No preconditions for the tea party with Ahmadinejad

And we’re not talking about misinformation passed out by Joe Biden at last week's debate, either. No, it's the religious Left (and some not so religious, and a few not so Left). The Christians, of course, were simply following their community organizer's command some 2000 years ago to "Go therefore and eat together and hold a dialogue, but forget about worshiping me and baptizing them; just use your own plan."

“In a fourth encounter over two years, American church officials shared an Iftar meal with the visiting Iranian president on September 28 in New York City. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier in the day had delivered his usual rant against Israel and the United States at the United Nations. But hosting religious officials, anxious for dialogue, were undeterred. Nor were they were intimidated by boisterous demonstrators outside their Manhattan hotel, where some placards demanded: "No Feast with the Beast."

Who’s responsible for this travesty?

The Mennonite Central Committee, the Americans Friends Service Committee (Quakers), the World Council of Churches' UN Liaison Office and Religions for Peace. About 300 religious representatives attended, mostly American church officials, but also including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, leftist Jewish Renewal movement chief Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, a Zoroastrian priest, and former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Bondevik, a Lutheran minister.” . . .“The other denominations that sent representatives to the Iftar dinner included the United Methodist Church, Episcopal Church and Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), all of which, along with the UCC, have recently rejected anti-Israel divestment initiatives, thanks partly to appeals from American Jews.”

The National Council of Churches, in an unusually wise move for a left of center Christian group, boycotted the party for Amadinejad due to his hateful language, behavior, and screwed up views of history.

Then there was the usual, naive woman asking questions later.

“United Methodist Women's chief Harriett Jane Olson told Reuters afterwards that she wished Ahmadinejad had talked about "practical issues" such as the treatment of women and children in Iran instead of abstract theology."

Story at Weekly Standard.

Fritz Hoffman

The central Ohio art scene lost a wonderful friend Sunday with the death of Fritz Hoffman. Every day we enjoy two of his wonderful watercolors (he was AWS and OWS) that hang in our dining room and my husband was in an artist luncheon group with him as well as community organizations. In recent years Fritz had changed to oils, and my husband thinks they may even be better than his watercolors, but I find that hard to imagine. Here is the obituary from today's Columbus Dispatch. He will be greatly missed.

HOFFMAN Frederick R. Hoffman "Fritz", age 78, went home to be with his Lord and Savior on October 5, 2008. He served in the Army during the Korean Conflict, was Vice President of Burkholder Flint and Nichols Advertising Agency, was also active in C.O.W.S., A.W.S and O.W.S. Fritz is preceded in death by his parents Frederick and Susie Hoffman. He is survived by his loving wife, Joanne of 50 years; daughters, Betsy (Steve) Leitwein, Kathy (Jerry) Cutler; grandchildren, Steven (Ashley) Leitwein, Drew Leitwein, Jessica Cutler, Kaitlin Cutler; great-grandchild, Olivia Leitwein; sister, Barbara Hoch; nieces, nephews and many friends. Family will receive friends at SCHOEDINGER NORTHWEST CHAPEL 1740 Zollinger Rd., Friday, October 10, 2008 from 5-8 p.m. to celebrate Fritz's life. A private family service will be held at a later time. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the charity of ones choice.

John McCain's arms

I hate to watch John McCain. I usually have to leave the room or switch channels. My body just aches when I see his poor, damaged arms. I'm such a wimp. I should be asking myself, "I wonder how many hours or minutes Barack Obama would survive if tortured for his country and his beliefs?" When I see what McCain has given up in just being comfortable in his body, I wonder which pains him more, an electorate who thinks it doesn't matter if we run out again on our allies, or his own broken body.

Recommended by a Canadian!

"As a pro-America conservative Canadian, I enjoyed this book so much. Lots of answers to some very confusing questions like Public Health Care, Defense and Foreign Policies, role of the US in the world and many more. If you're a liberal, you should read this to understand more about our point of views. If you're a right winger, you still need this great handbook to defend yourself against the Lunatic Leftists. Highly Recommended!" [Amazon Review]

I haven't read too much of this title--already know a lot of it, but it's got some great notes, charts, definitions and web sites. Conservatives need something like this to come up against the in-your-face Alinsky-trained almighty Obamites. And can you believe this was actually at my very liberal public library branch? Throwing a bone to the conservatives in town who pay their salaries. I was so thrilled, but I noticed the titles with which it was keeping company (the ones not checked out but sitting on the new book shelf). I've probably missed a few left and right, but I'm going by cover and spine titles. It's a little like trying to take photos of all the out of state license plates where the Dems were registering voters this past week--gotta work fast.

The political mind

Right is wrong

The wrecking crew

The trainwreck

The last campaign

A time it was

Know your power

The good fight

Bush's law

Fire breathing liberal

Step by step

Against the tide

A time to fight

Who killed the Constitution

Your government failed you

Guantanamo diary

and then there were twenty-one "green titles," from gardening to jobs, too many to list, and not all worthless of course, but many hyping the human caused global climate change myth (it's very lucrative for business, but especially publishers).

I won't provide the links to these title--sometimes librarians just yawn and point when you ask a question (I never did, but I've seen it done). But in case you noticed how the list lists to the left, I'll remind you that among journalists, they are 5 to 1, liberal to conservative; out in Hollywood in the entertainment industry they are 11 to 1, liberal to conservative; but the library profession is 223 to 1, liberal to conservative. Dixie Chicks and Barbra Streisand have nothing on your local library staff selecting titles from LJ and PW while posting their banned books list.

The next bailout

says Sue Shellenbarger in today's WSJ is your adult children. Sorry Sue. Hate to break the bad news, but Americans have already done that. Boomers were bailed by their parents, and the boom-lets and boom-lights even more so by their boomer parents. No one in America is allowed to have a living standard less wonderful than their parents' it seems. That was a constant riff in the "this economy" theme we've heard the past seven years, and probably before that, because Democrats didn't invent that, I think Republicans did.

My husband's parents (who were younger than mine) didn't help us much--all their disposable income that wasn't needed for the basics like housing, food, clothing went for alcohol, cigarettes and nice vacations. My husband during one stint in college lived with the parents of his best friend, not his own parents. This dear woman even fed him and bought him a winter coat. But my parents certainly chipped in. A lot. It was sort of a family tradition. My great-grandfather had helped my maternal grandmother, and on the other side, my great-grandmother had helped Dad buy his first home. Dad provided for my college education, of course, at least until I was married, then it became a loan to be paid back (and I did). He gave us $1,000 for our first home (a duplex) which didn't have to be paid back, and then took a second mortgage for us on his own savings account (that was paid back). He also sold us my mother's car, which we made payments on. But still, for the 1960s when we had no credit of our own, that was a big help. The irony is we actually inherited more from my in-laws, who'd never given us a dime, than my own parents who had so carefully managed their own resources. That really doesn't matter, since we're grateful to both families not only for their love, but their limited resources the government didn't tax away, so that I could retire at 60 instead of 65.

For our daughter, things were fairly straight forward--we had purchased stock for her (Wendy's) that had recovered from the bust in the 80s and reinvested the dividends (and hid it from her in her late teen years). We'd also taken out a life insurance policy after she left home and it had some value when she cashed it in. The money we had "sheltered" for her when she was very young designated for college was long gone by the time she wanted to buy a house, because we'd made the mistake of using her SS# which meant at 18 she had control, not us. That money went to buy a car to replace the one wrecked by a drunk driver who hit her while she was waiting at a stop light.

For our son we had to be a bit more creative to be "fair," and we won't know for years if we helped or hurt him. His stock tanked and was worthless, and we couldn't get insurance for him. His childhood college account also went for other things that young adulthood required and he had access by then. So after his divorce we purchased a home for him, a wonderful place where he could garden and run his big dog. We used our assets to qualify for a low interest ARM, and he made all the payments. He now owns it (with the bank) and we gave him the equity that he had built up by faithfully paying the mortgage and paying all the expenses for four years.

Of course, we hadn't counted on the government so badly managing the mortgage market with the same good intentions we had that it would bring down the economy. We knew some of the places we looked at with him in 2004 had bizarre financing options (NINJA), but although tempted, we took the "conservative" route, and took on the debt ourselves after years of having no debt at all except for a few months of a "bridge loan" when we bought our condo. We did far more than our parents had done for us, but still within the family tradition of the 19th and 20th centuries being the financial safety net for adult children. However, we live in a two-income household society, and try as I might to interfere, he hasn't found a wife to help with the cost of living and a mortgage. So being a brand new home owner in a neighborhood where many foreclosure signs are popping up may be tough if the credit market tumbles even further and affects his job.

But just like the social engineers in Washington, we believed home ownership was right and "a right" for all Americans, especially our children. It may take years to straighten all this out, and there could be more bailing in our immediate future.

Who is more dangerous?

Over at Democratic Underground dotcom which seems to be a discussion board (I haven't found actual articles) there are 30,200 posts about Sarah Palin and 5,270 about Bill Ayers and his relationship to Obama. Most of those Ayers posts are how to refute, stomp on, deny and disclaim that he has any link to Obama other than just a harmless fuzz ball from the neighborhood. I didn't even bother to check on what they're saying about Sarah, but obviously as a woman not defined by leftist feminism, she's a terrible threat to the Democratic Underground.

Definitions of leaks

Some bloggers do have ears for the leaks, but mainly those go straight from the government's lips to AP, NYT or WSJ "sources" then the bloggers go to work. I wrote about this maybe 2.5 years ago, and found these definitions really interesting. Leaks about the current financial crisis weren't too important. It was all out there loud and clear. Even the talking heads could hear Maxine and Barney defending Fannie, and no one cared because their own portfolios were doing fine. We all wanted to believe the house of cards built in the suburbs was the "American dream" for people who couldn't afford it.

Source: Stephen Hess. The Government/Press Connection: Press Officers and their Offices. Washington, DC : Brookings Institution, 1984. 77-79;

Ego Leak: Giving information primarily to satisfy a sense of self.

Goodwill Leak: Information offered to “accumulate credit” as a play for a future favor.

Policy Leak: A straightforward pitch for or against a proposal using some document or insider information as the lure to get more attention than might be otherwise justified. The leak of the Pentagon Papers falls into this category.

Animus Leak: Used to settle grudges; information is released in order to cause embarrassment to another person.

Trial-Balloon Leak: Revealing a proposal that is under consideration in order to assess its assets and liabilities. Usually proponents have too much invested in a proposal to want to leave it to the vagaries of the press and public opinion. More likely, those who send up a trial balloon want to see it shot down, and because it is easier to generate opposition to almost anything than to build support, this is the most likely effect.

Whistleblower Leak: Usually used by career personnel; going to the press may be the last resort of frustrated civil servants who feel they cannot resolve their dispute through administrative channels. Hess is careful to point out that Whistleblowing is not synonymous with leaking.

Bolstered by Congress?

"Open access pioneer BioMed Central has been acquired by Springer, ScientificAmerican.com has learned.

Open access is the movement, recently bolstered by Congress, to make studies available for free online, instead of charging taxpayers who funded the research (and others) to read them. Many prominent scientists have backed it, signing on with BioMed Central and a non-profit open access publisher, the Public Library of Science". Full article and links at Scientific American.com

The idea that the federal government isn't already involved up to its eyeballs in all scientific research is bogus in itself. The only thing different about "open access" is that at one step--early publication--you should not have to pay to see what you've already paid for. You pay many times over--you fund the researchers (you've probably already paid for their education) at their various institutions through the grants they get from various government agencies, then those institutions skim a huge amount to keep the university running, including the library, which in turn keep those programs going that don't have a cash cow. This in turn eats up a huge amount of time of the faculty, which is why you are paying for your kid to be taught by a grad student from India or China, rather than a full professor, who has to be off in the lab researching and publishing so he can keep his job, which is to hire more foreign nationals to teach your kids. Then you are charged again for that research when it appears in peer-reviewed scientific journals which the library has to buy so the researchers can keep applying for more government grants. A decade ago librarians were all caught up in the idea that the internet was going to be our savior, but sadly have learned otherwise, because business and Congress were just much more clever than we were. This symbiotic relationship, this coziness between research and politics is best illustrated by the shut down of scientific debate on the hoax of human caused climate change--just one example of why science isn't impartial when you let international left wing organizations, Hollywood and Congress control it.

Justice and Redistribution

The Christian evangelical Left parallels the rise of the radical far Left in American politics. That's why I don't see a conflict with calling Obama a Christian and a marxist. I am not one who was surprised that Obama stayed with Wright's church. Like many churches, it runs programs for the poor, such as housing, food, clothing, but it also receives funding from the government to do so. That money comes from you and me in the form of taxes. Sometimes it is a summer lunch program, sometimes it is rehabilitating older housing, or it may be career or job training (or subsidies for barely working). Christians see this as "distributive justice" (or more accurately, redistributing our wealth). There is also a far left wing among mainline protestants and Roman Catholics. Together these three groups are the Religious Left. They all have their own organizations, many of which receive money from the government as well as their denominations to fund their programs and achieve their goals, which are often in line with those of the government.

Justice in the Bible is synonymous with righteousness, which is an attribute of God. Man, made in God's image, was also righteous before the Fall, but now is a sinner and receives Jesus' righteousness by faith. The "good news" includes concern for the whole person, but leftist Christians have distorted the Biblical view with the idea that government needs to redistribute goods and services through taxation to achieve justice. Thus the state can be God's representative on earth.

The following is from Stewardship Journal, Winter 1991, "The Christian Debate over Justice and Rights" by Ronald H. Nash, 29-40.

The most elementary analysis of the Religious Left's writings about justice makes it clear that they are interested almost exclusively in questions of distributive justice. When one's announced intention is to help the poor, it is probably inevitable that one's emphasis will be upon distributing (or rather redistributing) society's wealth. . . Political liberals concerned with distributive justice on the level of an entire society usually try to disguise the fact that the redistribution of a society's holdings they wish to institute must be enacted through coercion, that is, through the state or government forcing people in some way or other.

On several occasions, I have heard my friend Ron Sider give eloquent appeals to rich Christians in America to spread their wealth around to help the poor. I am often mystified as to why Sider fails to tell his audiences that what he desires is for the state or government to effect his desired redistribution of wealth through force, that is, through taxation (the IRS, after all, does not suggest that one make a donation). Some of Sider's followers obviously sense that he is an apologist for higher taxes that will supposedly support greatly expanded liberal social programs. Others seem to miss this obvious point and simply get caught up in the idealism of a noble crusade to help the poor.

Please note the big difference between Christians voluntarily giving their own money to fund programs to help the poor and the quite different situations in which agents of the state take other people's money, keep a large chunk of it to pay their inflated salaries, and use some of what's left to fund counter-productive and self-defeating programs that end up making life even more miserable for the poor. . .

Social or distributive justice as liberals view it is possible only in a society that is controlled from the top down. There must be a central agency with the power to force people to accept the liberals' preferred pattern of distribution. . . What liberals call justice is a setting in which representatives of the state, the most powerful and coercive institution on earth, are empowered continually to take from some in order to give to others, taking care in the process that they keep enough to pay their own salaries. . .

Devotees of liberal "social justice" often fail to see how their position leads to an aggrandizement of state power, how it enslaves people to the state. They too easily overlook the massive threat the institution of the state poses to human liberty. . .

Christian political liberals want the state to use its vast powers of coercion to force everyone in society to help attain the Christian's ends. . . [They] often use the doctrine of Christian stewardship in an attempt to justify their commitment to statism. . . Christian stewardship is perverted into a doctrine that obliges Christians to surrender their judgment, will, and resources to the liberal state which, in the view of the Religious Left, becomes God's surrogate on earth. (p. 31)

Never believe a promise that they'll only tax the other guy

That's class warfare. Class envy. Obama can't reduce taxes for 95% of Americans, since about 1/3 don't pay taxes anyway. Here's what to remember the last time a charismatic candidate promised to tax the rich and give you a break.

“Back when Mr. Clinton was campaigning for president in 1992, he made a pretty direct pitch: Raise taxes on people making more than $200,000, and use those revenues to fund tax relief for the "forgotten middle class."

In an October presidential debate, then-Gov. Clinton laid out the marginal-rate increase he wanted and some of his plans for the revenue that would be brought in. He followed with a pledge:

"Now, I'll tell you this," he said. "I will not raise taxes on the middle class to pay for these programs. If the money does not come in there to pay for these programs, we will cut other government spending, or we will slow down the phase-in of the programs."

Mr. Clinton, of course, won that election. And as the inauguration approached, he began backtracking from his promise. At a Jan. 14, 1993, press conference in New Hampshire, he claimed that it was the media that had played up a middle-class tax cut, not him. A month later, he announced his actual plan before a joint session of Congress.

p. 1 NYT . . . "Families earning as little as $20,000 a year will also be asked to send more dollars to Washington under the President's plan." About That Middle-Class Tax Cut . . .

Why health care insurance is so expensive

"As a state senator in Illinois, [Obama] voted to require that dental anesthesia be covered by every health plan for difficult medical cases. Today, the requirement is one of 43 mandates imposed by Illinois on health insurance, according to the Illinois Division of Insurance. Other mandates require coverage of infertility treatments, drug rehab, "personal injuries" incurred while intoxicated, and other forms of care.

By my count, during Mr. Obama's tenure in the state Senate, 18 different laws came up for a vote and passed that imposed new mandates on private health insurance. Mr. Obama voted for all of them.

As a presidential candidate, Mr. Obama says people lack health insurance because "they can't afford it." He's right. But he is also partly responsible for why health insurance is too expensive. A long list of studies show that mandates like the ones Mr. Obama has championed drive up the cost of insurance for the very people priced out of coverage." Insider scoop, By Scott Gottlieb - WSJ 05-06-08

Who's left?

I used to stare at the list of 50 or so organizations on the campus willing to help me, a poor lil'ol weak, helpless female, and wonder why with all the local, county, state and federal laws and local and national organizations in place and living in the best country in the world, I needed so much help. That was about 10 years ago. Slicing and dicing the university community into small manageable groups (academe is very liberal, in case you hadn't noticed) continues. I wondered who was not eligible in this announcement. I really think I might be eligible for something (age? marital status?) even though my Wenger ancestors left Switzerland in the 1740s. I just need to find someone who thinks blogging is important and can nominate me. If you cast your net broadly enough, I suppose you ensure your continued existance.

“The Distinguished Diversity Enhancement Awards recognize individuals or groups who have demonstrated a significant commitment to enhancing diversity at Ohio State and to exceeding expectations in implementing the Diversity Action Plan. The program, now in its 21st year, rewards efforts to enhance diversity on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, sex, age, disability, veteran or military service status, gender identity, economic status, political belief, marital status or social background.” Recognizing excellence, OSU Resources

OSU Increases Adoption Assistance Benefit for 2009

The Adoption Assistance Program reimburses eligible employees for adoption-related expenses upon placement of a minor child in the employee's home. In 2009, the university will increase its reimbursement amount from $4,000 to $5,000 per adopted child.

Adoptions eligible for the benefit should meet the following criteria:

• Adopted children must be under 18 years of age.

• Adopted children may or may not be biologically related to either parent.

• Adoptions are made through public, private, domestic, international, and independent means.

Looks like if you adopt your own step-child, you can get $5,000.

How McCain handed the election to Obama

"McCain unaccountably failed to make his strongest argument [about the economy]. The roots of the crisis lie in both parties' encouragement of greater home ownership. But at critical points, notably in 2005, some Republicans, including McCain, called for tighter regulation of the mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This was resisted by Democrats, with no demur from obama." Michael Barone, column in Columbus Dispatch, 10-7-08.

Obama has promised so much based on taxing the rich, promoting class warfare, and now they'll all show losses. That's a lot of angry, expectant, greedy people. So, you know who's next in line for more taxes. You and me.

The Taxman Rap
by Norma Bruce
June 10, 2008

More new taxes
to buy axes
for our backses
and our neckses

for our gases
and our classes
(just the riches'
and the niches.)

Yo! Obama
Go! Oh mama
You our Papa
You Messiah.

Obama can
He is the man
He do the plan
He be the taxman.

Global Economic Challenge

C-SPAN covered an interesting conference yesterday called Global Economic Challenge. The first guy said that when he accepted the invitation to speak a year ago, he had no idea we'd be in the middle of this mess. I thought that was quite telling because I wrote a poem about the mess at Fannie and Fred in September 2007. If I noticed it, I wonder why the economists on the panel didn't. Or maybe they did and Congress stonewalled them as they did Bush.

Paul Krugman was on the panel. He and Thomas Sowell are about the only economists I've read. His comments were interesting to say the least, in that he really had no answers. He was extremely hesitant--almost as many "ahs" and "uhs" as Barack Obama as he thought his way through his responses. There were lots of "could be" and "it's not compelling" type phrases. However, in discussing how our problem has spread world wide he reminded me of something I'd completely forgotten; the Asian economic contagion of 1997-1999. The only reason I remember it at all is that it started in tiny Thailand and spread through out Asia. A Thai PhD student came to me looking for a job. Not only had her government scholarship money dried up, but her very wealthy family had been wiped out. She had even sold her jewelry. Usually I didn't hire this type of student because they often don't do well in repetitive library routines, but I felt sorry for her and for the few months she worked for me, she was able to perform some complex jobs. Her IQ probably qualified her for Mensa. As soon as the college offered her an assistantship, she quit.

Krugman did make some memorable points, however. It isn't just the trade linkages--where we're buying less from other countries and hurting their economies. Diversity, which is recommended for the private investor, actually hurts us in the global economy. Many of our assets are foreign owned, so that affects the world economy. Krugman didn't like the Paulson Plan--he joked that it should be called "Bailey Mae" or "Hanky Panky." Capital has been destroyed he said, and Paulson has "grabbed the wrong end of the stick." (Note the complex economic jargon.) He should have injected capital, but time was wasted as well as political capital.

In conclusion, with one tiny jab at the Bush Administration (the lack of blame here I think indicates that the Bush admin is not to blame) he said, "This is amazing stuff," which I'm sure the audience found helpful, and that "We need clear thinking."

Guess I'll keep checking the blogs for links to CRA and ACORN. Good intentions run amuck, or Fox watching the hen house sounds about as useful an explanation as "stuff out of whack" and "burst housing bubble."


Freddie and Fannie
Sept. 29, 2007
by Norma Bruce

Freddie and Fannie
went up to Capitol Hill
to fawn for a bigger profit
Sticking you and me with the bill.

With help from our taxes
They'll package and resell,
a windfall for the banks and rich,
for the rest of us, economic hell.

Years ago the original aim
was to help the struggling poor.
Now they seek those jumbo loans--
Congress and Bush! Show them the door!

ACORN, Obama, Ayers, Fannie, and the subprime mess

My, what a tangled web this is. Check here for the chart and explanations. They're not just sticky fingered crooks registering dead people, they're actually big time players. Also check this blog.

Start tracking the housing money in your state. You'll probably find some of the same connections.

Gramm-Leach-Bliley

"Democrats largely supported it at the time, and one of their own, Bill Clinton, signed it. Now they frame it as a Republican bill that helped send the nation on the path to perdition."

Even Bill Clinton has been interviewed recently as saying it was a good idea, and of course, he could have vetoed it. So why do we let the Democrats get away with saying it is the Republicans and deregulation's fault? Here's what happened.

Modernized the rules, says IBD.

The mistakes had nothing to do with the 1999 law.

Pumping up home ownership was good for business and good for the politicians--all of them.

A new multitrillion-dollar market emerged

And what happened from there to cause the collapse needs to be investigated.

Well, maybe, but we sure shouldn't put Barney Frank in charge, he definitely needs to go; and congress definitely shouldn't be patting themselves on the back!

Not everyone in Chicago shrugs

New York Times was late to the story--it is after all, an Obama supporter--about Barack Obama and terrorist Bill Ayers, but Chicago never really cared much, said Editor and Publisher back in April. However,

"Chicago's pundit class is not exactly unanimous on shrugging off the Obama/Ayers connection. Steve Chapman, a Chicago Tribune columnist of libertarian bent who also serves on the paper's editorial board, argued Sunday that the relationship, which he said Obama was disingenuously trying to downplay, does matter.

"It's hard to imagine he would be so indulgent if we learned that John McCain had a long association with a former Klansman who used to terrorize African-Americans," Chapman wrote. "Obama's conduct exposes a moral blind spot about these onetime terrorists, who get a pass because they a) fall on the left end of the spectrum and b) haven't planted any bombs lately.

"You can tell a lot about someone from his choice of friends. What this friendship reveals is that when it comes to practicing sound moral hygiene, Obama has work to do and no interest in doing it." "

And it's true, Bill Ayers hasn't planted any bombs lately; but he also has done no jail time like some of his buddies who committed the same crimes. Do you suppose in 20-30 years the families of the the 9/11 victims will be this casual about criminals?

Maybe it's Chicago's image of their hometown boy--it just doesn't gibe with hanging out with terrorists. They see him as a "cautious, conservative, ultra-pragmatic legislator hack."

"But locally, Obama is far more likely to be rapped for being too palsy, or at least endorsing, the feckless president of the Cook County Board, Todd Stroger. Chicago media critic Steve Rhodes, in his blog The Beachwood Reporter, rarely lets slip an opportunity to contrast Obama's national image as a daring leader who will bring "change you can believe in" with his get-along, go-along relationship with city and Cook County political hacks."

On the campaign trail

Senator John McCain holds a rally at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Gov. Sarah Palin holds rallies in Clearwater and Estero, Florida. John and Sarah are then back in Ohio on the 8th and 9th. Not sure what the attraction of Wilmington, Ohio, is--pretty liberal place. Maybe that's why she's alone. Can talk to those college kids. Joe Biden is in Wilmington, Delaware with no public events planned while he looks for that restaurant that closed 25 years ago that he lied about during the debates. Guess he doesn't get home much.

McCain seems to be wimping out--wants to be the good guy, so Sarah is sent out to soften up the opposition. He must have believed the MSM press back when they were so thrilled he was a RINO--but they will crush him now if he so much as lays a glove on Obama. You know, the crowds like Sarah, and she may be the biggest reason people are supporting him, but I'm just old fashioned enough that I don't think this is her job. Come on John. Let's see some of that toughness that got you through your POW days.

Road to Victory Rally with John McCain and Sarah Palin-Strongsville, OH
Strongsville City Commons
Corner of Rt. 81 and Rt. 42
Strongsville, OH 44136
Doors Open: 2:15pm
Wednesday, October 8th

Road to Victory Rally with Sarah Palin-Wilmington, OH
The Roberts Centre
123 Gano Rd.
Wilmington, OH 45177
Doors Open: 4:00pm
Thursday, October 9th

Vote Democrat

Three Strikes Librarian had this on his site. Pretty good.



Mr. 3 Strikes says he's a straight male, Republican, Catholic Christian Librarian.

Sowell says we don't deserve Obama

"The media alone are not alone in keeping the facts from the public [on the Democrats' responsibility for the meltdown/bailout]. Republicans, for reasons unknown, don’t seem to know what it is to counterattack. They deserve to lose.

But the country does not deserve to be put in the hands of a glib and cocky know-it-all, who has accomplished absolutely nothing beyond the advancement of his own career with rhetoric, and who has for years allied himself with a succession of people who have openly expressed their hatred of America." Do Facts Matter?

A leader who has never led

"Obama is a cipher, an easy repository for the hopes and dreams of liberals everywhere...But if Obama avoided being battle-tested in 2004 by the grace of God, it's his own timidity that has kept his name clean since. Given his national profile and formidable political talents, he could have been a potent spokesman for Democratic causes in the Senate. Instead, he has refused to expend his political or personal capital on a single controversial issue, preferring to offer anodyne pieces of legislation and sign on to the popular efforts of others...Indeed, Obama is that oddest of all creatures: a leader who's never led. There are no courageous, lonely crusades to his name, or supremely unlikely electoral battles beneath his belt. He won election running basically unopposed, and then refused to open himself to attack by making a controversial but correct issue his own." Link here via Ali Sina.

Sina concludes Obama is a narcissist with a weak sense of self. That I don't know, however, the following is a fairly accurate description of some of his followers who feel personally attacted if you don't like him or think he is bad for America. I would like to see McCain-Palin win, but I don't feel personally attacted if you don't agree.

"The narcissist’s anger and intolerance is projected on his servile followers who also become angry and intolerant of criticism of their leader. Remember the sick symbiosis between the narcissist and his codependents? The followers get their narcissistic supply by elevating the status of their leader. The greater he looks, the better they feel. They see their glory is his glory. Conversely, when the narcissist is criticized, his followers become offended. They take those criticisms personally and their instinct of self defense is triggered. They will become vigilantes and will silence their critics through intimidation, bullying, mocking, threats and violence (like calling those who disagree with Obama, racists)."

Alinskyian trained Catholic laity

“The Chickens Have Come Home to Roost: Obama, ACORN, and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development,” by Stephanie Block, The Wanderer editorial, via Illinois Review

"For nearly forty years, The Wanderer has followed the Catholic Campaign for Human Development’s funding of radical, left-wing political organizations, many of them carrying the brand of Saul Alinsky. The Wanderer also covered the first Call to Action conference – the months of “hearings” leading up to it, its orchestrated structure and contrived demands – and our reporters commented on the Alinskyian nature of it, not merely in its tactics but in its outcomes. In hindsight, we can see that organized dissent in the Church was a product of organized parishes, filled with Alinskyian-trained laity.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is responsible for that. . .

. . . Even the politically naïve are fascinated by the pejorative dismissal of Obama as a “community organizer” and his campaign’s rebuttal that to disrespect community organizers is to disrespect Catholic Action. Obama isn’t Catholic. Catholic thought hasn’t subtly filtered into this ecumenical movement. Amoral [Saul Alinsky] thought, on the other hand, has clearly filtered into Catholic circles – to such a degree that some people confuse one for the other."

Polling the pollsters

I asked Google if Pew Research Center was liberal or conservative, because I've been reading Pew research since the late 80s and have always seen it tracking a bit to the left--not horribly, but certainly there. While I was looking for some evidence (haven't found it yet) I turned up this:

Good Morning America on Wednesday reported on a new Quinnipiac poll that highlighted leads for Barack Obama in Florida and Ohio, but completely skipped the network's own national poll that found a tight race. A September 30 ABC News/Washington Post survey concluded that Obama leads Senator McCain by four points -- 50 to 46 percent. In contrast, GMA last week trumpeted an ABC News/Washington Post poll that showed Obama with a nine point lead. On September 24, former Democratic aide-turned journalist George Stephanopoulos touted the larger lead and asserted, "...You have to go back to 1948 for the last time when a candidate having this kind of a lead, in late September, lost." He mentioned that on the issue of the economy, the Illinois Senator is "blowing away John McCain." An onscreen graphic proclaimed: "Obama Surges Ahead." But, just a week later, GMA not only ignored findings suggesting a closer national race, the morning show highlighted a rival poll's state numbers. CyberAlert (which tracks liberal media)

The search developed because I had been listening to an NPR program which interviewed a Pew Research person who reported that confidence in the media was as low as it had been since 1973, and people didn't believe what they were being told about the bailout. But he said the media were misleading us about the bailout--at least I think that's what he said, and that calls and e-mails to Congresses were politically driven. Only the most vocal and political contacted their Congressional representative. Imagine! Wouldn't that be true of bloggers and the foot soldiers in the campaigns, too? On what basis should the electorate be contacting their representatives?

I didn't spend much time looking through the results, because Pew has set the rules for polling and it's difficult to accurately assess your own bias. But I did rediscover (used to know this) that the U.S. has the lowest voting turnout of functioning democracies. 2004 numbers were higher (60%), but usually it's about 50% (The Psychology of Media and Politics By George A. Comstock, 2005).

Everyone who says she doesn't pay attention to polls, including me, is always happy to see her own team go up in the polls.

O'Biden's tales

I had heard that there were at least 14 big ones told by old Joe at the debate Thursday night, but like the foreign money being pumped into the Obama-Biden campaign, we'll probably not see him called on it. But a few have. Here's a piece from Investor's Business Daily:

". . . neither Carter nor Bill Clinton, whose twists and turns before a grand jury led to his impeachment, ever stared into the camera and spouted such a string of outright fabrications as if they were gospel truths the way Barack Obama's running mate did last week.

Thankfully, the blogosphere has been having a field day cataloguing Joe's whoppers. First, as InstaPundit's Michael Totten instantly noted after the debate, Biden — the great, seasoned foreign policy expert who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — falsely claimed France and the U.S. "kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon."

Other whoppers on the menu:

accusation that John McCain is soft on regulation, when in fact he tried to beef up regulations on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

falsely claiming that Obama didn't pledge to meet with Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

falsely claiming that Gov. Sarah Palin supported a windfall profits tax on oil companies

saying he's always been for clean coal in spite of his record of voting against it in the Senate

pretending he and Obama are in favor of drilling for oil

lied about the surge

lied about McCain's health care plan

was 2000% off on his claims about war costs

but, and how pitiful is this,
the restaurant he invited folks to in Wilmington hasn't been around in decades!

You Democrats have got yourselves a winner here. Someone who can out-deceive Bill Clinton is quite a master. There are people who believe their own lies and are insulted when called on it. Joe seems to be one of those. Obama, on the other hand, most likely knows he's lying. But, Joe is likeable and I suppose brings some gravitas to the ticket.

Phishing Scams

Have you been getting e-mail from Google reporting you need to download something? Or something from your bank about updating your account? Google doesn’t send those and neither do banks. Ignore them. The messages from the phony Google vary (many domain names), but all tell you that you won’t be able to log in to Google if you don’t comply. Often you can tell right away it is a bogus site, says Dennis at Almost a Newsletter by lightly passing the cursor over the link, but sometimes the crooks are really clever. For more details on the Google, bank, and career sites phishing problem, Dennis suggests Gary Warner’s CyberCrime blog.

I get a lot of e-mail about my debt. Those automatically go in the trash through the filter (I don’t have any debt so I know they are phishing, nor do I have accounts at those banks). Some days I get about 50 messages about "returned, or non-deliverable e-mail." Those are also trashed. Then I’ll get a run of items all in Russian. Trash ‘em. Don’t get caught in the phisher’s net.

After finishing the item at Gary's blog about Google I looked at some other entries and found his a fascinating source. Thank you, Dennis, for the link. Between the porn peddlers and the scammers, the internet has really become a cesspool. I'm beginning to think that those of us who use it for fun or legitimate information are becoming the minority.

I’ve been following Dennis' newsletter for years from back in the 90s when I had a real web site and needed help with code. He’s upbeat, helpful and offers a lot of free tips (but you will want to buy a subscription or his e-books if you do this for a living).

Founders of a library imitated their husbands’ rituals

This year the Ida Rupp Public Library in Port Clinton, Ohio, is 100 years old. Like many libraries in the United States, this one was founded by a women’s club, The Literary and Social Club, now 127 years old. These clubs were an opportunity for women of a certain social stature to get together, study local problems and hear educational programs. The library in my little home town, Mt. Morris, Illinois, was started the same way, and became a public library in the early 1930s. Ida Rupp predeceased her husband Lawrence Rupp, and he donated money to establish a library--even designating the interior colors as azure blue to match her eyes. In my years in academe and in churches, I’ve seen designated funds and portraits come and go, and I salute Ida’s longevity! Apparently, no one has been successful at changing the name or tried to hide the portrait of her and her bird dog.

Over at the BGSU archives are the records of the Literary and Social Club of Port Clinton as of their 100th anniversary in 1981. This organization was instrumental in creating the Lakeside Women‘s Club which also is still functioning.

"The Ladies Social Club was formed in Port Clinton, Ohio, in 1881 for the "mutual improvement" of its members and to "aid the poor of the village." In reaction to their husband's secret lodge meetings, these women created a secret initiation ritual and designated the officers with such names as the "Superb Expounder," the "Assistant Expounder," and the "Guard." From the beginning, these women enjoyed a few hours of social interaction each month with an anti-gossip rule being strictly enforced. Later these ritualistic trappings were dropped and study topics were introduced along with a name change--the Port Clinton Literary and Social Club. Study topics included the history and literature of various countries, U.S. History, the Bible, and American biography and humor, as well as the reading of various literary works.

Civic projects also were undertaken by this Club including the establishment of a public drinking fountain (1895), a public restroom (1910), and the public library (1908). The Club also was instrumental in organizing a sister literary group in Oak Harbor (1882) and the Lakeside Federation of Women's Clubs (1894). Today this organization could well be the oldest literary society still in existence in the State of Ohio. Histories of the Club written by members are included in the collection and provide much detail on its early years."

Plugged in and plugged up

"The Barack Obama presidential campaign has tapped Apple's iPhone to help deliver news and information about the candidate. It's also giving Obama's supporters a new way to help swing the campaign to Obama's favor: a Call Friends feature organizes and prioritizes contacts by key battleground states, making it easier to place grassroots political calls."

You mean Obama supporters have friends who have iPhone who aren't already working for him? I'm shocked.

Speaking of grassroots, I was just raking leaves and stepped in some cat feces. Boy does that stink--travels faster than campaign poop on an Obama iPhone.

What happens to the other housing programs?

There are already programs in place to help distressed homeowners. What happens to those with the bailout? Are we only helping the CEOs of Fannie and Fred, or are we dumping good money after bad on an already failed plan? Are the old programs, worth billions, folded in? Replaced? Thrown out?

Port Clinton, Ohio has received $522,000 from CHIP, Community Housing Improvement Program. The limit, according to the website, is $500,000 but there's an extra $50,000 in there if you say please. According to The Beacon, Oct. 2, "The funds will be used to provide housing rehabilitation grants and loans to at least six homeowners and repairs for at least 9 owners . . ." plus some rental assistance, mortgage counseling, etc., and of course, it will pay the salaries of the folks managing this account--which is $25,000,000 just for Ohio. I wonder how you get to be one of the lucky six? If you can get this much under the mean old Republicans and that hateful President Bush, just imagine what the tooth tax fairy will bring under President Obama!! And you can get your unemployment benefits extended 2, 3 or 4 times under a Republican President, just imagine what it will be under Obama. You may never have to work again. Hope. Change. Just tax those top 5% more.

But I digress. We're talking housing. Look how many people are employed by Ohio CHIP, just by the state--think how this will spread around and help in your county! I see the Planner job is open (on the chart)--I use to be one of those on JTPA. Great job [the title is meaningless].

And what about the American Dream Downpayment Assistance Act--that was $200,000,000 a year under Bush. Will it flourish under the magic wand of Obama? And what about all those community partnerships we've been paying for?

. . .the purposes of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1990 (NAHA), as amended, are: (1) to promote partnerships between States, units of general local government and nonprofit organizations, and (2) to expand nonprofit organizations' capacity to develop and manage decent and affordable housing. To assist in achieving these purposes, participating jurisdictions (PJs) under the HOME Investment Partnership (HOME) Program must reserve not less than 15 percent of their HOME allocations for investment in housing to be developed, sponsored, or owned by Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs).

Yes, HOME got in the bailout document. Just glancing through this HUD report I see we the people already had about $20,000,000 in place just to protect low income people from predatory lenders in 2001! Well, guys, how well did that work? Do we get more of this program that didn't work in the bailout?

There are thousands of housing-help links to be tracked--there are a lot of different government agencies dabbling in this. That's why it is so critical to keep poor people poor. Thousands of government workers would be unemployed if this were ever successful! You'll have to do some of this research yourself. I have no horse in this race. But if you own distressed property in a bad neighborhood and you earn less than $60,000 a year, I'd say it would be worth checking the internet to see if you can find a way for me to pay for your repairs.

The criminalization of HIV transmission

The two lawyers who wrote about this in the August 6, 2008 JAMA are probably correct. Making it illegal to infect another person isn't going to save many lives and will probably discourage some from getting the care they need. For the most part, their article is about Africa, although their footnotes are from Europe and US. Even so, their recommendations are so pie-in-the-sky it makes you wonder. Except for the sex part, I think I was collecting U.S. government funded reports on this in the 1970s in the agriculture library. And then the goal was a bit smaller--better crops. (AIDS was in Africa at that time, but no one knew it.)

address women's subordinate socioeconomic positions [mentioned several times in the article]

improve women's status and offer serious protection of women's rights

promote equal status of women in marriage, inheritance, access to credit, and employment

address cultural issues such as dry sex and "wife inheritance"

protect women from violence and ostracism

those with HIV MUST PROTECT OTHERS [my emphasis]

those jurisdictions which have criminalization laws in place must reverse them

Maybe they should cut their teeth on global warming first, then work on completely changing the culture of Africa.

"The case against criminalization of HIV transmission," by Scott Burris and Edwin Cameron. JAMA, August 6, 2008, Vol. 300, no. 5, pp. 578-581.

Barney's ex-lover was director of Fannie Mae

Barney Frank seems to have a wide stance problem with his ex's. One was running a male prostitute ring, one had access to inside information and influence that he shouldn't have. I don't know who the current squeeze is, but some sharp reporter ought to be checking him out for the next big story. Not that it would matter to Democrats. I don't expect this to change anyone's ideas of responsibility for the bailout. Whether it's about Bill Ayers and Barack Obama or Barney Frank and Herb Moses, it's always old, unimportant news to liberals.

Now that Fannie Mae is at the epicenter of a financial meltdown that threatens the U.S. economy, some are raising new questions about Frank's relationship with Herb Moses, who was Fannie’s assistant director for product initiatives. Moses worked at the government-sponsored enterprise from 1991 to 1998, while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which had jurisdiction over Fannie.

Both Frank and Moses assured the Wall Street Journal in 1992 that they took pains to avoid any conflicts of interest. Critics, however, remain skeptical.

"It’s absolutely a conflict," said Dan Gainor, vice president of the Business & Media Institute. "He was voting on Fannie Mae at a time when he was involved with a Fannie Mae executive. How is that not germane?

"If this had been his ex-wife and he was Republican, I would bet every penny I have - or at least what’s not in the stock market - that this would be considered germane," added Gainor, a T. Boone Pickens Fellow. "But everybody wants to avoid it because he’s gay. It’s the quintessential double standard." Link

Obama worship

If you thought that video of little kids singing a hymn to Obama was bad, watch this video of young boys in paramilitary garb strutting and shouting Alpha-Omega and reciting different talking points of the Obama campaign, promising him their lives and careers. North Korean brainwashing anyone?

And to think I was bothered by those Obama logos--the red white and blue sun with the road going nowhere--painted on collapsing Ohio barns. Obviously I hadn't looked far enough.

Democrats for Life will have to buck their own President

Moral leadership on this issue is important. Democrats are about to put a man in office who believes the outrageous abortion rate among black women is just another informed choice, a decision between a woman and her “health care provider.” This is a parent who would have his own daughters get an abortion if it weren’t a convenient time in their lives (or his career). This is a man who will shut down opposition to his views in the media. Does DFL really think Obama is going to buck feminists and the left on this notification issue? Feminists don’t want to save babies lives--even babies born alive, and neither do Team Obama and its obedient workers and followers! “. . . parental-involvement laws reduce the minor abortion rate by 13 to 31 percent when a state enacts laws to require parental consent or notification before a minor undergoes an abortion.” Story here.

I’m on the mailing list for the Pregnancy Distress Center, and when the women’s reasons are listed they are often the boyfriend or her parents doing the pressuring to get an abortion--so what's the plan to reach them?

Thanks, Sarah

For showing the world, particularly the hateful women on the left and the right, who denigrated everything about you, from your accent to your education to your baby son, that women can hold their own. If I could change one thing in the debate, it'd be that Johnnie-one-note "corruption and greed on Wall Street," as if that wasn't the stockholders on Main Street in the pensions, IRAs, 401-Ks, 403-Bs and private investments and annuities who were depending on their elected officials--the other 3 guys you're running with and against--for some oversight of the laws and regulations they themselves have put in place. We need an investigation of the Barney Franks of Congress--like yesterday!

However, many people sold homes during the housing bubble and were thrilled that they were able to choose from bids offering thousands more than the asking price. Their "good fortune" was being fed by deregulation in the 90s, by CRA engineering the poor into bad home deals, by Congress taking money from Fannie and Fred in bipartisanship, by the push by banks to move low to moderate income people into homes they couldn't afford to meet their quotas. You can call it corruption and greed if you want, but some were just ordinary school teachers or business people from Dayton or Columbus, Ohio, taking advantage of a good return on their hard earned money as home prices doubled in a very short time. After the recovery from 9-11 with the Bush tax cuts, our investments soared, and we were enjoying the experience of having an imaginary "third person" in our home who just turned over his paycheck each month with no questions asked. We live on our pensions--hardly the rich fat cats that both the Obama-Biden and the McCain-Palin teams try to portray. When the bubble bursts, and they all do, greed has a different face, and it's never the one we see in the mirror. That imaginary tenant has packed his bags, hired a U-haul and left town.

Well, Sarah, you're a winner in my book. I heard someone say that if you watched on TV you saw one debate, if you only listened, you heard something different, and if you read the debate, you'll get yet a third message. Well, there will be a fourth message, as the media snip and cut away at you. They are very hostile toward you. They are subjecting you to the Justice Thomas take down routine, but you seem to be putting on the full armor. We'll know the truth, regardless of how the MSM spins it, and it didn't come out of Joe Biden's mouth.

We've heard this tune before

I don't know about the neo-nazis I never read their stuff, but the far left anti-semitism is certainly on the rise, encouraged by the huge growth of the USA's Muslim population, which now exceeds the Jewish population. Yes, remember this from the 1930s? Or at least the history books we used to have--it's probably all been revised. It's all the fault of those "Jewish bankers." I tell you, folks, you're buying into a package here with Team Obama and his leftist handlers. The left can always find a reason to blame the Jews and especially our ally Israel.

Store here.

How people you didn't elect control everything you do

This is just one. The Western Climate Initiative. There are many out there--mostly under the umbrella of global warming, which now includes health, safety, education, social engineering, and got its fair share of pork in the new bailout.

The Western Climate Initiative would establish a regional market to trade carbon emissions credits, allowing industries that emit greenhouse gases to buy and sell credits for their emissions. The goal is to cut the region's carbon emissions to below 2005 levels by 2020, a roughly 15 percent reduction. [I read 25% by 2020.]

The initiative, proposed Tuesday by seven western states and four Canadian provinces, covers more polluters than other regional plans adopted in the United States, Canada and Europe. [Yahoo News, AP story.] I would have copied from the WCI document, but couldn't--it's more scary in the "real" language.

I think I see hundreds of these a week--architects, engineers and the building trades are wetting themselves, they are so eager to build green, and by that I don't mean environmental--I mean $$$$. If you see a really ugly building that looks like a box of blocks attached with velcro and tin foil, betcha it's "green."

Cap and trade covers electricity, natural gas and heating fuels emissions as well as industrial emissions and transportation emissions. In short, just about everything that makes our world pleasant and easy and comfortable for us. It doesn't cover hot air by politicians and Al Gore.

Faith Votes Columbus

is funded by National Industrial Areas Foundation, a Chicago-based community organizing network established in 1940 by Saul Alinsky. IAF provides training and consultation, furnishes organizers, and develops national strategy for its affiliated broad-based community organizations [i.e., community organizers--like Jesus]. You can follow the interview of a Faith Votes worker who was picking up, taking to registration and telling homeless voters to vote for Barack Obama at this video. I think it is the third interview on the tape that shows the illegal behavior.

Saul Alinsky was an American marxist who died in 1972. His son is proud that his father's handiwork footprint was so visible at the recent Democratic convention, and on Obama. Sen. Clinton was also one of his disciples. Clinton actually knew Alinsky; Obama did not--too young. He just taught from his marxist playbook being one of the best and brightest of those trained by the IAF--certainly light years ahead of the woman interviewed on this tape who needs to go back for a bit more training in how to talk to the press!

We own Fannie and Fred, let's investigate

"Now that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s failures have forced the federal government to put both into conservatorship — costing taxpayers some $200 billion — Americans, who now own the two entities, are entitled to know what role the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) played in creating this mess." Here.

Will Nancy, Frank and Chris ever allow this? Barney Frank claims he didn't know his partner 20 years ago was running a gay sex ring out of Frank's home, and 2 years ago he stonewalled an investigation of Fannie. He's not going to get smarter, folks. Throw him out.

"So why didn’t Congress do anything about these taxpayer-financed “bastions of privilege” sooner? Lest anyone ask questions about what they were up to, Fannie and Freddie also showered elected officials on Capitol Hill with campaign cash to keep their mouths shut and vociferously defend their accounting practices."

Gwen Ifill needs to recuse herself

The public's trust in the news media is maybe a few notches higher than Congress, but not much. Why the Commission on Presidential Debates needs someone selected from the news media is a mystery to me. They read and write text for a living--they are no better informed than a blogger from Ohio who reads and writes for fun, their faces and voices just are recognizable. Why not someone who doesn't make a living catering to politicians at the local, state and national level? It's OK for them to go out and explain weather to the kindergartners or cut ribbons at the opening of new nursing homes, but let's give them a night off during the debates. She has a serious conflict of interest, and McCain is a wimp for not objecting. There would be no reason for Obama to object--he knows the press is in his hip pocket wallet.

PBS sure gets their shorts in a knot over someone else's perceived conflict of interest.

Cheap gasoline and cheap tricks

Here in Columbus gasoline is about $3.25. I realize in some cities you can't get it at any price. Never thought I'd say $3.25 was cheap, but that's down $1 from what it was on the peninsula this summer.

Then those great old "community organizers" are rounding up the drunk and homeless to register to vote. Yes, Barack Obama has already started to steal Ohio--as of a few days ago you could register and vote on the same day, and boy were the Demmies ready for that one with a Democrat Attorney General and a court that seems to have lost all common sense. Not satisfied with a Democratic machine in Chicago--they've brought the goon squads here. The locals are outraged.

"Election officials around Ohio were preparing for a rush of early voting Tuesday, the first day absentee ballots are accepted in advance of the Nov. 4 presidential election.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, is also allowing new voters to register and cast an absentee ballot on the same day during a weeklong period that ends Oct. 6.

For weeks, the Ohio Republican Party accused Brunner of interpreting the early voting law to benefit her own party by allowing same-day registering and voting. Republicans argued that Ohio law requires voters to have been registered for 30 days before they cast an absentee ballot.

But the Republican-dominated Ohio Supreme Court decided Monday that Brunner was following the law. The decision was backed by a federal judge in Cleveland. Another federal judge in Columbus declined to rule, deferring to the state Supreme Court's decision." AOL News, Sept. 28

One caller to a local station said it looked like a drunken rodeo with the "organizers" trying to chase down their transported prey in the parking lot and herd them into the building. Hmm. Sounds like Congress doesn't it?

Student reporters interview registrants and "impartial" volunteers getting them to the polls. Here. One guy was for Obama for his "Thug Thizzle." Really, folks, it's pathetic, but no more so than the white, middle class voting for Obama to assuage their guilt for all their failed programs of the last 50 years and a past they had nothing to do with. Or because he is in Joe Biden's words, "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said. "I mean, that's a storybook, man."

Mortgage crisis sends illegals home

It seems only the illegals knew our economy was robust during most of the Bush years. Certainly Democrats and particularly Barack Obama were clueless as was Kerry in 2004 when he declared it the worst economy since the Great Depression. Ten percent of Guatemala's population was living in the U.S. sending home $4.12 Billion in 2007--more than its exports of coffee, sugar and other commodities. All this from jobs Americans don't want? In that terrible Bush economy? Well, no wonder our household income was decreasing--it was going south!

Miriam Jordan’s article , "Latest Immigration Wave, retreat" on the exodus of immigrant labor in today’s WSJ is careful not to use the word “illegal” or “undocumented” in the front page story. You need to get to paragraph 6 before that’s even hinted at. But it is slipped into the tiny print of the sub-headline and on page A16, you do find the headline has been readjusted by the truth meter: “In immigration’s latest wave, an illegal worker goes back home.”

Her sob story teasers are then strip teased, little by little. For instance, Ambrosio Carrillo of Guatemala had to use his savings of $3,100 to get back home after construction work dried up. That’s early in the story. Then near the end, you find out it really only cost him about $300 for one-way fare--the rest went to ship his truck back home ($1,100), as well as a new TV, a DVD/VCR, a music system, and he gets home with $600 and his cell phone, where wages might be $10 a day.

The talented Ms. Jordan, who has impressive street creds, can speak Spanish and writes sympathetically of illegals, also has wings, and flies right over Mexico during Carrillo’s dangerous and life threatening trip with a Coyote to Arizona, where he was picked up, taken to California and then flown to the east coast, all for $10,000, which must have been a horrible burden for his family. Mexico, in case you didn’t know, is not nice at all to central Americans found illegally in their country, even though Mexican authorities don’t mind if their own people travel north to work and send money home to bolster a corrupt government.

Here are some of my favorite parts, with my comments and asides. I am not unsympathetic with Mr. Carrillo's plight, he's a hard worker and has become a small businessman since returning home--but American journalists, particularly those who write for WSJ, drive me up the wall with their leftist, pity-parties and op-ed front page rhetoric.

"Once a construction worker earning about $15 an hour in Maryland, Mr. Carrillo barely worked in the fall of 2007 as plentiful jobs evaporated." What happened to that terrible pre-2007 Bush economy that was hurting middle class families?

"Mr. Carrillo is helping to write the latest chapter in the American immigrant story." Switch to script writing, Ms. Jordan. Let's not get him confused with people who played by the rules.

"In part, the slowdown is a product of a Bush administration crackdown on illegal immigration, with factory raids that led to deportations and even criminal charges for thousands of undocumented workers." Yes, let's blame Bush crackdowns, even though his own party wouldn't support him on amnesty and guest worker programs. He's one of the best buds the illegals ever had.

"The fee charged by a coyote, or smuggler, was 42,000 Guatemalan quetzales, or about $5,700 -- including the overland journey from Guatemala to Mexico to Los Angeles and then a flight to Baltimore. Mr. Carrillo's family made a downpayment of about one-third of the tab before he set out. With interest, the total cost of the trip would double to nearly $10,000." Why no outrage at how a poor worker from another country (and obviously not that poor) was exploited in his own country, Ms. Jordan?

"The Census Bureau reported last month that the income of U.S. households headed by non-citizen foreigners dropped 7.3% in 2007 from the previous year, after rising 4.1% in 2006. Pew Hispanic says that among households headed by Central Americans, the drop in income has been in the double digits." Let's keep in mind when Democrats describe the losses of income by "household," they aren't necessarily talking about Americans. The Census counts anyone who is here, even those illegals keeping wages depressed for African Americans.

" "I started as a 'laborer,' making $9 an hour," says Mr. Carrillo, using one of the English words that leavened an interview otherwise conducted in Spanish. After tax and Social Security deductions, Mr. Carrillo says his take-home pay was about $400 a week, more than a dozen times what he earned back home. He bought a 1998 Nissan Sentra for $425." Although Ms. Jordan carefully notes he was learning English as he worked his way up to better jobs, she slips up here and says this was an English word he knew. But American fire, emergency, police and health care workers are severely chastised when they can't respond to 911 calls because they don't know Spanish!

There's more. Obviously, the Democrats in Congress and the MSM have been lying to us about how awful the economy has been the last 7 years, and who was getting rich on the backs of working Americans. All so they can get their guy elected.

Veep gaffes

"In what has now become a disturbing pattern, the Alaska governor seems either unable or unwilling to avoid embarrassing statements that are often as untrue as they are outrageous. Recently, for example, in an exclusive interview with news anchor Katie Couric, Palin gushed, “When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.’ ” Apparently the former Alaskan beauty queen failed to realize that in 1929 there was neither widespread television nor was Franklin Roosevelt even President." Victor Davis Hanson on Sarah Biden.

But in case you don't read Hanson's article closely and were planning to cut and paste, he is rewriting all of Joe Biden's gaffes into sweet Sarah satire.

Kill your parents and the fork salute

The legacy of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, who are mentors, friends and advisors of Barack Obama, lives on in their adoptive/foster son (whose birth parents received the prison sentence they should have) who is also unrepentent. See Roots of a Rhodes Scholar Radical, book review at HNN (2002 long before Obama set his hat for the WH). In case you don't remember, the "fork salute" refers to the Manson murders. Dohrn thought Manson was inspirational. “First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, they even shoved a fork into a victim’s stomach! Wild!” And apparently, the Obamas didn't mind eating with the Ayers family either.

Freedom of information, Barack-style.

"The mainstream media, in their zeal to elect a Democrat, are assiduously airbrushing Ayers: “an aging lefty with a foolish past,” as the Chicago Sun-Times has so delicately put it. In fact, it is the press that is rife with foolish, aging lefties. Ayers, by contrast, is an unapologetic terrorist with a savage past — one who beat the system he so reviles when, after his years of fugitivity, terrorism charges were dropped due to government surveillance violations. He’s “guilty as sin,” by his own concession, but “free as a bird.” " The company he keeps

All Aboard the Obama Train--now leaving the station for parts unknown

—“The Wall Street ‘bailout’ has been the subject of more one-sided media coverage than Barack Obama’s campaign,” Accuracy in Media editor Cliff Kincaid said today. “The media love Obama and they love this ‘bailout.’ What they have in common is a desire to massively increase federal government involvement in the economy. But our media won’t label it for what it is—socialism.” Story at AIM.

Blogiversary!

My fifth. I started October 2, 2003 then back filled October 1, because it didn't look tidy.

So tomorrow, if I write, I'll be starting my 6th year.

Top 5 reasons most blogs don't last.

Art's back!

I didn't even know he was out of jail, and here he was on 610 WTVN talking to John Corby! I about dropped my Swiss Chard. Checking local news sources I found

Art Schlichter, the one-time OSU All-American quarterback whose promising career in the NFL was derailed by his felonious gambling addiction, is back in Columbus—on the airwaves, anyway. Schlichter’s spots as a guest analyst on 610 have been met, so far, with a positive response by most listeners. Most listeners. Schlichter still has a few detractors in Columbus, despite having served some 10 years for his criminal offenses and spending time as a peer counselor in addiction recovery programs.

“He’s really good, he just happens to be an ex-con,” said Mike Elliott, WTVN program director. Elliott said public feedback was split 80/20 in Schlichter’s favor. Most listeners whole-heartedly approve of giving the reformed Buckeye a “second chance,” while others still bear a grudge. Responses run the gamut from “he’s sleazy, he’s awful to ‘good for you, this gives the guy a second chance,’” said Elliott. The Other Paper

He's had more do-overs and screw-overs than the coach's son in a second grade t-ball game.

He talks openingly of his addiction and prison time. We used to work with convicts and know a lot of addicts of various substances and things. You're never cured. It never ends--for the addict and for the family. And Art has had more than a second chance--he's had many. He says he placed his last bet in prison in 2005. He lives with his mother (or did in 2007). His father committed suicide some years ago when he was in prison.

One of my favorite reference questions back in the 70s was when Art was every college kid's idol--he could do no wrong. A freshman came up to my desk and asked, "Who is Art Nouveau?"

Casino gambling keeps reappearing on Ohio's ballot. Remember Art and the family and friends he scammed and destroyed and the promising career he ruined to keep his addiction going. It started really small and finally ruined him.

Where is Paulson now in the new bill?

On Sept. 28: "The draft legislation, which will be put to a House vote on Monday, gives Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and his successor extraordinary power to decide how the $700 billion bailout fund is spent. For example, if he thinks it wise, he may buy not only mortgages and mortgage-backed securities, but any other financial instrument. . . Rarely if ever has one man had such broad authority to spend government money as he sees fit, with no rules requiring him to seek out the lowest possible price for assets being purchased." NYT here

This is the scariest part of the bailout. Haven't heard a thing today about him. We don't even know who will be in this position come January. Hey--could be Barney Frank! Fannie, Freddie and Frankie.

Text of the EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION bill--it's huge. It should be a requirement that no one is allowed to vote who hasn't read the bill.

Bill and Barry disagree on banking

Barack Obama's tale is pretty fishy. It's not the way Bill Clinton remembers it.

"In BusinessWeek.com, Maria Bartiromo reports that she asked the former President last week whether he regretted signing that [1999] legislation. Mr. Clinton's reply: "No, because it wasn't a complete deregulation at all. We still have heavy regulations and insurance on bank deposits, requirements on banks for capital and for disclosure. I thought at the time that it might lead to more stable investments and a reduced pressure on Wall Street to produce quarterly profits that were always bigger than the previous quarter.

"But I have really thought about this a lot. I don't see that signing that bill had anything to do with the current crisis. Indeed, one of the things that has helped stabilize the current situation as much as it has is the purchase of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, which was much smoother than it would have been if I hadn't signed that bill. . .

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act passed the Senate on a 90-8 vote, including 38 Democrats and such notable Obama supporters as Chuck Schumer, John Kerry, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Dick Durbin, Tom Daschle -- oh, and Joe Biden. Mr. Schumer was especially fulsome in his endorsement."

Story here.

Swimming with the sharks

What media bias? Gwen Ifill is moderating the debate tomorrow. We already know 97% of blacks are voting for Obama, that about 90% of the MSM have been cheering him on. She's both. A two-fer. We've already seen and heard her dismissive comments about Palin. The choice of words and sneer say it all. We know she's releasing a pro-Obama book due soon. So why is someone so in the tank for Obama moderating the debate?

I fully expect Joe Biden to be declared the winner on Thursday. I don't even have to watch. Even if he just stands there and looks goofy and says Teddy Roosevelt led us into WWII and dropped the A-Bomb on Germany in 1949. It won't matter what he says, because I saw last week's and Obama was declared the winner when he clearly wasn't. Now, it wasn't a huge gap, McCain could have been younger and more physically not disabled, he could have been more critical of Bush the way the Democrats want him to be, and he could have been taller. But he wasn't, so of course, Obama was clearly the winner as he smirked and scowled and sniveled.

Gwen Ifill assures that Biden will be the clear winner.

Humanitarian Design

Where I grew up in rural Illinois, we called this a chicken coop. Now it's called good design, and it's what architects with a social conscience have come up with for Biloxi. Read about it here.

Usually I recommend an architect designed home as superior to anything you can find in a book or magazine, but I have to disagree here. . . "As they faced utter devastation, many didn’t know they could do better than buy plans from hardware stores or use drawings that church groups had downloaded from the Internet. “It opened opportunities to do things people hadn’t thought about before,” " Where is Better Homes and Garden house plans when you need them?

Back to basics in credit and health

There's a parallel in health care to the economic crisis--and you might die of this problem before your pension recovers because there is little attention to the basics of the spread of infection. When I was hospitalized for 2 days upon our return from Italy in June, I was not impressed by the cleanliness and sanitation of the first class hospital paid for by my first class health insurance (the bills aren't all in yet, but it is over $6,000) through Medicare and State Teachers. On the other hand, the staff was pleasant, attentive and caring, and I'm sure they score A+ on that. That I spread whatever I had around the ER waiting area for 8 hours didn't seem to matter.

Our country seems to be collapsing from the clutter and fall out of "the next best thing." In health care it is antibiotics and endless expensive social studies about gaps based on race, gender, and quality of insurance coverage, and in government it is faulty loan practices by the lenders because of social engineering from Congress also sick with gapitis.

There are well established steps to prevent infections in hospitals. And even today with widespread information available on the growth of super bugs, doctors may ignore them. Even in the 1980s when I worked in the Veternary Medicine Library at Ohio State I was seeing a return to interest in infectious diseases--antibiotics having already run out of miracles. We knew in the 1990s that workers in vet hospitals were transmitting bacteria to their sick charges, or taking things home to their own pets, just because of poor disinfection of rooms, equipment, and (!) artificial fingernails, which are terribly difficult to keep clean.

Laura Landro writes on super bugs in today's Wall St. Journal, and it isn't anything new that will save us--it's a return to basics.

[Peter Pronovost, a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine] With no new antibiotics immediately on the horizon for either class, preventing infections "comes down to blocking and tackling," Dr. Pronovost says -- quickly diagnosing infections, using appropriate antibiotics and "going back to basics" such as getting health-care workers to wash hands.

In partnership with the Michigan Hospital Association, Dr. Pronovost developed a program to prevent bloodstream infections, which can be caused by both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria and often strike patients in ICUs with large catheters inserted into their veins. With five practices -- handwashing, draping patients before inserting the lines, cleaning the skin properly, avoiding catheters in the groin and removing them as soon as possible -- the consortium reported that the rate of infections in Michigan ICUs dropped by 66% over an 18-month period. The process saved more than 1,729 lives and $246 million.

Dr. Pronovost says that while the steps are well-established, his research shows doctors skip steps more than a third of the time. Today, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, plans to announce that it will provide funding to expand Dr. Pronovost's program to 10 other states.

If you borrowed money for a home before the mid-90s, you can probably come up with five basics that the Congress and lending institutions have been igoring for a decade.

1. good job
2. good credit rating
3. no more than 1/3 of monthly income for housing expenses
4. neighborhood with sound housing stock
5. 20% down so buyer would have something invested

Time to clean up the bugs in hospitals and Congress.

Perhaps the dumbest thing in this article by Ms. Landro is the report that HHS plans to expand funding for Pronovost's program to 10 other states. Haven't we known this for a century? More posters reminding doctors to scrub down (up?) at a million dollars a pop?

Longing for the 60s

Even boomers hate to grow old and see their star setting (and their pension funds shrinking). Never fear, old Al Gore is here, with the same old 60s agenda and methods, and getting really bold. On Sept. 24 at the Clinton Global Initiative he said, "If you’re a young person, I believe we’ve reached a point of civil disobedience . . . to do things like take down coal plants." Notice, he's not going out to get arrested or his head bashed in by angry locals--nope, wants the young'ns to step up and put the miners and townspeople out of jobs. Just like he doesn't want to reduce the size of his jet or his house, but he wants you to sit in the dark or use funny light bulbs made only in China in their coal factories.

Maybe that's an issue that can be addressed at the debates on Thursday.

"Mr. Biden, how do you plan to protect the poor and middle class as the troublemakers on your fringe try to bring down the coal, oil and natural gas industries before alternatives and technology are in place--for instance, your predecessor recommending civil disobedience at coal plants. Will you be flying by glider to meet with important foreign dignitaries to make use of your vast experience or will you be flying on a wing and a prayer?"

In today's WSJ, a reader William L. Anderson, writes: "If Al Gore's pet projects (he's a major partner in Kleiner Perkins) had to compete head-to-head with coal fired plants, his return on investment would be near zero, and would be negative if these projects were not heavily subsidized through tax breaks and out right payments from taxpayers. Thus, Mr. Gore is trying to hamstring the competition, and in doing so will become a very wealthy man."

And if he and the Democrats are successful, Ohio's economy as well as that of other coal states will be ruined, punishment I suppose for the 2000 and 2004 elections.

Ohio--you need to vote for the candidates who won't ruin our economy--McCain-Palin.

“This crowd couldn’t make sausage”

“The 228-205 defeat reflects badly on all concerned, starting with the Democrats who run the House. The majority party is responsible for assembling a majority vote, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi failed in that fundamental task.

Her highly partisan speech on the floor -- blaming "right-wing ideology of anything goes, no supervision, no discipline, no regulation" for the financial distress -- is no excuse for Republicans to vote no. But it is indicative of the way she has governed for the past two years -- like Tom DeLay without the charm. The cynics are saying Ms. Pelosi deliberately tanked the bill by giving 95 Democrats a pass, knowing failure would hurt John McCain, and given her track record we can see why people would believe it.”

That’s harsh. Even I don’t think Nancy would sink that low. Destroy the economy to get Obama elected? Hmmm. Well, maybe she would.

The beltway crash

A bank regulator tells his side

John Corby on 610 a.m. in Columbus offers a call-in show with topics from uses for bacon (yesterday) to what's the dumbest trick you pulled as a teen-ager. Today, the subject seems to be a bit more serious--the government bailout. As I walked in the door (I was outside picking up branches from the storm 2 weeks ago) I heard

--a bank regulator saying the banks were forced into the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and each bank had to have a plan and a department. Bank field examiners spent over 50% of their time enforcing the Act, which took away from the enforcement of safety and soundness of the investments. Every bank in the nation, under the CRA, had to reinvest part of its own capital in the community, i.e. lending to borrowers, primarily minorities, who were not qualified for loans. This participation (which was forced) showed the banks were supporting the community. The caller said he and other bank employees who realized what was going on would have never been able to speak up for fear of losing their jobs, and that those who oversaw the CRA at his bank were the most liberal and militant in the organization. Then the banks were blamed for all the subprime loans they were forced to write. From the horse's mouth

Before we taxpayers fund the bailout, we need to dump the CRA which started the downward plunge and abandon this crazy idea that everyone needs "the American dream." And that includes its slush fund, Housing Trust Fund, which goes to the states for local organizations to put poor people in housing (which usually no one else would buy) including my own church. It's a nightmare for many. There needs to be good, sound, affordable housing stock. But it doesn't mean that every welfare mother who's taken a training program in computer programming and found a decent job should be shoehorned into "affordable" housing with a mortgage which will be a burden to her and her children. I'm sure this was all done with the best intentions, but the consequences have resulted in a national crisis. These same people in a good rental or subsidized housing with an adequate investment vehicle on the side would have been far better off and not experienced one more failure in their lives.

"The CRA forces lenders to spend money, time, and resources on documentation, PR, and other compliance costs. Moreover, the examination process to determine the level at which a bank is meeting its CRA obligations can sometimes take several months. This has become a major point of leverage—and source of funding—for “community” activist groups. Lending institutions, rather than face the increased expense of a slowed deposit facility application due to a CRA challenge, have committed over $7 billion to such groups and $23 billion to community development lending projects since 1977. Some companies seek to mitigate the threat by funding activist groups’ projects, instead of reforming their overall approach to community reinvestment, according to Jonathan Macey of Yale Law School.

Groups like the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), aware that even small delays in approval can result in substantial losses of money for financial institutions, have been exploiting such a strategy for years. For example, Chase Manhattan and J.P. Morgan donated hundred of thousands of dollars to ACORN around the time that they applied for permission to merge." The Community Reinvestment Act's Harmful Legacy March 20, 2008