Hanging Chad outcome again?

The Democrats created the hanging chad fiasco in Florida in 2000 by claiming their own registered voters were confused and officials would need to guess at intentions in a recount. And a recount of the recount of the intentions.

Lawyers flocked;
voters mocked;
Democrats squawked.

Now their state rules and their own inaction could mess them up in trying to elect Obama. If McCain wins Florida, no problem. But if Obama wins and the Democrats haven't gotten their certification of electors to the governor by Sept.1, I'm sure we'll see another Supreme Court trying to decide their intent instead of their acts. Tallahassee Democrat explains.

HT Taxman

Update: What's happening with the challenges to Obama's birth certificate?

I ignored the Edwards rumors when I first heard them (no one would be THAT low, I thought), so decided to take a look at the Obama constitutional residency requirements. Some of the rumors are quite wild and salacious. Seems Daily Kos actually posted a fake COLB (certificate of live birth) to squelch the rumors, but if it is fake, it only inflamed things. Obama could settle this. Just present his original birth certificate (although to whom I have no idea). I'm in a genealogy class this week. People do this all the time. His would have to be requested by him (privacy laws) since you can't just get the documents of living people, which would be the first question I'd ask Kos. Lots of birth certificates have errors. When the grave marker was to be prepared for my sister, it was discovered her birth certificate didn't match the name she'd used all her life. My father's read: Baby Boy, with no first name. It was never filled in by the doctor who delivered him. Maybe Obama did this while on his Hawaiian vacation this week. McCain was also born outside the continental U.S. but both his parents were citizens. If only one parent is a natural born citizen, then there are additional guidelines, like length of residency of the parent. And Hawaii wasn't a state during part of this period of his mother's required residency. At least I think that's the drift. I doubt that illegitimacy is the issue, or a middle name of Muhammed, speculation I've also seen at blogs. These days, Hussein isn't exactly a winner, and no one cares if your parents were legally married in 1961. At least it doesn't matter if born in 2008.

Lakeside 2008, what's happening in week 8

It seems that all we've done lately is eat! The Society of Old Salts had its regatta and dinner at the pavilion this past Saturday. My husband wasn't the oldest, but he sure was the most gutsy. The regatta rules allow anyone--from the ones sailing for 30-40 years to the instructors to the athletic teen-helpers to enter. You could almost photocopy the winners list from year to year. My husband entered doubles with an 18 year old college freshman from Bloomington, Illinois. They met in class last summer. I was standing with her parents as we watched them stranded in "irons" when the clip that holds the halyard broke. That put them last in that event, even though they weren't last in the other two races. But as another more experienced sailor said, "You beat everyone who didn't even try."

Then the same group gathered at someone's cottage last evening for more food and fun. Friday afternoon there was a reception at the Rhein Center with yummy treats. Yesterday after church at the Pavilion we ate breakfast at The Patio; tonight the artists/instructors from the Rhein Center are gathering at Juliann's home for a pot-luck; tomorrow night we're have Jim and Marian the Librarian over for dessert; Thursday there's a fund raiser at the hotel that's a dinner--I think it's for new park furniture; then there's the ice cream shops and snack outlets, and on and on. My jeans are getting tight.

This week I'm taking a Writers Workshop with Patricia Mote 9:30-11:30, M-F and Genealogy Basics with Detra 3:30 M-T at the Fountain Inn. She's an instructor with the LDS and has loads of experience. So I won't be able to take Rusti's class on art restoration for the 3rd time because there is a scheduling conflict, or the pastels class which are also at 9:30. This week is the 10th Annual Interfaith Week with seminars at 10:30 and 1:30 on prayer in the various traditions.

If your city were dying?

The Forbes top ten list of dying cities includes four in Ohio and two in Michigan. The first half of the decade, they were growing and the unemployment rate was extremely low. Since the mortgage melt down and the high gas prices, these cities, all linked to automotive jobs, have suffered not only job loss, but population loss. If they were your city and you the mayor, you probably wouldn't discourage business by promising them a "windfall profit tax," would you? If there was an oil, natural gas or coal cache in your city park, you'd most likely vote to drill, aesthetics be damned. All politics are local and you'd be out of a job by special election if you acted so stupid. But Obama wants to put the whole nation on that list. Drive out the successful energy companies, the folks who will also invest in alternative technologies, because they make too much money (i.e., they are too successful) and because you are beholden up to your unusual ears to the e-fundie-mentalists. Forbid the one effort that will ease the gasoline crisis and restore businesses and workers that depend on it. Dear Readers, and those of you like Sununu who skip the good parts, don't believe for a minute the nonsense about the number of years it takes. Ask any speculator how fast the prices would fall if drilling next week in ANWR were announced. Not a drop would need to flow before you'd see the pump price dip to reasonable. Barack Obama is so committed to weakening the economy so it will be "fair" for everyone, he can't be truthful about how far down his plan will bring us.

Ohio Update: Four boys and one girl were born in Toledo hospitals Friday and Saturday, all apparently to married parents, going by the names. Congratulations to these new parents who are giving their little ones a good start. There are no guarantees, of course, but children of married parents have a much better chance of NOT growing up in poverty.

Jill and Timothy Thuston, Maumee, boy, Saturday.
Sandra and Edward House, Toledo, boy, Saturday.
Amy and Larry Ward, Sylvania, boy, Saturday.
Bonita and Dwayne Moreheard, Toledo, boy, Saturday.
Megan and Tray Boze, Toledo, girl, Friday.

Just change the rules

I haven’t talked to anyone, conservative, liberal or libertarian, who has been happy with NCLB. Never fear, if you don’t like the outcome, someone will suggest just changing the rules. From OSUToday:

Up to three-quarters of U.S. schools deemed failing based on achievement test scores would receive passing grades if evaluated using a less biased measure, a new study suggests. OSU researchers developed a new method of measuring school quality based on schools' actual impact on learning. The impact measure more accurately gauges what is going on in the classroom, which is the way schools really should be evaluated if we're trying to determine their effectiveness, said Douglas Downey, co-author of the study and OSU professor of sociology. Read full story

Having school administrators be held accountable for the performance of children is not a new idea. It’s just become quite unpopular because it’s GWB’s pet program (The Bush administration has spent more money on education than any previous administration, and with no more success, because the federal government shouldn‘t be reaching into the the classroom to tweak education). Schools always take the credit when Worthington or Upper Arlington’s children do well in the national tests (suburbs of Columbus with many business and faculty families). No one wants the other award. Failure or Falling Behind. We all know the foremost reasons for success are genes and home life. Good schools and committed teachers can take that combination and run with it. Even then, some won’t succeed; and a few missing one or two will, surprising everyone. Married parents are a huge factor in school success because marriage determines the income, neighborhood and consistency that children need to do well in school.

Sociologists and educators will continue to sop up grants in an effort to make it something else. Like blaming the president, or you and me. Or past wrongs. Or lead paint. Or the neighborhood. They should spend their time studying the children who make it despite all odds. Then work from that instead of studying failure and building one more schoolhouse of cards. Oh, they’ve done that already? There are schools that succeed with minority and low income children from single parent homes? Vouchers? School choice? Parental involvement? Uniforms? Discipline? High expectations? Well, golly.

Another view: NCLBlog
A Baltimore teacher More Humbly did I teach

Looking back at the mortgage mess

I wrote this in April 2007. The mortgage and credit mess has expanded and spread. But this is all still true. Particularly note the problem the "access" mentality and "gap" concern brought to our economic health. This fascination with disparities, and not good health practices and results, is behind the push for universal health care.
-----------

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

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

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

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

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

Freitas, Pullman and traditional Christianity

I have no dog in this fight. I’m not Catholic, I have no young children to protect from dangerous books on the library shelves and my chances of seeing the movie The Golden Compass or reading Dan Pullman’s anti-Christian trilogy are slim to none. But I thought Donna Freitas’ review of the children’s books by the professed atheist as “theistic” and about the true God (a feminist-God rooted in the Old Testament), intriguing. She writes for Belief Net (quasi-spiritual web site), and a few days ago had a book review in the WSJ.

But then this view by Carl Olson made much more sense to me because Freitas‘ feminist brand of Christianity is certainly a type well known in the Protestant traditions (I’ve stopped attending certain “Christian” churches and worship services because of it). Luther, Wesley, Calvin, etc. were all wrong, or misguided, but truth can be found in various new-agey, pantheistic writings of obscure women, and we traditional Christians are just “knuckle-dragging, right-wing, hate-mongering, lite-beer swilling fundamentalists bent on the oppression of all that is open minded, free thinking, and otherwise delightfully dangerous.”

The problem, of course, is that the form of Catholicism touted by [Donna] Freitas is not the Catholicism rooted in Scripture and Tradition, articulated by the Councils, defended by the Magisterium, expressed in the Catechism, and taught by the popes—that is, authentic, historical, real Catholicism. But, again, Freitas believes that the councils, the Magisterium, the Catechism, and the popes are bad, rotten, oppressive, etc., etc. Like many of Dan Brown's [DaVinci Code] "Catholic" fans, she asserts that her brand of Catholicism is the real sort because it is opposed to the life-killing strictures of institution, authority, and doctrine, and open to the supposedly life-giving streams of pantheism, neo-paganism, and neo-Marxism. Insight Scoop

Also, I try to give people, even those I don’t like, even wildly successful, misguided authors, the benefit of the doubt. Pullman says he’s an atheist, that God is not only dead but never existed. Shouldn’t he know what he believes?

Blue states, black administrations, green messages and red ink

I don't know how Obama kept a straight face when he recently visited Detroit, deep in a red ink state. Or how he pumps up minorities in any major city. Talk about shucking and jiving! And Detroit's mayor is in jail. There are so many layers to that one I don't even know where to begin--affair with a staffer, perjury, leaving the country, shoving someone, etc. The governor's a woman. The state's taxed or driven businesses out of state with powerful unions. And Obama promises to raise taxes to help them. Oh, Lordy Lordy, is he even 40? And to think poor Bob Taft (Ohio's former governor) was hounded into obscurity by Democrats for accepting a free golf game.

Joining New York and California on the list of most unpopular states were New Jersey, Michigan and Massachusetts. . .

As the fiscal problems of some states increase, we are likely to hear more about how the federal government must bail them out. It's the failings of the federal government (that is, the Bush administration), that are responsible for state budget woes, so the argument goes.

But any look at the states with the biggest deficits reminds us that governors and legislatures are largely the authors of their own problems, and that the biggest trouble some of them seem to have is that their taxing and chronic overspending have made them toxic to the business community. Don't ask the feds to fix that.
See full story at Forbes.com

"OBAMA: So I want to first of all acknowledge your great mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, who has been...
(APPLAUSE)

... on the frontlines -- has been on the frontlines doing an outstanding job of gathering together the leadership at every level in Detroit to bring about the kind of renaissance that all of us anticipate for this great city.

And he is a leader not just here in Detroit, not just in Michigan, but all across the country. People look to him. We know that he is going to be doing astounding things for many years to come.
And so I'm grateful to call him a friend and a colleague. And I'm looking forward to a lengthy collaboration in terms of making sure that Detroit does well in the future." Obama speech in Detroit in May, Right Michigan

Language equivalencies

On ABC's Good Morning America today Rachel Martin was reporting on the problem the Democrats are having with "the big tent." Loyal, card carrying Democrats who believe the unborn are viable human beings were called "anti-abortion," (because Martin is a liberal*), and the others in the party were called believers in "a woman's right to choose." Hardly equivalents. If anti-abortion is the reporter's choice for one group, the equivalency in English is pro-abortion. If right to life is the reporter's choice, then the equivalency is a woman's right to choose. This is why reporting two viewpoints in the MSM isn't necessarily balanced or fair, or even good English. It's like Edwards calling adultery a mistake and error in judgement. The scarlet letter--Democrats seem to have a problem with A words.

*Until a few days ago, Rachel Martin was with NPR.

Writing fiction at Lakeside

This past week I've been in a beginning fiction class here at Lakeside. I write thousands of words a week--but I rarely do fiction, or even read it unless assigned by my book club. It's been great fun, and I've become sort of attached to the character I sketched out and then developed as the week went on, Ophelia, aka Philly, Lia, or Opy, depending on which other set of characters she's with. Her nieces and nephews call her Opy. Anyway, I have no plot. Poor thing. Stuck here in quiet, lovely Lakeside plotless.

But our teacher, Martha Moody (Best Friends, The Office of Desire), is loaded with them. She also mentioned yesterday that she had recently taught in an Arab-Israeli village. So I googled her webpage, and here's that story--but it's not fiction.

Yesterday a group gathered at the Rhein Center to celebrate its 10 year anniversary. The parents, widow and extended family of C. Kirk Rhein, Jr. were there to joyously remember him, and we all thank them for this wonderful memorial.

Avocado smoothie

Why? That's the word that comes to my mind. Not only why would you make a smoothie, but why avocado (admittedly, I don't like them). But Small Bites is always an interesting read, at least the entries I've read. Here's the recipe I will never make, but maybe you're feeling adventurous today.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup ice cubes
1/2 cup skim or soy milk (plain or unsweetened)
1/2 cup halved strawberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 Hass avocado
1 Tablespoon wheat germ
1 Tablespoon oat bran
2 teaspoons ground flaxseed

NOTE: For a less thick smoothie, add extra milk or water, depending on your specific caloric preference.

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all ingredients in blender. Blend for 20 - 30 seconds.

NUTRITION FACTS:

381 calories
18 g fat (2 grams saturated fat)
15 grams fiber
3 grams added sugar (if made with plain soy milk)
11 grams protein

Excellent Source of: Monounsaturated fats, vitamin C, vitamin K, manganese, niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid.

Good Source of: Copper, folate, potassium

I'd just rinse off and cut up a few strawberries, sprinkle with blueberries, and add a little Cool Whip (or nothing), if I wanted a treat. But even so, I've learned that "treats" even healthy ones lead to "snacks" which lead to overeating. If I snack on a piece of fruit, I want a chaser of cheddar cheese. Also, I think drinking your calories, even if they are "good for you" is one of the reasons Americans are getting fat. It's not nearly as satisfying, it doesn't require sitting down and paying attention to what you're doing, and speeds up the process. The writer of Small Bites just loves flaxseed (ground). Adds it to a bunch of stuff. I tried that a few times and found it truly. . . awful. I think it sat in the back of the refrigerator until I took pity on it and threw it out. Andy has a nice video on the 5 healthiest foods to always keep on hand, and I have 4 of them and wholeheartedly agree--especially the canned black beans and boil in a bag rice. But please, no floating flaxseed. Yuk.

It's called adultery, Mr. Edwards

Ring around the rosy. Ashes. Ashes. A lot of words when we already have one that does the job.

"In 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs. I recognized my mistake, and I told my wife that I had a liaison with another woman, and I asked for her forgiveness. Although I was honest in every painful detail with my family, I did not tell the public."

I always thought it was odd he would go through the stress of the campaign and subject his family to it all for his personal aggrandizement and glory when he was needed at home to support his ill wife and frightened children. Now we know. Stress has a serious impact on health--what about the effect of his personal behavior on his wife's health! What a crumb bum. Now he's added even more pain to their lives and to his disappointed, loyal supporters who contributed many hours and hard earned money to his campaign.

Can polar bears scam architects?

The Al Gore polar bear hoax was disproven a long time ago

"Pictures of a polar bear floating precariously on a tiny iceberg have become the defining image of global warming but may be misleading, according to a new study.

A survey of the animals' numbers in Canada's eastern Arctic has revealed that they are thriving, not declining, because of mankind's interference in the environment.

In the Davis Strait area, a 140,000-square kilometre region, the polar bear population has grown from 850 in the mid-1980s to 2,100 today.

"There aren't just a few more bears. There are a hell of a lot more bears," said Mitch Taylor, a polar bear biologist who has spent 20 years studying the animals." Story source

But don't tell the AIA which is still offering "can competitions" with endangered animal themes. And of course, bear experts disagree. But on this they don't,

"Contrary to concern over a celebrated photograph of a bear and its cub floating on a tiny iceberg, the animals often travel in that way, he said.

"Bears will often hang out on glacier ice or large pieces of multi-year ice," he said."

“An UnBEARable Truth,” by New York City architecture and interior design firm Butler Rogers Baskett, took Jurors’ Favorite with a moving depiction of two stranded polar bears—one trapped on a tiny ice flow with its head stretched skyward, while the other struggled to stay afloat in the water, no land in sight. In addition to its sculptural and structural purity, the jury stated it was the perfect metaphor for global warming and commended the entry for addressing the interspecies issue. AIArchitect This Week.

Even at Lakeside we can not get away from this drivel. Our singer this week, Kathy Mattea, is a shill for Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth. How inconvenient for those of us who see it as a political hoax but pay our gate fees, assessments and property taxes to be here.

The Jonas Brothers

This morning I've been watching this week's boy band (are they still called that?) the Jonas Brothers. They are hot, I mean, in the popular sense.

"The Jonas Brothers have sold millions of albums, scored big with the recent Disney Channel movie "Camp Rock," and are now, oh, about as famous as Miley Cyrus was two weeks ago. In fact, the boy band's Hanson-like stars, ages 15 to 20, may have just surpassed her as the objects of your child's affection." Boston Globe

Because as my status as the fashion police, I immediately noticed their clothes. I hope it catches on. They were wearing 1) clothes that fit, 2) that covered, 3) decent hair cuts, 4) one brother was even wearing a white shirt with a tie. And they sort of prance like the audience's grandmother's crush, the Rolling Stones. What is this retro look? Oh, be still my heart.

Lakeside 2008 Ice Cream we all scream

Sunday was the Hotel ice cream social, and the weather was perfect, the color fabulous, the eats terrific. Even I contributed brownies--I didn't buy though. I waited until Wednesday evening, and we went to Coffee and Cream for a huge dish of ice cream and watched a crowd of high school kids and their parents swarm down Walnut Avenue (our 2 block long business district)--they're here for band camp.

The American Legion Band provided the wonderful music at the Ice Cream Social, the SOS guys offered Kids Sail, volunteers cut the cake and dished the ice cream, the pavilion was turned over to the children for organized games, the Women's Club was having its annual book sale, and God lavished us with bright sunshine and refreshing breezes.

Eating ice cream and cake by the lake
Clowns to entertain, a quilt and painting to raffle
and lots of games for the kids
Here comes lil' brother
even babies can do this
and the band played on

Obama's Lost Years

is the title of a Weekly Standard article that sifts through his many columns and articles that appeared in The Hyde Park Herald and the Chicago Defender during his years in the Illinois Senate.

What they portray is a Barack Obama sharply at variance with the image of the post-racial, post-ideological, bipartisan, culture-war-shunning politician familiar from current media coverage and purveyed by the Obama campaign. As details of Obama's early political career emerge into the light, his associations with such radical figures as Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Father Michael Pfleger, Reverend James Meeks, Bill Ayers, and Bernardine Dohrn look less like peculiar instances of personal misjudgment and more like intentional political partnerships. At his core, in other words, the politician chronicled here is profoundly race-conscious, exceedingly liberal, free-spending even in the face of looming state budget deficits, and partisan. Elected president, this man would presumably shift the country sharply to the left on all the key issues of the day-culture-war issues included. It's no wonder Obama has passed over his Springfield years in relative silence.

As Obama tracks to the center to pick up the votes of the Obamacons and undecideds, this should be interesting reading. Frankly, I've been amazed at his transformation in the past two years. He's either the most crafty politician of our era, or has top flight handlers and managers.

It's OK to hit back if he's old

Paris Hilton has a very clever comeback and is using her pretty face and McCain's celebrity ad about Obama to strike back. She has proven she can read text as well as Obama and that it's still OK to ridicule old people (anyone over 30 to her). However, you can't call Obama anything if you are describing his physical appearance, his education, his speech, his family, or his values. It's all a racist sub-text according to the lefties. On the other hand, he's allowed to grab onto conservative ideas to fool the voters and hide his Marxism, because that seems to be the elephant no one, not even McCain, wants to talk about. But this is OK

"He is the oldest celebrity in the world, like super old. Old enough to remember that dancing was a sin and the beer was served in a bucket, but Is He Ready To Lead?" and the images show John McCain.

John McCain may never be blond, may never be President. But Paris will never be known for anything but her family name, and will definitely be old some day. She should thank McCain for showcasing her flailing career. Let's hope the AARP and the VFW goes after her on behalf of the millions of men and women, black, white and brown, skinny and fat, she has insulted.

I'm betting Britney wishes her handlers had thought of this. Her career needs some help too.

Keno

Just one more way to tax Ohio's poor Thanks, Gov.

It is never good public policy to advocate people throwing money away. The state lottery is a tax upon lower income Ohioans and is played and promoted in urban centers. This 'tax on the poor' is the wrong way for the state to raise money. Strickland's Shell game, Ohio Roundtable

How gambling ruins lives

But it made a good campaign issue

In 2006 many Democrats were promising impeachment. Of course, they've done nothing (about anything they promised you), because, well, they're Democrats with approval ratings even lower than the President's. Not to worry; if you can find no impeachable offenses--go for impeachment-lite, a committee hearing where you can stack the deck with all your buddies from code pink, the Obamatites, and lefty authors who need to sell their trash rather than have it buried in the stacks. It's all about the cameras.

At one point, when Conyers told Cindy Sheehan she would have to leave if she didn't stop shouting from the visitors section, he called her by name, as if she were a special constituent of his. Which, in a way, she is now. Conyers didn't try very hard to keep the crowd quiet. He called them "visitors" but they were more like clients or patrons of the proceedings. . .

If you believe the president really told deliberate lies to take the country to war for personal or idiosyncratic reasons, you must believe the president behaved monstrously. But none of the Democratic witnesses--and none of the Democratic members of the committee--could keep their focus on the war. They also wanted to talk about Bush's abuse of executive privilege (by refusing to let White House personnel testify in congressional investigations), his abuse of signing statements (putting his own interpretation on enrolled bills while still signing them into law), allegations that he gave preference to Republicans at the Justice Department--charges that shouldn't be in the same league with wrongly dragging the nation into war.

We're in good hands

If Lakeside's young people are any indication, our nation is in good hands--or will be in 10-20 years. And our schools are perhaps doing a better job than nay sayers report. I'm in a fiction class at the Rhein Center this week and most of the class is about ages 12-15. There's only one other adult. These beautiful kids are incredibly articulate, motivated, aware, and fabulous writers. I was stunned. I'm definitely the slacker in the group when it comes to writing. I didn't meet any young people like this among my children's classmates in the 1980s (and Upper Arlington has one of the best school systems in the state), none in my generation, and none in my parents'. They are better than most of the fiction bloggers twice their age with college courses that I've read. Some of my "classmates" have been writing seriously and energetically half their lives. Admittedly, that's not a lot of years on my calendar, but it's huge on theirs. Even taking into consideration that maybe it's typical for teens to exaggerate a bit--28 novels and published poetry (which one girl reported)? True, she admitted that the novels weren't finished or polished, but when I was her age I was writing a short paragraph once or twice a week to "Dear Diary." And supportive! I think they've all been in critique classes before--they listen attentively and find something good in each piece when we share. They know the vocabulary of writing and how to use it. And when I say they are beautiful, I include physical beauty as well. Yet, most report being on the outside among their peers. Some of that I'm sure is the normal teenage angst where you ardently believe everyone else has it together, but also people who go on to become novelists, artists and screen writers probably do have a different emotional stair to climb. They are definitely on their way.

This is the Rhein Center's 10th year of offering classes. Established in a dilapitated, boarded up building in memory of C. Kirk Rhein, Jr., a son and grandson of Lakesiders lost in TWA Flight 800, it is now a pleasant, busy, humming hive of laughter and effort. I'm sure it's a joy every day to family members to see this building so well used.

In the afternoon I'm in a flower painting watercolor class. I rarely do flowers, although I have tried. I learned a new technique, and if you get even one "take away" from either a class or a sermon, it's a good day. One of my classmates is in my husband's perspective drawing class in the morning. She was so excited about it--gives me something to think about, she said. Whatever! Figuring out perspective is just frustrating for me.

Then in the evening Sue and I went to the movie theater in Lakeside (the only one in the county) to see "The Visitor," a very low key, but touching and timely film about personal loss, friendship and illegal immigration. Well worth seeing if it comes to your area. The NYT review is good, if somewhat nit-picky (but that's what they are paid to do), and this one really over reaches, as though those of us who are insulted and dismayed by an immigration law, first established by liberals in the 60s "to be fair" by limiting whites and westerners, have no heart or soul. Nonsense in wasted pixels.

The low down on the uptick in AIDS

The newest JAMA isn’t available to me yet, but for the typical New York Times hysterical editorializing of health information news, see yesterday’s paper. I read about the "big government cover up" (subtext: it’s all Bush’s fault) story at the coffee shop this morning.

Opening paragraph: “The AIDs epidemic in the U.S. is about 40% worse than the government has reported.”

First of all, there is no epidemic in the U.S. AIDs or HIV affect a tiny percentage of the population--mostly promiscuous, young, risk-taking gay men and IV drug users. Studies as early as 15 years ago in public health journals showed that after all the valiant efforts of the gay community to clean up their behavior or die (and many of them did both), the younger gay men rushed right back to the bath houses and sex without condoms once the drug cocktails became effective in extending their lives, but they also spread the disease and picked up other STDs which lowered their resistance. You don’t find out the role of gay men in this story until about paragraph 15 (53% of new infections are in young gay men, an extremely small demographic).

Second, you find out if you read far enough, more accurate measures account for the increase changing the results and numbers. There’s no government plot folks, move along. The CDC, which did the most recent study and all the previous studies, IS THE GOVERNMENT (think FEMA with a little black bag and clip boards) .

Third, the author of the NYT article attempts to hint at a conspiracy to keep this quiet because 2 peer review journals returned it when it came out in October 2007. That’s not the least bit unusual--I used to be a peer reviewer. Often they are sent back because the statistics or procedures are not clearly explained, they exceed the word limit, the citations are incorrect, or the data false or misleading. The redo improves the piece. That JAMA will report it is also not unusual--its editorial policies are about as liberal as the NYT. It was embargoed so it could be presented at a conference, but someone violated that--all in the public’s best interest, of course (sarcasm alert).

Fourth, in true NYT fashion, President Bush is faulted for the billions spent on AIDS in foreign countries, rather than attacking the epidemic at home. The guy just can't win.

Fifth, here’s the best line in the article. Someone in CDC is quoted as saying “We’re not effectively reaching men who have sex with men and African Americans to lower their risk.” Yeah, like no gay man knows that gay bars and bath houses and downlow (closeted homosexual) with the ladies is risky behavior. And I just know that gay teens and 20-somethings would most certainly stop having sex if CDC just put out enough posters, TV ads and brochures. Just the way the government has successfully controlled smoking and obesity.

Giving up on plastic

The other day I heard some kids chanting while biking up our street--“paper, plastic, Styrofoam.” I have no idea if this was some counting game they’d learned in a social studies class--a PC, 21st century “one potato, two potato. . .”--or if they just like the rhythm. A British blogger is recording his daily effort to live without plastic--not cutting up his credit card, but rejecting anything served or stored in plastic, and it’s harder than he thought. Even the loose fruit at the market he learns was shipped in huge containers of plastic to protect it--maybe more than those packaged fruits.

Glance around your house today, you'll see the problem. Looking around my living room, porch and kitchen here at Lakeside, I have some sympathy. It’s hard to live without plastic. After supper, I tossed out the plastic container and lid from the deli for the chicken salad; my Sunday coffee came in paper but has a plastic lid; I’m storing tomorrow’s coffee in a one quart plastic container; I made it with my new $14 Mr. Coffee machine, most of which is plastic; the shelves on the door of the 5 year old refrigerator are plastic, as are the drawers--I have 2 extra drawers taken from the 1960s model it replaced and they are metal; all the left overs and fresh stuff are stored in plastic containers or bags; the cord to my digital camera is stored in a plastic bag, as is the camera (plastic case) when it’s in my purse; my favorite #2 BIC (and I must have 50 of them) are plastic “mechanical pencils;" the basket on my 40 year old bike is plastic, the seat is plastic and I have it covered with a plastic grocery bag in case it rains; the bag from the optometrist for my new plastic frame glasses is plastic as is the bottle of lens cleaner; the cover on the 20 year old TV is plastic painted to look like wood; the flashlight under the TV stand is plastic; the jewel case for the several CDs on my desk are plastic; one of our porch wicker chairs isn’t wicker at all--it’s woven plastic to look like wicker and wears much better than the real stuff; the spiral binder on my blogging notebook is plastic and the cover clear acrylic (a plastic); over on my bookshelf many of my books have plastic spirals; all the pill bottles on the kitchen counter are plastic; the counter top is Formica--a plastic laminate; the kitchen trash can is plastic with a plastic bag inside ; the bag where I put the glass bottles and plastic containers for taking to a recycling location is plastic; our 10 year old outside trash containers which replaced the dented and abused metal cans are plastic; when I go to the Farmer’s Market and select lovely locally grown fruits and vegetables from the farmers’ wagons, the growers dump them into reused plastic bags; the kitty litter box is plastic and I scoop the poop into plastic grocery bags with a plastic slotted tool; my 20 year old dish drainer and dish pan are plastic as are all the containers of soap and cleaners under the sink which probably has some plastic pipes; I have a few colorful plastic drinking “glasses” and dishes in the cupboards; the doggie gate for our “grand puppy” which keeps her from pestering our cat is plastic; the cat’s feeding dishes are plastic--50 year old melamine; the night lights in all the rooms are plastic as are the wall covers for the outlets; our mini-blinds are plastic; the hand lotions and all my cosmetics are in plastic bottles; my computer case is plastic as is the mouse; the surge protector for my computer is plastic; my printer is plastic; the cover on the thermostat is plastic; the elaborate frame around a grandfather’s baby photo (ca. 1875) is probably celluloid, an early form of plastic; my white athletic shoes which look like leather are really plastic as are the tips of the cotton shoe strings; the buttons on my blouse are plastic (my slacks are so old that the zipper is metal, but most these days are plastic).

Environmentalists are really sort of snobs, aren‘t they? Especially the American and European e-nuts and greenies who jet around and want you to drive a little electric car so third world citizens will stay simple, culturally pure and starving. I’m a strong believer in recycling--it’s economical, saves resources, and creates jobs. However today's environmental movement is about 95% political and 5% spiritual. A huge power grab. Plastics have obviously enabled the ordinary person like me to live or buy the way only the wealthy could afford 40 or 50 or 100 years ago. Americans have lifted entire countries out of poverty by buying plastic doo-dads we really don't need in a global market. Buying locally grown produce and carrying it home in a cloth bag in the natural wicker bicycle basket to be stored in a cool root cellar or wind powered refrigerator, or growing your own, is fine if you live in rural California, or for 3 summer months in Ohio, but that’s a pretty restricted diet for most of us. People who can live without plastics probably have servants, or a 2nd world life style.

Also, is it just me misremembering, or weren't the environmentalists of the 1970s telling us to use plastic bags to save the trees and disposable diapers to save on water and utilities?

Don't Drink the Cool-Aid

says Seth, one of the Fat Triplets, who appears to be a Libertarian and a conservative Christian. He says his brother Scott, also an FT, is a huge Obama supporter, so he is going to look at, not his charisma, but his policies.

What kinds of laws would he pass if his party is given complete control of congress?

How will he re-shape America?

What does he believe about the role of government?

"I think that an objective analysis of his speeches, voting record, and past policy initiatives will reveal Barack Obama to not be left-of-center (as my brother believes) but to be FAR-LEFT. You may ask, FAR-LEFT of what? What will form a baseline standard for evaluating his policies? Relative-to-what do I consider Barack to be on the FAR-LEFT.

And my answer, put simply, is the constitution. The REAL Contract With America that should form the basis of ALL political discourse and policy building is the constitution. Every elected official swears to uphold it. . . . I believe that what Obama has in mind for the country is extreme. I hope to show, by constitutional standards, that on the issues in which he should want an assertion of government power (the protecting of innocent human life) that Obama is on the extreme WRONG end of the spectrum. And that on issues in which he should desire a shrinking of government and infringement of federal power into our daily lives, Obama is, again, on the extreme WRONG end of the spectrum." And he promises to tell us more.

Obama needs help

says David Gergen on ABC's This Week (Sunday chat show) because McCain finally burst his balloon. Imagine. The world sees him for what he is, a good looking story teller with no substance and no experience who can excite the crowds, and now that he isn't soaring in the polls, it's because McCain is taking the low road? He had all the press all the time, all over Europe and the mid-east, and McCain gets snarky about his celebrity status, and now Gergen is panicked.

Our house guest

Wanna play?
I'm sure glad we don't have a 44 lb cat like the one that's been on the news lately. Our cat and our daughter's dog together weigh about 11 lbs., but there's lots of hissing and growling going on. Yes, we're puppy sitting for the next week while our kids are in Colorado. I have a long list of requirements, including snacks of yogurt and treats of fresh green beans. Our cat doesn't snack--that's why she weighs 7 lbs instead of 44.

Don't even think about it

She didn't die without a verb

You may recall (or not) I've written a poem about the obituaries--and how sad it is that some die without a verb. Pastor Petersen at Redeemer Lutheran in Fort Wayne knows his scripture and his verb phrases

". . . reported that Vivian has been relieved of this life's burdens and gone early to the reward of faith in Jesus Christ. She has come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord."

It doesn't mean her parents aren't grieving. I have two sons buried in Illinois; wish I'd known then what I know now. But the resurrection is coming.

Defeating Islamic terrorism

Iraq the Model blog says

Terrorism cannot be defeated by killing Bin Laden or even killing every single existing member of Al-Qaeda, especially considering the decentralized structure of terrorist organizations. Terrorism can be defeated by offering a model for a bright future that gives people who have suffered for so long hope and saves them from despair.

Iraq is now closer than ever to becoming this model, and victory in this chapter of the war is within hand…unless Obama succeeds in ending the war his way.

Other Obama Posts at Collecting my thoughtsOn abortion
Windfall Profits Tax
Speeches without Teleprompter
Obama and new taxes
Europeans prefer Obama
Obama's marxism
Don't ask, don't gossip
The real hope and change
Listening to Obama, a poem
Hymn for the Obama campaign
The isms in this campaign
Obama and the Israel tantrum
Obama's Illinois record
Speechifying
The Obamas and the poor
Who's next under the Obama bus?

with contributions by Sununu.

Who needs art classes?

I saw this fun add-on at Cathy's site.

You submit a photo to any one of many possibilities at PhotoFunia--billboards, t-shirts, appliances, and there you are!

This week at Lakeside there are two art classes (one for portraits) and two writing classes being offered that I might consider. My husband is also teaching, but his classes are too hard! I don't write well on assignment, and my last portrait effort certainly wasn't as good as this little computer trickster.

Not me, Michelle

"Every woman I know, regardless of race, education, income, background, is struggling every day to keep her head above water. We've been told we can have it all, but lose ourselves in the process." Michelle Obama

Not me, Michelle. But she said, every woman she knows, and I'm old enough to be her mother and I'm not a wealthy lawyer in a high profile life. (Obama's numbers are going up now that she's back in the closet.) That "we can have it all" was a message the feminists, progressives, humanists and liberals promoted almost 40+ years ago; now it's just a straw-woman to knock down in the ladies' magazines, one more thing for women to whine about. No one gives it serious consideration these days. I was a liberal back in the 1970s, but I knew better even then. Yes, you can have it all, just not all at the same time.

My husband has been on two mission trips to Haiti and is going back again in November. He says he's never met such happy people, yet they have nothing by our standards--not a road system, not clean water, not utilities, not sanitation, and certainly not a working government. It takes confiscatory taxes and gives nothing in return. Not even promises of hope and change. When you place your faith in careers, government bureaucracy, relationships, consumer goods or even your own power to make everything work your way, you're bound to be disappointed.

Carville on the 2004 loss

I saw this at The Chief Source, a Democrat blog, in November 2004.

MR. CARVILLE: The purpose of a political party in a democracy is to win elections. We're not doing that well enough, and I think that we can't deny that the problem exists. I think we have to confront the problem. And by and large, our message has been we can manage problems, while the Republicans, although they will say we can solve problems, they produce a narrative. We produce a litany. They say, "I'm going to protect you from the terrorists in Tehran and the homos in Hollywood." We say, "We're for clean air, better schools, more health care." And so there's a Republican narrative, a story, and there's a Democratic litany. And, you know, at a point, you look at 45 Senate seats, you look at a lost presidential election, and you say, "We have to rethink this thing." I really believe that.

MR. RUSSERT: But you're suggesting the Democrats lost, that George Bush didn't win.

MR. CARVILLE: Well, I'm suggesting--look, I said both. I gave him enormous credit. I said it was the signature political achievement of my life, but it wasn't just this election--and I think it's an election that people wanted change. I think if we had produced--the party itself--I just don't want to focus on Senator Kerry or his campaign. This is not the first election that we've lost. There's--something is setting in here.

Now, having said that, my friends caution me, and they're right. I mean, 48 percent--I mean, we're not starting in terms of shambles here, but I think this is a message to the Democratic Party: We need to produce a narrative. We need to be more about solving problems as opposed to managing them, and I think it's going to be interesting to see how it comes out.

Now it's the Republicans saying we're for clean air, better schools, and more health care, and the Democrats are for hope and change. They've switched focuses. Democrats decided they don't win with Hollywood and have gone to church. Republicans decided to go to warm and fuzzy specifics that sound good and offer nothing. It worked. Carville is one smart guy (he married a Republican). At that time (November 2004), Obama was preferred by 3% of Democrats, Hillary Clinton by 25%.

I watched all those weepy Democrats and sad faced media-folk in the post 2004 election analyses. They really focused on religion and cultivating the grass roots as the keys to winning (so long Hollywood celebs--see you after the election). And it worked--at least in Ohio--in 2006. We elected a former Methodist minister as our next governor. Very pious man, nice looking, good machine. But it really grates on my nerves to see him in ads for the state lottery.

Evangelicals have helped. The "emergent church" movement has decided the message of the cross isn't nearly as much fun as social feel-good topics and flashy worship services with loud music. So we can't give the Democrats all the credit.

Lakeside 2008 Sound of Music

Our local community theater group performed Sound of Music this past week. I didn't go--I heard it was about 3 hours; see my item on arthritis! However, did you know Maria von Trapp is 93 and still playing music? She visited her home town recently. Story here.

SiteMeter and blogspot having a problem

Imagine my surprise when IE said it wouldn't open my blog! I refuse to do any add-ons since the laptop is so touchy, so I didn't want to try Firefox. So I poked around on the various discussion lists and someone said SiteMeter was the problem. I really hesitated to pull it, because I really like that system (it's free and easy for non-techies like me), but oh well. ZIP, now I seem to be working again.

Arthur and me

There’s a joke going around since before my grandmother’s day about going out with Arthur--i.e. arthritis. The last time I chatted with my nice doctor, who increasingly has moved into management and can’t take on new patients (sorry), I told him about the aches I have in my legs and hip joints especially first thing in the morning, or after vigorous exercise. It goes away, but if I‘ve done much walking on Tuesday, especially on hard surfaces like concrete sidewalks or mall walking, Wednesday morning I‘m a bit unsteady. When I stand up to leave during intermission (here at Lakeside), I’m almost out of the auditorium before my gait is normal. So even a few minutes of sitting creates an ache similar to 30 minutes of brisk walking. He didn’t seem too concerned, but said it was arthritis and recommended glucosamine chondroitin (3 weeks before you notice any change, he said) or some pain medications.

So I’ve been doing a bit of research on the internet (PubMed, Medscape, Google Scholar), looking at 1) physical problems that aggravate the joints, 2) affects of mild exercise, 3) interventions like acupuncture or supplements for osteoarthritis, 4) and the possibility of orthotics. The pain I experience is actually very familiar--I remember it as young as age 12 when repetitive motion like ballroom dancing or horse back riding would create that same ache after only a few minutes. So I’m guessing something is out of alignment and it gets worse as I age. I’ve learned that any type of aerobic dance exercise, although great fun and a good cardio workout, will really set in motion a pain sequence. Some years ago my doctor recommended trying acupuncture for hip pain, and I did--only 2 or 3 sessions. Whatever it did, either reducing inflammation or interrupting pain messages to the brain, a few sessions worked for many months. So I’m definitely taking another look at that research.

Because of our aging population, this is a rich vein for researchers. If you don’t have arthritis now, just wait a few years. The mine field in working through medical research is “the gap.” If you go to any web page of the NIH or health foundation, you see there are vast amounts of grant money if you want to research the gap in care, treatment, or diagnosis between races, income groups, genders, education, etc. Now all I have to do is find the researcher looking for ME--white, healthy, well-educated, normal BMI, married, suburban and retired.

Right now I’m looking through the research of Brian C. Focht, an assistant professor in the College of Public Health at Ohio State. Here’s why. Assistant professors are hungry for grants and publications, because that’s how you get ahead in academe--they need to be cutting edge and find their niche**; the College of Public Health used to be the School of Public Health, so it is eager to establish itself (recently got a mega grant from NIH to do all that “gap” research--our tax dollar at work); and OSU is right next door, so it’s easy to check things out if a new study is gearing up and they are looking for me.

Millions are being invested in "lifestyle" research. It's not just the women's magazines--the government is eager to get you coming and going and control everything that goes in your mouth, nose or other orifices. That's why I liked the results of this one.

“Exercise + dietary weight loss results in improved mobility-related self efficacy; changes in these task-specific control beliefs and self-reported pain serve as independent partial mediators of the beneficial effect of exercise + dietary weight loss on stair-climb performance.” “Exercise, self-efficacy, and mobility performance in overweight and obese older adults with knee osteoarthritis,” Brian C. Focht and others, Arthritis Care and Research, 53:5; 659-665.

It seems this group did better than the “healthy lifestyle” control group. I love it when my own “eat less, move more” plan comes out on top, and doesn’t cost a thing.

Another article I read, also about knees, not hips, described mild exercise as slow walking. So I’ve slowed down, and right away I can tell the impact on the hip joints has lessened. Seems simple, but so much in exercise stresses cardio, that sometimes we forget those other muscles and joints have needs too.

Johns Hopkins Health Alerts--Arthritis

**Barack Obama, who spent 12 years teaching at the University of Chicago Law School and didn't publish a single paper, is the exception (according to the NYT, July 30). Some folks get a different set of rules.

Polls show Americans quickly forget who supported the surge

"A new poll from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press shows the American public increasingly concerned about rising energy and food costs. The national survey, conducted July 23-27 among 1,503 adults, shows Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) did not gain significantly from his trip to the Middle East and Europe last week. The survey indicates voters are split on which candidate is better on foreign policy. 43 percent listed McCain, while 42 percent named Obama.

48 percent of voters still view Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) as more capable than Obama of defending the country against a terrorist attack, but that lead has narrowed in the last month. In June, 55 percent selected McCain as better on terrorism. On Iraq, McCain has a slim 44 percent lead over Obama’s 41 percent." from Campaign Blog, Council on Foreign Relations

What sort of change?

Just because it appears in a newspaper letters column doesn’t guarantee its authenticity, but most editors require some sort of authentication, so it‘s got a bit more veracity than a forwarded 100-times anonymous e-mail. But it's still just one man's opinion on change. This one I checked--a letter to the editor of the Richmond Times (VA) on July 7. You can read the whole thing. The Cuban American writer states he’s now been in the U.S. for forty years, but he remembers a young leader in the late 1950s who promised change and they all, particularly the press, put their faith in him. He continues. . .

"But nobody asked about the change, so by the time the executioner's guns went silent the people's guns had been taken away. By the time everyone was equal, they were equally poor, hungry, and oppressed. By the time everyone received their free education it was worth nothing. By the time the press noticed, it was too late, because they were now working for him. By the time the change was finally implemented Cuba had been knocked down a couple of notches to Third-World status. By the time the change was over more than a million people had taken to boats, rafts, and inner tubes. You can call those who made it ashore anywhere else in the world the most fortunate Cubans. And now I'm back to the beginning of my story.

Luckily, we would never fall in America for a young leader who promised change without asking, what change? How will you carry it out? What will it cost America?

Would we?

Manuel Alvarez Jr., Sandy Hook."

Digital repositories

". . . the digital collections that libraries, museums and archives create with great effort and expense are not always well-indexed by Web search engines, thus decreasing the potential use and impact of those digital resources. OAIster, a "union catalog of digital resources" developed at the University of Michigan, provides access to over 16 million digital resources by harvesting OAI metadata from over 1000 repositories worldwide. About 45% of this material, the authors determine, is also indexed by Google, leaving the remaining 55% "hidden" in the deep web, unindexed by Web search engines." Hagedorn, Kat, and Joshua Santelli. "Google Still Not Indexing Hidden Web URLs" D-Lib Magazine 14(7/8)(July/August 2008)

No surprise to me. Hidden probably because librarians had little to say in the design, from the looks of it. I’ve never seen anything more poorly indexed than OSU’s Knowledge Bank. Some items look like they were retrieved from the circular file or store room by the secretary and then scanned and cataloged by the lowest paid, newest hire in the department--sometimes no title page, no date of publication, no thought to subject terms or even the official name of the Department. And really folks, a lot of “senior thesis papers“ need to be tossed in a box and stored at their parents, not indexed on the internet where a junior high kid or left wing blogger can find it.

Here lies the problem (from an October 2007 presentation) in my opinion. Keep in mind that a "community" is any division or department within the Ohio State University.

KB Community & Collection Policies

A Knowledge Bank Community has the right to:
• decide policy regarding content to be submitted
• decide who may submit content
• limit access to content
• customize interfaces to community content

You can search by author, title, subject, "community," or date. There is no search for "creator," or "publisher," even though that information appears in whatever main page you bring up. In a database by and about OSU, I'd expect more than five entries to come up for the author, "Ohio. . .", but that was it. As subject, however, Ohio State University brings up 11. Adding subdivisions, there are probably hundreds, including Ohio State Univerity--Libraries, and Ohio State University Libraries, and library and libraries. But to actually find documents created, sponsored, published or about Ohio State University Libraries and its faculty, you'd have to search "community," and sorry, but that's not what comes to mind when I think of a university department. If in desperation you try a general search on the word Ohio, you'll get thousands, including "front matter," and "back matter," of scanned journals with the word Ohio in the title.

If other repositories created with dspace with our tax money “with great effort and expense” are this poor, why should Google have to rescue it with private money?

Covert Radio

I'm having an interesting time working through David's links (Heretical Librarian), and this morning tuned into Covert Radio, via The Long War Journal link, a real relief from listening to the Cleveland corruption and Toledo's crime wave stories (I'm on Lake Erie).

"Brett Winterble joins Tim Lynch from VSSA, Bill Roggio from the Long War Journal and Amy Sun from the FAB LAB, from MIT. Brett interviews Tim Lynch from VSSA, a contractor working in Afghanistan, about the current situation there. Also on the line was Amy Sun from the FAB Lab at MIT, Amy is working on a ground breaking new project to help redevelop Afghanistan's infrastructure. Bill Roggio from Long War Journal also joins in to talk about his take on the latest reports on ISI involvement with AQ and the TalibanPlus reaction to the latest report from RAND."

I had never heard of an MIT FAB Lab (2,000 tons of equipment in the middle of nowhere), but Amy (an engineer) is certainly excited about it. I've also enjoyed reading some foreign newspapers on-line; I'd almost forgotten, if I ever knew, what non-editorialized "news" looked like. You don't have to slog your way to paragraph 11 to get to the point.

One of the Taliban pro-jihad poems distributed as a ring tone for cell phones — “Death is a gift,” on Al Emarah — included the phrase, “I will not kiss the hand of Laura Bush.” Perfect for the ALA anarchists. Seen at Covert Radio blog.

As mentioned before, my laptop isn't very stable. I haven't reloaded the software since October. I hope I've discovered the trick--I've stopped updating or adding anything that it didn't come with. This seems to interfere with some adobe documents and pod-casts, but this one comes through fine.

A second income? Think again

If Mr. Obama wants to raise your taxes, but still encourage marriage, the greatest non-government, anti-poverty program we have, he should first read the Smart Money article on what that second income really costs.

"After you subtract what you'll owe the feds, your city and state, Social Security and Medicare, you may end up bringing home 60% or less of your spouse's new salary. And if the first spouse already earns a healthy income and you live in a high-tax state, the government pickpockets could easily hit you up for 50%."

But it gets worse; read on.

Two things aren't mentioned in the article. First, the illusion that you actually have that second salary, so you spend accordingly. There's no calculator that can factor in pipe dreams. If your spouse went to work really understanding she'd have less than 1/2 of that $40,000, maybe you'd think twice before buying new toys, or trading up on a higher mortgage and you'd use it to pay down debt or save. Second, keep in mind that if your spouse is in the education field or contributes to a public employees plan, all that money taken out for Social Security is for nothing if they have a state retirement plan. Neither your spouse nor you will see that when you retire. Our federal employees and military can double-dip, but not teachers. The RINOs refused to help Bush fix SS, so now it will be up to the next guy, or the next or the next.

Keep in mind also that no one has fixed the AGI--and Mr. Obama is eyeing you like the fatted lamb; he thinks you're "rich" and can pay more taxes. Remember, the middle class pays; the rich hire accountants and lawyers to hide their wealth.

Also not mentioned in the Smart Money worksheet because it's about as popular as telling someone to stop smoking, a church tithe (start with 10% and work up) on that spousal income is a good way to stay out of debt, but you need to take it off the top so you don't think you have it to spend.

Unfortunately, articles like this do not reduce taxes, they just encourage people to not marry.

Fewer homeless

“The U.S. had 12% fewer homeless last year than in 2005, and the greatest decline occurred among those who chronically live on the streets or in emergency shelters, according to a federal report to be released Tuesday.” USAToday reports (HT Black and Right) Homeless advocates, liberals, progressives, etc. are not happy about this. Chronic homelessness especially is down, and this could put these guys out of work! It’s a huge report--144 pp. Read it if you dare.

Lakeside--a favorite place to eat

We haven’t been doing much eating out in restaurants--just our little concession to higher prices--but we are outside. Some things get repeated on the house menu because of leftovers, but they’re still tasty.


Sunday

bratwurst
Potato salad
Asparagus
applesauce
Rice pudding

Monday

Salmon patties
Asparagus
Tomatoes with mozzarella and olive oil
Fresh blueberry pie

Tuesday

Pork chops
Potato salad
Fresh beets
Blueberry pie

Wednesday

Meat balls in tomato sauce
Fresh green beans with onions
Beets
Fresh peaches with Cool Whip and cookies

Where's the sweet corn, you ask. My husband hates it. So I eat it either for breakfast or lunch, by myself. Two minutes in the husk in the microwave. Fabulous.

Silly, inaccurate campaign ads

It's nothing new, of course. Campaign ads are intended to misinform, to terrify and mangle the truth. Take McCain's ad about the Obama "celebrity" status. Frankly, when I see an articulate, emotional speech in front of masses of Germans, Britney Spears is not who comes to mind. I'm just saying. . . It's scary!

And when Obama looks deep in our eyes and assures the TV audience that he wants to bring us back to some fabled time in history when we were such terrific folks with a proud past just as the U.S. Congress votes to apologize for slavery and Jim Crow laws, I do wonder how much this son of an Kenyan knows about being black in America.

Gigolo Golf--If I'd only known

This appeared on Craig's List

"Please help me out as I need a place to stay next week near OSU. I am coming to town for the golf tournament. I am in my 40s, SWM, 6'3" with an athletic build. I have an air mattress so only need a room. Thanks"

View from our place, complete with outhouse
Now why do you suppose he described himself if he only needs a room? At least he can spell. If he'd checked a map, he'd see that the golf course is a long way from OSU. You could probably walk it in 45 minutes, or take the bus for an hour.

Dress code violations

There’s been a lot on the news lately about public schools instituting a dress code--mostly to get the guys out of those saggy, huge, underwear exposing jeans and the girls to tuck it in a bit. I’ve been “on vacation” for four weeks and I’ve seen every violation from skimpy to slovenly to salacious--but mostly on people my age or older! When I was a child, “slovenly” was an older adult with only one working strap on the bib overalls and tobacco juice dribbling down the chin, or a blue haired woman wearing a food stained, feed-sack apron with a run in her stockings. Today, that is practically formal wear for the over-60 crowd at leisure.

Honey, it’s OK to cover up your sagging saddle bags, lumpy knees and purple spider veins--truly it is, please! The wrinkled look was in style a few years ago, but that was for 100% linen. In polyester cotton with a touch of lycra, it’s just messy. Ladies and Gentlemen! Where is the pride, dignity and good taste you had in the 1950s, 1960s, and even the 1990s? The other day at a public event on the lakefront I saw a woman who must have been a stunning prom queen in 1949--very long legs and a lovely figure with beautiful white hair. But in short shorts? Oh my. She wasn’t wearing glasses, but I was. Those kinds of dimples are for old Shirley Temple movies.

This was OK for the 1950s
“Hang on droopy” as we sing at football games in Columbus. As the waist expands, and you purchase capris or shorts to accommodate, there’s nothing to fill out the back of the pants. I’m walking behind you or sitting in the aisle seat at the auditorium. It’s not pretty.

The younger people, however, are cleaning up their acts. I’ve seen some gorgeous 30-something moms pushing baby strollers, wearing cute circle skirts and full coverage darling t-shirts and sparkling sandals. They look fabulous. Then comes granny--often 10 years younger than me. She looks like flattened fauna, as we used to say in the vet library. I’ve even seen some mini-skirts on the 20-somethings that look great--but that’s the last cut off for looking good in that 1960s fashion retread. The younger women are heading for the dock in beach cover-ups; Oh! that their grandmothers were doing the same.

Ben Stein laments the demise of the neck-tie in the business world, but he apparently hasn’t taken a look at vacation wear.

Another blogger gone

In my last post, I mentioned some links to women bloggers, now silent. David Durant, Heretical Librarian, also turned in his blogger keys and has left the building. Dave is the trifecta of librarianship bravery. Not only is he in a female dominated profession, but he is a conservative in a profession where liberals outnumber conservatives 223:1 (which accounts for the real banned books--the ones that never get to your library's shelves), and in addition he joined the North Carolina National Guard after the war started. He gained some fame by having one of his blogs printed in the Chronicle of Higher Education. During my last remodeling of my web page, his link fell off my list of librarians, so as an apology, I'm listing HIS very interesting list of links on terror, international affairs, and radical Islamism. I'm slowly looking through them, only some of which I've read before, so I don't know how many are still current.

The War on Terror and International Affairs

Across the Bay
American Enterprise Institute
American Footprints
Benador Associates
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Committee on the Present Danger
Council on Foreign Relations
The Counterterrorism Blog
Defend America
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
The Jamestown Foundation
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA)
Long War Journal
Michael Yon
The National Interest
9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America
Small Wars Journal
StrategyPage
Threats Watch
Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers
Winds of Change

Radical Islamism, The Middle East and Reforming Islam

Ali Eteraz
Apostasy and Islam
Arab Media & Society
Asharq Alawsat
Big Pharaoh
Center for Liberty in the Middle East
Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Muslim World
Daily Star (Lebanon)
Daniel Pipes
Faith Freedom International
Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism
Hammorabi
Healing Iraq
Initiative for an Open Arab Internet
Interfaith Strength
Iraq Blog Count
Iraq the Model
Iraq Updates
Irshad Manji
Islamist Watch
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Jihad Watch
Laura Mansfield
Martin Kramer on the Middle East
The Mesopotamian
Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
Middle East Times
Middle East Transparent
Secular Islam
Site Institute
Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Watch

It's happened again

Now Deborah has closed for repairs. If you are a woman blogger, and I link to you, it's almost a given that you will fold your tent, change jobs, leave your husband, or enter a family crisis that will prevent you from blogging. I'm coming up on the 5 year anniversary of blogging, and there will be no gal pals to help me celebrate. Last I looked, The Laundress and Florida Cracker were still plugging away.

Would posting calories help?

For lunch today I had onions, peppers, carrots, broccoli and cucumbers grilled in a little olive oil. It was fine; tasted good. But I topped it off with some sugar-free peanut butter chocolate ice cream. The calories were posted on the carton. And I ate it anyway.

Will posting calories prominently really make Americans think twice and order more healthy items? "Anecdotally, you hear constantly about people who've changed their choices," say [New York City] Commissioner Frieden. "You go into fast-food places and you hear a lot of buzz online."

Elisabetta Politi, director of nutrition at the Duke Diet & Fitness Center, isn't so sure. "Some of our clients know so much about nutrition they could teach the classes, but does that help them control their weight? Absolutely not," she says. From WSJ Health Journal

The editor of this story needed to find a different photo to show how rising prices for food are hurting people.

Lakeside children grow up quickly

Lakeside is a summer community on the shores of Lake Erie established by the Methodists in 1873. Some people come just for a week; today a first timer sat on our front porch reporting all their experiences. Some come year after year for a few weeks; some of us own our homes and when retired, we can stay most of the season. At last night's awards for shuffleboard, one little boy was from California, one girl from New York. But whether a weekly, monthly, or seasonal family, the children seem to grow up over night because you see them just a few days each year.

Not too long ago, a young mother to be--daughter of a friend--ate a meal with us, then the next summer brought along the baby, and now that baby will be a sophomore at Dartmouth. Zip. Just that fast! The hormone-energized teens I used to watch under the street light on the corner are now bringing their own kids here to spend time with grandma and grandpa.

For awhile we had a little one who sat on the porch, played tea party with dollies on the deck and fished off the dock. We lost her in the divorce, but she has 9 other grandparents, so really didn't need us. About four years ago my husband painted her fishing at the dock from a photo. The picture looked so much like her we really couldn't hang it, so finally it went up for sale. Last week I looked at it, and suggested we put a "sold" sign on it--I really didn't want to sell it. And this was the third season it was for sale. Last night we got a call from someone who had seen it in the restaurant and inquired. He called us and said his 4 year old granddaughter had fallen in love with it, and would we sell it. So we did. Well, I still have the dollies.

Monday Memories--Mother's garden

I've got beets and beet tops in separate pots on the stove; fresh zucchini, asparagus and green beans in the frig; a half finished blueberry pie on the counter; an ear of corn and a paper sack of peaches on the table. Except for the peaches, they all remind me of Mother's garden in Franklin Grove (the fruit trees were there, but except for the cherry tree, rarely produced). Raspberry bushes were along the west side of her garden, and blueberry bushes next to the corn field fence. Asparagus grew wild along the lane to the house and the country roads around Franklin and Ashton. Occasionally, we could encourage Mom to stop a few minutes to chat or have a cold drink of water, but could see her fingers twitching in her gloves, anxious to get back to the rich soil and pesky weeds.

Norma's most wonderful adventure

When our children come to Lakeside, we think it's really odd that they leave for places outside the gates like Sandusky or Port Clinton. One place I've often heard about is The Kenny House in Port Clinton--massage therapy. This year my daughter gave me a gift certificate for a massage. This morning I drove to Port Clinton to meet Ms. Magic Fingers, Nancy Barna, M.T., Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Reflexologist. Wow. I've only had one other massage in my life--maybe 5 years ago--and they just don't compare. From my little toes to my neck, to all the lumps and bumps on my back, Nancy gently removed all signs of stress and age. Yes, folks, I'm only 30 years old this afternoon. I stopped by Wal-Mart on my way back to Lakeside, and upon checking out the clerk asked me about my day, and I told her it was fabulous and why. I even smiled when I ran the plastic for my groceries, something I never do. I ate potato chips all the way back home, something I shouldn't have done, but it seemed a great way to top off the experience (I gave up chips in 2006), and I sang along with the Carpenters on the oldies station. Treat yourself if you're vacationing or live on the peninsula.

The Kenny House
226 Adams Street
Port Clinton, Ohio 43452
1-419-734-5943
By appointment

To be a licensed massage therapist in Ohio requires 600 hours of training and passing the state exam (State Medical Board, Massage Licensing Division, 77 S. High Street - 17th Floor, Columbus, OH 43266-0315).

Don't be fooled! Ask for the best!

Is there a word in English for this "ism"

A friend sent me Eli Saslow's article "In Findlay, Ohio False Rumors Fly" from WaPo, July 7-13 (weekly). Frankly, it is one of the most outrageously hateful mish mash of anti-middle America that I've ever read. Anecdotal? It's beyond that. A whole article about how white midwestern small town folk are anti-Obama based on one person living in Findlay, Ohio. Imagine a whole race or segment of society condemned because of some behavior of a black citizen or an Asian or Hispanic--the outrage would put the journalist out of work. I'm amazed. Just amazed. Even for WaPo this is one of the worst stereotypes of white (older), small town Americans I've ever seen.

I'll just have to remind you what I think about people who are afraid of Obama and his cronies. I wrote this on May 20 for this blog, while the "is it racism or sexism" debate about Hillary and Obama was still going on, when Iraq and its outcome was still an issue, and before Obama did his World Tour as our emperor-to-be.

Conservatives believe that if a black candidate talks about raising our taxes until our investments are destroyed, regulating what car we can drive, wants judges who will make the constitution their personal playground of their own values and beliefs and waffles on what he said about concessions to militant Moslems who want to destroy our ally Israel, that he's not a good guy to put in the White House. We have a lot of history books (at least those published before the early 90s) that tell about what happens with appeasement--either pre-WWII with the Germans or post-WWII with the Soviets, or with North Korea to close out the Korean War, or even the worse course which was to run off whimpering the way we did in Vietnam. Millions died from our "talks and concessions."

This blogger confronts Saslow's article falsehoods.

Newsbusters busts him for fuzzy math in a different pro-Obama article.

I've looked through Saslow's archives. He is so in the tank for the left, he should be a librarian!