Lakeside 2008 Week 9 Civil War Week

There's so much to do this week I clipped the article from the paper and attached it to the refrigerator. Monday I attended the very interesting "Military commanders and their wives" presented by U. of Akron Professor of History, Lesley Gordon, which focused on 12 famous couples and the ways in which the war affected their unions; Monday evening I attended a showing of the documentary film "Johnny" about a boy soldier from Ohio, Lincoln Clem; on Tuesday I attended "Through the eyes of soldiers; battle of Wyse Fork, NC" by Tom Edwards, a former director of Lakeside, 1981-1988 who still maintains a summer home here but lives now in SC; on Wednesday I enjoyed Cathy Kaemmerlen, a storyteller and historical interpreter from Marietta, GA performing the diaries and letters of Confederate women during Sherman's March to the Sea; today the theater was filled for the Abraham Lincoln Portrayal by Pete Raymond of Wooster who incorporated some of Lincoln's speeches in his presentation; I went back in the afternoon to hear a program "Musical history of the Civil War," by the Fifth Michigan Regiment Band about antique instruments, the role of the bands during the Civil War, and the most popular tunes; tonight at Hoover the band will perform again. Tomorrow I plan to hear an archeologist talk about Johnson's Island and in the afternoon will go there for explanation about using radar and electromagnetic tools to locate graves and other items. We'll also walk to Fort Johnson, the only remaining fortification (there were 3) constructed to protect the prison from Confederate invation.

For those of you not familiar with this area, Johnson's Island was a prisoner of war camp during the Civil War. The first POWs arrived in April 1862 and it was closed in September 1865. More than 9,000 prisoners, including 26 Confederate generals, were confined there over the years, and there are more than 200 men buried there. There were many escape attempts, but most weren't successful. The cemetery received a memorial statue of a confederate soldier in 1910 erected by the Daughters of the Confederacy. Approximately 4,000 people attended its dedication.

If you are a Civil War buff, next year's Civil War Week is August 24-28, 2009.

What Governor Strickland needs to tell the Democratic National Convention about the economy

I've provided an outline for him in a letter. Excerpts:

1. I hope you’ll tell them about our schools in Franklin County and the rest of Ohio. What’s this latest push on “self-esteem?” How will that help a kid read his diploma?
   
2. And what about “retention” or “remediation” (i.e. flunking)? Which is more harmful to Ohio? Graduating stupid 18 year olds or having them repeat third grade at age 8 when there was hope?
   
3. And if you’re going to give these kids 2 meals and a snack each day during the school year, at least require daily PE. For that, you'd also need to reinstate the 9 period day.
   
4. You also need to review some of the cities’ renewal and rehab programs, which drove poor families from their neighborhoods (Columbus: German Village in the 60s, Victorian Village in the 70s, Short North in the 80s) because of lead paint or asbestos, or various beautification and preservation projects or just to make work for the architects and contractors under the guise of progress;
   
5. regulatory agencies decided that the automobiles of the poor (usually 2nd hand, used) weren’t safe or emitted too many toxic substances, so those were taken away;
   
6. and how many neighborhoods of the low income workers were displaced in the 1960s and 1970s by free-ways and interchanges--that they'd probably never drive on because you declared their cars weren't safe;
   
7. then you (not you personally but the social rocket-scientists of the late 20th century) decided the children needed to be bussed to meet some sort of social goals, and that included taking black teachers away from black children, their positive role models;
   
8. over the years, liberals and conservatives alike have closed orphanages and homes for the mentally ill and challenged (or whatever the current PC term is), moving them first to “group homes,“ and then to the street to fend for themselves;
   
9. you (again, not you personally, but liberals) decided that children didn’t really need fathers, so you continued to be foster-dad in absentia for generations of children, which drove their own fathers away to hang out with their buddies while making it virtually impossible for a single man to receive any government benefits or assistance, in turn making them dependent on girlfriends or grandmothers;
   
10. you listened to or dabbled in every social, labor, medical and economic theory that dribbled out of Ohio State University, Cleveland State, Yellow Springs or Dayton about mass transportation, the poverty gap, mixed use neighborhoods, drug use and jobs programs for the elderly.

Governor, you're a former pastor. Tell the Democrats the truth about the economy and poverty.

Lakeside 2008--a happy Lakesider!

Another Lakeside artist gave my husband a gift certificate to Summer Stock, a tiny deli and "take and bake" spot in Lakeside sharing the laundry building/former fire station. For three days this week (hours are a bit irregular because there's a light crowd in week 9) he was disappointed that he couldn't get his Belgium waffle, his summer-long plan for that gift certificate. But today--success! He even got an extra waffle for his patience and persistence. The usual order ($5.95) is 2 homemade waffles, maple syrup, whipped cream and fruit. Yum!





"How was it," I asked.
"Fabulous, best ever," he replied.
"Will you get another one?"
"No, not this year. Maybe next."

The man has such discipline! Other sample items on Summer Stock's menu include sandwiches, $6.99: Picnic in the park: slow roasted pulled pork barbecue smothered in a secret sauce; The Hoover: Genoa Ham, provolone, mayo. Salad bowls, $8.00: Cobb; Insalata Neapolitana; Spinach and berries. Take 'n Bake for 4 (price varies from $33 to $52): rosemary roasted chicken & wild rice with summer veggies; beef tenderloin kabobs with vegetables; lemon pepper linguine with fresh basil, sundried tomato parmesan and garlic olive oil. Lite bites: fresh salsa and chips (Michelle says this is Obama's downfall); gazpacho soup and chips. Desserts: white chocolate toffee brownie (I put on 5 lbs just typing this); summer berry layered cake.

So where was I, besides taking the photos? Well, I had my usual breakfast--a crisp, sliced apple and walnuts. I don't do sweets for breakfast, or I'd be eating all day. Try it. You'd be surprised how a no sugar, no wheat, no dairy breakfast can hold until lunch.Summer Stock; food & flowers
Phone: 419-798-9290 (call ahead for take 'n bake)
318 W. 2nd St.
Lakeside,Ohio 43440
summerstockfoodandflowers@gmail.com
photos of flowers: http://picasaweb.google.com/Hours
8 am-11 pm Mon-Sat
Sun: 10 am-10 pm
Open late for after Hoover shows
Garden patio on site

Findlay Flood

This is the first anniversary of Findlay, Ohio's terrible flood of last summer. If you're not from this area, you probably didn't see much coverage on the news. The President didn't come. Entertainers didn't show up. I'm not sure Al Gore even blamed our misuse of the climate. The people involved just pulled on their boots and cleaned up the mess. But they remember!

Last Sunday we had the pleasure to see and hear some of Findlay's young people here in Lakeside performing as the Pantasia Steel Drum Band at our Steele Memorial Bandstand on the lakefront. Wow! What a group, and what an opportunity for young people. Kids like this who contribute so much, just don't get enough publicity. This group was founded about 11 years ago and has performed throughout the United States. They've performed on cruise ships, the Lincoln Center and Disney World. Way more exciting, IMO, than marching in the high school band!

Proposed new taxes vs the Bush tax cuts

Although I agree that Obama can’t help the poor by making fewer opportunities for the rich, I’m not in complete agreement with this guy either.

"Confiscating wealth from those who have earned it, inherited it, or got lucky is never going to help 'the poor.' Poverty isn't caused by some people having more money than others, just as obesity isn't caused by McDonald's serving super-sized orders of French fries. Poverty, like obesity, is caused by the life choices that dictate results." - John Tucci, responding to "Main Street: For Obama, Taxes Are About Fairness" an op ed in the WSJ.

Obama is by training and association, a Marxist, so taking from the rich is part of his ethical thinking (and is not in conflict with his Christian faith). He believes it’s unfair that some have more. That in itself doesn't put him out of mainstream America. But where do you draw the line? Party officials will always have more. Have you seen his house? Or Al Gore’s? Or Hillary Clinton’s? They definitely have more than I do. I could’ve had more, but didn’t want to make the effort--library directors can make over $100,000 a year; department heads hover at half that. And personally, I’ve had a very nice life style as a librarian married to an architect floating through 4 of the 5 quintiles and back down. I don’t want the Obama daughters to have less so my daughter and son can have more (and obviously, he’d have enough lawyers and accountants to see that wouldn’t happen, but I’m giving a hypothetical example). They should be allowed to inherit or use their parents’ wealth without concern for how I’ve used mine.

That said, some poverty and some obesity are not a result of choice, but who your parents are, where they lived, and how they modeled behavior. You inherit your intelligence and personality, just as you inherit your facial features, eye color, and body shape (women’s magazines skip over this part). You inherit all types of genes that make you susceptible to cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity. All these health conditions can affect your income and future life choices. You also inherit curiosity, emotional make-up, a good musical ear and the drive to succeed. So some will not be slowed down one bit by those other nasty genes. You even inherit what might be obstacles for others (ADHD) but which allow some to excel (Michael Phelps, Olympian).

Some poverty is the result of well-intended government programs. Marriage, for instance, is the greatest poverty fighting program for children we have, and yet government programs over the past 60 years have virtually destroyed the black family,** a demographic group that had much higher rates of marriage in the 1930s than it does now. See the City Journal article: entrenched, multigenerational poverty is largely black; and it is intricately intertwined with the collapse of the nuclear family in the inner city. What the government hasn't ruined for children, Hollywood celebs and the media have. Anti-poverty programs are well-intentioned, but only benefit a few in the long run--often the very state and federal bureaucracies that administer them (which is why you can never dismantle them). Anti-rich taxes, like those proposed by Obama, are NOT well-intentioned, hurting the poor even more than the rich and middle-class by driving jobs out of the country or decreasing the staff of the businesses that remain.

**The likelihood of ever being a single mother is highest among Black women, followed by Hispanic women and White women (77, 52 and 32 percent respectively). Conversely, the opposite is true for the likelihood of ever being married (65, 86 and 94 percent respectively). Series here.

He forgot the Tafts

James Taranto was commenting in his column August 19 about dynasties in American politics, beginning with some folks I‘ve never heard of on the Illinois scene.

“Family dynasties like this [in Illinois] are remarkably common in American politics. President Bush is the son of a president and grandson of a senator. Benjamin Harrison was William Henry Harrison's grandson, and John Quincy Adams was John Adams's son. Sen. Evan Bayh, a leading vice presidential candidate, is the son of a man who held the same Senate seat. Al Gore is the son of a senator. FDR, Barry Goldwater and Ted Kennedy all had sons who served in Congress.”

He overlooked Ohio’s former Governor Bob Taft (Robert Alphonso Taft II) whose Taft fore bearers included a president, senators, supreme court judges, secretaries of war, ambassadors, as well as state legislators. Also, Taft is the 8th cousin once removed of President Bush, and 9th cousin once removed of Vice President Cheney. He came in 50th among the governors in a poll (probably by the press), and was literally hounded out of the country at the end of his second term (term limits in Ohio), not by rumors of a love child, wide stance, angry controlling wife, links to a real estate scandal and unsavory Marxists or multiple affairs, but by ethics convictions for accepting several paltry, miscellaneous gifts that would have embarrassed Bill and Hillary (like a portrait of Zanesville, OH) and an obscure supporter’s misuse of investments in old coins. Really a bland guy by either Democratic or Republican D.C. standards--and especially Illinois'. This allowed Ted Strickland’s supporters to smear Kenneth Blackwell in the 2006 gubernatorial race. But of course, THAT wasn’t racism or negative campaigning.

Maybe we need to see the results of the $50 million?

I don't think there's much to uncover here--we all know Obama has had a long time association with Bill Ayres, anarchist of the 1960s. As a U of I alumnae, I'd rather ask why Ayres is on the pay roll at all. Especially, what are the results of the $50 million grant to improve Chicago's schools. Seems 18 years should be enough time for something.

"The University of Illinois has refused to release records related to Sen. Barack Obama's service for a nonprofit educational project that put him in contact with activist William Ayers, a 1960s-era radical and now education professor. The university's Chicago campus maintains that the donor of the records that document the work of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge has not handed over ownership rights. The university says it is "aggressively pursuing" an agreement with the donor, and as soon as an agreement is reached, the collection will be made accessible to the public. The university has not identified the donor."

Ayers is an Education Professor at U of I and was instrumental in starting the Chicago Annenberg Challenge to improve the schools. Obama was chair of the Annenberg Challenge for 3 years. Actually, I think the records should be protected until the privacy of all donors and participants can be protected. You'd never get people to donate to anything if they thought a few years down the road someone involved might be president and reporters would be riffling through the file. Still, a donor who would give Bill Ayers $50 million?
http://www.amren.com/news/2008/08/barack_obama_re/

Housing for NOLA with good intentions, bad design

Tulane architectural students are having a design competition for new housing in New Orleans, and the reality show is on the Sundance Channel (I haven’t seen it). There are a lot of bugs in the project, according to this Chicago writer.

One of the sweetest, little houses in Lakeside was designed by my husband--has 3 bedrooms (lst floor master), 2 full baths, kitchen, dining and living areas (great room) and a nice front porch. It has a HVAC system, and parking for 2 cars (a requirement here, even with small lots). I think its footprint is about 22 x 30, probably about 1,000 sq. ft. It looks to me to be perfect for a small scale, traditional NOLA neighborhood. The problem with student design is they want something different, something to make their mark in the world; the residents probably just want to go home!

From the story:

“Architecture School” is compelling on a number of levels. It depicts high-flown architectural concepts coming into contact with the practical realities of building a low-cost house. Instructor Byron Mouton tries to get the students to watch out for clichés and lazy thinking, with limited success. And the students and the instructors seem more enamored of their forward-thinking designs than the local residents.

“Ugly” is the verdict of one resident who lives near an existing Tulane-built home. Many residents want traditional re-creations of the narrow “shotgun” houses that they’ve always known, but the idealistic students naturally want to do something more adventurous.

Then there’s the matter of finding someone to live in these houses. One woman who applies for a home loan at Neighborhood Housing Services, the New Orleans non-profit that is paying for the construction of the Tulane houses, has $18.23 in her savings account.

The Iraqi refugee problem

Did you see the recent PBS show on the crisis in Syria, Jordan (and even U.S.) for Iraqi refugees? We did a lousy job covering the borders in Iraq after the 2003 initial victory. We don't do borders, not even our own. Now the place is overrun. Iraqis interviewed for the show had been run out by various groups. Some had been Saddam supporters. Some had worked for American companies and became targets for terrorists. Some companies will relocate a former worker, but not his family. That makes no sense--makes more terrorists! Seems it has a long history, as this 1998 story reports.

Just as I think we have an obligation NOT to run out on the people we went in to save, so we have an obligation to the refugees the war has created. It will be up to McCain or Obama to lead the way, and it won't be cheap--which is why McCain's "as long as it takes," makes more sense than Obama's moving target pull-out date. Democrats and Republicans alikeshould have a stake in seeing that the elected Iraq government succeeds, but that will be extremely difficult for Democrats who don't want anything started by Bush to turn out well. The MoveOnOrgies who have gained so much power in the party, are not going to go away. The moderates in the party may just have to swallow their anger and pride and try to be the "liberals" they claim to be instead of marxists and anarchists, the direction they are being pushed.

The PBS show wasn't balanced, but that would be difficult. It's a painful issue. Bush, of course, will get more blame for the pitiful woman refugee whose husband desserted her and the children after she was raped by terrorists than will the misogynist, Muslim male-centered culture. Like assigning blame to Bush instead of Nagin for the Katrina blacks who can't get their public housing back. It's old news that Nagin was and is unprepared to be the mayor of a major city. People need to be resettled. Period.

Manipulative words

How the candidates did at Saddleback. It should be a news story, not a disguised editorial on page one of the Washington Post. (Although I believe the biggest gain was for Rick Warren who has firmly placed himself on the political stage, and because he is Jesus-lite, no other Christian pastor could do this.) Take a look at the word choices for the WaPo account by Jonathan Weisman, August 20, 2008; Page A01. Positive phrases in green, negative in red. Then count them.

Sen. Barack Obama was the abortion-rights candidate who was reaching out to foes, seeking common ground and making inroads. Sen. John McCain was the abortion opponent whose reticence about faith and whose battles on campaign finance laws drew suspect glances from would-be supporters.

We all know that "abortion-rights" does not leave the same emotional image as "abortion opponent." In my opinion, you are pro-life or pro-choice. Start with that and then add in your exceptions if you have them. You are assigning value to two lives, and you've chosen for one to die. Not one or the other, but one. Then you'll add your qualifying points--he'll be retarded; he'll ruin her life; our family won't accept a biracial baby; she already has too many children and this one will be a burden to society (i.e., I'll be paying); we really wanted a boy; her boyfriend's walked out on her; etc. The same person willing to see her grandchildren aborted in one breath, will want to save the planet for them in the next by not drilling for oil. It baffles me, but on to the other words.

Weisman knows his audience--and it isn't conservative Nobamas like me who know what he's doing. The far left Democrats are getting angry and nervous (see Michael Moore's latest tirade), the middle is still solidly behind their candidate. So he goes for the Obamacons, fence sitters and RINOS who may need to be reminded of McCain's past failures (let me count the ways!). Weisman didn't become a staff writer at WaPo by not understanding the impact of word choices. Let's look at them--out of context.

reaching out to foes
seeking common ground
making in roads.

reticence
battles
suspect glances
would-be supporters.

The reporter then goes on to say the born alive issue is an “obscure law” when virtually every other legislator, in Illinois and Washington, didn’t find it difficult or thorny. They seemed to grasp the concept of life after birth, even those who don’t catch the meaning of “before birth.” Yes, to his credit, as he winds his way to the bottom of the article he finally gets to the difficult truth--the truth of why he so desperately makes his case in the first paragraph (most people don't read much further and writers know this). In a race this close, abortion matters a lot. Eighteen percent of Democrats consider this issue critical. What if they just don't vote? Can he win without them?

Abortion remains an important issue to a large portion of the electorate, but it is not the biggest. An early August poll for Time magazine found that one in five likely voters would not consider voting for a candidate who did not share their views on abortion. Twenty-six percent of Republicans saw the issue as decisive, compared with 18 percent of Democrats.

Genealogy Class

We had a wonderful, 5-day genealogy seminar at Lakeside last week. One really interesting thing I learned was about a common myth--at least one I believed to be true. Surnames were NOT changed at Ellis Island due to clerical error or the clerk not knowing how to transcribe a foreign sounding name. Detra told us that the clerks worked from a list that was made up at the embarkation point in Europe from information received from the immigrant. The US officials knew the country of origin and every passenger's name before the ship arrived. She also said that they used native speakers at Ellis Island who could communicate with the immigrants. Often it was the immigrant who made the name change--perhaps to avoid a personal history or link to a culture/religious group. Or they wanted to sound "English," but they made the decision, not the clerk. This information really didn't affect me at all--none of my ancestors came through Ellis Island. They all arrived before the American Revolution, and until my parents generation didn't marry outside their groups. The Germans/Swiss went to Pennsylvania, and the Scots-Irish to Tennessee.

Today I noticed that the USCIS is offering genealogy help to immigrants.

WASHINGTON — Customers can now turn to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for help in researching their family’s immigration history through the agency’s new Genealogy Program. USCIS maintains historical records documenting the arrival and naturalization of millions of immigrants who arrived in the United States since the late 1800s or and naturalized between 1906 and 1956. Until today (Aug 13), the process to request these records was handled through a Freedom of Information Act / Privacy Act (FOIA) request.

“In many cases USCIS is the only government agency that has certain historical records that provide the missing link which genealogists or family historians need,” said Jonathan “Jock” Scharfen, USCIS’ Acting Director.

The agency anticipates interest in genealogy to continue to grow. In the past four years alone, USCIS received more than 40,000 FOIA requests for historical records. The new genealogy program will create a dedicated queue for genealogists, historians and others seeking genealogical and historical records and reference services that generally require no FOIA expertise. As a result, USCIS will provide more timely responses to requests for records of deceased individuals.

Individuals may submit genealogy records requests by using the new forms, G-1041 -Genealogy Index Search Request, and G-1041A - Genealogy Records Request. Both forms are available on the new USCIS Genealogy Program page at: http://www.uscis.gov/genealogy.

How the carbon tax will work

It’s a very old, medieval system. Al Gore and buddies will be at the top; with the rest of us taxed. It won't make any difference whether or not your business or profession uses energy. The tax man cometh.

"Fines were levied everywhere, at all times, and for all sorts of reasons. Under the name of épices, the magistrates, judges, reporters, and counsel, who had at first only received sweetmeats and preserves as voluntary offerings, eventually exacted substantial tribute in current coin. Scholars who wished to take rank in the University sent some small pies, costing ten sols, to each examiner. Students in philosophy or theology gave two suppers to the president, eight to the other masters, besides presenting them with sweetmeats, &c. It would be an endless task to relate all the fines due by apprentices and companions before they could reach mastership in their various crafts, nor have we yet mentioned certain fines, which, from their strange or ridiculous nature, prove to what a pitch of folly men may be led under the influence of tyranny, vanity, or caprice.

Thus, we read of vassals descending to the humiliating occupation of beating the water of the moat of the castle, in order to stop the noise of the frogs, during the illness of the mistress; we elsewhere find that at times the lord required of them to hop on one leg, to kiss the latch of the castle-gate, or to go through some drunken play in his presence, or sing a somewhat broad song before the lady." Manners, customs and Dress during the Middle Ages by Paul Lacroix

Pinto Beans

I enjoy black beans and black-eyed peas, but am not fond of pinto beans, that good ol boy dish from Appalachia. They even make cakes with them! But here's some interesting news I read about at the WHFoods web site, the place I always check when I want to know what I'm eating. I always figured all the beanies were about the same. Guess not.

Pinto Beans May Help Lower Cholesterol

Over a period of approximately 7 months, relatively small daily servings of pinto beans have recently been shown to help lower cholesterol. Only ½ cup of the beans per day reduced total cholesterol, on average, by about 19 milligrams. LDL cholesterol also showed an average decrease of about 14 milligrams. Interestingly, two other very healthy and fiber-rich foods - carrots and black-eyed peas - did not have this same impact. While we don't yet know the reasons for this special link between pinto beans and their cholesterol-lowering effect, persons who have special concern about their cholesterol levels may want to give special priority to this tasty legume. It should be noted that the subjects in this study had already developed mild insulin resistance prior to participating in the study, and so we cannot yet be sure how well pinto beans will lower cholesterol in persons who do not have mild insulin resistance.

Donna M. Winham, DrPH, Andrea M. Hutchins, PhD and Carol S. Johnston, PhD. "Pinto Bean Consumption Reduces Biomarkers for Heart Disease Risk." Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 26, No. 3, 243-249 (2007).

For lunch today I'm having my farm market meal--an ear of corn (2 minutes in the microwave and no clean up), beet greens, and some cucumber/onion/green pepper mix that I whipped up putting the groceries away. Tomorrow I'll have the beets and maybe grilled cabbage and some sliced peaches. Yum. Love summer's bounty.

Lakeside 2008 Farmer's Market

It's gray and overcast today, but the wagons are here! I spent $11.00 and got a quart of peaches, quart of green beans, big green pepper, zucchini, cucumber, dozen brown eggs, a bunch of beets and ONE ear of corn (my husband hates corn). What a deal. However, you can get reasonably fresh food at your supermarket, and by the time I use these up, they probably won't be as nutritious as frozen. I'm still using the onions from a few weeks ago, and last week's blueberries and tomatoes. Use your head. Don't drive 10 miles for a farmer's market. It's great if it's in your backyard, but it is very easy to eat healthy, fresh and cheap in America.


Notice the canvas bag; recycled UALC VBS 2001

The secret to waist management, part 1

It's easy. Dive into the right gene pool! Here I am about age 18 at the senior prom wearing my grandmother's waist (22"), followed by a photo of me at 68 on my 40 year old bike wearing my grandmother's arms when she was about this age. See how easy it is to have a small waist? All you need is a body shape that doesn't have your bottom rib resting on your pelvis so that there is some space for all that flab to fill! Then as you age, the spine shrinks a little, and the waist expands. Any other questions?

Many ways to be peaceful and at peace

For those yearning for a false hope and nebulous change, this is from an older post of mine expressing surprise that today's college students need to sign a pledge--not for peace--but to support their own values (or someone else's) of social justice.

Didn't people always do this without signing a pledge card? Would someone who registered as a Conscientious Objector for the draft 40 years ago have gone to work in the armaments industry? In the 80s I refused to apply for a women's studies position at the OSU library because I knew I'd have to buy books that supported abortion; I refuse to buy stock in companies that make their profits creating alcohol or tobacco products, which in turn creates death; I don't want viaticals in my retirement portfolio; I won't buy tickets to movies or plays or buy or read books that demean and ridicule women; I write to advertisers of shows that ridicule and criticize Christians; I regularly write my congresswoman who is a Republican in name only and remind her of conservative principles; I let my pastors know when the message is weak and not gospel centered, offering false hope; I recommend books to my public library, even when I know I'm ignored; I don't laugh at jokes or watch TV programs that belittle women or Christians or the elderly or the not-so-bright; I tithe my income and I'm pretty careful to whom it goes; I am an advocate for the Mexican people's government shaping up and creating opportunity in their own country; and I would have never needed a pledge made at college graduation to know that racist language had no place in a training manual, but I'd have to be pretty desperate for a cause to turn down work because of gender parity in athletics or anything else.

Who gets the green from going green?

A lot of the environmentalism information and advertising about which I comment comes not from "right wing" publications, but my husband's architectural and engineering journals and newsletters. Also the Wall Street Journal, which although it covers the business world, is right up there with NYT in way left off the page. Green is a huge business (especially for ad agencies), much of it tear down, start over, and use more (but different) resources. And many of our largest companies and most powerful politicians stand to gain the most. Al Gore, for instance--worth $2 million when he left office--now one of the world's richest men, with a fortune built almost entirely on warning us about the phony global warming issue (some of his wealth comes from serving on boards of corporations which will benefit from new government regulations). Nancy Pelosi is another--investing in wind power while refusing to let America drill for oil, while the rest of us face soaring prices from her Congress' inaction.

Al Gore says everyone will benefit when new government rules require companies to pay to reduce global warming. But some people will benefit more than others, as will some companies. Benefiting most are those like the ex-vice president who can set up and invest in companies that will profit from the federal regulations imposing heavy costs on others. Al Gore's Carbon Empire

Black on black crime

"Barack Obama likes to portray himself as a centrist politician who wants to unite the country, but occasionally his postpartisan mask slips. That was the case at Saturday night's Saddleback Church forum, when Mr. Obama chose to demean Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas." Obama on Clarence Thomas

If you'd like to read about the real suffering of American blacks in the 20th century, read the autobiography of Clarence Thomas, who came up through severe deprivation and racism, not the whining of Barack Obama who's led a charmed life in comparison. The difference is in the behavior of the left, which attempted to destroy Thomas, and which created and protected Obama. Their only similarity is they were raised by grandparents.

As a Senator, Obama has spent most of his time running for President. What are his other accomplishments? He couldn't wipe the sweat from Thomas' brow.

Monday Memories--How we saved energy in our dorm room

JoElla and I told each other in elementary school that we would room together in college. I'm not positive I knew exactly what that meant, but I lived in Mt. Morris, Illinois, where my parents and grandparents had attended college. It closed in 1931 with the buildings being used until recently by a publishing company. JoElla's parents also attended that school, but a few years before mine. By the time we graduated from high school we didn't know each other all that well, because I had moved away from Forreston in 6th grade, where we'd met. But, we must have checked with each other and agreed it was a good idea. We moved into the very elderly Oakwood Hall of Manchester College in September 1957. My cousin Gayle lived down the hall, and JoElla's cousin Sylvia also lived in the dorm. Her brothers were near by on campus, and my sister was a few miles down the road at Goshen College.

I got a huge chuckle reading about Tulane's "Energy Star" showcase dorm room. A 2 person dorm room could save about $37 just by using the various products recommended. If all the 3700+ students at Tulane did the same, there would be a savings of about $69,000 in energy costs. I looked through the list--micro-refrigerator, 2 lap top computers, a printer, various lamps and light bulbs, a phone and audio components. Not doing without, mind you, oh no! Just changing the brand name. Wow. JoElla and I didn't have any of these things and we still managed to get a first class education! Refrigerator? We kept our food on the windowsill. Lap tops? We didn't even have a portable typewriter between us. Audio? I suppose we might have opened the door to hear someone else's radio. Phone? It was down the hall, down the steps, through the lobby, and into the office. But the boys still managed to call and make a date. There were runners to tap on your door to alert you. If you weren't home, you checked the message board. It was very exciting, and good exercise. The only footprints we worried about was whether someone in the shared bathroom might have athlete's foot!

Photo: JoElla 4th from right, second row; Norma 1st left, first row.

Fashionista Freshman, 1957
More on Oakwood Hall

Redeemed!

Serious, committed Christians have noticed that as our society falls away from organized religion, interest in some form of environmentalism increases. Sort of, if you believe in nothing, you'll fall for anything (pantheistic global warmism, for instance). For those who were youngsters in the 1970s, it's a way to relive their youth. Others are recent converts. At the WSJ Friday, Stephen Moore commented on similarities and how serious recyclers have become.

Fred Smith of the Competitive Enterprise Institute notes with rich irony that "we now live in a society where Sunday church attendance is down, but people wouldn't dream of missing their weekly trek to the altar of the recycling center." These facilities, by the way, are increasingly called "redemption centers." Which is fine except that now the greens want to make redemption mandatory. Oh, for a return to the days when someone stood up for the separation of church and state.

I don't go to redemption centers, but I do attend church (early, traditional--we have 10 services at UALC) There is a recycling bin somewhere here at Lakeside, although we usually take our cans and bottles home to Columbus--currently have a few (plastic) bags full rattling around in the van. Chalk up one more use for the ubiquitous plastic bag. So far this week I've: cut one up and braided it to make a little rope to attach the basket to my bike; scooped and disposed of lots and lots of kitty poo from our cat Lotsa; used two to wash things I didn't want to touch; covered my bicycle seat; used one over the clothes line to protect an item of clothing from dirt. Does anyone remember the days we were constantly reminded to use plastic bags in order to save trees? In addition, the bicycle is 40 years old, the basket I was attaching is at least 10 years old as is the seat, and the tires were purchased in 1979. I challenge the greenies to match my small biking footprint. Also, my van has been parked most of the summer because at Lakeside you can walk everywhere you want to go.



The worst form of recycling is putting the huge ugly bin in plain sight where it visually pollutes. Our church does that--and I've written about it. Even Meijer's supermarket finds a way to discreetly place them so they don't change the appearance of their store. I guess they think visuals are part of marketing. What a concept!

Rachel Carson

will apparently be appearing this week at Lakeside in the portrayal by Cathy Kaemmerlen. She'll go on without me. The blurb says, "In 1962, Carson wrote Silent Spring, which exposed the hazards of the pesticide DDT. As a result, DDT came under closer governmnt supervision and was eventually banned." Of course, not a single person has ever died from exposure to (or even eating) DDT. But the result of the ban is that more Africans have died of malaria than were killed in the transatlantic slave trade. Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth also lays on misinformation about malaria--says global warming is increasing it. That's also untrue. In fact, our own Washington DC used to be a swampy mess of mosquitoes and malaria. You don't need a warm climate to have malaria. Millions of African children continue to die or live a disabled life due to our environmental movement that puts animals and plants above people. Pesticide soaked bed nets? Would you put your child under one?

A few weeks ago we had a series here on global health, and although I only attended the one by a scientist (Dick Slemons) I know and trust, the usual about health even in JAMA is all about the gap--that some have poor health because we have good health. I noticed the following at what I assume is a libertarian site (since Republicans haven't sounded like this in decades)

Arguments based on inequality are, at root, made from a misunderstanding - willful or otherwise - of the way in which wealth, medicine and technology are best created. Rapid progress for all requires a free market, strong rule of law and property rights. Such a culture necessarily has a power law distribution of ownership and success. There's a reason the US has led the world in technology, for all that it's going to the dogs nowadays - it's the flip side of the reason that communism, socialism and the politics of envy lead to poverty and suffering.

Creating "equality" by taking from the successful ruins the creation of wealth - very much a non-zero sum game - for all. It takes away the vital incentives and rewards for success. At the end of the process, as demonstrated by all that transpired in the Soviet Union, you are left with the same old inequalities, but now taking place amongst ruins, starvation and disease.

Economic ignorance is the death of cultures; it is presently eating away at the US, and is sadly most advanced in medicine and medical research. People who favor equality and envy over wealth and progress are, unfortunately, usually comparatively wealthy themselves and thus largely insulated from the short-term consequences of their ignorance. These dangerous philistines will have to decide in the years ahead whether their dearly-held positions are worth losing their lives to, not to mention the lives of everyone they manage to kill - at the rate of 100,000 with each and every day of delay on the way to working anti-aging technologies. Fight aging

Strickland and Blackwell in 2006

Ted Strickland ran on a jobs creation platform and a "I'm not Bob Taft" plank. Our unemployment rate has soared since he took over, and he's also switched his ethics (a former Methodist pastor) to support additional gambling, which always hurts the poor more and hasn't done a thing to improve education. But I see he is going to speak on the economy at the Democratic convention. Our unemployment was extremely low (state-wide) in 2006, so I wasn't sure why that was such a big deal, but for Appalachian Ohio and inner city Cleveland I suppose it was higher (for those of you geographically-challenged, we don't have a lot of industry in Appalachia and NE Ohio now that liberals have killed coal and created rust belts) But they breathe clean air. And he couldn't really say, "don't vote for the black guy." Although someone in the MSM did refer to Kenneth Blackwell as "the Republican lawn jockey." Interesting that when Obama slips in the polls, it's racisim. When Strickland pulled ahead of Blackwell, it was just good grass roots organizing. And just who are the Democrats calling racist? Wouldn't it be their own party members, since Republicans hadn't planned to vote for Obama anyway? I'm just saying. . .

Obama at the library

The UAPL has 15 copies of Obama's Audacity, and 12 copies of his Dreams, and 8 copies (6 titles) of juvy-groovy pro-Obama books. The newest, #1 Obama-critical title, called Obama Nation, has one copy on-order with 9 requests. I don't know what the tipping point is for ordering second copies, but the standard appears to vary depending on the political slant of the title. There were always multiple copies (one had 16) of anti-Bush books available, but few copies of any alternative view. Same way with conservative Christian books in general. But I've blogged about that before (see my list). Librarians are so liberal, they fall off the cliff for whatever Democrat is running. If I want to read Obama Nation, I'll probably have to buy it. I think that's why they don't get many requests. We get tired of waiting and go to Barnes and Noble. They may be liberal, but they're not stupid.

Portable pensions--we need them

Yes, just ask your union rep who should control your pension. I'm sure they'll be impartial.

"SEIU Promotes Risky Pension Plans

Last month the Service Employees International Union sponsored “Take Back the Economy” rallies in 100 cities, supporting a largely Democratic economic agenda. Included in the union’s wish-list is support for “defined-benefit” pension plans, which SEIU advocates over “defined-contribution” plans for workers. The latter setup, which includes 401(k) plans, allows workers to make regular contributions toward their pension funds—contributions which can be carefully invested and transported from job to job. To the contrary, defined-benefit plans are usually managed by union officers who can steer funds to projects requiring union-only contracts—but not necessarily good investments. The SEIU National Industry Pension Fund, for instance, is underfunded by about 44 percent despite a well-funded plan for SEIU officers, reports Brian Johnson of the Alliance for Worker Freedom." Capital Research Center Newsletter

Kind of reminds me of the well-funded, congress on both sides of the aisle who didn't want to see sound changes in Social Security but had their own pension plan that closely resembled what Bush proposed for the rest of us. When the people have more, the politicans have less.

Can you save the environment by

Making jewelry from used skateboards

or

Chair seats from recycled organic t-shirts?

Paying $200 for a handbag made by West Bengal artisans

Or

$285 for eco-silver earrings?

Wearing an organic wool poncho trimmed with vegan silk

Or

Recycled glass necklaces from wine, beer, and water bottles?

Eating simply with organic pecan bars

Or

Raw cane candy?
Of course not, but it will sell a magazine. This is the newest item in my collection, Boho, Issue No. 1, Fall 2008. Complete with 1970s colors, today's spokesmodels, and canvas bags for shopping. Every marketing technique has been recycled and is guaranteed to go for the green.

Golden boy

You might think ADHD kids can't focus, but that's not necessarily so. Some focus almost exclusively on one particular thing to the detriment of social skills or academic learning. Michael Phelps, according to his mother, has ADHD and as a child was medicated. And this is just a guess, but once she found that swimming could grab his attention, and helped him channel that energy, they were off to the Olympics. Having exceptionally long arms and being very tall with big feet, probably didn't hurt. With 13 gold medals, he's won more gold than any athlete in Olympics history.

I watched an interview with her this morning, and she still maintains a web site for parents of ADHD children. I'm against medicating kids--Thomas Edison was ADHD, too--thank goodness no one medicated him. Maybe Mom or the teacher just need to take something. Michael's mother says he was diagnosed at 9 and went off medication at 11, and that he didn't use it in the summer or on week-ends. I'm not a doctor, but most medications need to be taken consistently. If they noticed any improvement in his behavior, I'm guessing it was the placebo effect. But the medication gurus are pushing their stimulants based on the Phelps case in their publications. Unfortunate.

Turning P-Green

As in pooper-scooper.
Politicians.
Pharisees.
Pile-on.
Peremptory.
Professionals.
Preaching.
Petroleum-free.
Products.
Planning.
Protection.
Pathological.
Program.
Pervasive.
Parade.
Pell-Mell.
Projects.
Plants.
Parrot.
Party-line.
Pedant.
Pestilence.
Pesticide-ban.
Positivism.
Profit.
Pick-pocket.
Pious.
Pitbull.
Performance.
Paranoia.
Productivity.
Passion.
Paternalism.
Problem.
Prove-it.
Purpose Driven Church.
Pantheism.
Perfidy.
Peddle-power.
Prius.
Procedures.
Protesters.
Packaging.
Palaver.
Peevish.
Panacea.
Pandora's box.
Paper work.
Pay load.

Rick Warren and the campaign

When I heard what Warren planned to do I told my husband that it appears he wants to be the next Billy Graham (he always met with presidents regardless of their faith). A friend of mine from high school, let's call him Dave since that's his name, sends a Bible study a few times a week via e-mail to various home boys and girls. Today he commented on Warren's work and prominence. Here's my take, revised from my e-mail to Dave.

Our home congregation (UALC, Columbus, OH) is a believing church and used Warren's Purpose Driven Life as a sermon series about 4 years ago. I read and liked it, for the most part. I compare it to a fad diet--works for awhile and then you yo-yo back to your previous weight. I think for believers it is icing on the cake--can remind them of some things more traditional Bible preachers either forget or don't emphasize. But for unbelievers it is really loaded with fat and empty calories and they could be misled with good feelings and great intentions, thinking it is of God.

I'm analytical--if I don't hear or read some version of "Did you know Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and rose from the grave and you can too" early in the sermon or book, then I look for what the speaker/writer is building on. Usually it is a version of good works (environmentalism, humanism, political activism, human relationships). Most people desperately want to believe in something, and when it isn't the saving work of Jesus, it tends to be some type of trendy prayer, or human effort (fight global warming), or multiple gods. However, I have to remember that just as there are multipe learning styles, so there are many methods through which God reaches people depending on their personalities and emotional make-up. I've heard plenty of well-intentioned, Biblical sermons that could drive a person into a long nap. Yes, God could reach you in your dreams, but probably not if you're snoring through the sermon. I love certain programs on Catholic radio and TV, but when it's a panel investigating the miracles of praying to Mary or a particular saint, I reach for the remote. It's not for me. Warren just doesn't fit the needs of many Christians; he's Jesus-lite.

Rick Warren has a huge church. I hope that after he draws them down the saw dust trail with the preaching, music and programming, there is a sound small group to disciple the new members or visitors with solid Bible teaching. I've heard there is--sort of bait and switch. The only problem I have with that method, and I've told my own pastors this, you never know when you're in that pulpit (or even conversation) whether this is your last or only chance to reach that person, and God has put him there that Sunday for you to witness to the Good News.

Lakeside 2008, Week 8

It's been a wonderful, music filled week. Last night was the Celtic Tenors, Matthew Gilsenan, James Nelson, and Daryl Simpson. If you ever have the chance to attend one of their concerts, do go! From here I think they went to Milwaukee. A lovely mix of traditional, Gaelic, American, opera, and pop. Handsome and elegantly dressed, too, which after a summer of seeing baggy shorts and flip flops was a treat.

Tonight is Phil Dirt and the Dozers, always a favorite just about anywhere in Ohio. For them, I don't expect a fashion show. They formed in 1981 in Columbus, and they do perform all over the country, but Ohio is their home where they take us back to the 50s, 60s, and 70s. This photo is a bit dated; here's the bio info on the current group. Their drummer died last year. A really fabulous young guy joined them in 2006 whose wife is university faculty in Columbus.

On Tuesday we enjoyed tremendously the piano duets of husband and wife Pierre van der Westhuizen and Sophia Grobler, both from South Africa and who serve on the faculty of Heidelberg College when not touring.

Monday evening was the Lakeside Symphony Candlelight Showcase of homes although we didn't attend. It's a fundraiser. Several Lakeside homeowners host a small group of musicians and guests. People (180 homes this year) also light up their homes with Christmas lights and decorations. It's a festive time!

I skipped Kathy Mattea on Saturday, a CW singer and shill for Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." At Lakeside we like our social activism from the pulpit (smile). My husband said there was nothing in her concert about her politics, but you never know when you might have a Dixie Chix eruption.

Is McCain an Obama mole?

Barack "Born-alive" Obama voted against protection for born alive babies when he was an Illinois senator, despite the fact that the bill did not interfere with "a woman's right to choose" and posed no threat to Roe v. Wade. Imagine. Gasping, struggling, reaching and tiny--turn your back and pitch her. Most people wouldn't treat a dog that way. But oddly enough, as the DNC scrambles to enfold its own lefty Catholics into the party tent, John McCain is waffling on abortion in his selection of a VP in an attempt to gather up disaffected Hillaryites and nervous-about-race Democrats, most of whom are pro-abortion. So McCain is dumping on conservatives again; why should we believe him on anything else he's said? I always suspected he was just a middle of the road, fence-sitting Democrat, but now he's starting to look like an Obama secret ops guy.

Politicians are one sick bunch. A pox on all their campaigns and bimbo eruptions.

Isn't it puzzling that unborn babies have worth and value if they are "wanted," but not if they are "unwanted?" Some editor slipped up in this AP story. Usually they call the unborn baby, a fetus.

Horrified onlookers in New York City's Bronx borough lifted a 5-ton school bus off a pregnant woman who was pinned underneath. Doctors performed an emergency Caesarean section and saved her baby, a 3-pound, 6-ounce boy. The mother died shortly after his birth.

Casual Friday

says the Well Dressed Librarian is not the day to wear your flip flops--that's for running to the store. And don't wear socks, or pick at your toes; wash your feet, get a pedicure, etc. Toe jewelry won't help dirty toes. This guy knows his stuff. Better yet, IMO, don't wear them in public.

Misleading us on military deaths

Perhaps you've seen it. The e-mail that's circulating comparing the number of military deaths during the Clinton years compared to the Bush years. Pitch it. Someone in the process of forwarding, or just having an agenda of his own, has reworked the numbers. Lowered the Bush years numbers and increased the Clinton years numbers. Look at the Congressional Research Service link for the original document, American War and Military Operations Casualties:
Lists and Statistics. However, it is still surprising, and our media continue to mislead us. Table 4 and Table 5 gives the numbers of U.S. Active Duty Military Deaths, 1980-2006 (as of Nov 22, 2007, and these numbers are constantly revised based on new information if the cause of death was unclear).

The numbers are startling. Military deaths have been much higher during non-conflict, non-war years, like comparing 2001-2006 (Bush) with 1981-1986 (Reagan). Deaths were much, much higher in the 80s and the military was also larger. It's the cause of death--homicide, suicide, accidents, and illnesses that bumps up the deaths of yesterday's U.S. military, whether Carter, Reagan or Clinton were Presidents. I was shocked looking at these tables. Homicide was almost halved during the Reagan years, but is still much lower now. Remember all the suicide stories we've been treated to during the dinner hour? 269 in 1986 and 192 in 2006. In 1985, deaths from accidents were 1476, and in 2005 deaths from accidents were 644. Another table I looked at showed the amputation ratio per injury, and that was way down.

What this report shows is a military that's safer, healthier, better cared for, better trained and more highly motivated to defend their country and support their Commander in Chief. It also shows that our news sources, and both presidential campaigns, continue to paint this war with a brush dipped in careless abandon and wild hyperbole. Even so, read the real document, and ignore the stats in the e-mail.

HT to Murray who pointed me to this interesting document.

Genealogy class

We've been having a great genealogy class at Lakeside this week, and I've been checking out some sites. Our instructor said what started as a puddle (genealogy sites and information on the internet) is now an ocean. I came across this quote (without attribution) in the Columbine Genealogical and Historical Society Newsletter (Littleton, CO), 2nd quarter 2007:

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming -- "WOW"-- What a Ride!"

And even then, it isn't all there. Not even close. I didn't see our Lakeside archives and newsletter among the Ottawa County Ohio resources nor the Brethren Heritage Center among the Montgomery County Ohio resources.

Obama's new taxes

A blogger at Soballiance (Ohio conservative bloggers) responded to Obama’s man in Ohio, Aaron Pickrell (governor's staff), who attempted to explain Obama’s windfall tax plan in a mailing. I agree with the blogger . This is no plan. This is a tax on us, especially retirees and anyone who drives a car or truck or uses merchandise that is transported on a road or through the air, or who has a home or business that needs heat, or uses anything made of plastic or rubber, etc.

First, taxing a company is not an energy plan. You'd have to be a plain fool to think otherwise. Second, do you think that taxing a successful company will make them want to provide more product or less product. Third, at what level does profit become a wind-fall? Will Obama try to use a percentage of revenue, or just some arbitrary number? If percentage, what rate? Coca-cola, Pepsi, Wal-mart and many other companies have a higher profit margin than nearly all of the oil companies. Moreover, will Obama pay this windfall tax on the profits he made on selling his books? Or how about the professional athletes who make tens of millions for playing a few games a year, or endorsing products? Will they be taxed too? If it's by number (some arbitrary dollar amount), do you think that would provide an incentive to earn more money or less money? I don't know if you know this, but oil companies employ a whole lot of people. So with higher taxes or lower profits, that's less money to employ workers. Not to mention that a majority of Exxon (in particular) stock is owned by pension funds and individuals through mutual funds and 401(k)'s. So Obama's "windfall" profit tax is actually a tax on working class Americans.

And it seems the left isn't happy with oil money, no matter what--whether costs are up or down, ours or Iraq's, according to an editorial in today's WSJ

Among the antiwar faithful, every improvement in Iraq is still bad news, even if -- or especially if -- it's good news for the U.S. So it is with the political eruption over Iraq's budget surplus.

According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the Iraqi government generated some $96 billion in revenues since 2005, when Baghdad started managing its own budget, with about 94% coming from crude oil exports. Now Democrats and a few Republicans are complaining that Iraq is "pocketing huge profits" without spending enough on reconstruction. The GAO figures the surplus could run as high as $50 billion this year, though the real figure will be far lower once parliament resolves ongoing budget negotiations. The Iraq surplus

If the economy improves, it's bad news for Democrats; if the price of oil goes down, it's bad news for Democrats. What's good for the nation is bad for Democrats. So guess who's throwing a monkey wrench into the works and then promises to fix it?

Eating with Michael Phelps

Our eleven gold medals swimmer, Michael Phelps, eats. A lot. Like 8,000-10,000 calories a day. But he also swims about five hours a day, and doesn't seem to do much except watch TV and play with his dog, if the show I saw on NBC is accurate. I guess that puts a lie to you can't exercise it off.



The current recommendation for overweight and obese women is 30 minutes of moderate physical activity several days a week, or 150 minutes per week. Unfortunately, new research says that if you want to lose weight, that won't do it. "Overweight and obese women need to exercise at least 275 minutes per week and reduce energy intake to sustain a weight loss of more than 10% over two years, according to a new report in Archives of Internal Medicine. Story here.

To celebrate with Michael, for lunch I had corn on the cob, chips dipped in home made zucchini relish (My Mother's Market, 7610 Ransom Rd., Sandusky, Ohio 44870) and a brownie with cream cheese frosting.

Bad, bad blogger chick.

Naked Ladies in Lakeside

Today our Naked Ladies have opened. It's a sign of mid-August in Lakeside. This isn't the view from my window (which has mini-blinds and part of our TV antenna tower in view) and is by Alexandra Rauh. I have some photos of ours, but this is so much better!

Finding the Aaronsohns

When my cousin Gayle sent her weekly e-letter this week, she noted the Gutenberg site, a digital collection of literature that predates the web, at least I remember reading it in the early 90s when everything on the net was text. She provided the link so I clicked over and started to browse, finding the Aaronsohns, first Alexander's memoir in 1916 of being a Jew born in Palestine conscripted into the Turkish military, then through Google a recent book about Sarah, his sister who was a spy against the Turks in Palestine, and then finally through a blogger, an account of a popular Israeli children's book about Sarah.

Title: With the Turks in Palestine; Author: Alexander Aaronsohn; Written in 1916 From the introduction which this week has a familiar ring as we watch what's happening in Georgia:

"While Belgium is bleeding and hoping, while Poland suffers and dreams of liberation, while Serbia is waiting for redemption, there is a little country the soul of which is torn to pieces—a little country that is so remote, so remote that her ardent sighs cannot be heard.

It is the country of perpetual sacrifice, the country that saw Abraham build the altar upon which he was ready to immolate his only son, the country that Moses saw from a distance, stretching in beauty and loveliness,—a land of promise never to be attained,—the country that gave the world its symbols of soul and spirit. Palestine!"

Then when I googled the author and worked through bunches of wikis and reviews all using the same information, I came across a review of a book by Hillel Halkin.

Halkin in a reworked and stunning new edition of The Liar, [which had been serialized] "A Strange Death" (Public Affairs, 400 pages, $26). He tells the story as he learned it, starting with the day in 1970 that he and his wife, Marcia, arrived in the town of Zichron Ya'akov in northern Israel. . . the story of a Jewish spy ring that aided the British against the Turks in Palestine during World War I. It was an incredible conspiracy, led by a beautiful woman, Sarah Aaronsohn.

And Miriam Shaviv writes that he is on sacred ground because

Of-course, no matter how original, provoking and sophisticated Halkin's book is, for an entire generation of Israeli kids, the only book which will ever really count on the subject is Sarah Giborat Nili ('Sarah the Heroine of Nili), Dvorah Omer's heart-breaking account of the affair for children. I first learned Hebrew by reading an abridged version in easy language, and still remember getting upset over Avshalom Feinberg's death. I hope Halkin knows he's treading on hallowed ground!

Then I found another book (via Google) about the Aarohnsons just published last year, called The Aarohnson Saga, which covers his post-war Zionist activities and death.

Isn't the internet fun! You could go to Gutenberg.org every day, pick an author you've never read, and then take a peek at how she or he has fared over time.

There are also digitized sheet music and audio books, so I also stopped to listen while looking around, although Jane Austen wasn't within my theme of WWI spies.

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.
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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.