When you absolutely, positively have to have a salty chip snack

Heat some vegetable oil--maybe 1/4 - 1/2 inch in a small sauce pan. Cut up a corn tortilla (I use Azteca) into strips (scissors work better than a knife) and drop them into the oil for a few minutes, watching carefully. When they start to darken just a bit to a golden color, remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel. Sprinkle salt. Enjoy, but wait a few seconds or you'll burn your tongue. Tip: like pancakes, the first batch isn't very good--don't know what that principle is called, but the 2nd, 3rd and 4th should be just fine. One day I was helping with lunch at church during advent and we made these to go with bean soup. I thought it might come in handy for an emergency snack attack. I've tried this with flour tortillas and sprinkled with sugar/cinnamon, and that's yummy too, but I rarely crave anything sweet.

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What do you do with your old Christmas cards?

I love the time between Thanksgiving and Epiphany--lots of first class mail as cards and letters drop through our mail slot. Then what to do with them? My tendency to save paper memorabilia is a bit of a problem--especially what to do with what my grandmother saved from the 1880-1890s! I save the letters, the cards with notes, the hand-made or designed cards, and the cards with particularly lovely scenes--usually from a watercolor print. Over the years, that's a lot of paper!

This week we discovered something new to do with holiday greetings. We got a post card from a pastor and his wife of a church we occasionally visit. It's close by, has communion every Sunday, and offers a week day, day-time Bible study led by the pastor. (And the best reason to attend is we know nothing of the inner political squabbles that all churches have.) The postcard said they'd received many beautiful cards and letters at Christmas and each day selected one to pray for the senders, and they had prayed for us on Monday, Feb. 4. That's such a nice idea I think I'll freshen my prayer list with that idea.

What media bias?

Did you see the front page poll in the WSJ today, story by Suzanne Something? Shocking, shocking. 21% of the respondents to the NBC/WSJ poll were strongly against voting for a Mormon, and 20% were strongly against an Evangelical (i.e. a Southern Baptist minister). The story, of course, was all about anti-Mormonism, because then she could bash Christians, but not about anti-Evangelicalism, because then she'd have to bash liberals. Somehow, she found a pastor of a huge congregation of 35 people to quote. This woman digs so deep she needs to drain the swamp to climb out.

But more ridiculous was the anti-Hillary and anti-Obama figures. I think for Obama the poll only found 4% wouldn't vote for a black. We've come a long way baby, but not in my wildest dreams of what wonderful unbiased folk singing kumbaya we are, will I buy that figure. I've heard "Obama's a Moslem" 10 times more than I've heard Romney's a Mormon in my white, well-heeled, Republican suburb (with a very noisy Progressive/liberal element).

Nobody's going to admit to a pollster, especially one from, not one but two liberal media, that they won't vote for Hillary because she's a woman or Obama because he's black. There are millions and millions of registered voters whose only exposure to African Americans is watching Hippity-Hops grabbing their junk and flashing their bling on YouTube and TV, calling women Ho's and their buddies nigger. Sure, they'll buy their music, but that's also the image they'll take with them to the voting booth.

What would we do without government studies?

In September 2006 I fessed up that going from dial-up to broadband had been. . . broadening for me. Yes, the 20 lbs I put on I called my blogging weight. There's just no way to sit in front of a computer screen for several hours a day (which I did more before I retired), snack on peanut butter, salty chips, cheese and crackers, eat sandwiches for lunch, eat out with friends, and NOT put on weight. So I did a TT on it--about eating less and moving more--and over the next four months, shed the blogger-fat.

Fortunately, I now have a government study to back me up. Don't tell me I never give you valuable research! Yes, people who eat out at least twice a week and eat fewer fruits and vegetables than people who eat out less often and eat more fruits and vegetables and who also have less physical activity than people who have more physical activity will be FATTER. I'm just stunned, aren't you? Who knew that eating 3,000 more calories a day than your body can possibly use, would add pounds?

"Findings from our population-based survey suggest that higher levels of weekly physical activity were needed for successful weight loss maintenance if the respondent consumed fewer than five low-energy–density fruit and vegetable servings on the previous day. Our data provide insights into the details of behavioral patterns among people reporting success at weight loss maintenance and support findings in the literature that suggest both dietary and physical activity approaches are key in helping people manage their weight. Citation: Kruger J, Blanck HM, Gillespie C. "Dietary practices, dining out behavior, and physical activity correlates of weight loss maintenance." Prev Chronic Dis 2008;5(1). http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2008/
jan/06_0158.htm. Accessed Feb. 8, 2008].

There's still a lot researchers don't know about how weight affects the incidence and intensity of diseases that kill us, but this much they do know--if you use more calories than you take in, you will not be fat. Maybe that's gastric by-pass, or Jenny Craig, or going for a walk every day. For most of the history of the planet, poverty and starvation were the norm for most populations (the move to private ownership of land and then other resources has changed that). Now even the poorest have too many calories. Lots of things make us fat--I know what works for me, and it will be different for you.

All this is to introduce you to a journal that recently has focused on the diseases of older people, Preventing Chronic Disease. Although I find it frustrating that so many studies focus on gapology--gap between minorities and whites, between men and women, between rich and poor, between Hispanics and Asians, between Caribbean baseball players and Alaskan mushers (I made that one up), occasionally someone discovers that no one has researched the obvious--the things we do that make us sick.

Thursday Thirteen--13 fudge phrases in American English.

English is a marvelously flexible language--has about 2 million words because it borrows from so many cultures. So why overuse some of them and dumb down our lovely language? These 13 get my vote--and my goat. If I never heard them again, I'd dance on their graves.

1. I have nothing against . . . or I don’t have a problem with. . . [be on the alert for racist, sexist, ageist or ethnic comment with the first, and nit-pickiness about a committee or task force report on the second] Another version is, Some of my best friends are. . . .

2. If it’s all the same to you . . . [You know it probably won’t be.]

3. Do you mind if I smoke. . . [We don’t hear this one much anymore--smoking near anyone is now against the law in Ohio in many places, even outdoors, but in the “bad old days” you knew he was going to light up and make your clothes stink and your lungs rot. Women didn't even bother to ask.]

4. Let’s do lunch sometime. . . [Good-bye, I’m waaaay too busy and important to talk right now.]

5. With all due respect. . . [A way to say, “I disagree,” without saying it.]

6. I’m looking to. . . [Only the less educated used this in the past, but now it is everywhere, even the WSJ and NYT. It means "I’m planning to . . ." or "I’m thinking about. . .", but seems to imply using logical thought to make a decision is suspect. Probably came along with using "I feel" instead of "I think."]

7. I think we need to ask ourselves. . . [Experts use this phrase to introduce what they want you to do--it’s a fudgy way to be bossy and authoritative.]

8. At the end of the day. . . [I actually heard a caller to a talk show say, “At the end of the day there’s light at the end of the tunnel” and “Finally, at the end of the day, the bottom line is. . . “ This is a useless phrase; if it has a meaning, it is “finally.”

9. It’s generally believed that. . . (fill in the blank) [Something is about to be said you’ve never heard of, or disagree with, like “humans control global warming“ and you (but not I) need to cut back on your carbon footprint.]

10. How ‘bout them Buckeyes or (your team’s name here). [Guys say this in place of ordinary polite greetings, such as “Good Afternoon,” or “How are you?”]

11. I’m no expert, but. . . [I’m about to pretend to be one.]

12. It’s easy, you just . . . [This won’t be easy at all--you‘d better take notes.]

13. Basically / Absolutely. Basically, these two words are the most overused words in American English. Don’t you agree? Absolutely! “Basically” is used in place of stammering (repeat the phrase 3 or 4 times to make it work) while you think of something to say, and “Absolutely” is a 4 syllable word for Yes.

The big one

Can you guess how many ones (numeral or words) appear on the U.S. one dollar bill? Before taking one out of your wallet or purse jot down a number. I guessed 10, and so did my husband. The student from CSG at the coffee shop guessed 5, another guy said 7. Actually, it depends on the bill, but in looking at three different one dollar bills, I had between 22 and 29 ones on a one dollar bill.

There is only one reason to vote for John McCain, and that's Jihadism. And it's important. But the other ones all go against him. 1) He's too old. 1) He's noted for a flash point, bad temper. 1) Do you want an old guy with a bad temper going up against Iran? 1) He left his faithful, hard working wife and mother of his children who waited all the years he was in a POW situation for a trophy wife. 1) His new wife's father has financed his political career. 1) He's the sponsor of McCain-Feingold (campaign finance reform which is fine for guys with a sugar daddy-in-law). 1) He's squishy on amnesty. 1) He's more concerned with pleasing the guys across the aisle than conservatives or Republicans. 1) He's a media lap dog. 1) He appeals to Democrats and Independents in the primaries, but they'll dump him for their regular date come November. 1) He can't carry the South. 1) He either plays dumb, or is dumb, on the economic issues. 1) He has co-sponsored many bills which are an anathema for conservatives. 1) He loves being the bi-partisanship candidate--why not just have one party? 1) He likes being a maverick, but Democrats hate their own mavericks, why do they like ours? 1) Because they can beat him come November. 1) He snubs and insults conservatives, and was being considered as Kerry's running mate in 2004. 1) Why should time in prison, even if not your fault, be a resume enhancer? 1) He's supported Ted Kennedy more often than George Bush. 1) He has no business experience. 1) He has no executive office experience. 1) He's climbed aboard the broken, creaky global warming band wagon with the other hate America crowd. 1) In order to become a Republican, he'd need to start flip-flopping right now, something conservatives usually don't like. 1) He needs to raise a lot of money just in order to have grass roots support.

How many ones is that? How many do you need not to support McCain. But work very hard for your local guys you'll be sending to Washington, because Hillary doesn't need a rubber stamp Congress in bed with her and Bill.

Three word Wednesday, 72

Today's words are posted here at 3WW, a site where you can comment and invite others to read your offering, which can be an essay, poem, song, etc. Today's words are

Bridge
Disturbed
Still

Photo by Nea, a disappeared blogger
The Hardin Bridge on a summer day, not disturbed by talk of modern weight limits, stands quietly over the still Etowah River in north Georgia, a monument to a time when life was not so hurried, friends were forever, and passers-by weren't scrambling for more stuff. Best not to linger. Sometimes the river is swollen and angry, and if you look closer, you see the guard rails have been battered by drunk drivers at night unable to stay the course. Pause and you might think you hear voices, young lovers from the Great Depression or a soldier on leave before Korea or Vietnam, and then only silence. Even in the symmetry, you begin to see the irregularities--crooked tree branches building an arch over the steel trusses, wavering shadows, a cluster of leaves across a line that attempted infinity, and clouds breaking up a clear blue sky. Move along. Don't long for the past here.

True Christian Freedom by Samuel Bolton

At one of my other blogs, I posted a year long Puritan reading list challenge. I'm pretty weak in this area, so the only name I recognized was John Bunyun, and I did struggle through Pilgrim's Progress a few years ago, but that wasn't on the list. For your reading pleasure, I'm supposed to be reviewing for my blog One Month to Live; Thirty Days to a No-regrets Life, by Kerry and Chris Shook (Waterbrook Press, a division of Random House, 2008). But frankly, when you've been reading 17th century Puritans, like Samuel Bolton's The True Bounds of Christian Freedom, 21st century Warren-wannabees are pretty thin stuff. Suffice it to say, the 30 day book is boot-strap Christianity, and I don't know a soul who would have the time or patience to complete the daily three "Make it last for life" homework suggestions, or even the "Make it count moments" that precede them.

Day 17

1. "Number a page from one to five, and list five different gifts that you know you possess. Don't be modest [yada yada]. . . This week ask at least 3 close family members or friends to list 5 gifts they see in you. Have them give you their lists. . .compare. . .what's the surprise and why."
2. "In what ways does your current job or career field reflect your passion? If you knew you only had a limited amount of time [yada yada] List the obstacles that prevent you from having your dream job. . . Go over this in prayer with God."
3. "Think through the handful of people who have helped you most in your life. (thinking, thinking, thinking) Now prayerfully consider sharing one of your struggles with someone this week . . ."

Isn't this right out of Willow Creek's Network Guide, which asked for an assessment which you matched with one from three other people? And you had to list your passions? Or am I thinking of What color is your parachute?

Keep in mind, this was just one day--the 17th. This was preceded by several pages of discussing GPS systems, and the Gospel hasn't been leaked yet--not sure the authors get to it. I checked the last few chapters/days and didn't find an explanation of the Gospel. By day 27, it is suggested that if the reader feels a vague, nagging question, sensing her time on earth is running out, she should snap out of her self-focus (which she's just been doing for a month) and start praying for the poor and hurting people on the other side of the world. Would that grab you?

I predict this title (the Willow Creek book says I score high in prophecy and wisdom) will be a very successful--maybe not a best seller like Rick Warren's books, but it has all the elements many church members want--lists, assignments, time frame, God-words, positive pep talks, and anecdotes ranging from construction to leprosy to mountain climbing (which is used as an example of forgiveness rather than the cross).

Time for a new ticker

Not heart surgery, but a new 30 day challenge. I wasn't even close to my 6,000 steps a day (although I think I forgot to update some days), averaging 4600 a day. Now I'm resetting to 7,000. If the weather would settle down, this would get easier. I unclogged a storm drain today which is good for the brakes, but doesn't do much for my pedometer.




It's pretty wet here today, so here's the new ticker.

The high cost of living

or the cost of living high? The middle class isn't disappearing; it isn't endangered. We've been sold a myth.

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Defense spending

A chart in the WSJ today showed that defense spending is at 4% of the GDP. It was above 5% in 1990 according to OMB, then went down to 3% 1999-2001, then rose to 4% 2004-2007 (I'm reading the chart; didn't see the numbers in the article). In Bush's budget predictions it should go up--I'm not sure if that is in spending, or because revenues will be down when the Democrats increase taxes. During the Korean War defense spending was 14% of GDP, and 9.5% during the VietNam War, and 6% during the Reagan years as noted in Bret Stephens article on Declinism. He notes that within a few years of the Reagan military build-up the Soviet Union collapsed. Europe and Japan with virtually no military costs during the same time period entered a period of economic stagnation.

Hand wringing over how Europeans and Asians see us is a politicians' hunt for fools gold, he says. Watch for a new book by Fred Kaplan, another author getting paid for predicting America's decline. They've been quite popular during the Bush administration and will probably drop off if a Democrat is elected, even if nothing changes globally. These declinism books are a bit like the anti-war movies these days. Do they sell--I mean to anyone but public libraries, who love this stuff.

Does anyone who speaks English know what this means?

"Differential access to and ability to use communication technologies creates potentially disenfranchising knowledge gaps."

I'm guessing it means someone at the local level wants federal government money to teach kids to use computers, but only if the kids are poor or minority. What's your guess?

"Distributed Data Curation Center (D2C2) investigates and pursues innovative solutions for curation issues of organizing, facilitating access to, archiving for and preserving research data and data sets in complex environments."

Someone was enamored with the first Star Wars character, R2D2. "Facilitate" is one of the squishiest words in the English language. Very useful--stretches, morphs, expands into total worthlessness. My good spell checker burped at "curation."

"Beginning April 1, 2008, The Frank Gates Companies/Attenta will become Avizent™."

I remember when Lutheran Brotherhood (fraternal insurance company) became Thrivent--a made up name. Acronyms are one thing, like JAMA or OCLC, but "designer names" that sound like pharmaceuticals are just irritating. I would rather do business with a Frank Gates than an Avizent, which sounds like a med for an STD.

I love words, especially in English, and I hate to see them abused and kicked to the curb.

Wine vocabulary;
men and women use different vocabulary;
teen-speak ;
ingredients lists;
Latinized vocabulary
using must, may and might
adverbosity
sheep

First place for tacky radio ad

On my way to the coffee shop about 6:30 a.m. this morning I heard on 1230 am radio the tackiest ad I've ever heard. I'll have to paraphrase since I couldn't stop and write it down:

"If Patty hadn't signed up for Match dot com she wouldn't be brushing her teeth in her bathroom with her boyfriend."

That's beyond bad taste. And speaking of which, it's probably not a good idea to shelve his razor next to your tooth brush, either, but this was the best I could come up with.

Warm, wet and wild

That ought to confuse the spam bots, but it's just a description of our weather today. The golf course is oozing fog as the warm air hits the cold ground, and there's standing water everywhere. I think we have what Illinois had yesterday; then the temps will drop tonight. I only have one more day on my step-challenge, but won't make it, but I will still up it for the next 30 days to 7,000.




A friend in Colorado called Sunday and said he was putting something in the mail that he hoped arrived here by Thursday. Yesterday we got an e-mail stating that their access road had been closed by an avalanche. In the last 3 days they'd received about 3 ft. of snow and he'd been on the roof shoveling, 7'-6" of snow (deepest spot). He says in his county they design for 65lb snow load, and his roof came out to 72 lbs per sq. ft. They have had 33 ft. of snow this winter. Good skiing. But the mail will have to wait.

Church of the Best Buy

Sometimes I arrange my poetry into shapes. My best efforts were a Christmas tree, a tornado, and a side profile of a man's face. So when I see information in an ad arranged to give two messages--one verbal, one graphic, I stop to read it. In yesterday's paper there was a small ad for the Best Buy Scholarship fund. I don't think I own BB stock, but I shop at Best Buy once a year for my son-in-law--it sells "consumer electronics, home-office products, entertainment software, appliances and related services through more than 1,200 retail stores across the United States, throughout Canada and in China." Volunteerism figures prominently at its corporate website. 1500 of the scholarships (non-renewable) are $1,500, but 51 are for $10,000--well worth taking the time to apply.

The ad I saw was all words, but shaped like a human, and it listed all the volunteer activities high school students might be doing which would qualify them for a Best Buy college scholarship. It was really quite clever and well done. Here's the list, and notice #14. (I added the numbers.)

1. Worked at the local food pantry.
2. Mentor
3. Picked up garbage off the freeway
4. Delivered meals on wheels.
5. Tutored a 2nd grader.
6. Walked the neighbor's 2 dogs.
7. Visited residents at a nursing home.
8. Rang the ------ (unreadable) for a total of --??--- hours.
9. Raked leaves for elderly people.
10. Mentor for a 3rd grader,.
11. Mowed the lawn for a handicapped neighbor for the past 4 summers.
12. Shoveled snow for Mrs. Jones.
13. Volunteered at a book drive to raise money for children's literacy.
14. Got a B+ on my chemistry test.
15. Organized a school blood drive,.
16. Basketball coach for 5th grade boys.
17. Read to toddlers at the local bookstore.
18. Children's summer program assistant.
19. Wildlife nursery volunteer.
20. Cooked for homeless teens on the week-end.

The only academic item on this list is a B+ in chemistry, and it is so different than the others, (it was the left arm of the figure), it almost looks like an error. The scholarship does have a grade point requirement, and obviously, the selectors are not looking for a teen who did all of this. In fact, a B+ in chemistry won't get you far in academic competitions--perhaps that's why it was included, to encourage the less than stellar students to apply.

What I like about this list is, 1) specificity, and 2) age appropriateness. They are not asking 15 year olds to go out and organize farm workers, picket abortion clinics, sleep on the streets with the homeless, or build homes for low income people. The list just by appearing in the paper shows that everyone, no matter how young, can do something close to home (and close to a Best Buy store, which is part of the FAQ). Only #20 seems out of place, considering the logistics and exclusivity of the idea (a pizza party with other teens sounds like a better idea to me rather than let-me-help you-feel-inadequate).

I think it is nice that Best Buy is a good corporate citizen, that it helps the communities from which it earns its income, and that its employees have opportunities to volunteer. However, I also believe its first commitment has to be to its real mission, to make money honestly in an ethical manner for its investors, which will in turn be good for its employees, the U.S. economy and the global economy.

This is a good lesson for youth staff of churches--as long as they keep in mind their real mission, which is to preach and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ--his life, death and resurrection--discipling their youth to move out into the community, and not just compiling to-do lists to keep their young, affluent members busy with feel-good projects.

Update on Pinky

I've now added Pinky's photo sent by a member of his family to this entry, which updated this entry. Pinky the pony taught several generations of children how to ride.

Monday Memories--When time ground to a halt

Last week my hairdresser, just making conversation while she made me presentable for another 7 weeks, said, "And what have you been doing lately," an easy question, but time whirls past so quickly I was just speechless (yes, it does happen). Then another friend asked the same question on Friday, and again I had the feeling I'd just stepped out of a hurricane--not because I'm busy (I'm never busy), but because time just seems to go by with storm speed. And when it doesn't, it's not a good sign.

You've probably all experienced a moment, minute, hour when time, instead of rushing by, seemed to slow down, or even move backwards. Maybe it was a fall from a ladder that seemed to last forever, as the ankle turns and the fingers slip and you go down, down, down; or you're in the hospital at mother's final illness, and every breath seemed an hour; or your husband / lover / boyfriend tells you over a cup of coffee in the kitchen that he has fallen in love with someone else and all you can process is the stain the cup makes on the placemat because you don't want to know the next minute and what he will say.

And that's all the further I got with this memory of my daughter's auto accident in 1988. I could feel that icky, sticky feeling in my throat and the beginnings of A-fib, and decided, it wasn't worth a blog. So, you can fill in the blanks here with your own time-slowing-down-story. Everybody has one.

Change--is it just a campaign phrase?

I wonder if this is what Obama means. That a Clinton might tell the truth.

Concerning her records buried in the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, which opened in 2004: At the time, Mrs. Clinton promised that "everything's going to be available." More than three years later, the library that is partly funded by taxpayers has released less than 1% of its records, and the withheld documents include two million pages covering Mrs. Clinton's White House tenure. As usual with the Clintons, they've managed to make the controversy seem so complicated that everyone has lost interest. If she's got all this experience, shouldn't we know what it was? Story here

If it weren't so serious, it would be funny

I was reading through comments left at my church blog written over 3 years ago. I was describing dehydration and starvation as a medical treatment--and it wasn't about Terri, but about an elderly man I knew, whose daughters were trying to go around the stepmother's wishes. My list for his end of life included:

· Dry mucous membranes (mouth, nose throat and genital organs)
· Constipation
· Impaction (buildup of stool in the body), severe abdominal cramping and bloating, nausea and vomiting
· Electrolyte imbalances (salt and water problems in the blood and tissues)
· Arrhythmias (heart problems); myalgias and malaise (muscle pain and marked fatigue)
· Cough and shortness of breath
· Severe depression and confusion, severe agitation and fear, delusions
· Dry, cracked skin
· Urinary, vaginal and bowel infection
· Bronchitis and pneumonia
· Blood in the bowel, stomach, kidney and lungs, kidney failure
· General systemic collapse and death

Three comments were left, either by spam bots or real people with bad English who surf the internet with key words. 1) If you suffer these symptoms . . ., 2) I have the pleasure of visiting your site. . .contact______for medical services, 3) You may want to read about obesity. . .

The irony of a spammer or bot trying to help when the wife and staff were colluding to kill him.

Now in your 65th year

In your 65th year
by Norma Bruce

Do your shoes squeak
and your knees creak?
Does your nose run
when you’re having fun?
Do your chin hairs
appear in flares
of righteous self pity
and poetry so witty?

Does your inner self
demand more wealth?
Do your feet hurt
and the tomato squirt?
Does it all hang out
so you want to shout
Enough’s enough
Life’s getting tough?

Does the sky look bluer
and your last love truer?
Do little snacks matter
and make you fatter?
Do you know it all
right before the fall?
Calm all those fears
Welcome to your “Golden Years.”

DSpace and institutional repositories

If you aren't a librarian, archivist or pinhead, you won't care, but there's an article in the latest D-Lib magazine on Carrots and Sticks. When I first stumbled into an institutional repository (probably Ohio State's) I began specifically looking for them. As a former cataloger, I would give them a D- in access. Miss Oldfather and Miss Dean would have rapped my knuckles. If it weren't for Google, they'd be worthless. I don't care what they do in Portugal or Pennsylvania to market these to their faculty, staff and students, they are one more black hole of information that needed a good librarian to design and run it, but which looks like it was turned over to the campus IT department instead. They are the 21st century equivalent of the mid-20th century closed stacks, using the Katrina method of shelf arrangement.

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From my Birds of a Feather archives

"Am I the only one who notices that the same folks who think we pea-brains control the climate are the same ones who thought it was OK to remove food and water from a woman who wasn't sick or dying, just helpless and dependent, and let her starve and dehydrate? Or that it is OK to kill babies because they come at an inconvenient time or have defects and anomalies? Or that it is OK to use human embryos to get grant money for research as long as it is for a worthy cause? Or that it is OK to deprive 3rd world peoples of DDT so that millions of them die, but the bird eggs will be strong? There seems to be a god complex infecting the liberals. And the humility vaccine seems to be in short supply." From March 23, 2007

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New Notebook Time

There just wasn't enough time, space or pixels for everything in the last one. So here's what I didn't write about.

Deaths of journalists--I had noted particularly Mexico and Africa

Role disability--53.4% of us according to Archives of General Psychiatry

What the Constitution says about the religion of candidates

What Anabaptists say about Doctrine of Justification

November consumer spending rising fastest in 3.5 years

Americans aren't saving enough--GAO

Schwarzenegger's $14 billion health care plan

Public housing solutions in architecture journals--40 years of reading this

Social worker jargon for staff workshops

Should churches and religious groups be paying real estate taxes

Consumer changes 2005-2007

AMT, Bush tax cuts

Recipe for Chicken Merlot

13 fudge factor phrases (I'll probably still use this for a TT)

Free genealogy sites on the web

My "new" first issue (1895)

"If you're not hungry several times a day, you're eating too much."

New strain of MRSA in MSM

"Overcoming the worry gene" was most e-mailed WSJ story

Abortion front page story in Dispatch--word choices of reporters show hostility to pro-life supporters and advocates

The 2001 rebates

Lithuanian Jews "The Unknown Black Book"

Black 17 year old, accepted at 6 colleges, comments on Obama are really strange

How will your candidate handle Jihadism?

Posting calorie counts in restaurants

Stomach banding also cures diabetes - better than lifestyle changes - JAMA

Edwards' rich-poor gap a lie - Thomas Sowell

Freddie Mac swindles Ohio pension system

When half as much is twice as good

Top 1% of income earners paid 39.58% of all income taxes in 2005

Do not smoke or drink during Super Bowl--health risk

Notebook by Colorbök, Inc. 2716 Baker Road, Dexter, MI 48130, made in China, of course. Each page has narrow lines, and either the pinto (verso) or the sorrel (facing) with head turned. I also bought earlier a small nesting box with four horses in this design which includes a butterscotch/palamino color horse.

Who's behind the push pull into a recession?

I used to think it was media--but they only read what they're sent; then I thought maybe it was the Democrats since they've been moaning about the economy for seven years in order to get elected (remember 2004?); but lately I've been thinking it's the get-rich-quick guys, who rush in for the bargains when everyone else gets weak kneed. Reading the January results in today's paper

The Dow is still off just 0.2% from a year ago

Employment grew in January by 75,000

Unemployment is 4.9%

The average fixed rate 30 year loan was at 5.68%. Wasn't it about twice that in the Carter years?

January projections for subprime losses were double digit, but actual losses on 2006 subprime loans are slightly above 1%

The Dow had its worst January since. . . January 2000 (Clinton, if I recall)

Follow the (guys hoping to make) money.

Extending unemployment benefits

A look at the history. They are usually extended far beyond the original plan, some for years, having the effect of "permanent" jobless benefits.

Crappy White Trash Stuff

Placemats with Lionel Barrymore's artwork. It's an interesting way to sell on e-Bay. I followed the link from Books Found who sells on line. You've got to admit, she's got a way with words. I don't read e-bayese, so I don't know if they sold. Nice touch--I think we had carpeting in that green color.

Because the placemat potential is trashed by the fact that some stupid guy in some placemat marketing department who came up with the idea of these placemats ruined the whole thing by printing them on panic-level ugly green backings and then, if it was possible to screw them up more than that, he thought it would be clever to laminate them with apparently the cheapest worst quality laminate he could find in the 1960s.

Retro-Soviet art

When visiting the former Soviet Union, specifically St. Petersburg (aka Leningrad, Petrograd), "if you are really interested in art and have limited time, I'd go for the Museum of Russian Art, Государственный Русский музей. The Hermitage is European art, but the other is Russian art, and much of it you've probably never seen, not even in art books or classes. There was a huge display of Soviet era art [summer of 2006], both the public and the underground." Me blogging about Russia. Neo-Neocon thinks this Obama poster is retro-Soviet; some of her readers say it is Che-lite, others Yugoslav partisan. It makes me nostalgic for my early career years in Soviet studies, shuffling the PL480 novels about machine-tractor station romances and 5-year plans.

"Art has a duty to speak out fiercely and courageously against oppression, exploitation, lies and hypocrisy in all their manifestations. It must point to the possibility of a better life and a better world. It matters not that the message lacks clarity, that it is incomplete and imperfect, and that it deals only with this or that particular. Art is not politics or science. It has its own identity and speaks with its own voice. While adopting a passionate stance on the great issues facing humanity, it must ever remain true to itself." In defence of Marxism.

Oh yeah! Slogans and Shibboleth. I'm picking up my poster right now to go march in the streets.

What's in your kitchen?

This was written in April 2006 when I was commenting at another blog, that kitchens encourage us to over eat, by design. I noted all the stuff that wasn't food in my kitchen, but which keeps you in there--eating.

What is in your kitchen and kitchen cabinets that has nothing to do with your eating or food preparation and storage? Here's my list:

small TV (never on during meal time)
radio/cd player
car keys
stash for charge card receipts
basket for mail
cat's food and water bowl
junk drawer for candles, pencils, addresses, stamps, calendar etc.
telephone
notepad
reminders of appointments
artwork
magazines
cleaning supplies
kleenex
flower vases
several games
seasonal decor as needed
medications
flashlight

Looking around today, I could add

prayer job jar
cell phone
calendar
recent letter
grocery circular
candles and matches on the counter (storm warnings)
hand lotion and alcohol wash
bag of garbage (too cold to take it out last night)
greeting card to be sent
invitation to a party
church newsletter
husband's sunglasses
cat's medication

Looks like it is time to tidy. The only thing from the first list moved out is the cd player.

Thursday Thirteen--13 discussion starters

In the margins of my Serendipity Bible for Groups (4th ed. NIV) there are "warm up" questions of a personal nature to get members of a small group talking. Most are non-threatening and deal with childhood, the thinking being I suppose that the members stay off the topic of co-workers or current relationships. I'm not fond of "ice-breakers," but I've enjoyed looking through these and thinking about them. Here are 13 from the margins of Romans in the New Testament. Can you pick one to answer?

1) When you write a letter are you more likely to write until you run out of paper, or keep it short and to the point? They got me on this one. I definitely use up the paper, even if I have to add an afterthought. Then I'll write in the margins to keep from using another sheet, because I'd have to fill it!

2) When you were growing up, what chores were you expected to do around the house? Dishes--rotated with my two sisters, and lawn mowing--and my brother was in on that rotation.

3) What is the biggest scam or junk mail offer you have fallen for? It was either the life-time free ink cartridges or the 15 sex crazed 3-legged mountain climbers. Just kidding.

4) In your family, who tried to keep the peace? Mom or Dad? Mom.

5) Who do you take after in your temperament, your mother or your father? Father.

6) What about abilities, like music or art? Most likely my mother, but for those we'd probably go back to grandma.

7) What is the closest you have come to losing your life? I almost drowned as a child, and another girl who really didn't swim well saved me.

8) In your first real job, was your boss easy to work for or a slave driver? Not easy, but then who would be with a bunch of teens? I see it differently today.

9) What New Year's resolution have you made only to have it fizzle? Could I just list the one or two I've ever kept?

10) What signs of aging or weathering are you starting to feel in your bones? Ah, let me count. How much time do you have?

11) What was one thing about which your folks used to say, "Wait 'til you're older, you'll understand then?" I can't remember this specific phrase, but it undergirded every lecture from my mom I heard (and ignored). The woman had advice on absolutely everything--the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

12) When you were a child, what did you do to earn your allowance? At least when I was little, my allowance wasn't tied to anything. Family chores were not connected to money, just expectations and maturity level. As a teen-ager, the allowance was supposed to cover my clothes (except shoes and coats).

13) Describe briefly your first best friend. Are you still in touch? Smart and sort of goofy, but deep thinker, even then. Yes, we're still in touch.

Dear IRS

I hardly ever buy a T-shirt with text, but this is tax time and I thought this one for the Internal Revenue Service was cute: "Dear IRS: I would like to cancel my subscription. Please remove my name from your mailing."

On or before the first Monday in February, the President of the United States is required to submit to the Congress a budget proposal for the following fiscal year, beginning in October. The Congress reviews it and makes changes, setting its own priorities. In fiscal year 2006 (Oct. 1, 2005 - Sept. 30, 2006) here's what they did with $2.655 trillion (income of $2.407 trillion, deficit of $.248 trillion).

1. Social security, Medicare and other retirement took 36% of the income.

2. Social programs like Medicaid, food stamps, needy families, health research, public health, unemployment compensation, assisted housing and social services got 13%.

3. Physical, human and community development--agriculture, national resources, environment, education, commerce, energy, community development, science, etc. got 12%.

4. National defense, veterans and foreign affairs takes about 23%, most of that for the war on terrorism, or 19% of the government's income, and the rest for veterans, economic assistance to foreign countries, and embassies abroad.

5. Interest on the debt eats up about 8%.

6. Law enforcement and general government gets 2%.

The above percentages are from p. 33 of the 1040EZ booklet, which despite 35 pages, contains no forms. The government figures you will use 26.4 hours ($207 average) to do your taxes--most of that in preparation and gathering information. (p. 32)

Most of the taxes in the United States are paid by the wealthiest income earners--the people in the top quintile. Many people at the bottom receive from the government, they don't pay the government--except gasoline taxes, cigarette and other sin taxes, but those are called "miscellaneous," not income taxes. (This is not true at the local and state levels because even the poor pay real estate taxes, sales taxes, etc.--often far beyond a reasonable percentage of their income). Ohio doesn't charge sales tax on food, but many states do. Now, I've never been in the top group, but for awhile in the 80s and 90s, when we were "DINKS" double income no kids, we did make it to the 4th. Now, being retirees, we're back in the bottom quintile like when we were first married. Income, however, does not mean assets, so therefore, many retirees are very well off because we're in good health, saved when we were younger, sheltered some of our income when we worked, inherited from our parents, or just had good luck.

At my age, true wealth is figured in how healthy you are, your relationship with God, and what is the status and proximity of your social and family network.

Dana Jacobson

If she'd been this insulting to blacks as she was to Catholics, her bosses wouldn't be excusing her for being drunk. She would have been fired. People who customarily drink too much should always bring along duct tape to public functions as well as a driver. And why didn't the people at her table or in her party just take her home? Women get drunk on less alcohol than men, BAC chart.

“My actions at the roast were inappropriate and in no way represent who I really am,” she said. “I have personally apologized to many of the people involved. I won’t make excuses for my behavior but do hope that I can be forgiven for such a poor lack of judgment.” MSNBC

You are forgiven. Now get help.

When I'm 64

We're going to a "When I'm 64" party this week-end (Beatles song) for a married couple who are both turning 64 in the same week. Maybe eventually, insurance companies will be insuring your children under your policy to 64. Jim Raussen-R, Springdale, has launched HB 456 to cut Ohio's uninsured population--insurance companies will need to include "children" up to age 29 on family policies.

When I was 29, I had a master's degree, 2 children, had owned 3 houses and rented several apartments, had owned several cars, and paid my parents back for college loans. My health care was pay as you go. What parent insures a child through age 29, and why stop there? Why not 64? There are families who will always need to protect fragile members, but I think we already pay into social security and medicaid for that. This is one more income transfer from the low income worker to the higher income worker.

With Republicans like Mr. Raussen, who needs Democrats? Ohio faces a budget shortfall of $1.9 billion, and the "starting point" health care legislation he's proposing (it contains lots of other goodies) is estimated at $150-$500 million but who's counting? We know it will be much, much higher.

Entrepreneurship

Next to diphtheria and ophthalmology, I think entrepreneurship is one of our most frequently misspelled words--I misspelled it about 5 times drafting this. Now this book will shatter a lot of myths, "The illusions of entrepreneurship," (by Scott Shane, Yale University Press). Reviewed in today's WSJ by Nick Schulz. My take aways (not quotes):

In the U.S. each year more people start a business than get married or have children.

A typical U.S. entrepreneur is a married white male in his 40s who attended but didn't complete college, and he lives in a city like DesMoines or Tampa, not in California or Michigan (where they chase people out with high taxes and regulations).

The richer the country, the lower its rate of business starts.

Entrepreneurs earn less than those who work for established businesses.

Encouragement by the government to go in to business through the use of protectionist subsidies and tax breaks actually encourages people to enter highly competitive fields, making them more likely to fail.

The surrogate mother

I'm baffled that either feminists or Clintonians are happy with Hillary hatching Bill's third term. He just gets more bizarre and brazen the longer he's on the campaign trail. It happens with real babies and real people, it can happen to plastic people candidates who run as a team for the same office. Sometimes the surrogate says, "I did all the work and had all the pain, now it's my baby." These are not nice, let's-play-fair people. People die. Careers are shattered. Women are violated. The battle of the sexes and ex-es has been the story of their marriage and careers. Let's not put them back in the White House.

CNET and the new media

Years before I'd heard of WWW, hypertext protocol, and linking (just struggling to ftp and code some e-mail), I subscribed to CNET at work. I can't remember when I stopped reading it or looking for comfort there in an IT world fast spinning out of my control. And I'd never heard of blogging before 2003 and now I'm in my fifth year with eleven blogs. But, you don't see any ads here, do you? Or winky, blinky, noisy things. No, I'm no threat to CNET. But Kevin Delaney of WSJ yesterday wrote about CNET's competition--and blogs are a part of that. Blogs and their ads. When I subscribed in the early 90s I think CNET was about pretty serious stuff, but it has moved on (without my help or support) to gaming, entertainment, and news (I'm not denigrating the billions invested, but for me it's the same appeal as viaticals). I get a tech/business combo with cheese now and sometimes dump it before I read it. Delaney writes

"The investor battle raging over the iconic Internet media company offers an object lesson in how high-tech Web firms that miss a beat can be vulnerable to succeeding waves of Internet technology. With the Web in its second decade as a popular consumer medium, some well-known companies that arose in its first decade, like CNET and Yahoo Inc., now face heightened competition. . . As tech blogs proliferated, CNET's News.com and ZDNet tech sites lost 27% and 4%, respectively, of their U.S. readers over the past year, according to comScore Inc."

It has sold off some underperformers and does have its own blog now (crave.cnet.com) but I don't think I've ever stumbled into it (which is how I get to most technology blogs). Delaney will explain how this working for investors.

Three word Wednesday

Each week Bone posts three words and writers choose to use them in an essay, poem, story. Words you use every day, but perhaps not together. Then you leave a comment at the 3WW site letting people know they should visit your blog. This week's list for January 30 is

Approach
Bottle
Smooth

The approach

Pour the truth of the moment
from a bottle of pragmatism,
or smooth this rough patch
with comfort words?

The approach is obvious.
No one’s been maimed and broken
to die along the roadside
by a bottle unopened.

I asked the same question

when we were in Russia in 2006. Where did all these gorgeous Russian women come from? Now we know. It's market forces.

Poverty and crime

We used to visit prisoners in the honor dorm of the Ohio State Penitentiary as part of a church program. Somewhere we have this album--we were probably there the night it was recorded. In fact, one career criminal with whom we developed a relationship we visited in 3 or 4 different facilities. I remember a charming, handsome young man in his mid-20s--Jack, I think--who told me he was there on his first offense. Before I could shake my head at the cruelty of the system (because O.P. was indeed an awful place with a reputation of terror and abuse), he chuckled and assured me it was just his first conviction. He had been leading a financially successful life of crime since before his teen years, and when business was bad, he pimped for his wife. She didn't visit, so he was always happy to see the "church ladies."

There's a very disturbing article in today's (Jan. 29) USAToday about the pattern of crime and incarceration that runs in some families. At least I hope it is disturbing to journalists, social workers, and politicians who seem to track all of society's problems to poverty and not sin. The article leads with a pathetic story of three brothers, all in jail, all abused by their violent father and abandoned by their mother. But the final disturbing truth is buried at the end. There was a study done in Boston in a crime plagued neighborhood of 19,000 that showed 457 of the residents were responsible for 12,000 "law enforcement contacts" (i.e., crime). Some crime families were 5 generations deep. If poverty were the cause or major contributing agent, what miracle happened to the other 18,500 residents who don't commit crimes? Indeed, I often think the media regularly insult poor people by predicting horrendous outcomes based on their financial condition, when in fact, the crimes of upper classes are the ones most likely linked to their financial sins--greed, avarice, risk, gambling, and envy.

Update: Maybe I should go look for that album. I think we probably sold it in a yard sale or gave it away.
Update 2: Found it. Still shrink wrapped. Autographed by all the band members. I started to check a few names. At least one still in the system in 2001. Think I'll have my son put it on e-bay; if I haven't listened to it in 36 years, I probably won't start now. I think it was pressed in 1972, at least that's when I bought it.

Vivian and Johnny Cash

Today I had a stack of books and CDs to return to the library, so I was browsing the new book shelf and came across the memoir of Johnny Cash's first wife, Vivian. I'm not much of a Cash fan or even a celebrity hound, but I love to look at the old photos, and I could see the book was full of them. I took it to a lounge chair and read most of the text that wasn't photocopies of the letters (I think I read at another site that they had written about 10,000 pages--a regular John and Abigail Adams, they were) or photographs. After (or during) his drug problem and affair with and later marriage to June Carter, Vivian pretty much retires from public view and leads a quiet life with her second husband. I think they were married 12 years and had four daughters. But June died before John, so Vivian and John sort of make up and they agree (according to her) that she should write "their" story. If you've known any of these "I had nothing to do with the divorce" second marriages, you'll probably believe Vivian.

But what makes this interesting is a few lines in the book about "Ring of Fire," which she says was written by Johnny while they were still married, and that he told Vivian he planned to give June (just a friend and performer) one-half the credit because she needed the money. He also told her it is about a woman's vagina. Based on the memoir, the story about who wrote it was tracked to witnesses (it was written on a fishing trip), and apparently now there is a law suit by his four daughters (and maybe by Vivian's second husband, since some of the millions would have been hers). It wouldn't be the first time good old dad neglected the children of wife number one when it came to the estate, but in this case it involves millions in royalties, and his son by Carter has control of that.

Again, I have no dog in this fight, I'm not a fan. However, based on the fact that Vivian stayed completely quiet and out of his life all those 40 years when she could have made things really difficult for the famous pair, I'd go with her story. Vivian died before the book was published last fall.

Good economic news

if you're a landlord. But doesn't this sound just a bit . . . greedy? Opportunities exist. . .

Apartment builders and operators are preparing for a busy year. Approximately $216 billion in subprime and Alt-A mortgages will reset for the first time this year, which could ultimately push 3 percent of all outstanding mortgage debt into default. As a result, a large number of households will return to the renter pool throughout 2008. To compensate, builders are expected to expand existing apartment inventory by 1.1 percent, or more than 100,000 new market-rate units. Apartment developers are concentrating much of their efforts in metropolitan areas with above-average job and population growth; however, opportunities exist across all regions of the nation. Buildings, Annual Industry Forecast, 2008.

The economy is fine, really

says Brian Wesbury in today's WSJ. I went back and checked his other articles during various gloom and doom (usually media driven) periods in the last seven years. He's always been right--let's hope he is this time.

There's a lot of squabbling about the stimulus package, and I really doubt we can or should spend ourselves out of this problem. Each party wants to look like a savior and is afraid to look like the bad guy. The Democrats aren't the liberals they say they are (if they really cared about the weakest and smallest they'd be pro-life) and the Republicans aren't the conservatives they claim to be during election years. If they were, they wouldn't always be looking to the government to be the sugar daddy of big business, farmers and the military.

So why not take a look at what an economist says? He says the $100 billion loss on subprime loans represents 0.1% of the $100 trillion in combined assets of all U.S. households and U.S. non-farm non-financial corporations. Feel better? Exports on the other hand are 12% and growing at a 13.6% rate.

He says that the Great Depression deepened when Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt tried to fix the economy. President Hoover's tax hikes in 1932, and FDRs anti-capitalist government activity (remember all the alphabet soup of government programs you had to learn in American history class?) killed the American economy and drove unemployment to 20%. We know the Democrats plan to raise taxes--the worst thing they could do; then they'll add all sorts of new programs and regulations. This is not the way to go.

Read the article. You'll sleep better tonight--unless you plan to vote Democratic.

4578

Bush's Legacy

From 2002-2004 the median net worth of Americans rose 25.8% nationwide, doubling for minorities, but net worth jumped 76.7% for women. (CFED report) Not only did President Bush free the women of Afghanistan and Iraq, he was good for American women. The subprime mess has changed many of those figures, I'm sure, since they included real estate assets. Many low income people were encouraged to buy into "the American dream," when they would have been better off renting. Still, many didn't lose anything because they didn't build equity--but the damage to their neighbors is awful, and that will show in the next report--perhaps for many years. Because of the housing slump and home values, you'll be hearing a steady drum beat from the candidates about the fragility of the poor and the awful Bush years. (Although we heard it in 2004 until the day after the election.)

In 1997 the federal government started a big program with three mandated summits to insure that Americans start saving more for retirement. The boomers are starting to retire, and if they didn't do anything proactive 25 or 30 years ago, I'm not sure even a government summit will help. We all know what happened to Bush's plan to save Social Security--not even Republicans supported him, joining with Democrats to make sure nothing got privatized.

[From the 2002 SAVERS Summit] 90% of people over 65 receive Social Security, and it is 38% of their income; 41% have retirement plans which are 18% of their income. That leaves a lot dependent on savings and investments, and 59% of seniors have that. Another 22% of over 65 year olds are still in the labor force.

Americans United for Change, a liberal lobbyist group (change seems to be the word of the moment) plans a year long campaign ($8.5 million) to besmirch Bush's record so he can leave office without claiming a legacy. Story. Since Clinton couldn't earn one (he's trying again), Bush's has to be taken away. Everything's about the gap and envy, isn't it? They are raising funds to do this. Even if I hated Bush, I think I'd want my money to go into something a bit more productive. But then, I'm not a rich Democrat.

4577

How can I tell?

A customer satisfaction questionnaire that pops up before I've been able to read anything is a bit off putting. For instance:

"Thank you for visiting US Census Bureau

You have been selected to take part in a customer satisfaction survey. This survey is conducted by an independent company.

The feedback obtained from this survey will help us to enhance our website. All results are strictly confidential."

I was visiting the U.S. Census Bureau site for mining, manufacturing and construction statistics. I selected a newsletter that I thought looked interesting. No longer published. So I moved on to a pollution abatement survey that hadn't been updated in 18 months. Then I looked at a 2003 Remodeling Data Research report that said it was published every 2 years, but I didn't see any for 2005 or 2007, and the report said the data for 2000/2001 wasn't correct and there would be information reissued in 2004. Didn't see it.

Our tax dollars at work. I'll pass on taking the survey until I find something to read.

Is Juno really a comedy?

The first thing that isn't funny is the cost of Saturday matinee tickets at the Lennox--$7.00--and a small bag of popcorn, $4.50. If the theatre weren't 5 minutes from our house, I'd add travel costs and call it a $20.00 date. And then there's the movie. Not funny, folks. If this is what Canada and the Academy call a comedy, I'd hate to sit through a tragedy. The cast, however, is outstanding as is the writing (Amazon.com says Cody is a former phone sex operater--is that a joke?), directing, the setting, and the graphics. Music not so much.

Spoiler coming, from a member of the Triad, so don't look if you want to be surprised. The plot is about a nerdy, smart-mouth, cursing/cussing teen who gets pregnant by seducing her best friend, a blank faced guy in her band. The sex act isn't explicit, but you certainly get the idea. We see mostly his skinny legs and his love-sick, droopy eyes because he runs track during all seasons and really loves Juno, who never lets him in on a single decision she's making about their baby. The fact that it involved a lounge chair (which she dumps in his front yard when she tells him) is a joke that must appeal to the young. I heard loud guffaws. Same with the toilet scene pregnancy test. I didn't even smile.

Juno and her best (girl) friend first pick out an abortion clinic, which fortunately she rejects while in the waiting room with really obnoxious people, and then together they find an adoptive couple in a fish-wrapper newspaper. This is why the reviewers call her whip-smart and "mature." Again, it didn't impress me.

Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner are outstanding as the mismatched adoptive couple Juno finds in an ad--he hungering for freedom and her longing for a baby. Their part of the story line is also the saddest, in my opinion. Juno will go on with her life (we hope), but that mommy will be raising a baby alone. As far as maturity goes, Juno is way more mature than the father she has picked, who initially she likes more than the would-be mother because they can talk about alternative music (I don't know the genre--what would "Moldy Peaches" be?). Are you beginning to grasp what mature means in today's films?

The one, true, "real" mother in this movie is Juno's step-mother, Brenda. Juno's own mother abandoned her years ago--part of her motivation to find a true family for her baby. The scenes between step-mom and daughter are just delightful. I really did laugh in the scene of the ultrasound, where Bren tells off the tech. Dad (J.K. Simmons) is OK--good lines, but he's about as casual as he is on "The Closer." Always seems to be playing himself.

Would I see it again? Yes. I'd like to catch some of the lines I didn't hear during the inappropriate laughing because people think it is so hilarious when a tiny 16 year old pregnant girl swears like a Marine.

Who is anti-women and children

A commenter said I hated women because I pointed out the obvious about women and poverty in my recent post about Clinton and Schwarzenegger's WSJ article on payday loans. Male heads of household have about twice the household income as female heads of household, and the biggest reason isn't the economy, or gender bias, or President Bush. It's the marriage gap. Women who didn't marry the father of their children are a large part of that gap. Divorce, for what ever reason, down the road hurts women economically more, too. You can just about track from the early 1970s the women's movement rise as marriage was denigrated and the corresponding financial slump for children--although I can't actually point to such a graph. I'm sure a pro-life, pro-marriage site has one (and my commenter, a Democrat, would find something wrong with that, too). But if that makes me anti-female, I guess that means the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth hates women too. For sure, it's not impossible for a child to climb out of the mess her parents created, but 56.7% of your life below the poverty line probably isn't fun. Opening more banks so mama can get a "real" loan at a lower percentage rate and a credit card probably isn't going to change a single child's life.

Are you really ready to podcast?

Every time I hear the voice of Bob Connors, John Corby, (610 am) or my son, I am reminded that not everyone has a voice for radio. These men are magnificent--a pleasure to the ear (yes, ladies, I'm still taking applications for a daughter-in-law). Now with so many experts, journalists and bloggers going to podcasts I have at least two problems. Oral/aural comprehension is my disability. While my brain is sifting through your prepositional phrases pondering how they fit with the subject and predicate, you have moved on a few paragraphs. But also, it's your voice. Mumbly. Nasal. Slurred. Muffled. Too high. Too low. Ticks of speech. Inappropriate laughs. Microphone noises.

I tried to leave this comment for a woman blogger who was interviewed at a podcast, but her spam filter screened me out, I think. At least it asked several times for the secret code, and I never did see a message that reported success. So here it is, and it's for all you folks who would be shown the door if you applied to do voice-overs.

I listened to the first few minutes. I much prefer to read information, but do occasionally click to a podcast. I have a suggestion that will make this easier for listeners. I'm not sure when it started (1980s?), but the habit of speakers and lecturers raising the voice at the end of a sentence or phrase as though it had a question mark, is so difficult for the listener. That's our cue for "question?" Perhaps a little practice with play back could fix that. Women seem to do it more than men, and I suspect it began as an attempt to sound more tenuous, less threatening and not so assertive as women moved into positions of power and management. Now, it's just a habit.

Ylvis lives!

This morning I was reading hymns for my morning devotions, using the 1995 "With One Voice" by Augsburg-Fortress. Our congregation (ELCA) doesn't use it, although some of the newer hymns do appear from time to time on the screen, and I can see from lightly written pencil marks (I used the church library copy), that a musician has used this copy. I came across one of my absolutely most favorites, "I was there to hear your borning cry," which is sometimes used at baptisms, sometimes funerals. It brings tears to my eyes each time I hear it, therefore I had no idea is was "new," with a copyright date of 1985. Believe me, in hymnbooks, that's new.

It's against copyright to jot down all the verses (there are only 3), but it's about God's love at all stages of life--birth, baptism, confirmation, wandering away from the faith as a young person, coming back in mid-life, and finally,

"When the evening gently closes in
and you shut your weary eyes,
I'll be there as I have always been
with just one more surprise."

REFRAIN

"I was there to hear your borning cry,
I'll be there when you are old.
I' rejoiced the day you were baptized,
to see your life unfold."

In other words, this hymn is about me! And maybe you. So I googled the author (text and music) and found all this stunning information about John Ylvisaker (pronounced like Elvis) an accomplished Lutheran musician, hymnist and writer about my age. Here's the story of how this hymn was "birthed." I also discovered websites that discuss vintage Jesus vinyl of all things (see Heavenly Grooves), and a lovely journal from Luther Seminary (St. Paul), Word & World, which I've linked to on the left. I've printed off to read at the coffee shop today, "Imaginative use of the arts; music and audio: 10 steps toward responsible innovation," (5/3 1985) and "Which way are you leaning?" (12/3 1992).

God is alive and on the Internet, battling the forces of evil, as he has been doing for eons.

Park and walk

As researchers looked for the cause of the growing obesity epidemic, maybe they should just look at the obvious. Park your car as far away from the door as possible, and walk. Take the stairs. Get up to change channels. Be less efficient in running your errands, even inside the house.

"Consumers who pick up their prescription medications at a pharmacy drive-through window might be jeopardizing their own safety in the name of convenience. A new OSU study indicates that pharmacists who work at locations with drive-through windows believe the extra distractions associated with window service contribute to processing delays, reduced efficiency and even dispensing errors. The study suggests pharmacy design should emphasize minimal workflow interruptions but it also offers a caution to consumers to check their prescription medications, especially those obtained from a pharmacy’s drive-through window, said Sheryl Szeinbach, the study’s lead author and a professor of pharmacy practice and administration at Ohio State."

From OSU Research.

Do you need a pet sitter

in the northwest Columbus, Upper Arlington or Grandview area (Henderson Road to Goodale)? Actually, this gal will run with your big ol' dog! She's very athletic. I saw her notice on a bulletin board at church and called. Turns out we know her, which makes me glad, because now I can recommend her to you, since she has worked for us (in another capacity--we don't have a dog). She's a member of Central Ohio Professional Pet Sitters and the Pet Sitters International. She'll watch your pet when you're on vacation, or if you need someone to come in while you're at work. Call 614-378-6706 for more information or to negotiate a time and place for her to meet your little sweety. She can water (or talk to) your plants and take in your mail too. As much as I enjoy having a pet, what to do when we're out of town is always a problem, so we depend on family and friends. But maybe that doesn't work for you. Check her out! A great gal.

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Pay day loans--more guilt from the rich

“The American dream is founded on the belief that people who work hard and play by the rules will be able to earn a good living, raise a family in comfort and retire with dignity.”

How many times have you seen a version of this? The latest was January 24, and the authors were Bill Clinton (a very rich man demanding thousands for his personal appearances who struggled to the top from nothing) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (also extremely rich who came to this country from Austria, also with nothing, and who married a Kennedy).

President Clinton's dream: play hard, hardly work, don’t follow rules for a good life--or any rules, don’t support my idea of what constitutes a family, live way above the level I would define as comfortable, and refuse to retire with dignity, running around trying for a 3rd term, embarrassing the country and his wife. President Clinton lives a different dream, and tries to pass it off as ours; but it's certainly our nightmare.

Now Clinton and the Governor of California think short term loans are THE problem for the poor. Lack of access to some things we middle class take for granted may be a problem for some--but the poor also don't use the interstates, suburban libraries, private jets or farm subsidies. That's not why they are poor (women who don't marry the father of their children are a major cause of poverty in the USA) and these quick-serve loans serve many outside Clinton's target. There is no shortage of BMWs, Mercedes and Cadillacs in front of pawn shops and loan stores. Some people do not use bank services for very pragmatic, personal reasons--hiding assets, living on the edge, gambling debts and bad money management, to name just a few. There is also no shortage of private and government agencies already set up to assist the poor who want to break out of this bind (see CFED, for example, which has a 25 year record).

A socialist/progressive’s version of the American dream includes the above, but inserts a phrase about the gap between groups and leveling differences. We have a marriage gap, not an income gap. Male heads of household have net assets of $82,400 compared to a woman head of household's $48,500. Hello! He's married; she isn't. If liberals really care about poor children, they would encourage marriage.

No article on poverty these days talks about housing, food or automobiles because the American poor have those--it’s only about inequality, the gap between classes. We import poor to use our services. They are called illegal immigrants. Then the Conservatives say the American dream has died because government regulations, taxes and labor unions have destroyed initiative, steal from the people who work hard, and ship jobs overseas.

The term “American dream,“ first appeared in a book written (according to Wikipedia) by James Truslow Adams entitled The Epic of America (1931).

"If, as I have said, the things already listed were all we had to contribute, America would have made no distinctive and unique gift to mankind. But there has been also the American dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement." [p. 404]

Martin Luther King, Jr. said the substance of the American dream could be found in the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by God, Creator, with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." Today's liberals think that Happiness is the right. That "no gap" is the right. MLK said “The American dream reminds us that every man is an heir of the legacy of dignity and worth.” It’s a long way from Adam’s and King’s dream to a poor man’s store front payday loans and an even longer road from that to a foundation being set up to shelter a rich man's money.

Clinton’s article says poor working people are paying $40 to payday lenders and pawn shops to cash their checks. He wants to put a stop to this by opening up more banking opportunities (with money from his foundation). Wasn't it about 3 years ago that all the social, economic and political wisdom colluded to encourage poor people, including immigrants with false documents, to buy homes without investing anything, because owning real estate was supposed to be part of "the American dream?" We now call that dream the subprime nightmare. Now Clinton thinks the money not spent on payday loans will be invested in the stock market. Wow. That’s a huge stretch even for Bill--but doesn't it have a nice capitalistic ring to offset his socialist wife taking over healthcare? Then after we get them paying checking account fees, let’s issue them credit cards, "another day older and deeper in debt."

WalMart probably charges under $5 for the same service. But Democrats don’t like WalMart because it is successful, the real American dream. Some city councils and zoning boards work very hard to keep them from building in their jurisdiction especially if they provide jobs and services for low income people--like inexpensive clothing and appliances and banking services. Some states have passed special laws to keep WalMart out of the banking business.

I'm sure glad I'm not rich. I don't think I could carry around all that load of guilt--and BS.

2.7 million receive incorrect SSA-1099 form

Alert seniors were catching the problem before it came out in the press, Arizona, Texas, Florida, and Wisconsin. I first heard about it from a high school friend who usually sends out jokes and local news. He said his 1099 overstated what he'd received. He and a lot of others.

"Corrected forms will be sent to all affected Social Security recipients and to the IRS by the end of the month, Lassiter said. Because corrected information is on the way, he said the Social Security Administration decided not to tell the public about the mistake until asked about it by a reporter.

The bad forms over-reported the amount of benefits received by some Social Security beneficiaries who purchase Medicare Advantage or prescription drug plans under Social Security parts C and D, Lassiter said. The incorrect information is in Box 3 of the form, "Benefits Paid."

In some cases, Social Security computers preparing the 1099s included premiums for those plans paid in 2006 as part of benefits received in 2007, leading to the error, Lassiter said.

In Wisconsin, 61,511 bad forms were sent out. Florida had the most, 196,742, followed by Texas at 188,361, California, 157,288, and Illinois, 124,707. In all, the Social Security Administration sent out about 57 million 1099-SSAs."

I didn't see anything about Ohio. Our SS numbers have been stolen so many times by inept state and OSU employees, maybe the error-angels just by-passed us this time. They say it will cost $1 million to fix it. That's impossible, unless they think because they don't use stamps on the envelopes, it doesn't cost anything. I guess the additional forms and labor is just funny money. And of course, no one will figure the cost the citizens will pay their accountants to refile. You don't ever want to have mismatched numbers and give them cause to audit--that's really a big expense.

Why we eat "healthy" and just get fatter

There's an interesting article in the NYT Magazine called "Unhappy meals" about how we eat, focusing on nutrients instead of real food. In our house, we eat real food as much as possible (fruits and vegetables that haven't been canned or pickled or plasticized or dehydrated), but still rely on frozen for variety, and canned for sauces, beans, and those rarely consumed items. We eat bakery bread that is firmer and tastes better than either of my grandmothers could make. We eat small portions of meat, but do eat meat every day. I wouldn't dream of purchasing something labeled a "healthy snack." Read the label! It's like a chemistry text book. We aren't fat.

But what is the problem? Nutritionism may be the culprit, says the author. There are more government regulations, more nutritional studies, more diets (low fat, low carb, etc.), and there's a huge industry of journalists and authors (including the one who wrote the above article) who do nothing but write articles or publish books about what to eat and how to eat it. One nutrition/exercise/health web site I read recently said we are spending more on obesity per day than on the war in Iraq. I haven't crunched the numbers, but that's scary! Read the article (recommended by Janeen who combats food allergies daily in her family) and see what you think.

On the Women's Health Initiative: "But perhaps the biggest flaw in this study, and other studies like it, is that we have no idea what these women were really eating because, like most people when asked about their diet, they lied about it. How do we know this? Deduction. Consider: When the study began, the average participant weighed in at 170 pounds and claimed to be eating 1,800 calories a day. It would take an unusual metabolism to maintain that weight on so little food. And it would take an even freakier metabolism to drop only one or two pounds after getting down to a diet of 1,400 to 1,500 calories a day — as the women on the “low-fat” regimen claimed to have done. Sorry, ladies, but I just don’t buy it.

In fact, nobody buys it. Even the scientists who conduct this sort of research conduct it in the knowledge that people lie about their food intake all the time. They even have scientific figures for the magnitude of the lie. Dietary trials like the Women’s Health Initiative rely on “food-frequency questionnaires,” and studies suggest that people on average eat between a fifth and a third more than they claim to on the questionnaires. How do the researchers know that? By comparing what people report on questionnaires with interviews about their dietary intake over the previous 24 hours, thought to be somewhat more reliable. In fact, the magnitude of the lie could be much greater, judging by the huge disparity between the total number of food calories produced every day for each American (3,900 calories) and the average number of those calories Americans own up to chomping: 2,000. (Waste accounts for some of the disparity, but nowhere near all of it.) All we really know about how much people actually eat is that the real number lies somewhere between those two figures."

There are good ideas and points in this article--many we've heard before, but cherry pick. We are bombarded by anti-western this and that, and eco-friendly tidbits by the same journalists who wrote us into obesity! You need to be selective. In the 1970s women were literally pushed out of the home and kitchen; we've been getting fatter since. Now we're being reeled back. Barefoot and pregnant probably won't fly these days. But do try to eat real food.

If you can find it.