How feminists in the church killed the pronoun

When feminists write about Rahab or Sarah or Mary Magdalene, I don't know if they allow themselves the luxury of using the feminine pronouns, her and she, or if they just keep repeating their job description or name. This is what they do to our Father God and his son, our Lord Jesus Christ and the person and work of the Holy Spirit. It's possible, given all the hymns, liturgies, committee and commission reports, feminists (male and female) may eventually kill as many masculine pronouns as they have female babies (in many cultures, even our own, male children are preferred). The following statement, now almost 20 years old, is from "The Oxford Declaration on Christianity and Economics," which was issued as a broad consensus following the Second Oxford Conference on January 4-9, 1990, which resulted from a 3 year study beginning at the January 1987 gathering at Oxford (I'm assuming it was called the First*). Notice anything missing? Anything repeated? Masculine pronouns.

[Preamble]

A. Creation and Stewardship

God the Creator

1. From God and through God and to God are all things (Romans 11:36). In the freedom of God's eternal love, by the word of God's omnipotent power, and through the Creator Spirit, the Triune God gave being to the world and to human beings which live in it. God pronounced the whole creation good. For its continuing existence creation is dependent on God. The same God who created it is present in it, sustaining it, and giving it bountiful life (Psalm 104:29). In Christ, "all things were created . . . and all things hold together" (Colossians 1:15-20). Though creation owes its being to God, it is itself not divine. The greatness of creation-both human and non-human-exists to glorify its Creator. The divine origin of the creation, its continued existence through God, redemption through Christ, and its purpose to-glorify God are fundamental truths which must guide all Christian reflection on creation and stewardship.

Appears as a Word document at http://esa-online.org/Display.asp?Page=HistDocs

Even the passage from Romans 11 has been changed (and probably reflects modern English translations to please feminists on the committees):

"Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?
Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
This is why modern Christian vernacular, at least in English, sounds so clumsy and repetitious--so political. Why many leave the liberal denominations or just leave church all together. This paragraph just begs for a pronoun:

15. For Christians, work acquires a new dimension. God calls all Christians to employ through work the various gifts that God has given them. God calls people to enter the kingdom of God and to live a life in accordance with its demands. When people respond to the call of God, God enables them to bear the fruit of the Spirit and endows them individually with multiple gifts of the Spirit. As those who are gifted by the Spirit and whose actions are guided by the demands of love, Christians should do their work in the service of God and humanity.

Although this won't explain the loss of masculine pronouns, I think we all know the source of hatred behind that, it is interesting that this document on Christianity and Economics cites the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, which does not mention the name of God (I did a "find" command) or even the idea of God, but the U.S. Declaration of Independence uses God in the first sentence, followed by Creator, Supreme Judge, Divine Providence. The U.N. document is a declaration of rights, as is our Declaration of Independence. Our Constitution doesn't use the word God, but the word "God" or "Supreme Ruler" appears in most of the state Constitutions, and ours is a nation of states.

If you're reciting something in church and it just doesn't sound right--it's cumbersome or ugly or awkward--look for a committee trying to be inclusive to the degree that humans become omnipotent, and God an afterthought.

------------
* Stewardship Journal, Winter 1991, has a special section on the Oxford Declaration with responses.

Update: How much hate from feminists? "Students at an Ottawa university are pulling out of a Canada-wide fundraiser that provides close to $1 million a year for cystic fibrosis research and treatment, arguing that the disease "has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men" — something experts say is untrue." CBC News
I guess that policy will leave out gay white men with AIDS. Actually, the only people I've known with CF were women.

Dingle Dangle Dingell

The letter from Henry I. Miller was buried in the letters column--would have been better as an op-ed, but is still available on-line. Miller writes about (D-Michigan) Rep. John Dingle's Inquisition Politics, saying that his defense of the auto industry was the least of his faults.

"Mr. Dingell was a master of the politics of personal destruction. In acrimonious hearings, he made vile and untrue accusations against prominent scientists, university administrators and business executives, relying on his congressional immunity to avoid being sued for slander.

In performing his committee's oversight role over the FDA, Mr. Dingell acted as a kind of self-appointed grand inquisitor. He and his staff often summoned agency officials to humiliating and abusive hearings and demanded that they produce mountains of documents on unrealistically short deadlines. His investigators even helped themselves to FDA files that contained confidential business information, a clear violation of federal law.

Mr. Dingell lost track of the constitutional division of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government. His actions were often grossly inappropriate."

Why do we have so many Dingells of both parties in Congress? This behavior is certainly not limited to him. A prize example of why we need term limits.

Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D., is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where his research focuses on public policy toward science and technology, including pharmaceutical development, the new biotechnology, models for regulatory reform, and the emergence of new viral diseases. He headed the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Biotechnology from 1989 to 1993.Link. Twenty five cents of every consumer dollar goes to a product regulated by the FDA, an agency he says is dysfunctional, a swamp in need of draining, according to a recent article he wrote for the Washington Times.

The Bible or the Bard?

Take the quiz and see how you score. I didn't do so good.

The Bible or The Bard?

Score: 70% (7 out of 10)

I care, I really do

Just not enough to print out 23 pages, and it's much too complicated to read on screen. Here it is: "A GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED: LIBRARIES AND THE GOOGLE LIBRARY PROJECT SETTLEMENT" Link to ALA/ARL paper. Besides, it's time for a nap, and all the medical studies seem to agree that naps are good for you. Although, I'd do it anyway.

The Science of Prevention

It's not getting more lab tests, as reported in today's WSJ--at least not at my age. Recently a relative broke her foot. In helping her into the ER, her husband broke his finger. Last week I made my husband promise that he wouldn't get on a ladder to clean the gutters at our summer home. Men his age die falling off ladders. I chatted yesterday with a woman whose arm was in a sling and she said she injured herself pulling out the hose to water her plants before winter. A friend of a friend fell down the stairs carrying things in both hands and broke his left wrist and his right ankle--and then tried to drive himself to the emergency room. And yet if you were to read the medical news or watch the TV health stories, you would think all you needed to do at my age was eat fruits and vegetables, never microwave anything in plastic, hide the salt shaker, and lower your cholesterol by eating boring stuff (my lunch today was 5 vegetables and 2 brownies--all the colors, just like mom said ;-) ).

I suggest you all go read Sandy, my blogging friend and nutrition writer, Junk Food Science. She doesn't write about junk food, she writes about junk science about food. Today she's writing about where you get your medical news. JAMA is one of my favorite magazines, but if I remove the slick, thick advertising pages, it's quite skinny.

Meanwhile, I'll just remind you that you can't beat good genes. That's still the number one factor in good health and a long life, and you didn't have a thing to do with it. If you're still alive tomorrow, give thanks for your parents and grandparents who gave you a good start. My mother died in her 88th year, her brother at 99, her father at 94, and her sister is still going at 92. Dad died at 89, his father at 92, and his grandfather was 88 in 1950 when he died, and one of his daughters is still going at 92. Second, don't smoke; third, drink alcohol only in moderation, and if you think a 6 pack after work is moderation, you need to relearn the meaning of the word; fourth, reduce your calories; and fifth, get some regular exercise.

Here's a photo of OSU's President Gordon Gee leading some university employees on laps around the Oval. It looks to me that most of the folks falling in line here are already fairly trim. I've noticed that at the Senior Center dance class too--all the ladies dancing, from late 70s into early 90s are quite trim. I have no idea, and neither do the researchers, which came first--the fitness, or the activity.

Sew Homemade

When I was a little girl, my mother made a lot of my clothes--the rest were "hand-me-downs" from my two older sisters. With the left over fabric she made clothes for our dollies. She even made our underwear! But it never looked like this.

She also made clothing for my brother--these coveralls were sewn from my dad's WWII camouflage.


Today I upgraded my Memory Patterns blog, which was completed several years ago but has a lot of old photos of sewing projects. In checking some of the old links, I found the above pattern.

Obama Names Bill Clinton to Presidential Post

That Iowahawk is such a kidder, but still . . . it surely looks that way. Those of you afraid of a Bush third term with McCain, are you happy about the Clinton third term?

WASHINGTON DC - Ending weeks of speculation and rumors, President-Elect Barack Obama today named Bill Clinton to join his incoming administration as President of the United States, where he will head the federal government's executive branch.

"I am pleased that Bill Clinton has agreed to come out of retirement to head up this crucial post in my administration," said Obama. "He brings a lifetime of previous executive experience as Governor of Arkansas and President of the United States, and has worked closely with most of the members of my Cabinet."

Idea for transferring your wealth to Washington

Here's an idea for those of you who want to be patriotic (Joe Biden's term), to share/spread your wealth (Obama's philosophy), and get universal health care off the ground (Hillary's plan from the 90s). I read this week that $16 billion is spent annually on tailgating! That would fund the CDC for more than two years. So all you Obama supporters just have to give up your fall tailgates, send the money to President elect Obama, and he'll be able to share the bounty with government salaried workers. Neat idea, huh?

Whether your Buckeye is a Republican or Democrat, Jack Park's new book will be a welcome sight under the Christmas tree.

Almost 50 years ago

"On January 25, 1959, at the Roman Basilica of Saint Paul outside the Walls, Pope John XXIII announced his intention of convoking a council of the church to open its windows, as he put it, to let in fresh air. The ultimate goal of the council was to be Christian unity. After nearly four years of extensive preparation, the council met in four sessions from October 11, 1962 to December 8, 1965 and was a momentous event not only for the Roman Church but for all of Western Christianity. . .

. . .the Second Vatican Council . . showed the Church of Rome to be not the monolithic monarchy many thought it to be but rather a living body capable of remarkable change, renewal, and renovation--a model for the rest of Christianity. Moreover, the churches of the Reformation, and Lutherans especially, saw in the working and the documents of the council an acceptance of basic principles of the sixteenth-century Reformation:

• the primacy of grace,
• the centrality of Scripture,
• the understanding of the church as the people of God,
• the use of the vernacular language.

It was as if the Lutheran Reformation had made its point at long last. Indeed, some Lutherans observed that the place in the modern world where the principles of the Reformers were most clearly at work was the Roman Church. . ."
Commentary on the Lutheran Book of Worship; Lutheran liturgy in its ecumenical context, by Philip H. Pfatteicher, (Augsburg Fortress, 1990) p. 1

Yes, it certainly was an optimistic time, since even today 50 years later many Lutherans will not worship together or share in Holy Communion with another synod. And there are some of us old time transfers (1976) from other denominations (Church of the Brethren and Presbyterian in our case) who wish someone would close the windows or maybe lower them for a year or two--at least in terms of tinkering with our Sunday service. We were just getting the hang of the LBW (or as we non-liturgical types call it, the green book, which replaced the red book, Service book and hymnal) when the mid-week informal/contemporary service at UALC migrated to a spot on Sunday morning back in the 80s, and now has pretty much taken over. Only a few stubborn old timers who enjoy complex theology in their hymns, a real choir, confession of sins, and creeds show up for the two traditional services (out of 9). However, if you read Pfatteicher's book, LBW really isn't so traditional after all but reflects constant change over two thousand years, beginning with a bunch of rag-tag, frightened Jewish Christians gathering after Jesus' resurrection to follow his instructions, "Take and eat; this is my body given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

Guided imagery and the Christian

The Ohio State University Faculty and Staff Assistance Program offers two online videos to help faculty and staff manage the stress and financial pressures that many are experiencing in these difficult economic times. There are two: a 13-minute “Walk, Talk & Breathe: Learning to Manage Stress in Difficult Times” and the 23-minute “Relieving Financial Stress.” I only watched a few minutes, and I might have giggled at the poor quality and nasal voices, if I hadn't recognized immediately that the University is perilously close to pushing religion on its employees when it gets started on guided imagery to relieve stress. But aside from the spiritual nature of it, I think I would have hired a professional to do the voice overs or actors, instead of squirmy, self-consious university staff, because we are just all accustomed to seeing pros on screen.

Yes, exercise and breathing correctly can probably help stress levels--walk briskly or jump rope and you'll feel the stress go; but so can cutting up your credit card, listening to some quiet music, and kneading a batch of home made bread. None of those require reaching down into your inner being and pulling out a plum--your very own god-likeness. Guided imagery is just a form of "new age" religion, based on the very, very old age forms of eastern religions and mysticism.

Here's what the voice of Lisa will do, according to the blurb (in my opinion, Lisa doesn't have the voice for this): "With gentleness and vision, Lisa guides us to the shore of our inner wisdom, and helps us to remember that if we consistently bridge back to it, it will never fail us." And here's what Christianity teaches about that "divine center"--your inner wisdom or core that Lisa's going to help you find--it is the source of sin and rebellion and false gods. You may think you experience God (I doubt she says that but I only listened to a few minutes), that same God which is a universal consciousness, residing within everyone, guiding them on the path to some sort of peace or perfection, but it's a lie. That makes us all little gods. That's the oldest story in Genesis. This denies everything Christians know about reality, about sin, and about solutions.

If you are feeling stressed about finances, open your Bible--don't turn to the university or the government. I think finances and wealth may be the #1 topic--and centers on this verse, "The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." Ps 24:1

See The empty promise

Journal abuse

If a student or faculty member abused a library journal as badly as staff approved procedures, they'd probably lose their library privileges. Look at the cover of this journal



When the journal (Cultural Critique, No. 3, American Representations of Vietnam (Spring, 1986), was "checked in" after being received in the mail, it was smacked with a black ink date stamp, showing it was received January 2, 1987 at Ohio State University Library. Must be an old stamp, because the official name is The Ohio State University Libraries. Then the check-in-clerk marked it with a grease pencil. MAI in the upper right means that it was destined for the Main Library at Ohio State University, one of maybe 20 locations within the system. Then she scribbled the call number, volume and year across the cover. The brown stuff at the bottom looks like someone spilled coffee with cream on it--perhaps a user, but might have happened at check-in. The back cover, presumably by the same photographer, John Carlos Rowe, has a date due slip pasted over it, blocking about 1/3 of the picture. But the defacing didn't stop there. Before this journal was bound permanently (in 2006 according to a pasted stamp on the inside), it was "strap bound," with holes punched into the margins to keep several issues strapped together inside homemade cardboard covers, so when you open this volume, every page has four holes.

Eventually as things became more automated, grease pencils were discontinued and small stickers with call number and date received replaced the scribbling; I'm not sure about the temporary bindings since I haven't worked there in over 8 years. But I am still surprised when I see this sort of disregard not only for the artist, writers, publishers, but also the reader who may have found something useful in the cover. And publishers continue to include information on the cover or book jacket that may be no where else in the piece, and some libraries toss the book jacket, and paper covers may be removed if the book or journal is rebound.

I had no interest in resurrecting the Vietnam War, which is what this issue of Cultural Critique did, however, no author or group should have its work taken so lightly by those who say they preserve and protect information for future generations.

Prize for the most green words in one paragraph

The best reason to take care of the planet isn’t global warming--it’s as simple as keeping your home clean and attractive--we live here, so be nice to yourself and your neighbors! It’s like putting good food in your body so your brain and nervous system work well--not that you'll cure cancer or prevent dementia. But being green is also a marketing tactic for some businesses; a religious, pantheistic faith for some; a warm, emotional feel good for others; a power trip for some even on an in-house task force or committee of a college, church or corporation; and most important, a way to gain total political control at the local, state, federal and international level through laws, regulations and treaties.

This paragraph should get a prize for the most trendy, "gosh-I’m-so-green" words:

“We sell ourselves as a green-focused firm,” says HOK Architect Casey Visintin, LEED-AP. “Our community service program reinforces that and shows how our principles affect the community.” At the same time, he says, the collaborative project shows that sustainable strategies can be achieved at any level.

Green-focused
LEED
Community
service
Collaborative
Sustainable

The story which appears in the AIArchitect This Week is about a very large architectural firm with offices all over the world transforming “an unused back lot” of a school into an outdoor classroom for learning and investigation.

It had all the feel good elements of a good green story--

”members of the firm volunteering their week-ends”
“collaboration with the parents and principal”
“tangible illustration of the firm’s values,”
“Spanish immersion program school”
“outdoor classroom in the sciences”
“opportunity to learn about environmentally friendly practices”

Notice in these stories the word "profit" never appears. One would think that client needs and payroll were met with just happy-clappy, feel-good goals and motives. Also, I question any business "volunteering" their staff in mandatory projects. Do employees who have their own families and hobbies (or even gardens) object to giving up their week-ends to benefit someone else's family and green space? (This was not a poor school but a public magnet school--language immersion--and someone in HOK had ties, probably a child enrolled there or a spouse on staff.) And did the children (no mention they were consulted about this) have ideas that maybe this "unused lot" of an urban school might have been their only play space for ball or chase games or just hanging out?

Remembering the outdoor time where I went to grade school, we managed to be pretty active on concrete, asphalt, dirt and grass. We even managed to run the bases in skirts, crinolines and white bucks. Now the children will need a special grant from USDA for exercise to reduce obesity, topped off with an HHS grant to teach them social skills and how to communicate face to face to make up for being on-line in their free time.

There's something wrong with the math

This kind of cold calculation really sets my teeth on edge.

About 34 million caregivers provided unpaid help valued at $375 billion to family and friends last year, up from $350 billion in 2006, according to a report being released Thursday by AARP, a large advocacy group for older Americans in Washington, D.C.

The typical U.S. caregiver is a 46-year-old woman who works outside the home and spends more than 20 hours a week providing unpaid care to her mother, the report says. Those tasks include personal care and everyday tasks as well as health-related interventions such as administering medications.

Last Sunday friends picked us up for Bible study; Friday night our neighbors drove and we all went out to dinner. Are they unpaid taxi drivers? Is there a value there that someone needs to be calculating? Last week my husband raked leaves at our summer home. Yesterday I prepared birthday dinners for my children. Is he an unpaid gardener, and am I an unpaid cook? Where do I turn in my time card to the government or academic tracking this?

How many additional hours would that 46 year old need to work in order to pay someone for 20 hours to provide nothing close to the care she is giving her mother? How many hours of work to put Mom in the nursing home at $5,000 a month?

WSJ article

Text of Michael Mukasey's speech

The Attorney General was addressing the Federalist Society about the accomplishments of the Bush administration when he collapsed (apparently fainted, and was released from the hospital the next day). I thought this part of his speech was interesting--shows how even so-called distinguished lawyers get their information from hostile, non-legal sources rather than doing their own research:

As the end of this Administration draws near, you would expect to hear broad praise for this success [8 years of no further attacks within the U.S.] at keeping our Nation safe. Instead, I am afraid what we hear is a chorus with a rather more dissonant refrain. Instead of appreciation, or even a fair appraisal, of the Administration’s accomplishments, we have heard relentless criticism of the very policies that have helped keep us safe. We have seen this in the media, we have seen this in the Congress, and we have heard it from the legal academy as well. . .

For example, earlier this year, the head of a legal organization that prides itself on what it calls its “nonpartisan approach to the law” gave a speech condemning what he called “the oppressive, relentless, and lawless attack by our own government on the rule of law and our liberty.” According to this person, we live now in a -- “time of repression” where the “word ‘Patriot’ names a statute that stifles liberty,” and where we face “assaults by our government on constitutional rights, the Separation of Powers, and the Geneva Conventions.” You can practically hear the rumble of tanks in the background.

It is interesting—and telling—that even in the published, written version of these remarks by a lawyer, the references and footnotes are not to statutory texts, the Constitution, treaties, or laws. Instead, the author relied on such authorities as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the New York Review of Books. This style of criticism can be called many things—provocative perhaps, or evidence that the author could be regarded by some as well-read —but what it cannot be called is a reasoned legal critique."

The entire speech is well worth reading.

A Father's love

This is one of the most beautiful videos I've seen. A picture of how God carries us in love.



"Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father-and-son team from Massachusetts who together compete just about continuously in marathon races. And if they’re not in a marathon they are in a triathlon — that daunting, almost superhuman, combination of 26.2 miles of running, 112 miles of bicycling, and 2.4 miles of swimming. Together they have climbed mountains, and once trekked 3,735 miles across America.

It’s a remarkable record of exertion — all the more so when you consider that Rick can't walk or talk. . . "

Dick the father is over 65 and Rick graduated from college in 1993. He works at a computer laboratory working on a system to develop a wheelchair controlled eye-movements, when linked-up to a computer. Story here. The Hoyt's racing history.

New blog skin

Well, what do you think? The owner-designer of these skins is in the upper left hand corner--sort of came with it. I've tried several. You have to start with "minima" design of blogger dot com. Once you get the hang of it, it is quite easy. The hard part is it doesn't change your color fonts, and I really had a time getting some of them to show up.

I practiced on my Retirement blog--used a Thanksgiving scheme.

Theology and Religion

Resource list at Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion.

Lilly in Indianapolis must have more money than God.

The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion is wholly funded by grants from Lilly Endowment. Inc. This $8.1 million grant brings the total grant amount received from the Endowment to $35 million for 17 years of programs.

The Wabash Center organizes its activities around five areas: strengthening teaching and learning; developing the professoriate in theology and religion; supporting teaching environments in theological schools and religion departments; understanding new technologies in teaching and learning; and developing scholarly literature on theological teaching.

It looks to me (browsing through the grants) that if you're a pastor and you have a dream for sabbatical, say singing gospel songs in Fiji, all you have to do is apply.

The Freedom to Abort Act

It's known as "Freedom of Choice" Act but that's a euphemism, because another human dies by the choice of a woman (who may in fact have no choice at all being pressured by boyfriend, employers, parents or friends). We have about 1.2 million abortions a year, but that is a slight reduction from 1.5 a few years ago, and that has feminists worried. Some women are chosing not to abort, when clearly it would be in "the best interests of society" because they are minorities, poor, not too bright, or have a terrific career ahead if unincumbered if they could be convinced to abort the life within.

4/19/2007--Introduced.
Freedom of Choice Act - Declares that it is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to: (1) bear a child; (2) terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability; or (3) terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect her life or her health.

Prohibits a federal, state, or local governmental entity from: (1) denying or interfering with a woman's right to exercise such choices; or (2) discriminating against the exercise of those rights in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information. Provides that such prohibition shall apply retroactively.

Authorizes an individual aggrieved by a violation of this Act to obtain appropriate relief, including relief against a governmental entity, in a civil action.

Full Text of FOCA

"The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That's the first thing that I'd do." -- Senator Barack Obama, speaking to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, July 17, 2007
If you are a Christian doctor or nurse, LPN, etc., you will not be able to exercise your conscience: "Federal protection of a woman's right to choose to prevent or terminate a pregnancy falls within this affirmative power of Congress, in part, because" . . ."reproductive health clinics employ doctors, nurses, and other personnel who travel across State lines in order to provide reproductive health services to patients." And if this works like other government edicts about ethics and morality your church will not be allowed to speak out against abortion without losing it's government medical benefits for staff, government protection of pension benefits, and its tax exempt and non-profit status. All local ordinances and regulation of abortion will now be disallowed, including parental notification.

"This Act applies to every Federal, State, and local statute, ordinance, regulation, administrative order, decision, policy, practice, or other action enacted, adopted, or implemented before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act."

Twilight breaks records

No gratuitous sex, aggression or violence? A woman director? A woman producer? A woman screenwriter? A woman author? An independent film company? And over $70 million opening week-end. Guess that covered the cost to make it and assures the sequel.

Starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, TWILIGHT tells the story of 17-year-old Bella Swan who moves to the small town of Forks, Washington to live with her father, and becomes drawn to Edward Cullen, a pale, mysterious classmate who seems determined to push her away. But neither can deny the attraction that pulls them together...even when Edward confides that he and his family are vampires. Their unorthodox romance puts her in physical danger when Edward's nemesis comes to town and sets his sights on Bella.

My daughter was one of the millions who contributed to its success, giving herself a birthday treat on opening day. She'll go again (and again) with her husband. She's a fan because she read the book, and said although the script was close she wasn't sure anyone who hadn't read the book would be able to follow the story. She loves movies and doesn't seem to mind vampires, the weird and the strange, also being a fan of The DaVinci Code, Harry Potter and Anne Rice. After she sees them a few times at the theatre, she buys them on DVD. I rarely go to movies, so I find out from her what's going on.

If you were to Google Stephanie Meyer + teen sex, as I did, you'll be treated to all sorts of snarky book reviews. I think it is like abortion--if even one makes it through, it seems to threaten the moral values of all the rest.

How to miss the point with Google

Finding the mysterious ways readers get to your blog is a never ending source of delight for bloggers. Today I found that a search on "worms in oreo cookies" brought someone here. That was a real head scratcher and I just couldn't resist following the link. It was this one:
On being white in America.

The phrases that Google wisdom found were

"Although I haven't found a scholarly article that traces when the worm turned and it became bad to be White in America, . . ."

plus

"Increasingly, being Catholic, if you are also white, will get you no "brownie points" (pardon the pun); and if you are a middle-class or wealthy African-American, you just might be white on the inside (oreo) and have sold out your heritage since you are too rich and educated to be an Uncle Tom."

Isn't Google amazing? But I've seen even stranger leaps from people who actually read the blog entry!

But sometimes, I check the search back, and this one to the AOL robot/spider search, and find information I'm interested in, like today's AOL: "womans home companion magazine-paper dolls" brought someone here, but by back tracking, I found many more sites about magazine paper dolls I hadn't checked.

Ten years ago we librarians used to say that the WWW was like a library where everything was on the floor, or like hunting through someone else's garage, but it's much better organized these days with so many finding aids. More like the books and magazines I store in the bathroom.

So you think you want government health care?

The United States used to have a rail transportation system the rest of the world envied. What happened?

Amtrak was created by Congress in 1970 to take over the money-losing passenger rail service previously operated by private freight railroad companies in the United States. More than half of all rail passenger routes were eliminated when Amtrak began service on May 1, 1971. Although Amtrak’s route system has remained essentially the same size, it represents a mere skeleton of what was once the United States’ passenger rail network. During Amtrak’s 32-year existence, the federal government has spent $1.89 trillion on air and highway modes. In the same time frame, Amtrak has received just over $30 billion in federal subsidies. While the United States once had a passenger rail system that was the envy of the world, a lack of capital investment has stalled the advancement of corridor development throughout the country. Dependent upon an annual federal appropriation, Amtrak’s national network is constantly threatened by under-investment, lack of a clearly articulated federal rail policy and an uncertain future.

Amtrak: Background & Facts

Use a land line for important presidential-type talk

"President-elect Barack Obama may not find it that hard to give up his BlackBerry after all. Verizon Wireless has announced that some of its employees accessed his personal cell phone account records. The wireless provider apologized to the president-elect and said it would discipline the employees involved." Story here. Read the DNS story in the December Wired, and you may switch to land line anyway. Maybe the Verizon employees will just get a wrist slap like Gov. Strickland's
pro-Obama employee who plumbed the depths of Joe the Plumber's records in our state data bases. Routine, she says, for people in the news!

Is required "voluntary" service marxist?

Obama's website has already backed down on the mandatory service idea, as he is backing down on many of his glorious ideals and themes. Personally, I think it will return in sort of a revised, refreshed WPA type thing. His campaign site was "scrubbed" so I won't look at the old version. I'm not sure bait and switch is more Republican, Democrat or Socialist, but we sure see a lot of it--although usually it's within the first 100 days of the administration, not the time between the election and taking the oath.

Maybe some of the Clinton retreads pointed out to him the bulging federal government give aways that already support millions of jobs at "volunteer" pay, particularly through faith-based agencies and non-profits carrying water for the federal government. The aid these programs supply to the poor and disadvantaged, the disabled and mentally ill, is so siphoned away by thousands of jobs in the chain between the grant and the hand-out, it's criminal a form of money laundering to bring home the pork to keep the elected folk in office. A side benefit is everyone from the president on down can feel warm fuzzies in a nation whose economy is over 70% built on consuming and very few people are truly poor.

The Obama administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by setting a goal that all middle school and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year and by developing a plan so that all college students who conduct 100 hours of community service receive a universal and fully refundable tax credit ensuring that the first $4,000 of their college education is completely free. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.

There are already so many organized volunteer agencies, groups and opportunities in place that your head could spin trying to select one that, 1) suits your skill level, 2) addresses a true need, and 3) doesn't bloat the state or federal government by asking for more taxes so it can give it back to you through block grants to churches, local agencies, and university studies.

I could work 40 hours a week, at no pay, just in USDA funded activities, not just distributing food, but on global warming hype, on questionable housing programs, and convincing old people to eat their fruits and veggies in hopes of slowing dementia. None of this would make an iota of "change" in the long run, but I could feel good about keep thousands of people "up stream" from the agency and the federal government employed.

On the other hand, the local and state regulators are making it very difficult to actually get physically close to a person in real need, so you may have to settle for raking leaves, licking envelopes, or shoveling snow.

How to grow a government program

Many government programs fail. You can track these at the Expect More website. Unfortunately, I'm afraid it means "expect more spending," instead of expect more for the money already spent. There are way too many government programs, and the list has grown under President Bush. According to this website, 28% of Federal programs are Not Performing. A rating of Results Not Demonstrated (RND) indicates that a program has not been able to develop acceptable performance goals or collect data to determine whether it is performing.

Let's just look at one program--and even reading through its history you wonder why it was ever considered necessary, the Food Stamp Nutrition Education (FSNE).

"FSNE began in 1988 when cooperative extension faculty in Brown County, Wisconsin and University of Wisconsin extension staff discovered that by committing state and local funding and contracting with the state food stamp agency, an equal amount of federal dollars could be secured to expand the reach of nutrition education to low-income persons in that area. Other universities soon followed. In 1992, seven states conducted FSNE using $661 thousand in federal funds. By 2004, FSNE was conducted throughout the country using nearly $460 million, with $228.6 million in Food Stamp Program administration funds and the remainder contributed by the states.

Here's why it got an RND rating:

"There are no standardized performance measures across State programs to gauge progress. The scope of nutrition education efforts varies widely, making it difficult to establish meaningful outcome measures to capture the program's progress. While States collect some data on participation, the data collected is limited and ambiguous and varies across programs.

The program's mission and goals are not clearly established in statute or regulation. The program relies on guidance to establish program policies. While nutrition education is clearly intended to contribute to advancing the program's purpose, the Food Stamp legislation and regulations are silent on the specific goals of nutrition education.

It is unclear if funds are spent effectively to increase participation and improve nutrition-related behaviors. The program grew from $660,000 in 1992 to over $147 million in 2002. This rapid growth, coupled with the program's unlimited matching source of funding, lends itself to greater oversight."

So here are the suggestions,

"Developing efficiency measures to assess program effectiveness related to its goals.

Developing a plan to increase the use of evidence-based food and nutrition education initiatives across States.

Seeking legislation to make nutrition education a component of the Food Stamp Program and developing a plan to publicize regulations."

In other words, there were no measurable results for all that money, and it could be moved to another program. That doesn't mean the money stream will stop. And even if people misunderstood the program or didn't apply correctly, would they have misunderstood it to the amount of $460 million? Maybe the solution is to write the programs in understandable English?

Other government programs are listed as ineffective. They seem to be like wayward children--the government never gives up on them.

DNS (Domain Name System ) article

in Wired, December 2008 about a hacker, Dan Kaminsky, who discovered a hole in the system that would allow him to impersonate any website -- banking sites, medical, government, e-mail websites -- to attack unsuspecting users.

If you think 9/11 was scary, if the September 2008 meltdown of our government and finances frightened you, just read this article. [shiver] Kaminsky’s bug was squashed, but it makes you wonder how many more might be out there waiting for some who had enough time to think about it and play around (he was recovering from a shattered elbow).

“Collapse,” by Joshua Davis, Wired December 2008, p. 200

I don’t see December on their archive page yet--you read it in the library if you‘re not a subscriber. But the story has appeared in tech blogs and other magazines in July and August, which I never read. Davis is a good writer--of suspense.

Big Green Tent

See what I mean about greengoes?

Here's the Greenbuild 08, November 19-21 hype

"Next up was USGBC president and CEO Rick Fedrizzi, with a high-energy stump speech rallying the unwieldy, many-shades-of-green eco-building community. He was adamant: the severe recession will NOT sink the sustainable design market.

His big-tent stem-winder veered all over -- from market data to the survival of the planet, social justice and racial harmony. And, since an Obama presidency bodes better for green business than the alternative, he gave thanks for Nov. 4 as Abe Lincoln's image flashed on the jumbo screens. Never mind the hoary business injunction against politics...

We then segued, by way of an excellent African childrens chorus and dance troop, to Desmond Tutu. Nobody else could or would try to invoke the deity, the Bible, partisan politics, excessive defense spending and liberation struggles in the name of green building and address a bunch of conventioneers as divine agents of change. But he made it work . ."

Never mind that Obama will tax them to death if they try to make any money. Dream on silly architects and building trades.

We look like a Hallmark card

my husband said this morning. "The table is set with the good china, you're preparing food in the kitchen, and I'm putting up the Christmas tree." Celebrating birthdays tomorrow, so I'm getting the food ready today so that we can all go to church. Usually, this doesn't happen, but each year I can hope. It's pretty awkward. I go to church at 7 a.m. to pray, my husband ushers at the 8:15, and then we are all supposed to meet up for the 11 a.m. traditional service. Then it's back to the house for dinner. This year, we hope that 1) everyone gets to church on time, and 2) my husband can keep them busy decorating the tree while I put everything in the oven to warm up. It's sort of like eating leftovers since everything except the meat is prepared today. Here's the menu:

Boneless pork roast with orange sauce
dressing with apples, bacon and onion
buttered, spiced carrots
mashed potatoes
scalloped corn
pumpkin pie with whipped cream
I tried a new scalloped corn recipe--the kind you make with a corn muffin mix. I used to make it from memory, but the memory's shot. Not sure how that is going to work out--it sort of looks like a cake. My husband hates corn so the only time I fix it is when there will be someone else to eat it. And bacon. No matter what brand I buy it seems so tasteless. Has anyone else noticed this? It never gets crispy and yummy--just lies there and takes up space. Is it low-cholesterol pigs? Too many antibiotics and hormones? I wish they'd stop messing with our food. Maybe it's just my taste buds. They are my age, after all, and probably wearing out.

When I looked on the internet for a corn recipe, and bunches of happy cooks were contributing theirs (all with canned corn), of course one of the grow-your-own vegans drops by and insults everyone by saying she would never eat that garbage, but "y'all have a good day." Don't you just hate that on bulletin boards? Everyone's chatting and exchanging ideas and being so friendly, and then Mrs. Poo Poo I'm better than You chimes in.

Fall 1971, probably taken for birthdays

Our son has been battling a cold, and possibly the flu, so we may be a very small group. He's dragging to work, and then goes home and goes to bed. He never eats much, but at least I can send home the left overs. My cold seems to be undercover for now with the Zicam and the Clariton and extra sleep. At least, it hasn't gotten to that stage yet where I'd call it a cold.

Friday Family Photo

It's a dictionary! Merriam-Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, unabridged (1948) Here's the story of Merriam-Webster. My recollection is that this was a gift from my maternal grandmother Mary to our family for Christmas 1949, with a set of encyclopedias the next Christmas, although it's possible they were together, perhaps a 2-fer special. It remained in my parents' home for over 50 years, and was often used because my father was a cross-word fan, and they both would turn to the dictionary to answer questions just like we might use google today. Dad died in 2002, and I was probably the only one who requested this--at least I don't remember anyone else asking for it. It is sitting in my dining room on my mother's sewing cabinet, which she probably gave me sometime in the 1970s. Behind the sewing cabinet are the sliding glass doors for my early 1960s Paul McCobb china hutch which I don't use anymore, but didn't know where to put them. Ordinarily you don't see them, but they show up gray in the photo.

The last time I used this dictionary was this morning about 5:30 a.m. Here is the sentence that stumped me: "Psychopannychia emerges as relevatory of the young Calvin's thought." I had never seen "relevatory" before. Neither had Mr. Webster. And if it isn't in Webster's 2nd, I don't need to know!

Foreclosure counseling

Yesterday I was listening to 700 am in Cincinnati and heard an ad for Hope Now Alliance which was all warm and fuzzy about helping people facing foreclosure. "Betcha they put them there," was my response to the radio. So today I looked them up. Yessiree, same old gang that put people into homes with "gift" downpayments, and balooning mortgages and probably did no credit checks or background sifting are part of this group, thrown together to get more government money for foreclosure counseling when they were about to loose their sorry as- jobs in the mortgage industry.

So how does a floundering GSE with ties to Congress and in the tank lobbyists for Obama (if no party is mentioned, assume Democrat, because Republicans are usually noted) put on a Santa Claus face?

"Freddie Mac** has instructed its national network of mortgage servicers and foreclosure attorneys to stop all planned foreclosure sales and evictions involving Freddie Mac-owned mortgages during the holiday season.

The move is designed to give more homeowners facing foreclosure or eviction additional time to take advantage of the newly announced streamlined mortgage modification program, says Freddie Mac CEO David M. Moffett.

This should allow homeowners to work out agreements with mortgage services to avoid foreclosure. All foreclosure sales slated from Nov. 26, 2008, to Jan. 9, 2009, will be temporarily stopped. The program applies to single-family and 2-4 unit properties.

Not all these apples are bad, but I wouldn't want to be in the same basket with ACORN and La Raza, one a communist agitation group spoiling many elections with illegal voters, the other wants the SW to return to Mexico.

Members:

ACORN Housing Corporation
Catholic Charities USA
Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association, Inc.
Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Atlanta
HomeFree- USA
Homeownership Preservation Foundation
Housing Partnership Network
Mission of Peace
Mississippi Homebuyer Education Center- Initiative
Mon Valley Initiative
Money Management International, Inc.
National Association of Real Estate Brokers- Investment Division, Inc.
National Community Reinvestment Coalition
National Council of La Raza
National Credit Union Foundation
National Foundation for Credit Counseling, Inc.
National Urban League
NeighborWorks America
Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America
Rural Community Assistance Co.
Structured Employment Economic Development Co.
West Tennessee Legal Services, Inc.

**Who is Fred? The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC) (NYSE: FRE), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is an insolvent government sponsored enterprise (GSE) of the United States federal government.

The FHLMC was created in 1970 to expand the secondary market for mortgages in the US. Along with other GSEs, Freddie Mac buys mortgages on the secondary market, pools them, and sells them as mortgage-backed securities to investors on the open market. The U.S. government seized control of the mortgage giants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE), called GSEs, in September 2008, placing the liabilities of more than $5 trillion of mortgages onto the backs of the U.S. taxpayer.

From Community Organizer to President of the World

An amazingly brief journey when you consider how little we know about the building blocks of Obama‘s political DNA. Consider this. Barack Obama:
A Radical Leftist’s Journey from Community Organizing to Politics

The better term for "community organizer" is community agitator working within a 501(c)(3) frame work* as a non-profit. These organizations are very powerful now within the frayed fringes of the federal and state government because of their non-profit status which allows them full use of government funding without any security clearance or oversite. Unless a group gets more than $500,000 a year, no one questions what is done, and records only need to be kept 3 years, so good luck in tracking their activities or even their names. They split, reorganize and morph into new organizations eligible for additional grants. They were able to be participants through the various housing and home grants to threaten banks which brought down our economy with the aid of the 2006 Democratic take-over of Congress, who with the exception of Pelosi, Reid, Frank, Dodd and Obama, seemed unaware of the tainted salad bowl on the buffet table of pork. However, the chef's help was there from the Bush administration which grew these programs to unheard of amounts from the Reagan era and combined them with private partnerships which fueled the building boom.** In this way, the eight years of George Bush directly built the frame work for the Obama take over.

And the Communist Party USA hack intones the party line and fills in the bridges to somewhere--Kansas, Hawaii, California, Africa, Chicago, to Washington DC:

“. . . an African-American poet and journalist by the name of Frank Marshall Davis, who was certainly in the orbit of the CP – if not a member – and who was born in Kansas and spent a good deal of his adult life in Chicago, before decamping to Honolulu in 1948 at the suggestion of his good friend Paul Robeson. Eventually, he befriended another family – a Euro-American family – that had migrated to Honolulu from Kansas and a young woman from this family eventually had a child with a young student from Kenya East Africa who goes by the name of Barack Obama, who retracing the steps of Davis eventually decamped to Chicago. In his best selling memoir ‘Dreams of my Father’, the author speaks warmly of an older black poet, he identifies simply as "Frank" as being a decisive influence in helping him to find his present identity as an African-American, a people who have been the least anticommunist and the most left-leaning of any constituency in this nation – though you would never know it from reading so-called left journals of opinion. At some point in the future, a teacher will add to her syllabus Barack’s memoir and instruct her students to read it alongside Frank Marshall Davis’ equally affecting memoir, "Living the Blues" and when that day comes, I’m sure a future student will not only examine critically the Frankenstein monsters that US imperialism created in order to subdue Communist parties but will also be moved to come to this historic and wonderful archive in order to gain insight on what has befallen this complex and intriguing planet on which we reside."
-----------

*501(c)(3) exemptions apply to corporations, and any community chest, fund, or foundation, organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational purposes, or to foster national or international amateur sports competition, or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals. Technically, they are not supposed to use government funding for political advocacy , but that is a joke considering they can use it for “educational” purposes. Also, other 501C groups can set up a 501c3 for more money for education.

**Read through this advertisement Rally for Home Ownership which promotes "gift" downpayments and their relationship to "private" lenders (under threat using CRA guidelines) and home builders.

Blue skies and sunshine in Columbus

My husband is creeping along on Rt. 4 about 10 miles an hour. Says it is very slick and icy (called to let me know where he is). He's returning from Lakeside and four hours of leaf raking, a fall routine he's had for 10 years--although most of our neighbors there close up on Labor Day and reopen in April or May, and don't worry about leaf pick up schedule.

Gorgeous fashions! I was watching El Gordo y La Flaca last evening and their guest/side kick Steve(?) had a clip of a fashion show interview he'd done. Oh my! Clothes so feminine and graceful and fabrics so lush they recalled old 30s movies, or trimmer times of the 1950s. I certainly hope that trend will spread. Not that I could afford them or have a place to wear dressy clothes, but there is a trickle down effect. I don't know enough Spanish to catch the event or the designer, but let's hope it catches on. So tired of sloppy and casual. I left the room for a few minutes and when I came back the news was on. Those info-babes on Spanish language TV certainly dress differently than ours. Eye popping, if you get my drift. The man, however, was completely covered.

Also flipping through the channels I got the last few minutes of the Republican Governors Conference last week on c-span. They do seem excited about Bobby Jindal, and were praising him for the Gustav response. We keep passing out my homemade Palin-Jindal 2012 pins.

Feels like I might be coming down with a cold. I'm overdue. Haven't had one since September 2007. So I've been trying Zicam--a friend swears by it. If I could get 1 week colds like other people, I'd be happy. Mine usually last 3 or more weeks.

I had a long chat with one of my uncles last night and caught up on the family news. I think he's closer to my age than my father's--maybe 10 years older than me. He mentioned some grandchildren I didn't know about and a change of address for one of my aunts in California, so I suggested he write down the children's names and birth dates and mail them to me. I seem to be the only person in the family that does much with genealogy. Doesn't make much sense to know who was where in the 17th century if you don't know where the 21st century cousins are. I don't care much for my new version of Family Tree Maker 2008. I don't seem to be able to do the old functions I knew under the 7.0 version.

I volunteered at the Senior Center lunch room yesterday. They really have nice lunches--we served choices of hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken salad, an Italian soup, broccoli soup, creamed chicken on toast, applesauce and usually someone brings in cookies or cake for a dessert to share. Although I have a regular service day, I've subbed a number of times, so don't seem to have a regular partner yet. Harold, my Tuesday partner, says I'm good. I think it's my experience at Zickuhr's Drug Store counter when I was in high school and college coming back to me. I have worked a few times with a woman who has a disabled daughter, and hope to help her out a bit so she can get out of the house more. On both Thursday and Friday there is line dancing right before lunch, and I enjoy watching them. I'm not going to figure this out, since even the medical journals can't, but I notice all the dancers are trim. Now are they trim because they exercise, or do they exercise because they're trim? One woman is 92 and seems to be having a lot of fun.

Advent's just around the corner, so I'll be helping on Wednesdays at church with lunch and communion. You don't ever want me in charge of the kitchen, but I can set a table and stir the soup.

Note: Here's an interesting Google trick. If you type "Zickuhr drug store" into Google and click on images, the first batch of photos that come up are all from my blogs, although I think only one is a photo of the drug store. I guess the other photos are on the same page as an entry about Zickuhr's.

Lady, you don't need us, you need a miracle

He says he really told her that, but I'm sure he didn't, otherwise she'd report him to his boss. You know how people hate to hear the truth. He is a service worker who regularly sees the inside of people's homes, from big mansion to shabby duplex to apartments, from attic to basement to garage. This one, he noted shaking his head, looked like a herd of cattle had been driven through the living room. Mud. Animal feces. Filthy clothes. Bad odors. Trim and weather stripping broken or missing. The home was built in 1995--nice area, working father, stay at home mom. Two young children. If he'd been an animal protection officer and the children were pets, he probably could have removed them. He says he waited after giving her an estimate while she called her husband. He could hear him screaming at her through the phone from the other side of the room.

Maybe one of those marriage 101 workshops the federal government is funding could help. Or a daily cleaning service. Or that English nanny we see on TV. Slobs come in all classes and income brackets. A friend of mine was a "home manager," she cleaned, baby sat and ran errands for a wealthy family in Dublin with 4 rotten to the core children (both parents were professional--doctor and lawyer). She couldn't stand it. She quit because each day she came back to work and it was a worse mess than the day before, even after she'd put everything in order. She was told she couldn't remove the pet dog from the kitchen counters where it would eat the butter. Some people are beyond slobdom. They do need a miracle.

If only this could happen in restaurants

Cell phone karma



HT Bob C.

Off shore drilling ban lifted

on July 14, 2008 and prices immediately began to plummet. I'm not sure even one drop has resulted from this, but all the naysayers who said it wouldn't affect prices at the pump obviously were wrong. Gasoline is below $1.70 at some stations in Columbus. Adjusted for inflation, I think that's cheaper than when I was in high school.

This makes greengoes unhappy because Algorists were using this to push all the oil and gas sky-is-falling stories (it's God's stored sunshine, but they are pantheists). Obamites aren't happy either, because there go all the billions in taxes that the government's been so dependent on, right when all the rich folks are losing their income, too. Even Governor Palin might be in trouble and see her popularity drop (highest of all the governors), since Alaskans each (yes, even the kids) get part of the profits from their oil bounty.

Just in time to hop in the car and drive to Grandma's--or in our case, to the home of niece Joan in Indianapolis. Although we'll be staying in Columbus this year and having a wonderful turkey and/or ham dinner at our daughter's home. I just love that part about having kids--when they grow up they can cook for you.

A most awkward acronym

Acronyms are wonderful--whole committees can spend time designing them, others are delightfully accidental. Whether the SOB Alliance (State of Ohio Blogger) of which I'm a part was intentional, I don't know. I've written entire blog entries about acronyms. In my early days (mid-1980s) as Head of the Veterinary Medicine Library, which made me part of Heads of Undergraduate and Departmental Librarians at The Ohio State University Libraries (head of VET, member of HUDL, at OSUL) I had a computer, but it was stand alone, not connected to any other libraries and the internet in its present form and World Wide Web (WWW) were still a fantasy. But there were encyclopedias of acronyms and reverse acronyms, and I could sneak away from my duties to browse, just as today librarians all over the world find reasons to poke around the web, read their e-mail, listservs, and blogs and experiment with social networking (all in the name of better service to the library user).

All this as introduction to one of the best in describing what it was finally worth before someone renamed it after 40 years. COCU. That stands for Consultation on Church Union, but bears a striking resemblance to cuckoo, or cuckholded, indeed, cocu is French for cuckhold. Both words come from the French and mean unfaithful, whether laying eggs in another's nest or adultery, link.

No word better describes the irrelevance of the modern church's ecumenical movement and it's proclamation of authority as it fled both the authority of Scripture and the authority of the Roman Church than COCU. For a while it fueled the rise of the evangelicals who stood in the gap created by liberal protestants and catholics, but even they have been marginalized and warrenized, attempting to "emerge" but from what and to what they aren't sure and don't agree.

Usually, I don't cite Wikipedia as an authority because--well, it isn't--but in this case, COCU is so insignificant and so funny, I'll send you there. Wikis can be edited by no one in particular, and this entry is begging for editors. So if you're an expert on failures in Protestantism, have a go.

Why George Bush isn't a fiscal conservative

The man spends like a Democrat. And they didn't even like him for it. A huge number of these were for poverty, environment, education, health, etc., indirectly and under the table adding thousands to the government payroll and subverting state and local control. That's why Obama's campaign of concern and caring for us po' folk who could barely walk and chew gum without the federal government's help was so odd. It can only grow, and yet more of what didn't work under a Republican will work under a Democrat?

From Chris Edwards, Cato at Liberty, Dec. 4, 2007.

This chart updates a longer article he published in October 2006. I noticed in that article one of the biggest new initiatives of the Bush Administration was $150,000,000 for "Healthy Marriage Promotion," which provided grants to states, non-profits, etc. to provide counseling, workshops and celebrations of events such as National Black Marriage Day.

Healthy Marriage Grants will range from $250,000 to $5,000,000 depending on the scope of the project. Average award: $1,000,000. Responsible Fatherhood Grants will range from $200,000 to $2,000,000 depending on the scope of the project. Average award: $700,000. Tribal TANF Child Welfare Grants will range from $25,000 to $100,000. Average Award: $80,000.

Children raised by married parents have a very modest chance of growing up in poverty, whereas an unmarried mom almost guarantees it. However, I think this was an open invitation for misuse of the taxpayers money. The required audits will never try to judge how many teen minority fathers married the mothers of their children because they attended a workshop. Churches have been working on this problem for years even with middle class families, and losing ground. I don't think throwing $150 million at it will change much (unless they throw it at Hollywood or TV which seems a bigger influence than church or parents). As in all these subsidies, very little makes it to the problem, and most goes for overhead like salaries, rent, utilities, food, consultants, printing, publishing, research, etc. Here's an article in the Columbus Dispatch of how $500,000 that came to Ohio was spent.

Here's a list of the top 10% of CFDA searches. I've been writing a lot about the housing grants, so here's a few from that list. All would require partnering non-profits with with business or state agencies or alone.

10.442 USDA Housing Application Packaging Grants

10.410 USDA Very Low to Moderate Income Housing Loans

14.313 HUD Dollar Home Sales

14.247 HUD Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program

14.235 HUD Supportive Housing Program

97.048 DHS Disaster Housing Assistance to Individuals and Households

in Presidential Declared Disaster Areas (must have been the mother of housing boondoggles: FY 07 $189,366,831--probably could have completely rebuilt NOLA with this grant--it's just one year figure)

10.417 USDA Very Low-Income Housing Repair Loans and Grants

14.311 HUD Single Family Property Disposition

14.239 HUD Home Investment Partnerships Program

14.149 HUD Rent Supplements_Rental Housing for Lower Income Families

10.433 USDA Rural Housing Preservation Grants

14.195 HUD Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments Program_Special Allocations

15.633 DOI Landowner Incentive Program

14.401 HUD Fair Housing Assistance Program_State and Local

10.415 USDA Rural Rental Housing Loans

14.901 HUD Healthy Homes Demonstration Grants

10.427 USDA Rural Rental Assistance Payments

14.871 HUD Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers

This is an old one--originally authorized in 1937--FY 09 est $16,253,000,000--yes, that's 16 billion for 2 million families, and they only get part of the rent--wonder where the rest of it goes? That's some overhead!

14.401 HUD Fair Housing Assistance Program_State and Local

10.415 USDA Rural Rental Housing Loans

14.181 HUD Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities

14.169 HUD Housing Counseling Assistance Program [FY 09 est $60,000,000]

14.856 HUD Lower Income Housing Assistance Program_Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation

10.411 USDA Rural Housing Site Loans and Self_Help Housing Land Development Loans

14.157 HUD Supportive Housing for the Elderly

[FY 09 est $791,303,000] Based on the numbers of units built in 2007 (3,857) I figure they cost about $195,000 each--not bad for single resident, low income.

14.250 HUD Rural Housing and Economic Development [FY 08 $17,000,000 The only accomplishments listed were 854 jobs]

81.042 DOE Weatherization Assistance for Low-Income Persons [FY 07 $204,356,661 this one is about $50,000,000 less in FY 09--must be that global warming benefit]

93.568 HHS Low-Income Home Energy Assistance

14.142 HUD Property Improvement Loan Insurance for Improving All Existing Structures and Building of New Nonresidential Structures

14.110 HUD Manufactured Home Loan Insurance_Financing Purchase of Manufactured Homes as Principal Residences of Borrowers

Change we can count on

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm feeling much better about Obama's change these days. All those Clinton retreads. It's like a family reunion, although they never really left the beltway, just opened "think tanks." Not that the Bush people will be any different. It's what keeps that place going. Also nice to see that they'll probably opt for private school for their daughters. God forbid a wealthy politician who owes the NEA big time should ever support private education for the poor or middle class with vouchers. Nope. The only change I see is the value of my 403-b and my stock portfolio. Just a dab of change left. And he's promising to take even what little's there by taxing more businesses to give me itsy-bitsy perksies. Thank you Democrats for all you've done for us to make our investments worthless while you sat on your fannies.

Green jobs

My husband's architecture newsletters (via e-mail so they come to me) are so covered with ga-ga-green, I'm surprised they aren't moldy by the time I open them. All businesses are getting on this band wagon. Some of the ads are just ridiculous--"Great minds think green" Dow Chemical. (Librarians have 2.0, but architects have LEED v3) And if it were just business, I wouldn't care, but when the government is pushing it--look out--reeks of planned economy. Governments don't create--they take, and then send a little back to you in the form of block grants, subsidies, tax breaks, and civil service jobs. For real innovation whether it's in stem cell research or google, you need smart, young, know-it-alls who aren't afraid to ask questions and take risks.

Google was incorporated in September of 1998. By 2008, Google employed 20,000 people. It didn’t cost the American people anything to create these jobs. But the American people, and the rest of the world, have benefited greatly from Google’s excellent search engine and other innovative products like Google Maps, Google Earth, and Gmail.

Google shows us how jobs are created in a market economy. Without imposing on the American taxpayer, they made a superior product for consumers and 20,000 jobs have been created. As a result, humanity reaps the benefit of being able to use Google’s superior products. And as an added bonus to the government, Google pays millions in taxes each year.

Consider Exxon Mobil as another example. Even in these challenging economic times, Exxon Mobil earned billions in profits, employs 80,800 employees, and pays billions of dollars in taxes and fees to the government every year. Exxon Mobil makes money because people are willing to buy, without being forced by the government, Exxon Mobil’s gasoline and other products. When Exxon Mobil hires a new employee, it doesn’t receive money from the federal government to help create that new job, because Exxon Mobil sells a product people will voluntarily buy.

So if Google and Exxon Mobil can create jobs without Federal subsidies and payments, why do so-called “green jobs” need to cost the American taxpayer so much? President-elect Obama says his 5 million new green jobs will cost $30,000 taxpayer dollars per job. And Obama’s plan is far more optimistic than those of even his closest allies. It takes a lot of government green. . .

Dear University of Illinois Alumni Association

Sara Greenstein
Vice President and Associate Chancellor, Alumni Relations
sarag@illinois.edu

Joseph Rank
Vice President, Membership
j-rank@uillinois.edu

Dear University of Illinois Alumni Association:

Until Bill Ayers is removed from the faculty of the University of Illinois, please remove me from your alumni mailing list. He is a disgrace and embarrassment, a threat to our legacy, and the personification of the depths to which the university has fallen.

Norma Bruce
'61, '66

Guys and dolls--paper that is

Collecting paper dolls is not something I do, but because I have scanned a few, my site meter shows that sometimes people interested in paper dolls do show up here at Collecting My Thoughts. I have a few of my childhood paper dolls squished into photo albums, and some that belonged to my mother which were cut from women's magazines. Paper doll collectors specialize just like other collectors of Ohio pottery, old quilts, or retro clothing (I seem to have a few of those, too--Hull, grandma's and mine).

Here's a bulletin board for collectors--very interesting to read even you aren't a collector. It's maintained by Joan, who has written a book on magazine paper dolls.

You can always tell when childhood memorabilia wasn't loved or played with--it's still in good condition! The dollies that survived my little girl loving were given to me when I was moving out of that stage, which is also why I have children's glass play dishes. The older ones were all broken or given away to younger children. So it is with these young men. My Mary Martin and Betty Grable and Gene Tierney paper dolls are headless, knee capped, folded and wrinkled. These guys are in near perfect condition (considering their age) and the tabs haven't even been folded on the little boy's clothing. Written on the back are Greg (2), Eddie, and Jerry, but I don't recognize the handwriting. We often renamed the paper dolls, even the movie stars, so those probably aren't the names they came with. From the clothing they came in, I'd guess they are ca. 1943-1946. What do you think?

Will tax relief programs be eliminated under Obama?

Just about 2 years ago, December 20, 2006, President Bush signed the "Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006." Very little seemed to do with health except the expansion of HSAs and Obama intends to federalize health care, so not much to point out there. Most was about growing the economy through reducing or maintaining reductions on taxes on various businesses, expanding energy resources, overseas markets, and some help with college tuition. It was an economic stimulus--at a time when the President reported, "The unemployment rate has remained low at 4.5 percent, and the latest figures show that real hourly wages increased 2.3 percent in the last year, meaning an extra $1,350 for this year for the typical family of four with both parents working."

If tax cuts were considered important then to keep the economy growing, how much more important now. Will Obama cut? Expand? Increase regulations so he can by-pass Congress? Obviously, the markets are very afraid of him, as investors see the growth and tax benefits of the last 8 years slipping away. These were the provisions:

1) Extend the deductibility of tuition and higher education expenses
2) Extend and modernize the research and development tax credit; allow businesses to deduct part of their R&D investments from their taxes to encourage innovative products, medicines, and technologies
3) Extend vital provisions Of The Gulf Opportunity Zone (GO Zone) Act (signed 2005)
4) Keep in place key tax credits passed to help rebuild Gulf Coast communities
5) Expand and diversify alternative energy, including clean coal technology (remember during the campaign Obama promised to destroy the coal industry through cap and trade which will seriously impact Ohio, VA, PA, KY, WV)
6) Access to key portions of America's Outer Continental Shelf to reach more than 1 billion additional barrels of oil and nearly 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
7) Authorize permanent normal trade relations with Vietnam
8) Extend a series of programs with other developing nations to give duty-free status to products they export to the United States
9) Bring Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) within the reach of more Americans by raising contribution limits and make the accounts more flexible

View letter to President elect Obama.

Lottie Moon, Missionary to China

The International Mission Board has announced that the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal for 2008 is $170,000,000.00. And to think I'd never heard of her, and it's one of the biggest Christmas fund events in Christendom. Lottie Moon died in 1912 on Christmas Eve on board a ship waiting to take her home to the United States, most likely from the effects of the severe famine she shared with her people in the P'ingtu church in China. She was a woman equipped with a fabulous education, having attended a private female academy receiving an M.A. and becoming an accomplished linguist. In addition to French, Latin, Italian, and Spanish she also knew Greek and Hebrew. After 10 years of teaching school in Georgia she was appointed a missionary to China in 1873, and she asked the Baptist women of Georgia to support her. With other missionaries she instructed women and children, with the men listening in. During China's war with Japan in 1895 she made evangelistic visits to 118 villages in three months. Then she changed her strategy and lived among the people in P'ingtu, even adopting Chinese dress. One of the male converts became an outstanding evangelist baptizing more than 10,000 converts. She truly had an inspiring life, and I enjoyed reading about her in "More than conquerors; portraits of believers from all walks of life," (Moody Press, 1992)

Books about Lottie Moon.

Web page with biography of Lottie Moon.

How are these pirates different

than our Congress which has been holding the US taxpayer hostage through their own failures to control their out of control GSEs and profligate spending? Muslim pirates have held 26 vessels and 537 crew members hostage for $18.30 million. Pikers! They need a green card to the beltway to learn from the experts like Barney, Nancy, Chris and Hank. Oh--I feel a poem coming on.



Barney, Nancy, Chris and Hank
threw us hostages in the tank
with bank terrorists taught by Acorn
just like bomber Bernadine Dohrn,
using minorities and the poor
with us as deals on the floor
of the House finance committee,
Oh Lordy, what a pity.

The Thrifty Food Plan

The Thrifty, Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Food Plans each represent a nutritious diet at a different cost. The Thrifty Food Plan is the basis for food stamp allotments.

I would have no problem preparing good, nutritious meals with variety and even special treats or desserts using the cost allowed for a couple in our age group--$80.10 a week. Keep in mind when you check this plan that it is for food--not cigarettes, not alcohol, not laundry soap, not that cute seasonal dish towel or those table napkins, or health and beauty aids. I'm not sure it even includes soda, chewing gum or bottled water.

I did this experiment back in the early 80s when I had two teenagers--one a growing boy with a hollow leg, and I had no problem then either. The government is more than generous when figuring food stamp allotments.

The government also wants you to exercise, and this is a nice video for squats.

Half squat 1:20

Or diddly squat if you're lazy like me.

Why there were more hungry children in 2007

Hunger will never go away in the USA because the government keeps redefining and refining what that word means, and continues to meet other nanny state goals such as decreasing obesity or distributing healthy food, promoting environmental goals, safe neighborhoods and being step-daddy and sugar daddy for women making bad choices, holding both the taxpayer and low income families hostage to these ill-thought-out goals. Yes, big announcement by USDA this week:

Household Food Security in the United States, 2007—11.1 percent of U.S. households were food-insecure at some time during the year in 2007; 4.1 percent had very low food security. This report, based on data from the December 2007 food security survey, provides the most recent statistics on the food security of U.S. households as well as how much they spent for food and the extent to which food-insecure households participated in Federal and community food assistance programs.

The word HUNGER makes the headlines, but the government term is "food security." And that only has to happen once a year, maybe at the end of the month in which you went to Disney World or got new glasses for the kids, to be included in the report. For some people "food insecurity" is not being able to go to McDonald's regularly.

I know what food security is--I've seen it at the Food Pantry in 2007. It's a mother of 4 telling me that she doesn't need cereal (allowed 3 boxes that day) because the children get that at school breakfast (where they also get lunch and after school snacks too, and are fed in the summer when school isn't in session), or it's a grandmother raising her daughter's babies while she's in Marysville Reformatory for kiting checks saying no to applesauce or peanut butter because she has too much of that at home. I can tell from the brands that they were purchased in bulk from huge storage facilities that buy from companies that depend on government contracts to keep their business going. After years of misguided farm surplus to buoy up farmers, the government now supports food overproduction by agribusiness.

Why are food pantries short right now? It's not just that more people are unemployed and running short a few days of the month. There's an actual food shortage worldwide due to our ill advised biofuels policies and environmental regulations, and our regulators of herbicides, pesticides and improved agricultural methods are actually causing real hunger, causing real children to starve, or causing riots in very poor countries. Food banks now need to be "green" with squirrely light bulbs and solar panels--imagine the retro-fitting just so you can store food for the poor. So American food companies can now make more shipping their taxpayer supported surplus abroad than they can selling it to American food banks which redistribute it to our "food insecure" citizens who also have become dependent on TEFAP, WIC and food stamps (SNAP). The Columbus Mid-Ohio Food Bank has an operating budget of about $8 million and distributes about $22 million in food annually and is in the midst of an $16 million capital campaign to expand and remodel.

Behind the food banks and food pantries there are teams of academics--entomologists, plant pathologists, crop managers, ag economists, horticulturalists, small business developer, food retail specialists, agronomists and soil scientists, community developers, nutritionists, registered dietitians, educators, and biosystems engineers all sifting data and publishing results to assure no child gets left behind, or no child gets a fat behind, or no child sits on his behind. There are banks set up to loan farmers money to focus on locally grown food (to help the poor make smart choices), and training programs to employ staff to teach staff of non-profits how to get more government grants for food for the "food insecure."

The government also props up a variety of non-profits such as Children's Hunger Alliance, which in the same year received about $10.5 million from the Ohio Department of Education, over half a million from Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, and over $36,000 in federal grants, with the remainder of its $13,762,098 coming from foundations and contributions. This is not to say that CHA, and others like it, don't do meaningful work, but that's a huge food chain of salaries, production and distribution that are totally dependant on "hunger," who would all be out of business if hunger miraculously ended next month. Of course, we know that won't happen. The definition of hunger will most certainly be expanded in the next administration as child care block grants are expanded, affordable housing grants are expanded (convenient access to food sources), health care is expanded to ensure low fat, or low cholesterol diets, services to children of imprisoned are expanded (already in the family services budget), and all the various senior programs expanded to be sure the elderly who are taking care of grandchildren are also well fed.

There are so many jobs dependent on the poor and "food insecure", that new poor must be recruited for each one who manages to slip through the barrier to the next quintile and into a good job, self-sufficiency and pride.

Do not blame the poor. They didn't set up this system. They are the victims.

How Atheists and Agnostics voted

According to the George Barna poll:

"The second largest faith group in America, trailing only the Christian segment, is atheists and agnostics. These religious skeptics represent about one out of every ten adults. About four out of ten skeptics were registered as Democrats, four out of ten as independents and just two out of ten as Republicans.

Three-fourths of atheists and agnostics (76%) gave their vote to Sen. Obama, while only 23% backed Sen. McCain. That is a step up from the level of support Democrats have previously received from skeptics. In 2004, 64% of atheists and agnostics voted for Democratic challenger John Kerry."