek into her life in Saudi Arabia. From the book jacket cover I thought she might use Michael Jackson's surgeon. Do you see a resemblance?

January: A tree grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith is a 1943 classic that was made into a movie. It will be an interesting comparison with the immigrant life today.

February: We'll be doing something Shakespearean with a special guest, who actually taught my children when they were in elementary school.

March: Digging to America by Anne Tyler is a story about two families who adopt Korean children. Tyler is an excellent writer, popular with women, and I'm sure there will be enough stereotypes to go around.

April: Amazing Grace by Steve Turner, a pop/rock journalist, is the book [or part of it] about the hymn on which the movie was based.

May: I'm proud of you by Tim Madigan, yet another journalist, the story of Mr. Rogers.

Also suggested (but we only choose 9) was Unknown world by E. J. Edwards, Snow falling on Cedars by David Guterson, For the Glory of God by Rodney Stark, and Religious literacy by Stephen Prothero. I scored 100% on .Prothero's quiz, and 71% scored 80 or above

Monday Memories--The Stereopticon

There are so many memories in this photo I almost don't know where to begin. The room is the north living room of what had been my grandmother's house, but which was the house of my daughter's grandmother in 1973, my mother. It is my recollection that my great-grandfather purchased this property when another farmer lost it to debt, maybe in one of the late 19th century panics. He and his son Ira farmed a lot of land in the Franklin Grove-Ashton area of Lee County, Illinois. Ira died from an infected cut finger in 1908 at the Ashton farm. Around that time my grandparents who were living in Wichita, KS, lost their little baby, Oliver, at birth. Grandfather David offered them this farm if they would come back and help--he being about 80. At least that's what I have in my head. Around the same time he made significant gifts to the Brethren Church in Wichita where my grandparents worshiped.

It was an unspectacular, 8 room, boxy farm house. Grandma had it remodeled adding a huge gracious dining room, a second staircase to a lovely bedroom with a canopied balcony, a big airy kitchen with "modern" features like a built in corn cob storage for the blue and black cookstove, manual dishwasher, table with flour bins, a walk-in pantry/storage room, an upstairs servant's bedroom, plus two bathrooms, a dumbwaiter, a generator and a sink at the back door for washing up before entering the house.

By the late 1960s the house had fallen on very hard times and was almost unliveable, and when my grandparents died, my mother went to work to transform it to the house it actually had never been, and it became a family and religious retreat center. One item you can see through the windows are the grape arbors my mother rebuilt and coaxed grapes into growing again. Thus my little family traveled from Ohio and took a week's vacation there for about 10 years.

My daughter is five years old in this July 1973 photo and totally engrossed in the stereopticon my mother and her siblings had used, and which my siblings and cousins had enjoyed on the slow Sunday afternoons we had visited in the 1940s and 1950s. She's lying on the couch that my Grandma bought in the 1950s to update the look--the arms were so wide you didn't even need TV trays (there also was no TV)--with her head on the pillows her grandma made.

The little girl in the photo would still jump into my arms and sit on my hip with her long brown legs almost touching the ground. She has a band-aid on her foot from running barefoot all day, and her golden brown hair had not yet seen a scissors. She's wearing a little green and yellow nightgown I remember well, so I think it was twilight--my kids didn't run around in the morning in night clothes. From the looks of the dirt on her feet, we had probably skipped bathtime, and I'm guessing that under all that thick curly hair was a sweaty, sweet smelling, damp neck--the windows behind her are open to bring in a little air.

Ah, the Monday memories. As I was finishing this, my daughter rushed in the door to use the computer. "Oh mom, do you have a band-aid?"

All aboard the gravey train

I noticed this in the BOMA Newsletter [Building Owners and Managers Association]. This is going to be a very high priced ticket to nowhere:

"Whether or not you trust in the science of global warming and mankind's ability to reverse it, policymakers from both political parties at all levels of government are looking at how to "green" their communities and reduce carbon footprints.

Early in the 110th Congress, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) made it clear that the issue of global warming would be a legislative priority. "Scientific evidence suggests that, to prevent the most severe effects of global warming, we will need to cut global greenhouse-gas emissions roughly in half from today's levels by 2050," Pelosi stated in her opening remarks at a February hearing of the House Science and Technology Committee. Speaker Pelosi went on to say that the committees with jurisdiction over energy, environment, and technology policy have been asked to report legislation on these issues by June in hopes of having "legislation that will be a starting point on global warming and energy independence through the committees by July 4 so that, this year, Independence Day is also Energy Independence Day."

To accomplish this task, Speaker Pelosi has created a Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, which will develop policy and strategy recommendations. Already, several bills have been introduced in the House and Senate, and several more are anticipated, including ones by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-MI) and Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

One of the issues that BOMA Intl. will closely watch is whether a carbon "cap and trade" program will be included in any legislation that is enacted. This approach, which would cap greenhouse-gas emissions and permit emitters - such as utilities and industrial customers - to trade carbon allowances, is strongly supported by many Democrats in Congress, but not by President Bush. However, support for this type of approach has gained some followers from business. In January, 10 major corporations and four environmental groups came together to form the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP). The groups, which include DuPont, PG&E, BP America Corp., and the World Resources Institute, are calling for mandatory carbon reductions from major emitters, including commercial buildings."

Note: that is "grave" as in tomb, not the sauce.

3797

France's new leader

My horse didn't win in the Derby (Street Scene won), and I wasn't even thinking of offering an opinion on France's race. I'm mean, I didn't want the leftist lady to win, but secretly I thought she would. Often countries do vote themselves into total loss of freedom. Anyway, Sarkozy won. I'll say this, France can put forward some good looking candidates. Both.

I know you knew that, but this is a log so I need to keep up. Seems he wants to save France for the French. What a concept.

3796

Training ground for biased big media?

The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper is one of the hundreds (maybe thousands) of struggling free circs, those piles of newsprint and skinny magazines you see in the lobbies of coffee shops, shopping centers and libraries. Technically, they offer an alternative, but if they become successful, a bigger paper usually buys them. I hear they pay well, and the slant is, well, very, very one way or the other. The Stranger is left, although I've only read one article. It's anti-religious right. Yawn. That's like an elephant being afraid of a mouse. There is not a single leftist program proposed since FDR that hasn't succeeded. Conservatives, at best, toss an occasional banana peel, and a baby might make it out alive in the Dakotas that otherwise would have been thrown in a trash can.

The article that was sent to me is "Cross Purposes" by Erica C. Barnett. For some reason she thinks it is sad that Seattle's old line, dying liberal churches are shrinking and becoming irrelevant. When we joined UALC [it's a conservative congregation within a liberal denomination] in 1976 our pastor had formerly been a Lutheran pastor in the northwest--can't remember if it was Oregon or Washington. But I remember him saying that the mountains were white capped from all the letters of transfer that never made it. That means, for you non-Christian readers, when people headed west, they left their relgion back in the east or midwest and started worshiping Mother Nature. If they needed a little familiarity for a wedding and cozy pot lucks, they could always join the Unitarians. So I don't know where Erica's been hanging out, but it ain't church.

So she writes a lengthy story about the "new conservatives." But she has a very odd hitch in her gitalong. Seems to really focus on externals, hoping I think, to turn off . . . who, exactly? In describing the people she's afraid of (i.e. conservative Christians) seen at two different gatherings, tiny Church on the Hill, and big Mars Hill:

T-shirts and jeans
overalls and sweats
casual sportswear
bearded guy in sweats
blond man in sneakers and faded blue jeans
brown long-sleeved t-shirt
thrown-together, house-party-ish scene
heavily gelled hair [preacher]
sloppy, untucked dress shirt
wooden bead necklace
trendy wide-strapped brown leather watch
girls in glittering half-sweaters
sloppy emo boys with tattooed arms
disheveled hair
pregnant women in stylishly expensive maternity jeans
loud and a bit slovenly [preacher]
Jimmy Kimmel-esque comedian [preacher]

I haven't seen that much fashion description except in my own complaints about what people wear to church these days.

When describing the liberal Mainline Methodists in Ballard, WA she says. . . not much about their appearance, but does cite their criticisms of the new kids on the church block, and they have a serious case of edifice envy.

"Very much your father's conservatism"
"women are the nurturers who should go home and have babies"
"negative, almost misogynistic view of women"
"emergent or emerging" [these are 2 different terms, but she doesn't distinguish]
"They've built a show that attracts masses of people. That legitimates it"
"it's possible they are simply not paying attention"
"an astonishing number believe in reincarnation, which is not a Christian doctrine"
"we're in a time when people pick and choose what they want from their religious experience"
"appeal to people who think we live in apocalyptic times"
"creates a system where people can have a feeling of control"
"they see themselves as cutting edge, whereas mainline churches are struggling to keep their doors open"
"theology of fear"
"they're cool and they can go out into the world"
"they'll outgrow it"

Oddly (or, not so odd since she wants a job with a "real" paper), Erica sees the mainline church goers (most with gray hair and canes), as more tolerant and diverse because there is a sprinkling of gay couples, and some female pastors. She thinks it is quite OK for the Methodist pastor to be preaching on the "evil empire" the U.S. is becoming with obscene tax-cutting, but not OK for the Mars Hill guy who's preaching that the suburbs have just as much evil as the city. She calls the conservatives intolerant with retrograde political leanings (she only sites homosexuality and women as evidence of "retrograde"), and apocalyptic, rebelling against the pop culture while appropriating its language and styles.

Yes, Erica's looking for a job with a playa.

Who makes Don Imus look like a choir boy?

Michael McGee Sr. Oh please, Lord, let him be a race, nationality, religion and party we've never heard of. We've got enough problems in the media.

Word inflation

Or is it word deflation? I like Staples. Shop there for my paper and computer needs. Yesterday I needed ink. Took in my little cartridges for the discount. Folded inside my receipt (which I just looked at) is an ad that says, "Salvation from PC frustration. See an associate for assistance." That's a stronger altar call than we get at church!

My candidate has a plan

All the others want is a vacation.

[from Taranto's column] The Associated press asked the candidates for president what they would most like to have if stranded on a desert island. Here are the responses:

Joe Biden, Dennis Kucinich, Duncan Hunter and Mitt Romney said they'd bring their wives. (Notably, Hillary Clinton did not say she'd bring her husband.)

Mrs. Clinton, John Edwards, Barack Obama and John McCain all said books. Rudy Giuliani said "books and music."

Chris Dodd said "coffee with cream and sugar."

Sam Brownback said a tarp.

Mike Huckabee said a "laptop with satellite reception."

Tom Tancredo said a boat.

Bill Richardson said "BlackBerry and a Davidoff cigar."

Buy Jinky's book

Here's a photo of Jinky and his "mom." First he had a blog, now a book. It's a bit racy for me--after all he's a Hollywood dog--but some of my readers, especially dog lovers who want to help a good cause, will love it.



My other blogs about Jinky.

3790

The spread of poverty

I've often said that the way middle class families lived in the 60s and 70s would be considered poverty today--one car, 1.5 baths, 3 bedrooms, no AC, no dishwasher, one TV--and of course, no cable, no cellphones, no computers, etc. But I didn't expect the Census Bureau to agree with me.

"Forty-three percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.

Eighty two percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 35 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning. Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars.
Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions; Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception; Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a more than a third have an automatic dishwasher."

Instead of broadening the base of poverty (to induce guilt, get more votes and more taxes), it would be better to focus on the really destitute. TCS Daily article.

3789

It's a horserace

Tiago
Among the Republican field I will support Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney or Tom Tancredo. I have no interest in McCain, Rudy or Newt; they haven't treated their wives and ex-wives well. Maybe that's why they play it fast and loose on abortion? Some of the candidates I've never heard of.

For the 133rd Derby, I think at Donna and David's party Saturday night I'll go for Tiago, 15:1. He won at the Santa Anita Derby. His jockey rode Giacomo to victory, and John Shirreffs is the trainer. He is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Moss. There are no good stories this year--no female jockeys, no blind or deaf horses, no murky backgrounds among the owners--or if there are, it's so common the reporters are ignoring it. I had to find the list on page 6 of the sports section this morning.

Would you like a cute Chihuahua?

No, not my grand-puppy, but one at this Chi Rescue. Look at that talented pup who walks on his two front legs. Jinky, the Hollywood dog, is out advertising his book, making a case for rescued dogs. He's led a pretty fabulous life, first blogging which is how I met him, and now as a celebrity author. You'll fall in love with the Lambster, an abused Bichon, that Jinky writes about.

New stories at the reunion blog

The ladies' breakfast

Center School in Trot Town

Town hang-outs

My first document in Zoho.  I stopped by Aunt Lora's blog, from which I clicked on a blog by a father of an autistic child from which I got to Zoho.  It is an online word processor that I can access from anywhere--I think. 

Ooh.  I like the background color feature and the type font.

--------------->

OK. Now I'm back in the blogger.com posting template. I'm not exactly sure when or where I would use this Zoho. I always type in the "edit html" feature of blogger, except occasionally I switch to "compose" when I want to add some color or change the font. I can get into blogger.com from any computer. Does anyone know why I need Zoho Writer? I haven't tried the other features. Maybe I'm not techie enough to know what a jewel it is--the reviewers raved about it. Easy sign up.

Friday Family Photo--another cousin

This is a photo of my cousin Gayle when she was the queen of May at Manchester College in North Manchester, IN. That's her roommate taking a photo of her. I think Gayle told me her roomie made the dress which Gayle later used as her wedding dress. Isn't she pretty? I found the photo at an MC site.

3784

Please scratch that itch at home

While refilling my coffee cup the other day at Panera's, I saw a very large woman with her hand down the inside front of her capri pants. Later I looked up from my blogging notebook to see a man at the counter with his hand inside the back of his knee length jersey shorts scratching his bottom. And it wasn't even casual Friday!

Speaking of notebooks, I start a new one today. The one I'm using was started Mar. 22, and is a Kathryn White design represented by Art in Motion of Vancouver, BC. I found an interesting blog called Notebookism which features not only interesting notebooks for a variety of purposes (most too expensive for me), but also stories about notebooks of various artists, writers and poets. I like stiff covers and a spiral bind, because the sewn or glued pages often don't hold up to writing on the verso.

Thursday Thirteen--We're painting the master bedroom

Banner by EmilyThat's a "royal we." I don't paint. I just wring my hands, give advice and worry. But this time, my husband isn't painting either, although until we moved here, he always did for 40 years. Two years ago I decided I could at least strip wallpaper to save money, and before the painters came to do my office, I nearly killed myself and had a sore back for months. Don't do that. Here's some tips learned and relearned along the way.

1. We decided to flip the colors from the guest room painted two years ago. This idea worked really well with the dining room and living room.
2. We discovered we didn't have a drop of the wall color left--not even a stir stick.
3. This painter uses a different brand, and even with two of us eyeballing those little paint strips and both being artists, do you think we could find an exact match? My advice is, always keep a little paint even if you have to buy an extra quart you don't use.
4. It takes two people (one of them preferably another man--your son-in-law) to move a queen size mattress and box springs into the hall.
5. No matter where you decide to move things, something will be in the way. With the mattresses being in the hall, all the paintings and art work had to be moved, and most space was already taken with the paintings from the room to be painted.
6. Faux glaze has a texture and requires sanding and a special primer to cover. That increases your cost and the dust factor, so cover everything in the closets.
7. If your dressers were on hard wood floors in the last house, you've probably forgotten that there are levelers on the legs, and they will snag the carpet in the new place.
8. Mirrors on dressers are much heavier than you remember (and you are much older) when you try to remove them.
9. Always have the carpenter come before the painters. Somehow I missed that by having my husband make all the arrangements for putting a soffit in the bathroom. That is going to be oodles of touch up, plus if I remember this guy, he doesn't show up when scheduled.
10. If possible, don't schedule a meeting at your house while you're painting. We messed up on that, too. I just may have to close some doors, since we've moved a lot of stuff to where ever we have space. I think Thursdays are bad too, because if they don't finish, and have a Monday conflict, you're stuck until the following Tuesday.
11. Cover the cable connection/outlet with tape. We found it had been painted over in the guest room when we moved our TV this week.
12. When we removed one of our paintings, we found the intercom system. We'd forgotten there was one. Nothing works in an intercom that is 30 years old. Don't even install one. Just shout or use your cell phone.
13. Try to agree before all the tools have been put away what exactly is being removed from the walls. "Why didn't you take down the lamps?" "What? You want the lamps (with about 10 screws each) removed?"

So I'm down here in my office blogging like it's just another day, trying not to think of another 13 things I can add next Thursday.

3782

Before you screw

in that new energy efficient CFL lightbulb, maybe you'd better wait until they figure out how we're going to safely dispose of them when the incandescents are no longer available. They contain mercury. You might need to call the hazmat folks if you break one, and that could up the cost just a bit. National post story.

Also, they are all made in China, where the factories are coal fired. So think about the black smoke you're belching out on their country side. I've bought a few, but for now, I think I'll stick with the old, less efficient ones until the Gang Green settles down a bit.

HT Amateur Economist

3781

I am not alarmed

"The U.S. economy is expected to add 1.5 million IT jobs by 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Labor statistics. At the same time, research firm Gartner Inc. predicts that by 2012, 40% of women now in the IT workforce will have moved away from technical career paths to pursue more flexible business, functional, and research and development careers."

Not all men want this career track, why should the same percentage of women want it? I'm not at all alarmed, except by the alarmists who drum women out of the home, teaching, nursing, and retail where they are comfortable, and insist we must be little drones who work 16 hours days, move around the country, smooze at bars and on golf courses, and become "one of the guys." I have a girl friend who entered the computer field full-time right out of college. At about the age I retired, she has gone back to college to become a nurse.Story about this "alarming scenario" in Computer World.

3780

Last words--let them be Thank You

Robert E. Johnson, a practicing anesthesiologist for 35 years, treating thousands of patients, has these comments on "last words" in JAMA, April 12, 2006, p. 1624.

"Few plan their last words. They usually speak them unknowingly. And I hope I'm not hearing them. I've learned to say some appropriate lines of explanation and comfort for trachael intubations though, and then pause. Patients usually respond, "Thank you." If they survive, nothing is lost, if they die something is gained. The light of their final gratitude can shine on memories of them forever."

And while I'm thinking of it, when you say "Thank You," wouldn't you rather hear, "You're welcome," rather than, "No problem," or "Bakatcha?"

Sticks and Stones--HR 1592

Unlike the Republicans who wimped out on things they said they'd do if we elected them, the Democrats really are trying to rip out the freedoms we were guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, just like they promised in actions and words along the way to congressional control. Have you read the text of HR 1592--the so called hate crimes prevention bill? It is so preposterous, I almost can't believe it. Who kills the most black and gay men in this country? Other black and gay men (gay men as a group are the most highly educated and wealthiest of all our little diversity groups--so don't count on that to equal common sense when it comes to legislating hurt feelings). Aren't they just as dead as they'd be if the perp had called them a nasty, hurtful name, or if they perceived it right before the bullet, knife or club hit? Look at this text--

`(A) IN GENERAL- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of any person--

You are really, really special and set aside for preferences in this bill if you are a mentally ill [disability], Muslim [religion] lesbian [sexual orientation] from Guatemala [national origin] who's had a sex change operation [gender identity].

Perception = full and fat employment for lawyers and out of control prosecutors. Remember, macaca and water buffalo are now hate words. Can chocolate and almond be far behind?

The Bible assures us that all sin originates in the mind first, and we are held accountable by God for what we think, not just what we do, but Biblical admonitions by pastors and leaders will also be outlawed in this bill.

Update: My representative, Deborah Pryce, was one of the few Republicans that voted for this ridiculous bill. I think she's a stand-in for the Democrat woman she narrowly defeated in a final count in November. "On the National Day of Prayer, a majority of the Members of the House of Representatives have slapped Christians in the face with passage of H.R. 1592. Though allegedly designed to help local law enforcement officials deal with violent hate crimes, this legislation actually creates two new federally-protected minority groups: “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” – both of which are undefined by the law." [Call to conservatives]

Although I think the special, bifurcated, bi-level system of justice is unnecessary, UnAmerican, and foolhardy, I think it is the "perceived" hate against the "disabled" that will bring the expensive lawsuits, and gays could be paying through the nose on that one too. Do you want a mentally ill person like Cho perceiving hate and bringing a lawsuit against anyone trying to help him? The big question: if your gay lover shoots you, is it done out of love or hate? And are you more or less dead? Will he serve less time in prison if you are both gay than if one of you were just pretending?

3779

What the President really said four years ago

"We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We're bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous. We're pursuing and finding leaders of the old regime, who will be held to account for their crimes. We've begun the search for hidden chemical and biological weapons and already know of hundreds of sites that will be investigated. We're helping to rebuild Iraq, where the dictator built palaces for himself, instead of hospitals and schools. And we will stand with the new leaders of Iraq as they establish a government of, by, and for the Iraqi people.

The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done. Then we will leave, and we will leave behind a free Iraq.

The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 -- and still goes on. That terrible morning, 19 evil men -- the shock troops of a hateful ideology -- gave America and the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions. They imagined, in the words of one terrorist, that September the 11th would be the "beginning of the end of America." By seeking to turn our cities into killing fields, terrorists and their allies believed that they could destroy this nation's resolve, and force our retreat from the world. They have failed."

OK, so the terrorists got it right about the resolve of the Democrats because they do want to retreat and fail, but eventually I hope Bush will be proven right.

3778

Maybe they are in Aruba?

Two women from central Ohio disappeared about two weeks ago when they went shopping, and no one knows where they are. It wasn't reported immediately because one is a widow with no children, and the other's daughter just stopped to check on her mom and found out the neighbors hadn't seen her for some time. On April 19, Mary Ellen Walters, 68, and her friend, 80-year-old Ada Wasson, left their homes at the Otterbein Retirement Living Community in Lebanon in southwestern Ohio to go shopping, and seem to have disappeared. Walters' husband was in Florida caring for his 93 year old mother. We're still hearing on a regular basis about every clue in the disappearance of a pretty teen-ager Natalee Holloway 2 years ago in Aruba. Are these women less important? It seems Warren County is scaling back the search, which has been aided by Methodist church volunteers. Has Geraldo or O'Reilly or Greta reported on this? Have you seen them? Here's the photos from the CD.

3777

Women are the problem

"How do we start dealing with what's happening?" asks Roberta Garber in the April 19 Columbus Dispatch story about poverty's new address in Franklin County (Columbus) Ohio.

For starters, read your own research. You start with women. Dump the feminist, anti-male agenda, and start preaching and teaching marriage--in the schools, the homes, the churches, the housing codes, the books, the newspapers, the libraries and the community organizations. Stop promoting and glamorizing the celebrities who have 2 or 3 babies either before marriage, or skip marriage all together, whether Fiddy or Goldie or that smirky Sarandon. Call 'em what they are: The Pied Pipers of Poverty.

Nearly one half of all female headed families with young children lived in poverty in our county in 2004, while only 3% of married couples do. Hello! How much more writing needs to be on the wall, blackboards and social-worker flip charts to tell us that white, bored, middle and upper class women of the 70s and 80s fed the whole nation a huge plate of cow poopy, beginning with the idea that we had to kill babies first in order to have career choices and keep children from being poor or deformed, then rubbing our noses in it with trumped up salary discrepancy statistics.

Ms. Garber, look at your data dates. 1970-2004. Franklin County population grew by 27.9% and the poor grew by 59.1%. What else took off in those 35 years? Militant feminism. We had a Democratic congress for most of that time, a Democratic city government in Ohio's three largest cities, and tenured liberals in our state and premiere colleges and universities. All they've been able to come up with is more of the same.

Time to start fresh. Begin by admitting the women and all their male lackies in NOW, the unions, and universities, were wrong.

3776

Our class reunions

We're going to two high school class reunions this summer, one in June, one in July. Enrollment at Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis was larger than the town where I lived, Mt. Morris, Illinois. Tech is a fabulous place--and I love it. It is very different now than in the 50s, but you still feel and see the beauty, warmth and history when you step onto the campus. My husband was in a social club called the SLOBS, so many of his closest friends were not actually in his class, but the group has its own reunions.

So I've been looking for just the right outfit to wear. I'm waving the white flag. I've lost the battle on dressing up--no one does that anymore--not for church, or theater, or cruises or special events. Oh, maybe a wedding might the be last hold-out where you would see a skirt or dress. So I bought a cream colored pants suit, 3/4 length sleeves, and am choosing the color of blouse--I'm looking at red (not my good color, but one of the school colors), deep blue, taupe, or coral. I'm very pale, so coral or taupe are my colors. The taupe blouse really doesn't fit that well and will probably be too hot, so I think I've eliminated that. Here's the suit--ignore the paintings on the floor--my husband is getting ready for a show and has no place to put them. The walls are full.

3775

The Scarlet Letter - A

is for Amish. Someone should hang a big "A" on the back of their buggy. The Columbus Dispatch yesterday had an editorial about the terrible problem of puppy mills--the indiscriminate breeding of dogs, poor conditions, and the resulting auctions. Reading between and above the lines--Millersburg and Holmes County, the only words missing are, "Amish farmers."

But on Sunday, April 22, the Dispatch wasn't so reticent: "There are 186 USDA-licensed breeders in Ohio, and more than 100 of them are in Berlin, Millersburg and Sugarcreek, the heart of Amish country." The editorial in yesterday's paper says Holmes County licensed 478 kennels in 2006, a 40% increase. So a county license and a USDA license are not the same, if these numbers mean anything. Not only will these dogs not be healthy, but their resulting behavior problems will cause their early death at the hands of owners (who will have them euthanized) who wanted to save a few bucks by going to the pet store.

The photo says it all

from The World According to Carl

3773

Getting ready for the painter

We're trying to get as much out of the bedroom as possible to give the painter room to work. This morning I moved all the books, the shelves, paintings, and knick-knacks, and pulled things out from under the bed, like the old drapes, which have now left the house and are in a donation pile.

Faux combing, not wallpaper
One of the books is an oldie, The Outline of History by H.G. Wells, I bought at a yard sale maybe 20 years ago. I was going to put it in the pile to donate, then started leafing through. Look what they were saying about global warming in 1920 (or in the revision of 1949). It just seems so sensible, like maybe mankind isn't in charge:

About these changes of climate that are always in progress on the earth's surface: They are not periodic changes; they are slow fluctuations between heat and cold. The reader must not think that because the sun and earth were once incandescent the climatic history of the world is a simple story of cooling down. The centre of the earth is certainly very hot to this day, but we feel nothing of that internal heat at the surface; the internal heat, except for volcanoes and hot springs, has not been perceptible at the surface since first the rocks grew solid. Even in the Azoic or Archaeozoic Age there are traces in ice-worn rocks and the like of periods of intense cold. Such cold waves have always been going on everywhere, alternately with warmer conditions. There have been periods of great wetness and periods of great dryness throughout the earth. They depend upon astronomical and terrestrial fluctuations of extreme complexity.

And, in accordance, we find from the Record in the Rocks that there have been long periods of expansion and multiplication when life flowed and abounded and varied, and harsh ages when there was a great weeding out and disappearance of species, genera, and classes, and the learning of stern lessons by all that survived.

It is probably that the warm spells have been long relatively to the cold ages. Our world today seems to be emerging with fluctuations from a prolonged phase of adversity and extreme conditions. Half a million years ahead it may be a winterless world with trees and vegetation even in the polar circles. At present we have no certainty in such a forecast, but as knowledge increases it may be possible that our race will make its plans thousands of years ahead to meet the coming changes.

Isn't that interesting. The authors saw the warming as positive for mankind. Skipping ahead, he comments on the spread of Islam, which the author saw as a better culture to replace the decaying Roman system in the 7th century:

"While the armies of Islam were advancing triumphantly to the conquest of the world, this sickness of civil war smote at its head. What was the rule of Allah in the world to Ayesha [favorite wife of the prophet] when she could score off the detested Fatima [daughter of the prophet] and what heed were the Omayyads and the partisans of Ali [adopted son of the prophet and husband of Fatima] likely to take of the unity of mankind when they had a good hot feud of this sort to entertain them, with the caliphate as a prize? The world of Islam was rent in twain by the spites, greeds, and partisan silliness of a handful of men and women in Medina. That quarrel still lives . . . Shiites and Sunnites. To watch this schism creeping across the brave beginnings of Islam is like watching a case of softening of the brain. . . From the first the complicated household of Muhammad was like an evil legacy to the new faith. He was an illiterate Arab, ignorant of history, totally ignorant of all the political experiences of Rome and Greece, and almost as ignorant of the real history of Judea; and he left his followers with no scheme for a stable government embodying and concentrating the general will of the faithful, and no effective form to express the very real spirit of democracy (using the word in its modern sense) that pervades the essential teaching of Islam.

Maybe that's why they wrap their women in black robes--two women started this mess, so now they'll all have to pay. Interesting that he thought there was a spirit of democracy in Islam.

Roger Vernam, illustrator

Some of my biggest thrills in blogging have been e-mails from people who can answer some of my questions, or I have answered theirs. Recently I heard from a woman whose mother attended the same college as my parents--she'd found me looking for the Granddaughter's Inglenook Cookbook; another woman was looking for the lost chapters of Mary Margaret McBride's Encyclopedia of Cooking about which I had blogged; I heard from several people who loved and longed for Spudnuts [donuts made from potato flour]; someone wanted to buy my 17 year old first issue of Martha Stewart Living; my Fornasetti entry [I need to go in and change the link, which seems to have disappeared] gets almost as many hits as my "how to fix a broken zipper." And now, Roger Vernam. Am I excited, or what?

What little girl who loved horses wouldn't be crazy about this?
"Hi- saw your note about Eight little Indians and your comment about whether they(author and illustrator) were pseudonyms. Actually, Roger Vernam is real and was well know personally to my family-grandparents and mother. I grew up reading the books that he illustrated and they are still among my favorites. I’m re-settling my library after an annoying but much needed renovation and just came upon one of my most favorites, Monkey Shines, by Elinor Andrews. Always a joy to revisit and remember!!"

David M. Wood
Cape Cod Multi-Services

Thank you, Mr. Wood. And you have a nice web page--the type I wish libraries had. Attractive, easy to read, clear; even with some of your pages under construction I give you a B+. Most libraries get a C- or D+. Good luck with your business.

Happy First of May!

Can you believe we are so far into 2007? Time used to fly; now it just evaporates. Each morning I read a section in The One Year Bible (NIV), and a poem from A poem a day. Today's poem was "Happy the Man" by John Dryden (August 9, 1631-May 1, 1700). The notes say he was translating Horace, Odes, Book III, xxix. So here is me adjusting Dryden's pronouns translating Horace:

Happy the woman, happy she alone,
She who can call today her own:
She who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow do your worst, for I have lived today.
Be fair or foul or rain or shine
The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine.
Not Heaven itself upon the past has power,
But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

Monday Memories--The last May

This photo was taken at the retirement apartments lobby where my parents were living in May 1999. Mother died the following January. I think I had been in Chicago for the Medical Library Association meeting, and took the bus to Rockford, where my sister who lived in DC, met me. Mother's birthday was in May, and I think we had chosen that time, and I'm so glad we did. The four of us had a wonderful visit. I remember my sister, mother and I drove to Forreston where we had lived from 1946-1951 and drove around looking at our former houses and where we'd gone to church. Mom showed us a little garden plot she had behind the retirement complex, and we attended some of the special program functions with her that the facility offered. I think I arrived on a Friday or Saturday, so we probably went to church together. I would be back again in August, 1999, to celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary, but this was our last May. When your parents are in their 80s or 90s, you often wonder, "is this the last" birthday, concert, family holiday, mother's day, etc.

Mother's Day is coming up on May 13th. Go to church with your mom if you are fortunate to still have her with you. Even if you are no longer Baptist or Catholic, or have converted to another faith, or you have to rearrange your schedule, or you don't like her pastor, or you like informal music and she likes traditional. Honor your mother--be a blessing and get a blessing. It's the only commandment that includes a promise.

3769

Cleaning up the environment

Our local community paper showed the photos by a senior from Upper Arlington High School of her senior thesis of abandoned buildings in Columbus, titled "What about my generation." Her idea is that, "We should fix it up or turn it into parks." We shouldn't be building new shopping and housing areas in green farmland until we've restored these blighted areas, she proposes.

Do they teach civics, history or economics at UAHS? Does she realize she is making decisions about private property, or that some codes and regulations actually keep the less-than-UA-wealthy from improving their property? Or that if you improve your property your real estate taxes go up? Should she, or others on a board or committee of environmentalists, be making the decision on how and to whom a retired farmer east or south of Columbus should be selling his acreage if he can get market value from a developer? Does she know that huge parts of Upper Arlington used to be orchards and farm land?

Here's what I'd like to see for a senior thesis on the environment.

Get permission from the parents of 6 of your friends to go into their teen's bedroom and photograph the mess. I'm sure a lot of parents would be willing to cooperate and teach them a lesson that "environment" starts at home, in your own house.

Then move out into the community where you actually live. Photograph the trash and debris left after a community festival or art show.

Photograph the plastic bags and cups the teens leave just a block or two from the high school around Donato's or Wendy's or Giant Eagle.

Photograph the beer bottles left in the parking lots and streets for other people to drive over,

or the yards they "turf" when they are out having fun.

Ask the kids to ride the city bus to school for a semester instead of each driving one of the family's two or three cars--help with that carbon footprint stuff--photograph them in the snow and rain, waiting.

Photograph any of the hundreds of middle aged and older people working to landscape and beautify their yards and then contrast that with the young people helping them or chipping in on the cost.

3768

My son had a date with a stranger

the other night. By that I mean I don't know her (I never do). I wonder if he told her about the livestock, Rosa, who can knock down a grown woman with her tail, and Edie, who looks like a fat sausage link on toothpicks. Aunt Purl has a post about how to tell a guy on the first date (or first pick-up line) that you have four cats. A lot of people must identify, because when I read it she had 199 comments.

Samples:

When I was dating after my divorce, I used the cats to test the dates! If the cats didn't rub on them and totally fur-a-late them the first time they came over---no more dates! Bad mojo! If the cats didn't like them, I was suspicious. I swear, it worked! When I ignored the cat hate of one guy, he totally turned out to be a jerk later! I swear! When my now-husband came over, one of my cats sat on his lap and rubbed his face on his jacket zipper--love at first sight!

Sorry, I have you beat here :) I'm a librarian! Thankfully I only had one cat when I meet my husband. Now we have 3 adorable fur babies. And he kids me that he saved me from becoming "an old maid librarian with cats".

I will trade two teenage boys and dog for a cat. Any takers?

I only have 1 cat but 3 ex-husbands, and let me tell you, THAT is a serious dating handicap, in my mind, at least!

3767

Walking with 1776 by David McCullough

Four miles yesterday and two miles today, 45 miles for my 50 miles of Easter Walk (it started to rain so I quit). I'm in chapter two, "Rabble in Arms." Deeply moving to know the deprivation, hardship, and yes, ignorance that undergirded the poorly clothed and dirty men in the army of General Washington. It was a very long war, and the book just covers one year. Today I listened to the story of 16 year old John Greenwood, a fifer, from Boston.

"After reaching the army encampments, he was urged to enlist, with the promise of $8 a month. Later, passing through Cambridge, he learned of the battle raging at Bunker Hill. Wounded men were being laid out on the Common. "Everywhere the greatest terror and confusion seemed to prevail." The boy started running along the road that led to the battle, past wagons carrying more casualties and wounded men struggling back to Cambridge on foot. Terrified, he wished he had never enlisted. "I could positively feel my hair stand on end." But then he saw a lone soldier coming down the road.

. . . a Negro man, wounded in the back of his neck, passed me and, his collar being open and he not having anything on except his shirt and trousers, I saw the wound quite plainly and the blood running down his back. I asked him if it hurt him much, as he did not seem to mind it. He said no, that he was only to get a plaster put on it and meant to return. You cannot conceive what encouragement this immediately gave me. I began to feel brave and like a soldier from that moment, and fear never troubled me afterward during the whole war.

3766

Nancy Pelosi on partial birth abortion and your daughter

"Here is how the law defines partial birth abortion:

"An abortion in which a physician delivers an unborn child's body until only the head remains inside the womb, punctures the back of the child's skull with a Sharp instrument, and sucks the child’s brains out before completing delivery of the dead infant."

Here is what Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi says about partial birth abortion:

"This is about a procedure that any parent would want her daughter to have access to if she needed it. And to frame it as an abortion issue is doing a disservice to medicine and to our young women and our country. So I hope we can get the focus back on the fact that this Supreme Court is deciding what medical procedures are necessary for child-bearing women."

from Denny Burke's blog

How could any abortion supporter say she would want her daughter, or anyone else's daughter to have this procedure, killing her grandchild in such a vicious, cruel way? Wasn't she parading her grandchildren before the TV cameras not too long ago?

3765

Will Sweden disappear? And who's next

"Sweden was presented during the Cold War as a middle way between capitalism and Communism. When this model of a society collapses – and it will collapse, under the combined forces of Islamic Jihad, the European Union, Multiculturalism and ideological overstretch – it is thus not just the Swedish state that will collapse but the symbol of Sweden, the showcase of an entire ideological world view. . . Native Swedes have thus been reduced to just another ethnic group in Sweden, with no more claim to the country than the Kurds or the Somalis who arrived there last Thursday. The political authorities of the country have erased their own people's history and culture." Read here about what's happening in Sweden's third largest city.

HT Mere Comments, which includes a lengthy poem about the requirement that Swedish men sit when urinating. Yes, feminism as come to this. Excerpt from Here sits Sweden:

"Should some Swedish Rip Van Winkle
Wake in Stockholm, all a wrinkle,
Still he'd have to sit to tinkle.

So he sits, obeys our rule or he
Finds how fast we punish foolery --
Confiscate his family jewlery!"

3764

No, it's not a good idea!

I was browsing a library blog today reading about all the things he'd seen at a conference. He said he could hardly wait to apply some of the new ideas to his library's web page. Thank goodness, I thought-- library web pages are often awkward and hard to navigate. Not the most exemplary sources of information I've seen on the web, especially for clarity and readability. So what was his brilliant idea? To jazz up his 404 page. That's the error page. No, a thousand times No. Get to work on correcting the four columns, the things that wiggle, and the no-way-to-contact-the staff-by-name problem.

Is your constipation contributing to greenhouse gases?

http://zebu.uoregon.edu/2004/es399/lec02.html
Another thing to worry about! OH NO! "The degree of breath methane production in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) correlates with the severity of constipation, Los Angeles-based researchers report in the April issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology 2007;102:837-841." [from Rueters story on Medscape.com]

Not to worry, though. The sufferers with IBS who have diarrhea instead of constipation have less methane produced by the bacteria in their intenstines, so maybe you can work out an exchange (we won't call it carbon credits--have to think on that one--maybe a stool swap?).

3762

Old photos of lighthouses are sought

On Friday I uploaded a photo of a small, historic moment in 1916--rural folks gathered for a ride in an airplane. Here's your opportunity to look through grandpa's photographs. In the latest Keeper's Korner of Lighthouse Digest written by Timothy Harrison, there is this note about the removal of the Vermilion Lighthouse.

What Happened To Moving Photos
We know it is difficult to locate photographs of lighthouses and keepers in the era when the camera was just becoming available to the average person. But, by 1929 the camera had been around for quite some time and many Americans owned and knew how to use a camera. However, photographs of the removal of Ohio’s Vermilion Lighthouse seem to be non-existent. In 1929 the lighthouse was removed from Vermilion and shipped to Buffalo, New York. In 1935 it was barged to its new location to become the East Charity Shoal Lighthouse six miles south of the St. Lawrence River on Lake Ontario. Someone must have photographed some parts of this historic move. Yet photographs seem to have disappeared. There are many mysteries like this. For example, what happed to the photographs of the first Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in North Carolina? It is amazing how much of our nation’s lighthouse history has been lost. Will it be rediscovered someday? We can only hope.

Someone somewhere (probably a young boy) had a camera that day.

If you vacation or own property near or just love old lighthouses, you'll enjoy Lighthouse Digest.

3761

Unintended consequences of emissions control

In my opinion, the most sensible gas saving regulation ever to go into effect was the 55 mph speed limit back in the 1970s. I'm sure it cut into someone's profits, but overnight it saved many lives--thousands a year--and miraculously, it seems to cut down on travel time because there were far fewer accidents holding you up on the roadways and interstates. One benefit never measured was that on the cardiovascular system of the drivers and passengers who weren't driving at 75 mph in a moving parking lot with their heart in their throats.

Now there are hearings for new regulations on emissions control of heavy trucks, which really are the life blood of this country. Virtually everything we eat, or wear or use one square of each time we go to the rest room, is shipped by truck.

Stricter emissions:

Worse mileage will mean more fuel. 1 mile less per gallon

Worse road conditions for other vehicles. Longer, heavier trucks will need to make up the added costs for everything moved by truck, tearing up our asphalt and concrete, causing more fatal accidents when we hit them.

More unsafe trucks. Current trucks will be kept in service longer because they will not be covered by the new regulations.

Hotter trucks. Engines need to burn at a higher heat with the new standards.

Reduced competition. New standards hurt independents and small truckers, and some will go out of business.

Stockpiles. Larger companies have stockpiled new trucks built before the new standards, raising costs for independents.

Add to this the cost of gasoline blends we're going to be forced to burn in our cars, and we're going to have a huge increase in food prices, hurting the poor who spend a larger percentage of their dollar on food.

I like clean air as much as the next gal, but green air costs you the green.

Why I agree with Bernie

From a blog I wrote March 3, 2007

"[I asked him to] cite a single program proposed by the liberals in the last 20-30 years that had been defeated by the conservatives. Couldn't do it of course, because liberals try to put up conservatives, particularly Christian conservatives, as some sort of powerhouse bringing down the government. No one has been a bigger spender on social programs than the Bush administration. Medicare. Biggest gains under Republicans. Illegal immigration. Huge muck job by Republicans--who was president in 1986 for IRCA? Social Security. Reagan was President when I lost mine. Legal abortion. Last time I checked, we're still killing babies--what--25-35 million since Roe v. Wade? If Christian conservatives manage to roll back a week or two in a sparsely populated rural state, the Dems go crazy ("oh no, a baby's made it out alive"), but the law's still there. DDT. Last time I ran the numbers, we'd killed more Africans with malaria in the last 30 years than died being shipped across the Atlantic as slaves in the 18th century, but not a single bird, let alone human, ever died from spraying DDT on mosquito eggs in standing pools of swamp water. . . Clean air laws. We've got bunches of empty factories in Ohio that have no smoke belching from the chimneys--the jobs went first to the southern U.S.A., then to Asia. Women's Rights. Leading cause of poverty in the U.S.A. is unmarried women having sex and babies before finishing school. The poverty gap is no longer racial, it is marital. And Democrats have a fainting spell if someone introduces an abstinence program or a chastity pledge."

Bernard Goldberg's new book.

Friday Family Photo

This is such a great photo, I wish I could tell you more.


The information on the back is that it was a "barnstorming airplane pilot" in 1916 in a field at the O.D. Buck farm in Franklin Grove, IL. For those of you who are from Mt. Morris, the Bucks were parents of Lucille Kinsley, wife of our high school principal; like my grandparents, the Bucks were members of the Church of the Brethren in Franklin. The little girl in the white dress and hat holding her father's hand is my mother. She's much more interested in her brother Leslie, who is taking the photograph--he would have been about 14 years old. You can see some automobiles over on the left, one of which they would have driven to see the plane. The pilot charged $2.00 for one or two customers to go up with him. I suspect the little boy on the right might be Clare, my mother's other brother (1910-1944). He died in WWII as an aerial engineer for the 24th Mapping Squadron of the 8th Photo Group, Reconnaissance (10th Air Force) which served in the China, Burma, India theater. Sort of ironic when I look at this photo seeing what may have been his early interest in planes.

There are lots of elements of 1916 high-tech in this photo--a young teenager with a camera (this print I scanned was made from a glass plate--he also did his own developing), an airplane, electrical poles with lots of lines, and numerous automobiles. With a magnifying glass I can see 3 women in the most visible car. The women seem to be wearing hats, and the men dress clothes, so it might have been a Sunday.

3758

Why I'm not voting for the library levy

SNP Publications

The Editorial in the April 25 UA News urged readers to 'keep the library at top of the class.' I don't plan to vote for the levy, although I use the library frequently and appreciate many of its good features, such as pleasant, helpful staff, digital genealogy sources, circulating magazines, and easy parking.

What I don't like is the response to concerns of the people the library serves. When parents came to them about the free-circ, sexually explicit journals and newspapers stacked in the entry way for pick-up by anyone coming or going, the library's response was to bring the material inside and build expensive shelving for protection of the distributors, not the children. No public library has a mission or responsibility to distribute free-circ material, which essentially is an advertising medium. And then there was that recent dust-up reported on TV because the librarian says she can’t block inappropriate material for minors at check out.

Money for the recently hired PR person could have been much better spent to upgrade the salaries of current staffers, or to add a librarian who would balance the lopsided collection or improve the catalog.

The library installed a very expensive drive-through drop off, destroying some nice green space and spending foolishly while Lane Road's plumbing rotted. I don't know if an in-house coffee shop is still being planned for Tremont Rd, but that idea definitely is poorly conceived.

The turn-key, on-line catalog is awkward and difficult to use, riddled with mistakes, and contains 2-3 hot links for each entry that go nowhere. The subject headings are inconsistent, and if there is keyword access (the easiest method), I haven't found it. The library web page is more attractive and helpful than what most libraries have, but could be much better.

The library regularly prints wall size posters in vivid colors and individual announcements on upcoming events and new acquisitions, using its supplies budget carelessly if the cost of my ink cartridges are any indication. The lyceum programs it sponsors duplicate many other activities and organizations in the community and Columbus. It increases the gate count, but not much else.

The current selection policies reflect the tastes of the staff--15 hard copies of Bob Woodward’s latest book, everything Michael Moore ever produced in every possible format, every anti-Bush administration book, 30 new cookbook titles always on the new bookshelves, a stunning collection of scrap booking titles, and a college-level collection on film, media and celebrities. I don’t know much about music, but 17 drawers of jazz CDs?

At Christmas, UAPL couldn’t even find a Christian title to include in its recommended nine new Christmas books published for a local magazine. Although Upper Arlington has three Lutheran churches, one of which is among the largest in the country, it has only 9 books on Lutherans, 2 of which are biographies of Martin Luther. There is more on Wicca and Wiccans than Lutherans in the UAPL collection. Methodists and Presbyterians don’t fare much better, and the Baptist title count is inflated only because of books--probably over 100--on Martin Luther King. There are probably more titles on the Amish than other Christian groups combined other than Catholics. The blatantly anti-Christian books, however, cover many shelves in the 300s and 900s. They are biased, hate filled, and political. You want to raise our taxes by $800,000 for that?

You say we UA folks are only paying 40% of the library’s operating budget? No sir, we’re paying ALL of it--just from different pots of taxes.

<------------------->

For other essays on UAPL where I site specific titles and subject headings, check here.

3757

Smoking bans

Ireland was the first country to implement a true smoking ban. Not very many states have a ban, but Ohio is one of them. Unfortunately, the legislation is poorly worded, so there will probably be lawsuits. Like if a cross country trucker is driving through Ohio, is it illegal for him to smoke in his cab. Huge parts of Canada are smoke free (although that's sort of to be expected since it is much more socialistic than the U.S.), New Zealand has a full country ban and most of Australia.

I heard two guys on a morning drive/talk radio show discussing this as a loss of freedom. Saying only the restaurant owner should decide, and then determine if he needed smoke-free sections. That view totally ignores the needs of the wait staff, kitchen and janitorial staff, the band and musicians. And as a non-smoker, I could never get away from it even in the non-smoking section of restaurants. I can remember when clerks in stores smoked at the cash register, when librarians smoked in their offices and at public desks, and people smoked inside our church in the classrooms and fellowship hall. It wasn't pleasant. Everyone stunk smelled bad.

Clean air is good for the tax payer (lower health costs which we hope will offset the decrease in tobacco taxes), good for the worker, and good for the brain. So on this issue, I definitely side with the liberals, who are the folks against personal freedom, because the freedom of others matters too. If you have a partial ban now in your city, state or country, eventually it will be total. There's absolutely nothing positive about poisoning yourself and the air around you. Get over it, and get on with living.

3756

Why older Democrats left the party

This looked like a pretty balanced explanation of what has happened to the Democratic Party since the early 1960s. The author is wondering why there aren't Moslem Methodists, i.e., mainstream. If you've watched the flap about PBS using our tax money to create a film on moderate Moslems, then refusing to show it, this explanation starts to expose some of the bizarre behavior of liberals. Still, it was written in September 2005, and since then the Democrats in Congress have gone completely over the edge, groveling before their New Left, socialist party leaders.

"The biggest problem in analogizing Democrats to Moslems is that the former did have other voices surrounding them, voices that were pointing out the radical nature of those organizations [Matt] Barr mentioned (NOW, the unions, and the teaching establishment): first, the Republicans, of course; in our republic, the critiques from the GOP could not be entirely shut out, even back in the 60s and 70s.

But second and more important, we need to bear in mind what Barr himself noted: Democratic leaders and organizations were not always so insane. The switchover (I'm using Judge Bork's timeline here from, I think, Slouching Towards Gomorrah) was when the New Left began to arise following the Port Huron Statement, released by the SDS in 1962 (the Students for a Democratic Society was the group from which the radical faction the Weathermen later spun off).

Most older Democrats never particularly embraced the New Left -- which was radicalized, hard-core, and Stalinist, inexplicably combined with feverishly anti-science, anti-technology, Luddite "environmentalism" -- and the New Left didn't take over the Democratic Party until, to be blunt, the older generation died off.

Thus, there has been reasoned resistance to the radicalization of the Democratic Party from the very beginning, coming from sources with unassailable liberal credentials, such as Hubert Humphrey and Pat Moynihan. Many Democrats retained their basic love of America... and unfortunately for the new radicalized Democratic Party (but fortunately for the country), that meant a lot of people left the Democrats and joined the Republicans, bringing the two parties into rough parity (during World War II, I would guess the Democrats enjoyed at least a 2-1 advantage over the GOP)." Big Lizards Blog, Where are all the Moslem Methodists?

Decides to remain seized of the matter

If you ever wanted proof that United Nations Resolutions are hole cloth worth not even one square of toilet paper per toilet use, just scroll to the bottom of the U.S. Treasury Sanctions Program Summary on Sudan for the list of their resolutions on Sudan going back to 1995. Each resolution about Sudan in the last 12 years ends with the phrase, "Decides to remain seized of the matter," whatever that bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo means. And the 1996 Resolution 1044 lists all the letters and condemnations that came before then.

If you google that phrase you get about 34,000 hits, and it seems to mean, "It's not going away, but we're not doing anything about it, now or ever" so keep sending money.

No matter how you seize it, the war in Sudan has always been about Arab Moslems killing black Africans, until 1997 it was African Christians, more recently African Moslems.

Thursday Thirteen

13 things I've learned this week or forgot and had to relearn

1. Always take your slacks off when sewing a button on the waist band.
2. Don't eyeball where you think the button should go if you have trifocals.
3. If you add about l/2 pumpkin puree to your favorite peanut butter pie filling, it tastes and looks about the same and has a lot fewer calories (in my recipe).
4. If your garage door goes back up after you've pushed the down button when you've pulled the car in, don't push it again; you didn't get the car in far enough.
5. Home made mashed potatoes taste 50% better than packaged, even with lumps, and at a fraction of the cost.
6. After a tragedy, the talking heads don't know as much as the investigators and police, so hold off on judgement.
7. If you weigh exactly what you did 25 years ago, the distribution is very different.
8. When you volunteer at the food pantry, you'll see some of the same people you saw three months ago. See Matt. 25.
9. Friday date night at the Bucket is more fun when shared with another couple or two.
10. When something goes wrong, whether it is pet food, home mortgages or a mentally ill college student, the proposed legislation and regulations done in the heat of the moment will probably be worse, cost more and lay the ground work for future problems.
11. Loyalty and reward cards whether offered by airlines, retailers, or supermarkets, are like an additional tax--very few benefit, but everyone pays.
12. If you contact someone in charge of a web page, a library, a church, a network, a party, or a government office, concerning something very urgent and important, you will hear nothing, or get an "I'm out of the office today" reply, or a canned response.
13. If you drop a line to just let them know, "I'm here and like what you're doing," you'll be their best friend and forever on their mailing list.
    

3753

Minorities hit hard by subprime loans

is the headline of USAToday's latest article on how the poor and minorities are victimized in the U.S.A. It really makes you wonder if the journalists learned anything else in college! A closer look at the middle paragraphs:

• Minority home buyers helped fuel the housing boom--49% of the increase between 1995-2005. [Note that this trend of "empowering" minorities by burdening them with impossible debt began under Clinton, and any attempt to reverse it has brought condemnation on Bush.]
• 73% of high income ($92,000-$152,000) blacks and 70% of high income Hispanics had subprime loans, compared to 17% whites.
• Lenders were supported by politicians and "community leaders" eager to promote minority home ownership.
• When Illinois (Cook Co.) tried to establish credit counseling programs for new minority buyers by targeting ZIP codes, the program was pulled as being "racist".
• Access became a buzz word at the expense of sound lending policies.
• Buyers/borrowers with poor credit or low salaries who wanted a cheap deal is a large part of the problem.
• Investigation by a counseling group found 9% of those in trouble were victims of fraud; the rest was poor judgement and poor financial skills.
• Rather than focus on the borrowers' poor financial skills, it appears that new regulations and programs will pounce on predatory lenders.
• Government investigations of charges even before the current problem came to light showed a "good chunk" [not my term] of higher loan cost is attributed to borrower's income, not to race or ethnicity.

But this is America, where nothing happens if it isn't about poverty, race, gender or disability.

No one wants to be reminded, but here's what it took in 1968 to get a home mortgage (our third home): the monthly PMI didn't exceed one-third of the husband's income; there were married parents/in-laws to chip in on the down payment to help a young couple; most mortgages were for 20 years; typical mortgage rate was around 6.5%; the average home and what owners expected was smaller and less grand; a typical applicant for a mortgage wasn't also paying for a leased a car, or a cable bill, monthly broadband, or a cell phone bill, nor did they eat out 2 or 3 times a week and take vacations at resort spots.

Yes, I know it sounds terribly fusty and old fashioned back in the old days when the state and federal governments weren't our foster parents, overseers and field bosses, but that's just how it was.

3752

David Sarnoff Library damaged

When I read a lengthy description of the damage to the valuable archives caused by the storm in the northeast about 10 days ago, (at the listserv of archivists) the first thing I asked myself was why any library anywhere with a valuable historic collection would store items in the basement. Especially since the companies that do this kind of rescue work from mopping up to freezing paper items to stop the rot will be stretched to the max because everyone in the area probably has damage. True, a tornado can take the top floors, but even a sewer backup can take your basement storage. Story in Philadelphia Inquirer

"Just outside Princeton, the building housing the David Sarnoff Library took nearly two feet of water in its basement, a level the staff had never expected. The water damaged a collection of laboratory notebooks, technical reports, manuals and manuscripts from the early days of radio, television and electronics.

The library rushed to hire a document-repair company to try to dry them out and save them.

"We saved these files in the first place because of their importance in documenting the birth of modern communications, from broadcast microphones to color TV picture tubes, from satellite communications to the microchips that surround us in cars, computers, and cell phones," library director Alexander Magoun wrote in an e-mail seeking donations to offset the cost of the emergency repair work."

I probably ought to check my own basement. For 34 years we lived in a house without a basement, but it's really easy to slip back into old habits.

It's not your father's marijuana

"The marijuana being sold across the United States is stronger than ever, which could explain a growing number of medical emergencies that involve the drug, government drug experts on Wednesday.

Analysis of seized samples of marijuana and hashish showed that more of the cannabis on the market is of the strongest grade, the White House and National Institute for Drug Abuse said.

They cited data from the University of Mississippi's Marijuana Potency Project showing the average levels of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in the products rose from 7 percent in 2003 to 8.5 percent in 2006." Reuters

And the druggie bloggers are out in full force denying any problem, but they did that 35 years ago (without blogs, of course).

3750

Rosie's anti-Catholic, anti-Christian tirades

She's gone from The View (although probably not from view), but I don't think her virulently anti-Christian, bigoted remarks are the reason. A new columnist for the St. Louis Dispatch, commented on the long term affects of the Catholic compromise beginning with JFK in her February 2007 piece. So I doubt that they really bombarded Barbara Walters and Disney with their anger:

"What role should a Catholic politician's faith play in his governing decisions? After dominating U.S. headlines during the 2004 presidential contest between Catholic Senator John Kerry and Methodist President George W. Bush, the question has emerged again. The midterm elections of 2006 swept pro-choice Catholic Senator Nancy Pelosi into the third-highest position in the U.S. government, cost the pro-life movement more than a dozen House and Senate seats, and found Catholic voters migrating back to the Democratic Party despite its staunch support for legal abortion. Pro-choice Catholic and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has informally launched a presidential bid, as has pro-life Catholic Senator Sam Brownback. And the U.S. bishops recently released a statement affirming that Catholics must uphold Church teaching in public life if they wish to receive Communion." Collen Carroll Campbell

If there's a group wimpier than Republicans, it has to be Christians. The PC chat that a Lutheran pastor gave at the VA Tech memorial clearly demonstrates that.

Is this like that?

While browsing through some "Rachel Carson is our hero" blogs, I noticed a carbon neutral festival. I didn't click on it because it seemed to be serious. But it would be a great put up/down, wouldn't it? "What if we gave a festival and nobody came?". Just ask the folks to mail their ticket money and stay home. That would be carbon neutral. No cars driven from the neighboring city, no food stands burning fuel, no fast-food-consuming people wandering the booths expelling CO2, no trash to clean up, no garbage to bag, no Sheryl-porta-potties. I love it.

3748

Crow droppings #3

Sheryl Crow now says it was a joke, but at least it got people talking about global warming. When I first heard it, I thought she was joking. Then I realized liberals have no sense of humor, no irony, nor does it bother them to set rules and standards for others which they never intend to follow (Barbra Striesand's SUVs, Rosie O'Donnell's potty mouth discussing appropriate behavior or gun control, et al) because they have wealth and employ a lot of people who tend to their every personal and transportation need.

I think Sheryl's joke backfired. It did get everyone talking, yes, even other liberals, but about how silly some of the global warming advocates are. Now if we could just get people to wise up about lightbulbs, bio-fuel, and weather patterns over time maybe we won't have to suffer from more disastrous outcomes like the Carson-induced malaria deaths.

3747 Homeowner fights back, gets his way

Amy Ridenour reports on a man in Atlanta who was turned down on his request for a porch by a local historic commission, so he painted his house lime green with purple spots. Eventually, he got his way. This was reported in the 5th edition of her book Shattered Dreams: One Hundred Storiesabout government abuse. However, I know this quote just isn't so:

"Randall Carlson, a builder who has done work in Avondale Estates, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the city's preservation officials should have their power curtailed: "Most people are not going to do anything that would detract from the value of their home. I think the [commission] should be a last resort, only if people do something way out of line." "

We own property in an historic community--people buy there because they love the nostalgia and ambiance, and when the ink on the contract is dry they immediately try to add a 21st century design addition to a 19th century house, or add a huge storage shed that blocks a neighbor's view of the lake, or create a huge footprint to add a garage in an area where many of the lots are only 33' wide. My husband is an architect who probably has had 30+ jobs in that community that make it more beautiful. Now that he is virtually retired, he is part of the design review board. He has seen the problem from three angles--as a home owner who wants to protect his property values, as an architect who wants the best interests and best design for his client, and as a board member with a larger view looking out for historic preservation. The home owner is much more likely to be the problem than the association or the design board.

At our condo we have the same problem. Everyone who has ever visited here remarks on the beauty--if it were to be built today, there would be double the number of units and it would have an army base look with row on row of garages or porches. We have quite a selection of colors available to the individual unit owners, and variety in landscaping, but there are rules. Often it is the wealthiest owners, or those who spend part of the year somewhere else who think the rules are for everyone else and ignore the owner's handbook.

3746

Jazz vs. Rock

At the public library the other day I was browsing the CDs in the music collection. If I wanted Contemporary Christian I'd have a pretty small selection (it all sounds like secular music to me), but since I don't know much about choral or orchestral, the collection suits my needs. Something seemed a bit odd. There were 17 drawers of jazz and 13 drawers of rock. So I asked a musician friend of mine about this. "Isn't rock a much larger, more popular genre of music than jazz?" She thought for a moment, and then said, "It probably reflects the taste of someone on the staff." Then she followed that with, "Well, jazz lovers are probably more likely to use the library, and people who like rock are using a different source--either purchasing or downloading or sharing." I didn't look for the break-out of rap or hip-hop, so I don't know how that is cataloged. I'll have to look the next time.

I'm so glad my library allows journals to circulate. Some libraries don't. And good parking! I was talking to a Worthington Public Library user the other day and she said she likes to use ours just because the parking is so much better. Our new drive through drop off was a huge waste of money, however, as is the proposed coffee shop inside the library (at least I haven't heard that it has been removed from the proposed levy renewal) and the salary of a marketing director.