Collecting My Thoughts

Friday, April 18, 2008

Friday Follow-up

Here's a Friday Family Photo--taken about 2 weeks ago at our little family gathering to celebrate my husband's birthday.

Taxes were due this week. In 1919, P.G. Wodehouse observed: "The only difference between the United States government and the ordinary practitioner in a black mask was that the latter occasionally left his victim carfare.

John of the Cross, after his ordination (in the 1500s), traveled nearly 18,000 miles all over Spain, mainly on foot.

"When millions of people are going hungry, it's a crime against humanity that food should be diverted to biofuels," said India's finance minister, quoted Monday in the Wall St. Journal. Not to be out done, the Turkish finance minister said, "The use of food for biofuels is appalling."

Richard at 3 score and 10 blogged about why it is important for men to learn to put the toilet seat down. At the coffee shop I see that women runners come in to use the restroom about 10 times more often than men (or maybe there are more of them at 7 a.m.) In the medical literature, this is called urodynamics.

The fourth reason to vote for Senator McCain is that he says (now) that he will keep the Bush tax cuts. Sen. Obama needs to go back to math or economics class. He says he will cut taxes for the middle class (earning less than $200,000), but his plan (according to WSJ today) will actually raise middle class taxes because 47% of all tax returns reporting capital gains were from households with income below $50,000 (that'd be us), and 79% came from households with incomes below $100,000. He wants to raise the capital gains tax even though it brings in less money because "it's fair." Not being a boomer, perhaps he hasn't noticed how many will need to be living off their investments.

"People of all colors and income levels don't hate the rich. They want to get rich." Jack Kemp, WSJ 4-17-08

Randi Rhodes is the foul-mouthed, ranting profane anti-Hillary talker on AirAmerica. She's 49. Give her a break. She's probably having hot flashes. Anyway, she was fired for her "comedy" routine on her own time. That doesn't seem fair, and I know liberals are all about fairness. Also, I think she was the only show on that sorry network that had listeners. Liberals love trash talking, especially from women. She probably thought she was safe since an Obama supporter, Charlie Kireker, bought controlling interest.

"Jesus is a liberal" and "Grandmothers for peace," are two bumper stickers I saw on a flashy convertible. Rich Democrat Anabaptist?

Joe Rosebrook, 33, is in the Logan County jail charged with conspiracy to commit murder. His father, also named Joe Rosebrook, is currently serving a sentence on the same charge. Little Joe has droopy eyes, long hair, and a scruffy face--Big Joe may look a bit better if the prison has standards.

Sunset Cemetery west of Columbus has a large grave stone in the shape of a loaf of bread. It memorializes the life of a man, called the Bread Man, who took food to the poor on his own dime and effort--not the USDA's (our tax money).

Today I'm having lunch at Spageddies Kitchen in Hilliard. I've browsed their menu, selected what I want to order, checked out the map, and read about the benefits they offer employees (really good!). I needed a log-in to read the annual report. I have also e-mailed the corporate office and suggested they give their web designer a raise, because it's beautiful, clear, easy to navigate and librarians could learn a lot from them.

Everyone afraid of temperatures who thinks global warming is to blame for too much cold or too much water needs to read Patrick Michaels' article in WSJ today. Did you know that one of the reasons we have an uptick in temperature, and it's very small, is because the IPCC revised the numbers from the 1950s and 1960s downward well after the fact? There's a lot more in it, like what's happening, or not happening in Greenland. You'll sleep better after reading it, but I don't think it will stop the stampede for government grants or investments of the rich folk in phony carbon credit schemes.

The new 2009 Dodge Journey crossover has half the cargo space as my 2002 Dodge minivan, will hold 2 fewer people, has a larger engine, gets poorer gas mileage and costs a few dollars more. I think I'll pass.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

By whose standard is this controversial?

My latest LAS News p. 24, Winter 2008 [University of Illinois] reports on the research of Richard Akresh about fostering children among Africans. It seems that poor African families often send a child to live with wealthier relatives who agree to feed, house and educate them in exchange for their labor. Akresh did surveys, accumulating 600 pounds of paper. Yes, he did find some abuse, but in 15 randomly selected villages 600 households were surveyed tracking 300 foster children. They found that the fostered children were better off than their biological siblings in education and health. So the system, developed through the wisdom of the people, did work. And yes, the children did work, and they weren't as well treated as the children of the host family, but I'm guessing even the better off relatives weren't wealthy.

Maybe it was the headline that irritated me: "The fostering dilemma: Controversial practice benefits some African children." It sounds to me that families were developing their own methods and giving their children the best possible opportunities. Checking the author's homepage, I see this is not his title.

This practice was common in the United States and Europe--there were informal child care arrangements, whether you call them fostering, adoption via orphan train, poor farms or child labor. There is still informal fostering arrangements in this country, particularly in black communities. The HBO movie Lackawana Blues starring S. Epatha Merkerson tells of a woman in the 50s and 60s who took in not only children, but other down and outers. A few years ago I was reading an old journal of my great great grandfather who was a farmer/ teamster/ doctor in Ohio before the Civil War. One of the entries in his log (in German and English) was about a niece taken into the family in exchange for her labor, and when she reached maturity, she would receive certain items of furniture and clothing. When I was doing research on 19th century serials, I found ads in religious magazines placed by mothers looking for families to take their children for awhile.

But considering some of the odd stories we hear today, I wonder who really has the more strange customs. I heard one this morning from an adoption attorney that just curled my toes. No servitude was involved, but the child AND the two sets of would be adoptive parents were treated callously and cruelly by the state agency which was holding them all hostage. Only families with a lot of wealth could have hired lawyers to work out the mess that social workers and state bureaucrats had created "in the best interests of the child."

The history of peace

"Writing the history of peaceful endeavor is much harder than writing the history of titans of war. . . The history of peace does not excite the emotions or does it cause the heart to pound. Even the most desk bound intellectuals can relish the account of the siege, which serves as a metaphor for their own lives under siege by personal traumas, social pressures, or technological changes." Paul A. Blaum, "From Steppe to Empire: the Turkmens in Iraq," International Journal of Kurdish Studies, v. 21, no. 1-2, 2007, p. 57

Some articles of this very interesting journal are on line through Access my Library, but not this one. It focuses on Kurds regardless of the country in which they live--Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Sweden, U.S. or other.

Is it too late to draft Al Gore?

He's not a Marxist, he's not a Socialist, he's a patriot, he's a Christian; he's just a bit tetched in the head from his own hot air, but I think I could live with that. When Obama finally admits what we all knew--that tax increase isn't about the revenue, it isn't about health care or the needy, it's about "fairness," (i.e., punishing the rich for success), the gloves are off, as are the bets. If Gore's home state would have supported him, or Bill Clinton hadn't sandbagged him in 2000, he probably would have been the one to take us into Afghanistan and Iraq, because all the Clinton years we heard about WMD, and the 9/11 still would have happened.

Is it too late? Please! I really don't like John McCain, although I've got 4 reasons now to vote for him. I think I could vote for old Algore as a place holder until the Republicans could field someone. As long as we have 3 Democrats to chose from, couldn't one of them be Al Gore?

The Hillobama speechifying

When this whole Democrat battle boiled down to two candidates, I thought Obama was the better speaker. After listening to countless sound bites, interviews, debates and off-the-cuff remarks from both, I have to say, Hillary is much better. Once you get Obama off the no-content message of hope and change, he has nothing else to say and he says even that badly. He's even worse on off-the-cuff remarks than John Edwards, who's really a stammerer with a southern accent. Obama's as clear as John Kerry, who's really murky.

Hillary might lie a lot, but at least she's articulate and believes her own lies.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

He's probably a Democrat

Les Moonves' salary in 2006 was $5.6 million, plus a bonus of $15 million for a total package of $28.6 million, according to the week-end WSJ. He got a 29% increase for 2007, for a package valued at $36.8 million. Guessing from what CBS offers us in entertainment, I'm betting he votes Democrat and is supporting Mrs. Clinton.

My 2007 pension was under $20,000, and I'm a Republican even though they also spend money like a drunken Kennedy. Still, I believe he should answer to the stockholders and not liberals who want to put a cap on the compensation of CEOs and executives of corporations.

Despite the trash, fluff and fodder, the Rathers and Courics who get enormous salaries to read the news, they should get what they pay for. . . and they are. And when you read Rather's remarks about Couric, you realize how many words that man uses to say, Yes, No, or Maybe.

Maher and the Muslims

Don't you wonder how long Maher's head would stay on his scrawny neck (either on earth or on the air) if he were as insulting to Muslims as he was to the Pope and Catholics? I've never watched even 3 minutes of him. He's a twirp made of diseased sputum and fecal matter, of such filth that I'd be afraid to even step near his piles and splatters. But I do think subscribers to HBO should let the owners, producers, and stockholders know just how insulting he is to Catholics in particular, and all Christians in general. I would never say he shouldn't have a right to be an idiot or slanderer or scumbag, but I'd hit him and his owners where it hurts--his wallet. I mean, it's not like the entertainment industry protects the best interests of children by protecting porn and every imaginable filth for the big bucks.

"I'd like to tip off law enforcement to an even larger child-abusing religious cult," Maher told his audience. "Its leader also has a compound, and this guy not only operates outside the bounds of the law, but he used to be a Nazi and he wears funny hats. That's right, the Pope is coming to America this week and, ladies, he's single."

Advice for boomer retirees

Readers jumped all over those whiners that the WSJ wrote about on April 1. I blogged about them, too. Usually, in letters-to-the editor the WSJ tries to offer a cross section, but I guess no one feels too sorry for a 57 year who had a 6 figure salary and can't retire early at their accustomed standard of living because the economy burps. Here's a summary of comments in yesterday's paper

Not a single sympathizer in the boatload.

You want how many cookies?

Twenty nine thousand, give or take a few dozen. Our Upper Arlington Lutheran Kairos Prison Team will be going to the Marion Correctional Institution April 24-27 for a Christian Renewal Week-end, and each team brings their own cookies--28,800. Usually, we need only 10,000-12,000, but we have so many members on the team for this week-end, we need a lot of cookies. So I'm baking--which is pretty unusual for me. I've made ~~eight~~ twelve dozen brownies (with a little help from Duncan Hines), some with chocolate chips, because there's nothing like chocolate to say, "love." And that's what the cookies are for--tangible evidence of God's love for a sinner in a batch of homemade cookies or brownies. The freezers at the church are probably full--it's hard to find room for that many cookies. A team member is using our garage refrigerator.

To learn more about the program go to www.ualc.org/cookies

Many of the men reached by Kairos Renewal will never be released into society, but many will--and our UALC men are committed to work with them then too, to ease them back into employment and their families.

"Faith-based programs that start in prison and continue after sentences have been served can produce meaningful outcomes when they offer the mentoring, guidance, and hope needed to face a future often marked by social exclusion and fear of the unknown." also, "Working with prisoners before they are released can increase the chances of successful reentry." http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cb_51.htm

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

The paperless society

This morning I moved a mature IRA from one bank to another, because the first bank was charging me $30 a year just to use my money! Do you know that by the time I got home from those two transactions about a mile apart, I had 26 pieces of paper, or 27 pieces if I counted the check, 25 of them 8.5 x 11. Both banks used to be called something else--or at least one was, and the other was started by officers of a former savings and loan. I can remember the days when they rolled the certificate into a typewriter and I signed a little card for the beneficiaries which stayed there. In those days, I thought it took a long time, but now with computers it is much longer. Plus, the computers don't even update your account until the next day, so on one sheet I had to write in the new amount. But the staff are always pleasant, handsome and cheerful, so it's nice to go to a bank and enjoy the comfy furniture and have a chat. Just make sure you have plenty of time. Plus it is a beautiful, sunny day in central Ohio. My artificial flowers are doing fabulously even in the cold snap.

Rather like a story we've read before

I have no interest in Hip Hop and the shooting death of Tupac Shakur, but I do care about what happens to our media, journalists and Truth. Read the sad, sad story at Smoking Gun about how a high esteemed reporter from the LA Times, Chuck Philips (who incidentally hasn't been fired and is still active) fell for phony FBI documents created by a convict who also lived in a fantasy world about what a big shot he was on the Hip Hop scene.

I'm no hot shot, award winning journalist, but if a 31 year old, white convict who has spent most of his adult life in prison told me in 2008 that in 1994 he was wheeling and dealing with black hip hop artists--with deals that would go back to when he was even younger, I think I could have subtracted 14 from 31 and guessed that performers worth millions probably weren't linking up with 17 year old teen-agers. Come on!

Monday, April 14, 2008

Fat children keep many people employed

Last week the results of an important two year study on obese children were published in the April 2008 Pediatrics, "A Policy-Based School Intervention to Prevent Overweight and Obesity." According to Sandy Szwarc who writes Junkfood Science

Complete article here

According to Ms. Szwarc, the intervention was ineffective, although this is not how it was reported. There was no difference between the intervention group and the control group, and in healthy eating there was evidence that the intervention group actually went backward. They had been eating 5.64 servings of fruit and vegetables a day and that decreased to 4.17, plus the intervention group were eating fewer calories but not losing weight. "Clearly, the School Nutrition Policy Initiative failed to reduce overweight or obesity in the children," she says.

Last week I wrote about a delinquency prevention study of 4 years duration done here in Columbus with 6th graders back in the 1970s. After 4 years of intervention and special attention to improve the children's self-esteem and self-concept, the intervention group had just as many contacts with the law as the control group. Like the School Nutrition program discussed above which integrated good nutrition into the curriculum, the delinquency group had healthy self concept integrated into all their classes. Social and peer pressure were also used both in the nutrition and the delinquency behavior modification programs. The failure to prevent delinquency by building self concept didn't stop the "self esteem" drive of the 70s and 80s as the cure for whatever ailed Johnny, probably because so many academics and sociologists had invested their lives and careers in the concept. So I'm guessing there are already too many programs, initiatives, salaries and grants riding on obese children to stop the train now, even though Ms. Szwarc points out obesity in children hasn't changed since 2000.

The ACK Stacks

The main library (Thompson) on the Ohio State University campus has been closed for over a year for remodeling. Hard hat tours are now available to see its 1970s and 1980s cocoon of bastard designs and add-ons removed to reveal the original butterfly of the early 20th century. I'm sure it will be lovely, similar to when I first saw it in 1967. But that means many OSU students will never be in the library--not Thompson, and not the temporary one on Ackerman Road (they have to take a bus). I really enjoy the temp facility--it is close to my home, the parking is great, and I usually have the whole place to myself, because I think students have forgotten about it. The books are easy to find and the people aren't. OSCAR, the online catalog, is now pretty subservient to a behemoth that brings up everything in WorldCat and OhioLink when you do a search, with OSU as just one of the locations. So you need to learn how to limit and do advance searches or you'll be overwhelmed with books located in Atlanta and New York, and smidgens in articles and microfiche--maybe 350 matches when you were expecting 10. It's like walking down the snack aisle of a major supermarket looking for plain old Ritz crackers.

The ACK Stacks

Near the railroad tracks
on Ackerman Road
are the ACK Stacks
tucked away for me,
the vast collection
of the OSU library.

Foreign and Esoteric,
Religious and Oversize,
it’s hard for me to stick
to the task at hand.
Now other libraries
seem so bland.

A mile or two away
lies OSU main campus.
Some librarians say
a generation or so
of students and grads
to the library never go.

The Obamas and po' folk

What is it with Michelle and Barry? Are they just big city slickers who are clueless about how to talk to down state (i.e., outside Chicago) bumpkins and the fly over hoi polloi? Michelle Obama whines to an Ohio working women focus group (incomes below the state median in a county where few have attended college) about her burden of student loans from Princeton and Harvard Law School, loans that have enabled her to have a dream position making a bundle on a hospital board. But, golly, with private lessons for the girls for piano and dance, and private schools costs, and summer camps, etc., it's just so darn tough to pay back those loans!

Barack Obama's comment in California has people gasping in disbelief--I heard Christians who are normally apolitical just outraged

"It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."But his enemies twisted his words and all he meant to say, according to this pooper-scooper quote was

"So I said, well you know, when you're bitter you turn to what you can count on. So people, they vote about guns, or they take comfort from their faith and their family and their community. And they get mad about illegal immigrants who are coming over to this country."Then what's the excuse of rich Democrats who own guns, make movies featuring gun violence, go to church, love their families, and don't want to be overrun by illegals sucking up benefits meant for Americans? Wasn't all the outrage about the illegals in 2007 way before the current real estate melt down, and actually against President Bush and Republican legislators for letting down conservatives; and isn't all this trade protectionism both here and abroad in part responsible for the food riots on the global scene; and who's been voting on guns since Hillobama started running (or limping) for the White House? Do you suppose he ought to think about how gun owners might perceive their rights if Hillobama is elected? What country does he want to run? Cuba?

"The sheer breadth of the stereotype, which would send Team Obama screaming from the rooftops if a white politician drew a similarly sweeping caricature of blacks? The crude quasi-Marxist reductionism of his analysis, which he first introduced in his speech on race vis-a-vis the root causes of whites’ “resentment” — namely, exploitation by the bourgeoisie in the form of corporations and D.C. lobbyists? Or is it the shocking inclusion of religion, of all things, in the litany of sins he recites? What on earth is that doing there, given His Holiness’s repeated invocations of the virtues of faith on the trail? Note the choice of verb, too. Why not just go the whole nine yards and call it the opiate of the masses?" Hot Air

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Whole Foods has a word or two for you

Janeen alerted me to this--Whole Foods website has pod cast/ MP3 audio on a healthy body for you. The February, part 1, was on the role of inflammation, antioxidants, free radicals, etc., "Straight to your Heart."

Take-aways:

Saturday, April 12, 2008

How to meet a woman

is the title of an entry at my church blog. It's not what it sounds like.

A new poem

A poem came to me this morning before I even turned on the computer. I grabbed a notebook and sat down in a chair in the living room and looked at the objects of my thoughts--the two pillows I bought at Garden Ridge yesterday when I was buying the artificial flowers mentioned in my previous post. I moved a few lines around because I like symmetry, but this is pretty close to what came out the end of my #2 pencil at 5:30 a.m.

Crocheted pillows, one dollar each
by Norma Bruce
April 12, 2008

Cheap and gaudy, yet a comfort to my eyes and body
You flood the room with memories
of projects I’ve left unfinished
and mother’s busy hands
working deftly beside me,
smooth and capable, red from years of hot dishwater and laundry.

In my mind I struggle to get that strand
from my little fingers onto the needle
and wish you were here talking
advising telling and remembering,
until drowsy from the rhythm of your voice,
I put down my irregular stitches and take a nap on your lap.

Last year when my husband was in Haiti I also wrote about buying the chartreuse pillows behind the crocheted pillows (you probably can't tell but chartreuse is one of the colors in the small pillows). It is based on the information on the tags which you're not supposed to remove until after purchase. So here it is again. April is National Poetry Month--sit down and write a poem.

>The Vows
by Norma Bruce
February 2007

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

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

Snip. Snip. Snip.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Preparations for Spring

You're probably thinking that I couldn't possibly have time to spruce up the house for Spring, what with keeping track of all the craziness of the politicians, academics, clerics and journalists. But here's the proof. Today I stopped by Garden Ridge and refreshed my supply of pansies with four bunches for $4, punched up my blue hydrangea blooms with 2 new bunches for $4, and a fresh wall wreath, half price for $4.99 to which I added a few blooms from several years ago. I think things look quite nice. . . from a little distance.

Al, Bill, Ted and Jimmy's most excellent adventure

“A cloud of sulfur dioxide gas and ash rises from a crater in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on Wednesday. Big Island Mayor Harry Kim says evacuations may be necessary because the daily release of toxic gas is a health and safety concern for area residents.” AP report, March 28, 2008, various newspapers

“Instead of trying to manage the weather to fit their definition of warm and cool, hot and cold, why don’t the global warming quartet of Gore, Clinton, Turner, and Carter fly to Hawaii in Al’s private gas-guzzling jet to help Mayor Kim put a halt to the 2,000 tons of toxic gas being emitted into the atmosphere every single day, surely raising global temperatures astronomically! Why isn’t the global warming crowd doing something, anything, right now about mini-Mt Pinatubo?

You and I know the answer! It’s because they can’t do anything about it just as they can’t do anything about the weather. It’s called nature, Al, Bill, Ted, and Jimmy! A recent U.N. report included a whole section about human activity (“vehicles of selfish genes,” according to Richard Dawkins) creating global warming, yet not a single word was said about the sun or its activity. Why is it so hard to admit that God’s sun (see Genesis 1) is responsible for keeping the Earth warm and livable?” From “Plunging into the abyss with Al Gore. . . “ David Noebel, at www.ChristianWorldviewNetwork.com

Taking a breather

I've just been stumbling my way through the ELCA Task Force on Sexuality draft statement. We were told that this report is better than the previous ones. More balanced. I'm stunned. Just stunned. Using the "FIND" command, I located the word "social" 118 times: Jesus 10. Commitment 31: Husband and/or wife 0. Society 21: Luther 14. Relationship 98: marriage 48. That should tell you something.

Also, deeply, profoundly and humbly are favorite adverbs, and the report writers seem to sincerely believe that we live in special and unusual times with problems never before faced in the history of the human race. These times are so special and unusual that, "Scripture cannot be used in isolation as the norm for Christian life and the source of knowledge for the exercise of moral judgement." (line 417) Not to lose heart, dear readers, the writers go on to tell us that Scripture can shed light and can speak to us.

Also, did you know the reason God created human beings, according to the task force, was so they could be in relationship with each other? I immediately opened Genesis and didn't find that anywhere. Whether you think there is one account or two in Genesis, it's pretty clear he created them to fill the earth and subdue it. The closest you come to that is God created a woman to be a helper for the man. The man had been given some mighty strict instructions on not trying to be God even before God created the woman. Even so, the writers skip right over that MAN and WOMAN part.

Some parts sound like a sex manual with a cut and paste from a Dale Carnegie course:

"Erotic interest between adults open to romantic relationships can be a desired part of growth of trust and intimacy."

"The purpose of marriage is not solely to legitimate genital relations but to create long term durable communion for the good of others."By page 36, they finally get to their charge--homosexual couples in the church and pastorate.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

In Sickness and in Wealth is sickening

This week the OSU College of Public Health presents as part of Public Health Week socio-economic marxist propaganda in a film produced by California Newsreel called, In Sickness and In Wealth, which I mentioned last week I saw on WOSU. It would make Michael Moore proud--my public library will probably buy dozens of copies when it is on DVD. Unbelievably one sided--at least the 10 minutes I saw before turning it off in disgust. The news blurb reports, ". . . state and local public health leaders will participate in a panel discussion, “In Sickness and In Wealth:” at 3 p.m. on Tuesday (4/8) in 160 Meiling Hall, 370 W. 9th Ave. The event, which is part of Ohio State’s College of Public Health’s celebration of National Public Health Week, is based on a new PBS series called “Unnatural Causes,” which explores America’s racial and socioeconomic inequities in health. “In Sickness and In Wealth” is the title of the first installment of the series. The episode investigates how a person [sic] a person’s work conditions, social status, neighborhood conditions and lack of access to power and resources can actually altar [sic] their human biology and, similar to germs and viruses, make them sick."

Yes, I'm white, middle-class, college educated, married, never collected unemployment, worker's comp or welfare, saved my money, tithed my income, invested in a private pension, had married parents, married grandparents, paid a ton of taxes over my lifetime, purchased private health insurance, kept my weight down, exercised, don't smoke or drink--therefore, I'm causing someone else to be a victim of poor health? I'm altering their biology! They aren't responsible at all! Check out California Newsreel; where do they find these people? California, our proud and loud left coast, of course.

Delinquencies compared to 30 years ago

Ah, the 1970s. When we read about the economic bad news today we don't hear much about the bust of the late 90s, which sapped my portfolio right as I had already announced I would retire, or the 10% mortgage rates of the late 80s, or the incredible inflation of the Carter years when you truly were better off to put your money under a mattress. Here's the bad news in the WSJ today about delinquencies

4.46% of mortgages were at least 30 days past due at the end of the first quarter

But according to the Census Bureau, back in 1978 when there were no Adjustable Rate mortgages or sub-prime loans, and investors weren't flipping houses ala HGTV hype, the delinquency rate was 4.6%. Now how can that be? George W. Bush wasn't even president, was he?

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Is this just 2004 again?

During the election of 2004 we were constantly being hammered by the press and the Democratic candidates (sorry to be redundant) about the horrible, losing economy. Constant scare stories, bad numbers and gloomy faces. Anecdotal stories about senior citizens and "working families" losing everything, including hope and their pets. Here's one from February 2004

It was amazing. Within a week of Bush's victory in 2004, the economic news was bright and shining, and the press had to move on to something else, witch hunting through the Bush administration and the war, and our portfolios miraculously recovered from the "worst economy since the Depression" (paraphrase of Kerry).

We don't know how this current situation will turn out or around. All bubbles burst. But if the press has anything to say, they will drive it into the ground. I had to turn to the back pages of section C in the WSJ this morning to find the good news about the economy (and it was there), but the headlines for the bad shouted in every section

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

The Big Me

Tonight we're having a congregational meeting

This blog entry has been moved to my church blog.

Tax strategies for boomer retirees

Make sure the Bush tax cuts are kept. They are due to expire, and Miz 109 million Hillary wants to raise your taxes. And so does Mr. O-Socialist. Don't let Hillobama roll back the economy so they can take more control of your life.

The Coming Tax Bomb

The tax code changes enacted in 2001 and 2003 are scheduled to expire at the end of 2010. If they do, statutory marginal tax rates will rise across the board; ranging from a 13% increase for the highest income households to a 50% increase in tax rates faced by lower-income households. The marriage penalty will be reimposed and the child credit cut by $500 per child. The long-term capital gains tax rate will rise by one-third (to 20% from 15%) and the top tax rate on dividends will nearly triple (to 39.6% from 15%). The estate tax will roar back from extinction at the same time, with a top rate of 55% and an exempt amount of only $600,000. Finally, the Alternative Minimum Tax will reach far deeper into the middle class, ensnaring 25 million tax filers in its web.

4758

Preventing Childhood Head Injuries

April is Prevent Child Abuse month, but children are injured every day in non-abuse situations that are just as damaging, particularly to the brain. I don't know if there is a Prevent Head Injuries in Kids Month (May is a Brain injuries awareness month but that's primarily for the elderly), but since these problems are more in the open (you can see them at local sporting events or playgrounds), our input or reporting might be more useful. These figures are actually low since they are based on ER statistics and don't include reports from individual doctors, or the children whose parents don't take them to a clinic or doctor.

The top 10 head injury categories among children ages 14 and younger:

Your child or grandchild should be using a proper helmet 100% of the time in many sports. Helmets and head gear come in many sizes and styles for many sports and must properly fit to provide maximum protection against head injuries. In addition to other safety apparel or gear, helmets or head gear should be worn at all times for:

Reported at Neurosurgery today

April is also National Facial Protection Month, so the doctors and dentists who see damaged teeth and faces from sports injuries and lacerated faces from dog bites have their own list of precautions, which includes that ever-in-short supply, common sense.

Wear a helmet. Helmets absorb the energy of an impact. You don't have to lose your head due to a cycling or rollerblading mishap.

Wear protective eyewear. Don't become a real-life example of the age-old warning: "You'll poke your eye out."

Wear a face shield to avoid scratched or bruised skin. Hockey pucks, basketballs, and racquetballs can do severe damage.

Be aware of family pets. About 44,000 people suffer facial injuries from dog bites annually. Supervise children when they're with pets (including cats and rabbits, too).

Buckle up and use child safety seats. Unbuckled passengers are more likely to suffer a brain injury in a crash than the buckled driver. Air bags save lives!

Keep babies and toddlers safe. They crawl and climb, so pad sharp corners of tables, lock cabinets, install stairwell safety gates, and secure windows. They also teethe, so hide sharp pencils.

Be alert even as a spectator. Alert spectators can avoid foul baseballs and flying hockey pucks. Watch your step when climbing bleachers.

Use common sense. If an activity carries risk of dental/facial injury, gear up. Without it, even a basketball game could land you in the emergency room.

Monday, April 07, 2008

Why Johnny can't do math

The politics of multiculturalism

Adding up to failure

Tinker tinker
little prof
we do wonder
why you're off.
Children flunking
basic skills
and we get
diploma mills.
Give them content
teach them math
if you deprive them
you're off the path.
.

The Reckless bad boys of Columbus

The project was intended to construct a model program to divert young boys from crime by developing their inner controls with a positive self-image. Walter C. Reckless was a well-known, frequently published criminologist who published in the 1950s and 1960s on self-concept as an insulator against deviant behavior. In 1972 he published, with Simon Dinitz, "The prevention of juvenile delinquency; an experiment (Ohio State University Press), on the role of self concept in preventing juvenile delinquency.

The authors theorized that if a youngster had a good self-concept, he would be less likely to slip into delinquency, so they studied over 1700 pre-adolescent boys in a blue-collar, deprived, working class neighborhood and school system of Columbus, Ohio for four years. They already knew that most of the children in this neighborhood, despite sharing similar lives, would NOT grow up to be criminals, but what made the difference? They divided the boys into three groups, all selected by their teachers and principals--The Experimental Group (bad boys), The Control Group (bad boys) and The Comparison Group (good boys). The first two groups, the teachers decided, were prime candidates based on their early years in school to become delinquents. The third group was considered to be well-adjusted, ordinary kids, rarely in trouble.

The Experimental Group received the same academic curriculum, but were put in special classes where they received additional attention and the teachers had had special training. They had a special "role model" interpersonal component which included relationships at work, school, government, family and getting along with others. They also had a different outcome for discipline, with strong emphasis on the rights of others, and their peers helping to bring them back into the group when they misbehaved. The other group of bad boys received nothing extra.

All the boys were evaluated at the end of their 10th grade (4 years later), and much to the disappointment of the researchers (I'm guessing) there was no difference in police contacts, seriousness of behavior problems, the drop out rate, attendance, grades or achievement level between the enriched role model group and the control group. The good boys had continued on their way, causing no problems and doing well.

If I'd spent 15 years of my life invested in this self-worth concept to reduce crime, I think I would have been distraught. But as far as I know, the researchers just decided their model program wasn't tweaked right, and I think Dr. Reckless is still being cited in the literature for his self constraint theories of criminal behavior.

What I found most interesting was that when the researchers interviewed both the students and the teachers after 4 years, they thought the program was a success! The teachers rated the bad boys in the experimental group as much improved in behavior, even though there was no evidence, and the boys themselves were enthusiastic and recommended it for their friends! But it didn't translate into better grades or less contact with the police and courts.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

The Canada Geese and I

were puzzled by all the sparkly, twirly blue things in the park near the Church at Mill Run this morning. The first thing I thought was, "I hope this organization has a clean up crew ready in case we get some bad Spring weather that scatters these." Fortunately, it turned out to be a sunny, and only slightly windy day for the pinwheel demonstration for Prevent Child Abuse Ohio (www.pcao.org, 1-800 CHILDREN) in which one of the ministries of UALC, Speak Out, is participating.

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and to draw attention to the problem, Speak Out is distributing blue and silver pinwheels with a prayer and Bible verse attached, as well as information about preventing child abuse. Their goal is for members to put the pinwheels in their yards to show we care and to use them as an opportunity to speak with others about preventing abuse.

I know nothing about child abuse--I wasn't abused, and I didn't abuse. When I was taking education and sociology courses in college it wasn't even on the radar. Supporting pro-life causes and speaking out about public libraries that don't prevent porn at their computers is about as far as I've stepped in. The Prevent Child Abuse Ohio website includes a newsletter which provides more detailed research and opinion if you wish to investigate so that's a place one could start.

Whenever I see our church cooperating with or assisting an organization (Prevent Child Abuse America operates in 41 states and UALC is listed as a resource at the local level for Ohio) funded and supported by government grants, corporate gifts, and fund raisers (pinwheels cost $1), I take a second look because this means I'm supporting it several ways, through my taxes and my tithe, the products I buy in corporate gifts, or directly with donations. So I want to know its mission and vision and whether it is Christ centered and based on Truth as found in God's Word. Hosting meetings, assisting in charter revisions, and organizing new chapters to study the reasons for child abuse (2006 annual report summary of PCA) may be important, but does it bring Jesus to the hurting parents and children?

So I looked at the national organization's web page, went to the 2006 annual report and immediately saw research (not sourced) that most abuse is by biological parents in married, two parent households. That seems to be in conflict with what I've read in other sources which do have citations. Where's the research that shows an overwhelming percentage of abuse is caused either by a step-parent (male or female) or a live-in "other?" This means there are disagreements in the studies, and therefore, the solutions. Also, percentages without numbers or years or even country, mean little. If I'm reading correctly, it looks like after 35 years, they've decided to set up some type of evaluation system of their methods with other prevention groups. I'd like to know: Does "community awareness," the education component of this program, really stop child abuse? The material seems to be pro-parenting skills, but I didn't see anything about marriage.

That's all the further I've gotten. But it seems that the definition of "child abuse," with which PCA began in 1972 has expanded to include child neglect, domestic violence, gang violence (related to absent father), access to pre-natal health care and immunizations, internet safety, gun safety, and bullying by other children.

Could it be our choices?

Would more government regulation of the fast food industry really protect Americans from obesity, which is now a bigger health problem than smoking? Would posting calorie count and fat content at casual dining places influence most consumers?

Grocery store food is labeled. There's a reason for these "loss leaders" being on the front page of this grocery store flyer--a store with low prices and no loyalty card to jack up the cost to the consumer. I'll take a wild guess--no one buying 8 liters of pop and assorted varieties of chips is reading labels for calories content, sodium and calories. Even if sold at a loss, if these items bring people into the store, and they then pick up other items, even broccoli and carrots, the manager has chosen well. The cashiers, stockers, office staff, truckers, packagers, ad designers, marketers, the utility companies, the rental agent, the stockholders and eventually the farmers will all be paid a living wage. (I'm so old I remember when milk was a loss leader--but that was before global warming and corn in the gas tank!) Now it's pop*, chips, beer, and bottled water. There's a tiny column on the inside of the flyer which reveals what a good deal we can still get at the grocery store: seedless cukes from Canada, $1; 1 lb bag of mini-carrots, $1; 3 lb. bag of onions, $1; 3 lb. bag of potatoes, $1; 8 oz. pkg of whole mushrooms $1; cantaloupe $1; pears, $1/lb.; Gala apples, $1/lb.

I use as much processed food (canned and frozen) now as I did when I worked. Using frozen instead of canned often cuts down on sugar and sodium**, and sometimes there is better protection of nutrients than using "fresh" produce that's been out of the field or off the tree for a long, long time. (I think my "fresh" turnip greens have been in the frig over 2 weeks and the cabbage more than 3, and the peppers are looking sad.) In my opinion, we'd all do better and consume fewer calories if we'd cut back on variety and choices--stick with the basics and contribute your own preparation. However, that action would put people out of work, so there's a trade-off.

*The cost of corn syrup should soon be forcing soda drink prices through the roof, too.

**In the U.S. diet, 77% of sodium comes from processed and restaurant foods, 12% occurs naturally in foods, 6% is added at the table, and 5% is added during cooking. (figures may be dated: J Am Coll Nutr. 1991; 10(4):;383-393 via JAMA)--but they weren't checking my kitchen--I add way more salt than the average cook.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Vespers, prayer and bratwurst

Until Molly Ziegler in WSJ covered the problems concerning a radio show cancelation at the LC-MS owned station, Issues, etc., I had never heard of this controversy. I did have to chuckle that concerned Lutherans are gathering for prayer and bratwurst to chew on the problem and solutions.

Interview with Molly Ziegler Hemingway on Issues, Etc.

Friday, April 04, 2008

Hillary H. Hoover

I'd planned to write an entry that the economic solutions that Miz Hillary is recommending were what President Herbert Hoover cooked up to fix the 1929 slump. It didn't work for him, and then FDR made it even worse, plunging the country further into depression. A true bipartisan mess. Well, this blogger already said it with links, so I'll refer you to Music City Oracle.

Hillobama must be products of the public schools. They don't know what happened in the 1930s with the economy, the 1950s in Korea (how our negotiated settlement of that war led to the deaths of millions of North Koreans by slavery and starvation), or the 1970s in VietNam (when millions of our allies were either sent to reeducation camps or murdered because of our abandoning them) and now they want that for the Iraqi people; they don't even see their current campaign and party problems as the outcome of their plantation mentality and gender gerrymandering.

Stuckert on race

I watched a program the other day where the topic, "What is race," was presented to teenagers. One question they were asked was, "What is the race of Barack Obama." I wondered that when I saw photos of him next to Jeremiah Wright, who appears to be whiter than I am (I'm German and Scots-Irish ancestry). The light skinned Wright made a reputation and followers with hate speech against whites; Obama, the darker one, was raised in Hawaii by white grandparents.

If research published in the Ohio Journal of Science 50 years ago is credible, then Obama apparently isn't the first African American who might become President of the United States. We've probably already had a few, if Robert P. Stuckert's research is correct (because the research was done in the 1950s, the immigration statistics or assumptions about Europeans made in his article would no longer be correct). I tracked the piece forward and see that Time Magazine picked it up in June 1958, and then others cited this work (usually not the original journal article, which probably wasn't held in many libraries, but others who had cited it) in the 1960s and 1970s and later. After leaving Ohio State, Stuckert later became Professor of Sociology of Berea College, 1975-1992, and also wrote on blacks in Appalachia.

Here's what he said in that 1958 article to point out that the idea held in the 1950s of racial purity was a myth. It was just recently added to Knowledge Bank at OSU.

"The data presented in this study indicate that the popular belief in the non-African background of white persons is invalid. Over 28 million white persons are descendants of persons of African origin. Furthermore, the majority of the persons with African ancestry are classified as white."In 1950 he estimated that 21% of white people had African ancestry and 73% of American blacks had non-African ancestry.

The citation is, "African Ancestry of the White American population," by Robert P. Stuckert, Ohio Journal of Science, 58(3):155, May 1958. It was a revision of a paper given a year earlier.

Columbus Colored Pencil Guild Spring Show

The Visual Arts Ministry of Upper Arlington Lutheran Church (located in UA, Hilliard, and Columbus, Ohio) is pleased to present for the first time the artists of the Columbus Colored Pencil Guild. Their Spring Show will be at The Church at Mill Run, 3500 Mill Run Dr., Hilliard, OH 43026, 2nd floor gallery, between March 29 and May 8, 2008.

Formed in 2001, the CCPG meets monthly at the High Road Gallery, 12 East Stafford Avenue, Worthington, Ohio, the 2nd Monday, 7-9 p.m. They have teaching sessions and members share their work. New members are always welcome and there is no membership fee. If you've been looking for a way to express your artistic talent that won't require a huge investment in supplies, why not contact them? I bought a little pack of paper and pencils at Marc's today for $.99--just to doodle. The show is small, but mighty with cats and kittens, roses and lilies.

Also at the Church at Mill Run,

you'll find the work of photographer, Rick Buchanan, hanging in Library Lane (first floor, turn right as you go in the front doors). Rick's photography show hung at UALC, 2300 Lytham Road, Upper Arlington, in February and March. VAM has recently been using this space for smaller shows, and will continue to seek out artists looking for for show space (UALC doesn't take a commission and has the best space in town). You can contact VAM (call the church 614-451-3736). Our guidelines and show information are on the church web page, and we do follow them.

Also hanging in Library Lane

is the drawing by Lee Sattler, whose ballpoint pen art appears in the film "Dash," recently produced for submission to the 168 Hour Film Project. Lee attends UALC on the Hilltop and also appears in the film as do many other church members. The world premiere of the film, "Dash" will be held Saturday April 19, 2008, 7:30pm at the Church at Mill Run, 3500 Mill Run Drive, Columbus, OH 43026.

The final show

of this season will be the Upper Arlington Art League Spring Show, May 10-June 12, 2008, then we put the hanging system away for the summer (and for VBS). We are currently scheduling for 2009.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Why I worry about the Boomers

God bless 'em, are they ready? Ready for retirement? That story this week in the WSJ was really outrageous. Jennifer Levitz opened with a story of a 59 year old who is "postponing" his retirement. Then she moves to a liberal economist who says what is happening today hasn't happened since the Great Depression. Oh really? That was before my time, but I did hear a few stories from my parents, and grandparents, and it's insulting to their memory and struggles to be whining like this. According to the article, their homes are worth less (than when, a year ago?) and their stocks are worth less (than last quarter?) so that makes it worse than the Great Depression. With all the information available in books and on the internet, do these people never look at charts?

She also wrote about Ellen Minter, 57, who had a 6 figure income before retiring--she probably made more in a year than I did in a decade. She and hubby sold their San Francisco home and bought real estate in California wine country; he retired and then their portfolio started to collapse. He's looking for work again. Why, unless you are a boomer for whom the waters have always parted, would you think the good times would always roll? If they were willing to cut back I'm guessing they could still make it, but high living is addictive--isn't it?

I retired at age 60, but I wouldn't have even considered it if a very unusual thing hadn't happened. My mother-in-law died. Now, she was in her 80s and had been in poor health at least 20 years, so that part wasn't a huge surprise. She had outlived her husband (who wasn't ill) who had retired (actually was pushed out) and moved his pension into a privately controlled account, so she got it all at a time when the stock market was on its way up. Shortly before she died, it was on its way down again, and we were going to start dipping into her principle to pay for her nursing home care. Her three children shared her estate equally, which included the primary residence and some property in Florida. Never in a million years would we have expected a dime from my husband's parents. We invested the money and I decided the income plus my pension just about matched my income if I continued to work. Now, obviously, we'd have a lot more if I'd continued working and banking that, but for what? What if I'd died or became ill at 64? Who wants to die at the reference desk answering questions about Cushings Disease in dogs or cryptorchid horses? Time is money, and I'm a millionaire if minutes count.

In 1999 and 2000, while I was still working, my 403b had three bad, bad quarters, and had really flattened after a very nice run up in the 90s. There was a technology bubble that burst. From 2001-2007, I had three bad quarters. Probably the biggest run up in history. But what did we hear from the media and the Democrats? We were told we were in the worst economy since the Great Depression. We may actually be on the cusp of a recession, and why shouldn't we? Smart people and dumb people both made bad choices on real estate investing.

But the boomers have a lot of years left to live in retirement. I hope they breathe deeply and put away a little for a rainy, down down day, because there will be more. They will further be hurt if they elect a Democrat who promises to raise taxes, tries to destroy businesses and jobs with global warming scares, and won't make us energy independent.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

A sign of the times

I noticed an engagement announcement in the paper today that had seven parents mentioned for the young woman and man who will be getting married in June. And I have seen eight.

VA healthcare providers

are entitled to immunity from medical malpractice claims as provided by the Federal Tort Claims Act according to an employment ad in JAMA.

$15,568 a year

is the personal cost of obesity, including medications and food according the Helmuth Billy--but he's got a dog in this fight since he's a gastric banding advocate and that's about what the operation costs. Noted in WSJ 3-31.

My heart breaks for Ellen Minter

who at age 57 retired and is barely scraping by on her portfolio after years with a 6 figure income and real estate in California wine country. She's sold her Chanel suits on e-Bay and her convertible and is just going to ride out these tough economic times, according to a WSJ tear jerker yesterday.

God in the classroom?

At another blog I saw someone speculating on those pathetic third graders who were plotting against their teacher--something about "that's what you get when you take God out of the classroom." Wasn't that in the 1950s that Madelaine Murray O'Hare brought her law suit to stop prayer? I think God's been gone from the schools for some time, and in many communities he was never too welcome.

Can churches end poverty?

Maybe--if they toughen their message on chastity and marriage instead of having conferences and meetings about it. In 1970, 71% of all U.S. households were 2 parent families compared to 51% in 2007. Larry Elder says the 38 most important words about poverty are: “Finish high school, marry before having a child, and produce the child after the age of twenty." Only 8 percent of families who do this are poor; 79 percent of those who fail to do this are poor.

The Bureau of Labor Chart

showing restaurant growth corresponding to the increase of women working outside the home since the 70s seems to parallel the climb in obesity.

The Ohio Historical Society

is scaling back its Archives hours from 3 days a week to 2 days because of a 2% budget cut. Ohio spends less on its Archives than any other state. Something doesn't sound right in this story which appeared in the Dispatch.

Guess which state

ranks no. 1 in the nation for technology in schools.

Give up?

Sure surprised me.

Limbaugh's silliness

His "operation chaos" is silly, and so is his claim "it's working." If the Democrats are going to fail, let them fall on their swords of divisiveness, poor planning, sense of self-importance and the American people wising up to their thinly veiled socialist rhetoric. He's always saying his listeners aren't mind-numbed robots, so let's assume they won't do anything stupid he suggests. McCain, on the other hand, is actively soliciting lukewarm Democrats to vote for him and offending Republicans by ignoring most conservative principles. This is really a strange election. Is it possible we have 3 Democrats running? A socialist, a liberal and a moderate?

By the way, I heard another reason to support McCain the other day--the third. It might be the last chance to elect someone from the generation born before the Boomers, like 1930-1945. (I think he was born in 1937.) That group hasn't had anyone in the White House. Bill Clinton and George W Bush are boomers. Reagan, Carter, Bush I, Kennedy and Johnson are/were Greatest Generation, all WWII vets. So that's three: national security, Supreme Court appointments, and his generation's place in history. Sigh. Any other ideas? Help me out here.

Update: Two more opinions at Thinklings on Rush's silliness:it's unchristian and unpatriotic, demeaning our vote.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

The grocery cart chart

in today's WSJ showed how food costs have jumped since the Democrats took back Congress in 2006. The change in consumer price index for food at home shows 2006 at below 1% and Feb. 2008 at 5.1%. Ouch.

Actually, I don't blame the Democrats specifically, but I do blame them generally because of their liberal policies, and Republicans RINOS helped. George Bush may be a Republican, but fiscally he isn't conservative.

1) Hostility to big retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, etc. at the local level which drives up costs for the poor and deprives them of jobs. Wal-Mart brings down prices in the area.

2) Hostility to drilling for oil and development of new refineries. This keeps us dependent on foreign oil and raises our food costs (transportation).

3) Deeply held, fundamentalist faith that man controls the climate. Regulations put in place by fear of global warming (while China and India do nothing) are promoting changes to less efficient and not yet highly developed biomass fuels.

4) Scare mongering by the main stream, liberal press even when we were experiencing the best economic upswing since the post WWII years.

5) Victimization and dependency building of minorities and lower income workers, increasing their need for government intervention, such as the latest housing problems when the meaning of "Adjustable Rate" came as a huge shock to home owners with no equity.

6) The threat of higher taxes, which both Democratic candidates are promising, has really cooled interest in investing just as boomers begin their retirement years. Hillobama makes rich people and corporations who produce goods and services out to be demons and bad guys while they and their families live luxuriously and send their children to private school. Even Mrs. Obama who earns a 6 figure income encouraged low income women in Zanesville, Ohio not to dream or aspire to a better life but to choose a service (less than $40,000) career.

But back to the grocery cart. When Kroger started its "loyalty card" program about 8 years ago, they lost me as a loyal customer. Loyalty plans are just a fancy name for couponing, and I refuse to play games with my food. (The original coupon was a wooden nickle.) So I switched to Meijer's, a nice medium sized Midwestern chain that doesn't use loyalty cards and gimmicks to save the consumer money. However, the nearest one is over 5 miles from here, so I've been trying out Marc's on Henderson Road. It is a small Ohio chain, and looks pretty low end when you first walk in with crowded aisles and check out counters that don't move. But I've been pleased with their organic selection, meat and fresh produce. Also, I'm less tempted to stroll through the household section and add to my food bill by picking up things I don't really need.

4744 I'm no math whiz

Are these statements true? Mickey, a high school friend of my husband, sent them along. (People who e-mail my husband don't know he doesn't use the computer and that I read his e-mail first.)

Interesting.

4743

Liberal Christians who speak in tongues

The editorial last week in our SNP (neighborhood) papers by Lyndsey Teter was titled "Can Columbus churches unite to end poverty?" made me think of Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth (ca. 53 A.D.). Corinth was a wealthy city with a global commerce and a flourishing art center. I don't think the tiny Christian church necessarily participated in or built that wealth, but the Christians were exposed to it and suffered under its pagan influence, much like Christians today suffer and scatter under the influences of our hyper-sexualized, hyper-materialistic culture. It's hard to always know what local problems he was addressing since we don't have their letter to him, but we know this--pride in certain types of gifts and behavior when they gathered for worship was one of them, and Paul addresses this in Chapter 14.

Ms. Teeter first tells us that Columbus churches of various traditions will join for a revival on April 16 and set their faces to fight poverty in a "justice revival." It is being led by Jim Wallis of Sojourners, who "has come to represent the Christian left, a counter to right-wing pastors such as Rod Parsley of World Harvest Church. . ." [if there is a pastor representing liberal churches who are silent on the Gospel, she doesn't provide a name]. After 3 days of praise and worship, the Christians will fan out to do service projects. So far, I'm underwhelmed because every Christian I know, liberal and conservative, mentors, or visits the sick and elderly, or works with Habitat, or Big Brothers, or Kairos Prison Ministry, etc.

Then she continues: ". . .getting left-leaning and right-leaning Christians united under one banner may be its larger accomplishment. . . half in the pews believe fearlessly protecting the unborn and the sanctity of marriage are tops on the agenda, while the tree-hugging hippy Christians like myself think leaders have alienated potential church-goers by pushing those two issues to the surface. Improving the social conditions of people in this world ought to be far more important, we say."

This is a well-meaning liberal Christian "speaking in tongues," code for all the social justice language and meaningless programming we've come to expect from guilt ridden Christians who struggle with having more when some have less. Read her words carefully (and she's far more accurate than most journalists). Her error is this: Conservative churches are the ones growing; studies show conservative Christians are the ones that give sacrificially. Not only do they give to their own churches to support staff and programs, but they also are more motivated to give to non-religious, helping organizations like United Way and Red Cross. As individuals, they have left the seeker status and have moved on to response mode.

What I remember most from my years in the liberal church is that everyone was always looking for the TRUTH and never hearing it from the pulpit or in Sunday School or small social groups. So they would join Vaud-Villities or run for breast cancer or jingle a pail for Charity Newsies and hope that counted for something. They were like starving little chicks, peeping and pecking away at the rocks of government programs, pebbles of good works and gravel of mystical seances, while the beckoning plump mother hen with the Gospel clucked and called from nearby.

What makes her think that Christians of all stripes are not speaking to each other unless an outsider from DC brings us together? I regularly meet with other Christians who are pro-choice and believe in evolution. Their beliefs do not represent mine, nor mine theirs. I get e-mails about end-times and the rapture, and special healing and herbal recipes, also from well-meaning Christians.

Yet Lyndsey Teter says potential church-goers are being pushed away by stances [of conservatives] on gay marriage, abortion and euthanasia. Where? Membership and growth figures prove her wrong. Why not point out the potential church-goers who are put off by what they hear and find in liberal churches? It's terribly hard for a church to grow if it has no message except commissioning a task force to end hunger or hymns to a clean environment and a Mother-Father primal parent [God]. Potential members can join a non-profit or NGO and keep Sunday open for leisure and sports if that's the extent of the message.

In their zeal to "get along" or "make a difference," conservative churches often wander away from their core truth, the message of God's redemption plan for mankind, believing and preaching it as a good starting point instead of the whole point. I hope this event is not a sign that this is happening in Columbus to some of our larger, more dynamic evangelical churches.

Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air. . . Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church."

Monday, March 31, 2008

Challenging the common view

The press release from the National Science Foundation didn't raise eyebrows in this household:

"New research suggests political freedom and geographic factors contribute significantly to causes of terrorism, challenging the common view that terrorism is rooted in poverty." I am tired of poverty or the "wealth gap" being the dead horse constantly flogged by academics and politicians so they can line their own pockets with government grants. Everything from obesity to learning disabilities to the digital divide is blamed on poverty, to say nothing of terrorism domestic and international, as though the non-poor never have social, spiritual, psychological, political or economic struggles.

The NSF has an annual budget of almost $6 billion to research these things. And it took them this long to figure this out? Who says people with money don't have problems?

Don't judge Obama by his pastor!

Conservative media are having a blast rerunning video of Jeremiah Wright's racist sermons and repeating the story that Barack Obama should have done something about his pastor. There may be 50 reasons to not vote for Obama, but his pastor isn't one of them. People who say this don't understand the structure of Protestant churches. First of all, if you criticise the pastor, the assistant pastor, the Sunday School staff, the organist, or even the janitor, you will be told nicely, and with love, that there are other churches (probably 5,000 denominations) which can meet your needs and perhaps it's time for you to go look at the alternatives. Second, for millions of Christians, their church is their home base, their family in a society where the nearest relative might be 500miles away, or friends live on the other side of the city, 45 minutes away. Third, many Christians are "Chreasters"--they attend only on the big holidays, and sermons at Christmas and Easter are usually standard fare. Where would they go where they would agree with everything? Especially Obama. He was not a Christian before meeting Rev. Wright. He was raised in the home of his white secular grandparents. How would he know what he might hear elsewhere in another black church after he'd given up a mentor and his church family?

If people have asked why Chelsea Clinton didn't stop her mother from lying about Bosnian snipers, I haven't seen it discussed. But the dynamics are similar. She loves her mother and respects her, warts and all. They've been through a lot together. Where is she going to find another family who will give her the visibility and power few women her age have? She knows her mother was lying about having war experience; she knows her father is a philandering liar. Where is she going to get another family if she turns her back on them because of their lies?

Sunday, March 30, 2008

4740

Poor, lonesome, soundless letter "C"

Lately I've been reading William Tyndale's New Testament, it's excellent introduction by Priscilla Martin, and Tyndale's introduction and prologues to the NT books (1534, based on the 1938 ed). It's amazingly easy to read--large parts of the King James Version are based on this translation. Getting the Bible into the language of the English people was the dream he died for (he was strangled and his body burned). Anyway, one speech form that hasn't been modernized in this 1534 translation is the use of -eth and -th at the end of verbs. No one knows what 15th and 16th century English sounded like--we have no recordings. And there are those who think the -th and -eth were actually prounced not with a lisp, but a hiss, as an "S." And if you've ever tried it, it makes reading those older English Bibles much easier. Many more people heard the word than read the word in those days. The KJV was meant for the ear. "For God so loveth the world, that he hath given his only son, that none that believe in him should perish, but should have everlasting life."

That lead me to thinking about the letter "C" which has no sound of its own in English, but which is essential in so many words. It is either an "S" or a "K" or is combined with a consonant "H" to be hard or soft ch or sh. Sometimes a C with a T has an SH sound--but it might have the same sound combined with an I. Sometimes it is just completely ignored, as the first C in SCIENCE. I've blogged about this letter before, as in "concrete cellar chute."

Our sermon series right now is on "Faith Training," and today's sermon by Buff Delcamp was on the word "run." These are the "C" words I noted during the service:

Ч ч

Tyndale's translation changed the politics of England (yes, I know why Henry VIII left the Catholic church) with just a few words. He used the Greek manuscripts instead of the Latin Vulgate (Wycliff used that 2 centuries earlier) in his translation. This means that PENANCE became REPENTANCE (Mark 1:1-3), and CHARITY became LOVE (1 Corinthians 13). Ecclesia was translated CONGREGATION instead of CHURCH. This undercut the power of the Catholic church even without the doctrine of justification which was the big issue among the German Lutherans.

Isn't language interesting. And if you depend on a translation that is either a paraphrase, or is burdening you with 16th century English, then Tyndale died for nothing! He was a stickler for accuracy, beauty and sound.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Think local, act short term

You'll do far more good. Sixteen year olds are just not going to get turned on to a project to help their grandchild inherit a better earth. On our way to Worthington last night to have dinner with our friends Wes and Sue, we were stopped at a light at 315 and North Broadway. What a mess. There is trash--bottles, bags, old political signs, posters, grocery sacks, newspapers--embedded in all the branches and grasses, smashed up against the wire fences, and strewn along the easements and berms. I'm not sure if this is a county problem or a city problem, but I know it is a local problem. Everytime a piece of paper breaks loose from a garbage truck bin, it collects itself with other trash along a fence row. Everytime a wise guy tosses a beer bottle from the car window, he's invading my space. All the schools have community service requirements "to incorporate classroom skills with the real world." A few stints of cleaning up these areas instead of the cushy inside jobs at the senior center or the local library would probably teach teens a lesson they'd never forget. Litter hurts.

Night Terrors

On radio and TV, at 3 a.m. the weirdos come out to spread lies, terrors, fears and falsehoods. The radio guys are not quite as well funded as public TV so they just report on outer space aliens, faces in syrup on pancakes, and major government plots. The stuff that shows up on your tax supported public TV channels is a lot more anti-capitalist, anti-American and more subtly about government plots. They can make Jeremiah Wright (Obama's pastor who preaches black liberation theology) look like a beginner, but with less shouting.

This morning on WOSU-TV about 3:30 a.m. I came across "Unnatural causes: Is inequality making us sick," by California Newsreel--your source for "social justice." The title is a no brainer--of course they think inequality makes people sick. There was no discussion--it was incredibly lop sided. I don't know if Heritage Foundation puts out films on health, but if it does WOSU should provide equal time. In the few minutes I watched this propaganda, there was no information on wealth and class mobility (I've been in 4 of the 5 quintiles), or the wealth of households which have married parents compared to those that don't, or the fact that in Western countries with a base of socialized medicine, wealth will still buy a person a level of care (and speed) that the lowest paid subsidized worker can't have (we have friends in Finland and have seen this). We have many levels of government health care in the U.S., Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, the VA health care system, and the people who use it most effectively also use their private wealth just as in Canada, England, France, Finland, etc.

Every socialist, well-dressed think-tank CEO, consulted for this film from Warren Buffett to lobbyist, black, brown or white, was himself well-off--it was everyone else (oddly enough only since the 80s--hmmm, must be a clue) who was hurting. That's how they make their income (except Buffett whose wealth has softened his brain). No mention of the damage to the health and welfare of children that moving masses of women into the labor force since the early 1970s has done. Or the damage done to children who are scraped from the womb into garbage pails and never have an opportunity to earn any income at all. Most poor children don't have married parents. That's their gap. No, these folks want more money for daycare to push more children out of the home. And more power for government run schools (while they send their children to private schools). If only there were less of an income gap they say, there would be better health all around--i.e., redistribute middle class wealth into government grants for various pork infested programs. Maybe that will bail Arnold and California out of their spiraling debt?

After you get safe water, which we've had since the early 20th century, good health is primarily genetic and behavioral--remove the genes you inherited and your bad eating habits, your smoking and drinking, and see what this looks like. But don't compare the U.S. to countries that haven't become the home of immigrants from every continent's gene pool for 500 years.

I've composed a song just for California Newsreel to use in its trailers after viewing its list of high priced titles. Haven't got a tune yet.

California Newsreel Theme song

Oh sing along, along with me
about a socialist choppy sea
in which we all can drown drown
equally and all around 'round.

Oh, fiddle-dee-dee,
but not for me
I'm way too smart
for my good heart.

It's for you, it's for you
Your taxes, not just a few
Gimme, gimme oh let me see
The first cut will come to me!

Refrain:
Gimme, gimme oh let me see
The first cut will come to me!

Friday, March 28, 2008

Friday Family Photo 1968

Forty years ago, February 1968, I took my baby daughter to the Ohio State University Libraries catalog department, where I'd been a Slavic cataloger, to show her off. I had resigned when she arrived and didn't return to work for 9 years. Looking at this photo, what I find so remarkable is not how gorgeous she was, or that my winter coat had fur cuffs and collar, but how dressed up we all were. It almost looks like a party, but I had simply dropped by to let them see her. In those days, women library staff didn't wear slacks to work, and jeans were unthinkable. Look at that! High heels, jewelry--that's amazing. As skirts got shorter and shorter in the late 60s and early 70s, making it impossible to be graceful or comfortable, women welcomed the pants suit, and haven't looked back! And we did a lot of walking in those days--everything you did at your desk had to be checked and double checked in various printed sources or the card catalog. Looks like we stayed trim. The main building, Thompson Library on Neil Avenue, is closed now for remodeling, but at that time the catalog department was on the first floor approximately where the offices of the reference department staff were a few years back (technical services were in the basement since the mid-70s.)

If her lips are moving

Whether it is about her pre-Bush belief in the threat of WMD and Saddam Hussein, or dodging sniper fire in Bosnia, or the right wing conspiracy to bring down Bill with LIES about his sex life, or her financial scare stories about all the industries she currently denounces, you can't believe her. And the media mavens let us know what they think of truth (all quotes in today's USAToday) It's just not a big deal.

Update 3-29: Peggy Noonan thinks the press and some supporters might finally be wise to her.