How hard can it be to get federal money?

Amateurs can do it. Ohio's former Attorney General Marc Dann was a crook and a philanderer. He was fired. Finally. But while in office he created a Washington job for Craig Mehall, a job unique among states' attorney generals, for $98,000. According to the Columbus Dispatch

1. No other AG had a Washington liaison
   
2. Mehall had no Washington experience
   
3. Mehall had never been a lobbyist
   
4. He was a lawyer, not licensed in Ohio
   
5. He had been a volunteer for Dann
   
6. He was from Chicago
   
7. He missed deadlines due to his lack of experience
   
8. He leaked information
   
9. He borrow a private plane from one of Dann's other political buddies
   
10. He continued to work for Ohio after Dann was fired

Mehall was just let go--due to budget shortfalls in the state, although his boss is long gone. Still, the governor's office says "he did a lot of good" by getting millions in law enforcement grants and representing Ohio in consumer rights and debt-relief. He would have been successful in getting a regional crime lab on behalf of a consortium of institutions, but someone backed away from it. Not too bad for someone with no experience, hired by a crook, who wasn't even from Ohio. Why do lobbyists need to do this? What are our elected representatives doing if not bringing home the pork?

What's her name is out of a job

Never heard of her, but if this is her level, I'm not surprised. I mean, how much of this incredible talent for wordsmithery is needed? How many writers are needed to photocopy the praises of the president-elect? She thinks Obama is extraordinary and Bush is a knucklehead. And what will she and the other unemployed or underemployed writers say in two weeks or next year?

With only 15 days to go until the inauguration of our president-elect, to this day, I cannot for the life of me even begin to imagine why on earth this brilliant, extraordinary man wants the job but am impossibly thrilled that he does (provided there is anything left to govern after W. is finished. The news from all over seems to get a little bit worse every day and he seems to get a little more absent.) Heckuva job. The Gaza is imploding. Iraq is forgotten. The rich feel poor and the poor are actually poorer. And, as if that all weren't enough, now Ann Coulter is back. And Laura Bush is about to be paid $8 million from Scribner's for a memoir? Married to a knucklehead for 31 years, her steep reward will now be roughly $258,000. for each year?

Liberals are so transparent

The new black kid on the block is being banned by Congress; a white female conservative was run out of town on a rail by NBC. You gotta love 'em--they are true to their phony core. Just-Us.

The former Illinois attorney general said he was "not seeking to have any type of confrontation" over taking the seat that he was appointed to by embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich. But Burris, who would be the Senate's only black member, also said he was considering a federal lawsuit to force Senate Democrats to seat him.

Burris, the pol from Illinois, who has every right to be appointed by the Illinois governor and take his seat, is apparently being rejected by his own party. Then Ann Coulter, the loud mouth hussy from the other side of the tracks who's always making snide remarks about the liberal media, was banned by NBC because she's too harsh on the new president. Gee, that sure didn't stop the Bush hatchet men from appearing on the MSM air waves and flogging their books, did it? And we were in the middle of a war! According to Editor and Publisher, now that she's gone public with the witch burning incident, NBC's relented.

NEW YORK Apparently NBC was "Drudged." Columnist/author Ann Coulter, bounced from a Today show appearance today, has been re-booked for tomorrow.

Michael Calderone at Politico reports: "Coulter has been talking up being bumped by NBC for the past two days, both on other networks and the radio. A controversy erupted when Drudge splashed that she’d been 'banned for life,' leading NBC to deny that she was banned, and later offering her a new segment.

"On her website, Coulter writes that 'Drudge gets results: Today show changes mind.' She'll be appearing during both the 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. hours.

"So in the end, NBC will probably get more viewers and Coulter will sell more books—or at least further convince those in her camp that the MSM isn’t on her side."

Coulter appeared on the CBS morning show today and was accused of being "goofy" by Harry Smith.

Does Harry called liberals "goofy?" I'm not an Ann Coulter fan, but she's smarter than Katie and more interesting than the View, so it should help their ratings. I get the feeling that the MSM has a different standard for women. For liberals it's very low; for conservatives, extremely high. They'll put up with a Larry or Keith or Whoopi, but then climb on their high horse standards and ethics over Ann Coulter?

Oh, and about Burris. Emmanual has denied any connection with Blagojevich and the senate seat; Jesse Jackson Jr. likewise; and also Obama says he's pure as the driven snow on the issue. If no one struck out, was the pitch thrown? If no one talked to Blago, where is the impeachable offense; and he hasn't been impeached for not talking to the Illinois three; and he's innocent until proven guilty under our system and is still the legal governor of Illinois. So Burris meets all the qualifications, including being a resident of Illinois--was probably even born in the USA.

The differences between men and women

Reading a church newsletter (not my church--we don't have women pastors) about a clergy women's retreat, I was reminded of what I wrote about 2 years ago on this topic:



1) In a Protestant denomination that ordains both men and women, the men wouldn't be allowed to have a retreat limited to only men.

2) But if they could find enough guys to pull it off (women are outnumbering men in many seminaries), chocolate wouldn't be a featured part of the programming.

Latin America's Leftist regimes

How left is left?

"First, the multiplicity of projects reveals the loss of a common political referent. The failure of the socialist experience in the Soviet Union and Central Europe, and perhaps more significantly the deficits in economic development and human rights of the Cuban model, made marked impressions on many leftist movements and organizations. Today, only Venezuela, and perhaps Bolivia, Nicaragua, and to a lesser extent Ecuador, seek to emulate the Cuban experiment.

Second, the ‘various lefts’ of Latin America reveal that the region continues in the search for alternatives to deal with the historical legacy of economic dependence and profound inequality. Although broadly speaking there are two distinct strands of the Latin American left—one that it is committed to democracy and free economies and the other that is trying to emulate the experiences of the socialism of the 20th century—the consensus emerging in the majority of countries about how to achieve the goal of development and progress seems to prioritize a commitment to democracy, the understanding of the importance of the market, with its limits, as the driving force of economic growth, and the obligation to a social agenda aiming to address the burden of poverty and inequality in these nations. . . The people of Latin American are choosing leftist governments of several sorts, but they are choosing them through use of democratic procedures." Damarys Canache, University of Illinois

Choosing leftist government . . . well, at least we're in step with our neighbors. Just keep in mind that the "failed socialist experience" (the politically correct term for the 70 years of the former USSR) he refers to killed more people through democide (murder of your own citizens, not through war) than the Nazis in WWII with all out war, invasion and murder of the Jews.

"In a couple of weeks the socialization of the United States will begin. Government ownership of bedrock banks will start. Widespread downturn of the economy will be guaranteed. Some say it was planned by the left. Some will say that it was just a fateful turn of events that led to the republics demise. All hail the new Leader of the United Socialist States of America. No longer will you be pressured to stand at American demagoguery such as Pledge of Allegiance, America the Beautiful, or Old Glory. The country was taken not by a communist country, but by a hidden socialist orator from within, promoted by a historically left leaning media, and by the new Brownshirt brigades formerly known as Acorn. Hail the One, the deliverer from racism, from selfishness, from capitalism." Comment at Houston Chronicle on Chavez' relationship with Obama

Update: I wrote this before I saw the book review in today's WSJ, "The threat closer to home" by Douglas E. Shoen and Michael Rowan, about the demogogue who is depicted as savior to the poor.

Another media myth

It's expensive to lose weight. And usually, if you read the entire article, someone explains that it is processed food that is expensive, not fresh or frozen.

It's January so newspapers are promoting their diet plans which probably have tie-ins with processed food companies, TV reality shows, and pharmaceuticals. News articles will also encourage coupon use, because they print them (they are ads that exercise your scissor muscles). Coupons cover up price increases and introduce the 15th type of Ritz cracker.

It's not expensive to eat fresh food, or even food labeled "organic," although that probably doesn't make a lot of difference, except to increase the cost slightly. The advantage to your health of not buying food fertilized or contaminated by sewage is probably huge, but by the time you get down to the minuscule, unmeasurable amounts of herbicide and pesticides on commercially grown food, which is where we are today with our health gate keepers who want to return American women to long food queues like Europe, the cost and health benefit is pretty small. You have a much better chance of getting Grandma's genetic links to cancer and heart disease than developing problems from eating too much fish or chicken on hormones. News flash. If you live long enough, everyone gets cancer or their heart gives out.

Anyway, today for lunch I took out about 5 spears of tender, fresh asparagus, rinsed them, and arranged a few "baby" (peeled) carrots from a bag, (always, always rinse) on a glass plate and zapped in the microwave uncovered for 1 minute. Add a dollop of low fat sour cream, a little salt and pepper, and enjoy. Then I had my sliced apple and 1/2 cup of walnuts, because I missed breakfast due to exercise class. The entire lunch/breakfast probably didn't top $2. You couldn't make and eat a bagel sandwich with potato chips for less than $4.

One thing mentioned in the USAToday article on dieting that I agree with is that half of all food dollars are spent eating out or take out. Combined with my morning coffee and our Friday date night, that's certainly true for us. However, I count about half of that as "leisure and entertainment."

Real food is cheaper

New Year's Resolution No. 6

Join the exercise class at UALC, 2300 Lytham Road, Upper Arlington, Ohio 43220, 614-451-3736, www.ualc.org. I much prefer walking outside (actually, I'd prefer to not do anything--I'm really a non-athlete), but it's just too cold.

9:15 a.m., Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you live in the Columbus area, you are welcome to join us, too. It's $3 a class, or you can buy a ticket, $35 for 18 classes.

I'm all set. Got my sweats on and my clunky athletic shoes, ready for the new year with the 7 lbs I gained over the holidays, the average for Americans.

Sorry, fella, wrong blog

Someone arrived here looking for sex drive boosters, and found one of my library posts about the terminally perverted who hang around the library terminals.

Where was the investigative reporting three years ago?

The Wall Street Journal top notch investigative reporters, who could find every flaw and mispronounced word in a George Bush speech or each supposedly murky thought of Karl Rove, couldn't see this one coming. A 47% increase in Hispanic home ownership fueled through a combination of congressional misdeeds, a collection of myths about red lining by banks and realtors, pressure from low income housing groups taking money hand over fist from federal agencies, and a coalition of groups pushing subprime mortgages--all of which ignored sound credit practices. And to think we criticize other countries for lack of a free press. Maybe if they'd spent less time lionizing and chasing every speech of the man from Kenya, they'd have seen what was under their noses.

A good book for the New Year

I really like key #2. That was the name of the newsletter I used to write--No Free Lunch--about coupons, refunds, green stamps (remember those?), wooden nickles, sweepstakes, and so forth. Loyalty cards and clubs hadn't yet made much of an appearance in the early 1980s, but it's all the same--the belief that there is a free lunch. The latest edition is 2005, the 10th. We'll see if the basics have changed to meet the challenges of today's investment climate.

How do you find the time, Part 2

These are tips on how to be a good non-grandparent. I'm a little new at this, so if you don't have grandchildren, perhaps you have more ideas. I always thought I'd be one.

1. Find some friends in the same boat. These people might be available for movies and dinner out. We find grandparents have a very tough time scheduling because they are always on call. If dinner is at 7 p.m., they'll call at 6:55 with an emergency and you're already at the restaurant.

2. Find some new friends whose grandchildren are grown and live out of town. They still might not be around on holidays, because even college age grandchildren sometimes drop in for a day or two for 3 hots and a cot. However, these days even gramps might be checking the e-mail and texting his grandson. Be patient. You'd be doing the same if it were you. There's a corollary: if you meet someone who moved to your town to be near their grandchildren, it might be best to just pencil them in. If they made that kind of effort to be near the grandchildren, they aren't looking for a social life.

3. Meet grandparents your age somewhere neutral. We recently tried this with my sister-in-law and husband. We had to drive 100 miles to a Bob Evans, but we had an uninterrupted meal and a good time. We did get to talk to our nieces via the cell phone who found us at the restaurant. And no clean up!

4. Always ask about the grandchildren and admire the photographs. This works best, for some reason, right after "Hello, it's great to see you." These are the days of digital cameras and even the cell phones are loaded either with stills or video. Grannies are getting very good with this technology. It's a whole lot more interesting than the back surgery, arthritis or golf game.

5. We contribute money to causes that will save lives of children. We're the stand-in grandparents who didn't insist on aborting, but who think shacking up is a dumb idea for the long term solution. And say so. We know that you can't overcome poverty, AIDS, poor reading skills or autism by killing the children before you know what the outcome will be. Besides, haven't you noticed how many middle class children are now afflicted with the very problems we used to think only other people had?

How do you find the time? Part 1

Isn't that the oddest question? When interviewers have a famous guest on the show, that's often the first question. This morning I heard it addressed to Liz Curtis Higgs, while I was driving to the coffee shop. She is a fabulous speaker, and our Women of the Word group did one of her video series a few years back. But you know what? Liz and I have the same 24 hours a day and 60 minute hours that the rest of you have. Oh Norma, you're retired. Yes, indeedy, and even when I wasn't, I was usually not busy. When I retired in 2000--something I did very deliberately--I didn't know very many retired people--especially librarians, but most of the OSUL group I knew in the 80s and 90s (some earlier) have now retired, plus many of the women in the reading club I joined in 2000 have now retired; I signed up for some art classes, and all of those people were retired. Women who were frantically busy and over scheduled when they were employed, are that way as retirees. People like me who always paced themselves and said "No, thank you" a lot, we are still pacing ourselves, taking naps, reading books, blogging and volunteering in meaningful activities. See my "Six reasons to be late to the party."

As I've opined many times in this blog, all the verbs you use with money, you use with time. Now, occasionally, I have "found" money--like a quarter in my winter coat the first time I put it on in the fall, or a stash of pennies in the drawer of the guest room. But money, like time, gets invested, spent, wasted, frittered, and saved.

In the United States, if we are employed we are protected from a lot of time decisions--our employer tells us what to do, when and where. Our employer may even decide we need more exercise or a different diet just because it pays for our insurance (doesn't really--that benefit comes from our labor). We may make our fashion decisions based on what our co-workers wear, or see the movies they recommend, or buy the computer they are raving about. There are so many regulations protecting us from decision making when we work, our brains possibly have become a bit flabby by retirement.

Here's my second opinion about time. You can have it all, but not all at the same time. In recent years, I've also learned you need to redefine the word "all" to suit your stage of life.

Most people my age, most retirees I know, stay very busy with grandchildren. One of my friends from high school has great-grandchildren. If our friends aren't driving half way across the country to help out with a new baby or to attend a dance recital, they are actively babysitting 2-3 days a week so their daughter (usually) can pursue her career or education. One of the biggest cultural beams I've had to remove from my eye is my amazement at women who worked full time and juggled parenting with a complicated schedule of babysitters, day-care, and private schools while I was staying home raising mine, and they are now virtually full time nannies for their own children's children. And not complaining at all! They love it. They can't wait to get that baby in their arms, or drive the carpool or volunteer at the school and attend all the games they missed 25 years ago. So now they can "have it all."

In my case, ALL will not include grandchildren--it's one of those concepts that rests on someone else's decision, and my two children have decided not to be parents. I'm OK with that now, but it took a long time--their advancing age and health problems encouraged acceptance of my new definition of ALL. And please, no cheap grace about the joys of volunteering with children as a "just as if" grandparent. We all have unique gifts--and that one isn't mine, plus I did that back in the 1970s.

Photo: My grandparents and their 9 children at their 50th in 1962. I don't know how many of us there are now but in 1993 it was around 100.

Part 2 will be tips on how to be a non-grandparent.

Money

Do they play this at bailout board meetings? Citigroup, one of the "family" that has access to all the information (see my post on the 200% interest) Macy's collects about me has agreed to take no bonuses for 2008--and yes, they promise to keep a tight leash on expenses, and "limit" their lobbying efforts. I am deeply comforted. As I've always said here, I don't care generally how much these CEOver-the-toppers pay themselves for their mansions, mistresses and private schools for the kids as long as the stockholders don't care, but now that they want us to share the risk for their negligence and bad investments, I think it only right we have a say. According to Bloomberg, "Overall, the federal government has committed $8.5 trillion in trying to jumpstart a shrinking economy." And Obama hasn't even started filling the pot holes and killing talk radio yet!



Bloomberg.com summary of 2008, a year the writer calls a "Darwinian" event--only the most fit species survived. It may be the only type of Darwinian event I can believe in!

HT No Runny Eggs

Moral clarity

It's not always possible to know right and wrong, especially not on the international scene. But on the current (and on going) Israel-Hamas conflict, Charles Krauthammer says we know:

"Some geopolitical conflicts are morally complicated. The Israel-Gaza war is not. It possesses a moral clarity not only rare but excruciating.

Israel is so scrupulous about civilian life that, risking the element of surprise, it contacts enemy noncombatants in advance to warn them of approaching danger. Hamas, which started this conflict with unrelenting rocket and mortar attacks on unarmed Israelis - 6,464 launched from Gaza in the past three years - deliberately places its weapons in and near the homes of its own people. . . For Hamas the only thing more prized than dead Jews are dead Palestinians." Link

What a dilemma for Obama. He has something Bush never had--adoring, sycophant followers who are expecting the 2nd coming of American popularity throughout the world. That will only happen if he abandons Israel. Someone is in for a terrible fall--and I'm guessing it's the Jews and Catholics who supported him thinking that all his marxist leanings would disappear after November 4 and we'd all sing glory, glory, alleluia to the new king as we marched blindfolded into the sunrise to our reeducation camps.

Poets and Writers

It's been a lot of years since I picked up a writing magazine. I used to write some fiction back in the mid-1990s. It was lots of fun. The stories just came from no where and I was always surprised by the outcome. I'd write the first line, and the rest came. Then they stopped. First line and all.

Yesterday at the library sale I picked up for a quarter the Nov/Dec 2008 Poets and Writers. Do you think writing--fiction, non-fiction, biography, poetry, mystery, romance, sci-fi--is better today than the days before all the prizes and contests, degrees and workshops? Are the people on the best-seller list the best? Did they get there by entering contests? Or are contests just useful for paying off the organizers and their staff. Look at these

Fence Books awarded Elizabeth Marie Young of Berkeley the 2008 Motherwell Prize for her poety--$3,000 and publication of her book.

University of Evansville awarded David Stephenson of Detroit the 2007 Richard Wilbur Award for his poetry collection--$1,000 and publicantion of his book.

Frederick Reiken won the Fiction Open, $2,000, and his story will be published in the Winter 2009 issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

And so it goes. But look how much money these organizations bring in with their contests:

University of Evansville Wilbur Award competitors need to submit $25 per manuscript--what if 1,000 people send something? Yes, it takes some staff and handling, and someone has to read the submissions, but usually you know after the first paragraph whether it's worth it, and you've got that $25 check in hand.

Glimmer Train which is sold on newstands and certainly isn't cheap, collects $20 per entry for the opportunity to win that $2,000 prize. That journal is very well known and marketed, and I'm assuming gets thousands of hopefuls.

That Fence Books Motherwell prize will cost each entrant $25, and since it is for a first or second book of poetry by a woman, it probably gets thousands writing about baby spit up or lost loves. Here's one of mine based on the Suze Orman TV show. It's timely, got name recognition, pathos, and a snappy ending.

Girlfriend, Suze said,
while you imagined love
there's a slight chance
you missed the bounced checks,
school loans, credit cards,
child support and gambling debts,
a mortgage about to reset,
a house that hasn't flipped,
and his mother who has.

If you want to write for money, you might be better off putting ads on your blog page.

Flipping through this issue, I do see a few that have no entry fee, like National Council of Teachers of English and Nebraska Arts Council, but they are outnumbered by the for-fee contests/prizes/awards.

There's a photo on p. 18 of a party in 1963 for the founding of Filmwrights International, sort of a union. Most noticeable, given today's casual culture, is that all the men are in suits, and none of the women are identified. But the famous authors in the photo, none of whom had probably won an award to launch their careers or attended a writing workshop in Iowa or Arizona, are George Plimpton, William Styron, Ralph Ellison, Peter Mathiessen, H.L. Humes, Truman Capote, and Mario Puzo.

Call me crazy, but I think if you're good, someone is going to find out without your sending $25 to 100 contests to win $500.

Personal information about me they can pass along

After reading that Macy's was legally allowed to charge over 200% on a 30 day charge account, I looked a little closer at the teeny-tiny print on the itsy-bitsy pieces of paper that came with the bill.

First they told me my personal information was protected. That information included
Information I gave them on my application--name, address, phone, dob, ss, dln. Information about my transactions with Macy's their affiliates and nonaffliates--account balances, payment history and account activity Information about me from a consumer reporting agency, such as the credit bureau reports and other information relating to my credit worthiness Information about me from other souces, such as my employer, democraphic firms, and other third parties [isn't that a little vague?]
Then armed with all that which includes just about everything except my blood type and the name of the horse I owned in 7th grade, Macy's tells me that they can share that with all other affiliates about me--and that includes
the family of companies controlled by Citigroup Inc. the family of companies controlled by Macy's, Inc. affiliates in several different businesses, including banking, credit cards, consumer finance, insurance, securities and retail sales of goods and services Macy affiliates dba CitiFinancial, CitiMortgage, Smith Barney, Primerica, Macy's and Bloomingdale's
Nonaffiliated, "non-family" get to have my personal information too
financial services providers--banks, credit card companies, etc. non-financial companies, such as those in direct marketing and selling on consumer products and services and others, like non-profits (ACORN? Why not--they were able to bring down the banks.)

On a second tiny piece of paper there is an Opt Out Form (retain for your records). This replaces the wording on another piece of paper I don't have, or if I do, I don't know where it is. But upon reading it, I see it isn't the opt out form at all; no, no, it tells me the finance charge percentages, about which I just complained in the previous blog are going up to annual 22.9% instead of 21.6%, and if I miss a payment twice in any 6 mo. period it goes up to 24.9%; a $29 fee for returned check, and a late payment fee of $15 for balances under $50, $25 for balance of $50 and over, and so forth, until the late fee for over $1,000 is $35.

And get this. "You authorize us within each account type to apply your payments and credits in a way that is most favorable or convenient for us." Well, no wonder the print is so small and on itsy bitsy slips of paper. Then comes the "opt out option," which if I choose that, my account will be closed!

Usury

(yū'zhə-rē) I seldom use my Macy's credit card--must have pulled it out by mistake when I shopped there on December 19. Today I got a "red star rewards" statement for the period ending December 21. I charged about $60 (2 presents for my husband and 2 for me!) and the minimum payment is due on Jan. 15. So that's 25 days for a 30 day billing account. If I choose to pay less than the full balance, $1 will be added to my revolving account balance, which inexplicably is recorded as $22.41 even though I had zero balance on Dec. 19. It says in upper right corner of page one that the average daily balance is $5.98, the daily periodic rate 0.05918%, which corresponds to an annual percentage rate of 21.60%. On the second page is the note "A finance charge in the amount of $1.00 will be added to your Revolving account balance if you choose to pay less than the full balance by your due date. If that happens, the actual ANNUAL PERCENTAGE RATE charge on that account is 200.64%.

Anyone with better math and English skills want to explain this, without using the words usury, obfuscation, exorbitant or onerous?

Two ways to judge the economy of the 21st century

If you're retired, or were near retirement in 2000, as I was, just go back and look at your statements. My pension carrier, State Teachers Retirement of Ohio, in the mid to late 90s was busy throwing money at art and a newly remodeled building with all the latest of everything for its employees. They had so much money they didn't know what to do with it. Then came the tech bust and the party was over by 1999. At least that's what my 403-b statements from TIAA-CREF said. President Bush inherited a floundering economy in 2001--and I don't blame Clinton--there were too many dollars chasing too few opportunities and people were throwing money at any app, widget and dot com business that had a 23 year old in sweats and T running R&D. My funds had fully recovered by December 2003, I think it was, and then soared. Not bad considering 9/11 and all the bad media sob stories about "this economy." Team Kedwards in 2004 really moaned about the terrible economy--worst since the Great Depression Kerry and Edwards said. The day after the election on 2004, the Democrats shut up. But not for long. They drug out the same sad, sad stories from Appalachia and poverty moving to the suburbs for the 2006 elections, and took many seats in Congress. And Republicans let them do it. Here in Ohio our candidate, an African American, was smeared because of Governor Tafts golfing misdeed. Also, he didn't talk and walk white or spread guilt around or write autobiographies about non-accomplishments. Democrats also said we were losing the war, but that's another non-story that worked.

I have another way to judge the economy, both that of the mid-90s and the mid-2000s. My premiere issue magazine collection. Advertising out the wazoo during the days when the media was telling us how awful things were in mid-2000s. Id' seen the same thing in the late 1990s--Wired was so fat you almost couldn't find the stories. Industry Standard, before it went belly up, was just an amazing array of ads. So much advertising, and much of it inappropriate for the readership, that you almost can't imagine what the marketing departments must have been thinking. People in those positions must have thought they had the golden touch, that they couldn't do anything wrong.

I'm getting ready to review the premier issue of Cottage Living, September/October 2004. Here's the ads that appear before page 60.

Woodbridge wine--full page
kitchen appliances 2 full pages, 1/3 mostly white
women's fashion 1 full page each for J. Jill and Talbot
Andersen window 2 full pages
Pergo 2 full pages
Princess Cruises 2 full pages
VISA
ROC
Neiman Marchus
Ford Expedition
Chevy Equanox 2 full pages
Levi Strauss 2 full pages
Citi 2 full pages
Highlander
Jenn-Air 2 full pages
LL Bean
Lowes
Harchow
Bulova
Megerian rugs
Gevalia
WISP (Glade)
Emend (chemo therapy) 2 full pages
Show House (Moen faucets)
Norwegian Cruiseline

Yes, the run up was heady. So much money chasing so few products. Meanwhile, back in DC, every American had a right to a home, whether or not they could make the payments, whether or not their credit rating was awful, whether or not they when it balooned, they couldn't possibly make the payment. Money was being handed out by the fistful from a variety of government agencies to non-profits to make sure enough people got signed on--no down payment? no problema. No job--not to worry. The value of the house was supposed to go up. And so we had a really toxic mix; tainted investments, and the boys minding the store were just watching the boys.

Now we'll have to wait and see if we'll have the Bush-Obama version of Hoover-Roosevelt. Let's hope Obama doesn't give us a 10 year Depression the way FDR did.

How do you clean sticky Tupperware?

In my pretend move, I'm reaching to the back of the tall kitchen cupboards, standing on a chair. And what do I find? A large Tupperware canister, suitable for a one lb sack of potato chips or a few dozen cookies. It is so sticky, it almost wouldn't leave my hand once I took hold. The usual things I try don't work. Is it decomposing? Is it absorbing chemicals from the cupboard finish? Is this left over potato chip grease from the 1960s? So I go to the internet and google "how to clean sticky Tupperware" and someone suggests Bon Ami, which is the only ceramic cleaner I use. I dampen my piece of Bounty and go to work. Wow. This really works. And while I was at it, I buffed up a handmade ceramic bowl I found in there too that had some marks on it probably from metal. From the color scheme--gray, gold, taupe and cream, I'm guessing early to mid-1980s, and probably purchased at an artsy-fartsy shop here in Columbus, or at an art show. The name on the bottom is huge both upper and lower case, Wilks. So I google that and find a Kelly Wilks from Arkansas who works in clay, and I e-mail the supply house with which she is associated and teaches. Waiting to see if I've found the artist.

Let's pretend we're moving!

On my list of New Year's Resolutions is #11--clean out and rearrange the kitchen cabinets by pretending we're moving! We're not, of course, we absolutely love it here and haven't missed our home of 34 years even one day. So today, I'm standing on a chair cleaning a cabinet I can't reach unless I'm on a chair. Top shelf had only the waffle maker and my mother's decorative ceramic pie holder. But the next shelf down, the one I can reach, Oh My! Empty containers and a ton of supplements.

I found CVS Natural Fish Oil 120 mg, 100 softgels, probably about 90 left in the container. I looked it up here and here and here. So, I guess I'll keep them. We don't eat a lot of fish. Burp.

Floor lamp saga

Regular readers know that one of my New Year's Resolutions is to stop sitting in the dark, straining my eyes. I'm on the prowl for a floor lamp, one my mother would love, and my husband will probably hate. When I find the lamp, different from all the rest, I'm going to christen it, "Olive the other floor lamps." Hey! After 48 years, I think our marriage is secure. So yesterday about 4 p.m., while husband is watching his 97th football game of the Christmas New Year season:

"Would you like to go shopping for a floor lamp now? I saw a new store about 2 miles from here."

"No, that's OK. You go."

Ten minutes later Norma walks into a contemporary furnishings store on Bethel Road.

"May I help you find something."

Gulping down her shock and surprise at the woman's slovenly, ready-for-the-trail-ride appearance, "Yes, I'm looking for a floor lamp. Do you know how much wattage this lamp uses?" The tag didn't say, and there was one tiny bulb in it, but it did work. The price was $115, which I thought was reasonable because it was a very nice design.

Slovenly saleslady earns points by admitting she knows nothing about the lamp, but would check the catalog. Meanwhile Norma browses. There are floor lamps that look like three giant mushrooms stacked atop each other; there are floor lamps that spiral; there are floor lamps that swing out 25 ft. or so like bending broken cherry pickers on a windy day; there are biblical floor lamps that hide their lights under a bushel.

Saleslady returns, and says as her chin stud sparkles in the wavering light of weird and bizarre lamps, "It will take a total of 125 watts, with 2 bulbs."

It would hurt too much to look at her pretty face which she has mangled with a variety of holes, so Norma mumbles to saleslady's combat boots, "Thank you, but I need something a bit brighter."

After a spin through Marshall's which only had table lamps, and K-Mart which had floor lamps in boxes, one a "natural light" with a goose neck for close sewing that might be a possibility if hidden in the corner, she returns home to husband who hasn't moved from his lounge chair and the football game.

Are you smarter than the people you elected?

It shouldn't be difficult. The most recent annual report on Civic Literacy, released by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in November revealed an average score of F by both citizens and elected officials. I'm not surprised. Remember the election video where Obama's supporters said it was OK for him to be running with Sarah Palin and thought she'd do a good job?

"More than 2,500 randomly selected Americans took the test on Civic Literacy, and more than 1,700 of them failed. The average score was a 49%. More shocking, the average score of elected officials was 44%, meaning that our public officials performed worse than citizens selected at random. Less than 1% of those surveyed (21 of 2,508) earned an A on the test (90% or higher)." I scored 78.79 %, which isn't all that great, but apparently better than the folks I elected. When I looked at the ones I missed, there were two I just didn't read carefully, and the others I guessed (wrong). But bad either way.

Take a stab.

Great 2009 Resolutions for Obama Administration

The Heritage Foundation is looking forward to some adjustments/changes, as we all are. I agree with most. Especially keep the Bush tax cuts in order to not further sink the economy. Right now his selection of helpers looks like either a Clinton third term, or a quasi-Bush third term, but Obama didn't get to the White House by revealing his hand too soon. So I'm not feeling as good as the leftists are bad. Here's what Heritage Foundation, via its blog, The Foundry, suggests:

TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT [got a poor start here]
END OF TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program) and deny any requests to use the second $350 billion of taxpayer funds.
IRAN WITHOUT NUCLEAR WEAPONS
NO NEW TAXES: Obama will make all of President Bush’s tax cuts permanent
CHEAP ENERGY: The U.S. will authorize oil production in ANWR and other promising areas in the lower 48 states
STATE DRIVEN EDUCATION [I'd like to send the new Secretary back home to Chicago, and close down that behemoth]
NO SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE
FREEDOM TO WORSHIP: Obama will protect the ability of faith-based social service providers to honor their religious ideals; including debates about marriage
NON-ACTIVIST JUDGES
MISSILE DEFENSE
SUPPORT THE TROOPS

Read the full explanation of each issue here.

Preserving Special Media

If ever a government guide should be digitized and on the web so you could see it, I would think this one should be: "Records management handbook for United States senators and their archival repositories / Karen Dawley Paul ; prepared under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate by the Senate Historical Office. [Washington, D.C.] : U.S. Senate, 2006. Series: S. pub; 109-19. Then you'd know why information has disappeared through theft, deterioration, mishandling, or other oopsies as administrations come and go. Leafing through the copy at Ohio State University I see things that are also of interest to us average folk who increasingly are relying on non-paper to store our information. Say what you will about the way our grandparents did things, I can still read my grandparents' 1890s grocery lists, farm records and book notes, something I can't do for much of my own material from the 1990s. In the above photo (1988), I'm using one of the most advanced systems in the OSU Libraries--none of it works today--not even the curly perm.

But back to the senators. On p. 50 it says senators are supposed to have established guidelines for maintaining permanently valuable electronic records, including e-mail. Now, I don't see in this publication what those guidelines are, only that they are supposed to have them and the senator's staff is supposed to understand them (written in-house?) and archive the paper and e-documents. There are lots of questions on her check list, like are attachments systematically saved, are documents labeled, is scheduling information retained permanently, but I don't see the requirement to do so.

So how do they dredge this stuff up for the special prosecutors 5 years later, if the guidelines are not specific about who, what, when and where? The answer seems to be on p. 1:

"United States senators personally own and control the records created and maintained within their own offices. Because of the private status of these records, members must personally establish office policies and procedures that will preserve historically valuable documentation."

So it would seem that Senator Obama can withhold from our view anything he wants about discussions with Blago--he's not required to keep anything he doesn't deem historically valuable. He's still a senator until someone else is appointed, president-elect or not.

But back to the rest of us and our special media. According to Ms. Paul

More audio and videotapes are lost by accidental erasure than by misuse.

Fax paper lasts about 5 years.

Videotape must be re-recorded after 15 years.

Color photographs need cool, dark storage.

Audiocassettes need to be rewound every 2 years to prevent "printthrough."

Use of "fast forward" and reverse speeds can distort tape tension (I think anyone who has borrowed a tape has discovered that).

Computer tapes used for archival storage should be copied to new tapes every 10 years.

Computer software has a 3-5 year period of use before becoming obsolete.

Newsprint should be copied onto bond paper.

Permanently valuable mail should be copied onto bond paper, or it should be scanned and microfilmed.

Irradiation can erase magnetic media, expose film and fade color photographs

CD-ROM and DVD are not considered suitable for long-term storage of permanent records.

Digitization is not an alternative for preservation because of technology becoming obsolete.

Microfilm, remains for now, the preferred long-term preservation medium.

And to think when I was in library school we'd shake our heads over the brittle, "burning" paper in books of the 19th century. Now we've got stuff that won't even last a decade. We're going backwards. And we're throwing the paper stuff out!

Thursday Thirteen in Central Ohio

Winter blahs? All your friends going on cruises or to Florida during the cold weather? Here are 13 things to do right here in Columbus or central Ohio, and for one (13) you're already too late, and another, you'd better hurry.

1. Greenlawn Cemetery--I've lived here over 40 years and I've driven past, but never through. And yet it is very famous for its art and architecture. Bird watchers love this place. According to Amy's Genealogy blog which has many great photos: “Little Georgie,” as some refer to him, was the only child of Eli and Sarah Blount. Eli was the owner and proprietor of the American Hotel in downtown Columbus. On 7 February 1873, the family was getting ready to go out and little George, only 5 years old, decided that the fastest way to get downstairs was to slide down the banister. Sadly, the railing broke and George fell; he died eight days later. His tombstone features an almost lifesize likeness. People regularly leave toys at his grave.

2. Need a breath of spring? Try the Franklin Park Conservatory. A favorite place for art shows and weddings. Anyone remember Ameriflora? My husband's firm was very involved, and I think we went about once a week (free passes).

3. I've blogged before about the Objects of Wonder show at the Columbus Museum of Art. Absolutely stunning material from the nooks, crannies, closets and art galleries of Ohio State University. You haven't got much more time for this one--January 11, I think. Sunday is a free day. Go early and then enjoy lunch in the Palette Restaurant designed by my husband. Great food and ambiance.

4. Another place I've driven past but not visited. The Ohio Craft Museum is located at 1665 West Fifth Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43212. Parking and admission are free. Hours: Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sunday, 1–4 p.m. Closed Saturday. Telephone (614) 486-4402. The museum is owned and operated by Ohio Designer Craftsmen and receives ongoing funding from the Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and the Columbus Foundation.

5. There are a ton of things to see and do down town connected with the state government. The Ohio Statehouse is a wonderful example of a building designed to symbolize our democratic form of government--a Greek temple. Add a goddess with her hand held out, and you've got it! February, our short month, is also long and boring, so why not visit? The Ohio Statehouse is open Monday – Friday 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Free guided tours are offered from Mondays through Fridays on the hour from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., and on Saturdays and Sundays from noon until 3 p.m. Tours depart from the 3rd Street Information Desk. Groups of 10 or more are requested to call 614/728-2695 in advance to assure a guide is available for your group. You could stop in after your free Sunday visit to the Museum of Art. Parking down below. Couldn't be easier.

6. Celebrate Lincoln’s 200th birthday on February 12, or sooner. "Because of the state's political stature, the Ohio Statehouse has been visited by a number of dignitaries, including Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln visited the Ohio Statehouse three times. In 1859, he spoke to a small crowd on the east terrace; in 1861, he spoke to a joint session of the Ohio Legislature in the House Chamber; and finally, on April 29, 1865, President Lincoln lay in state in the Rotunda for six and a half hours. As his casket was being transported from Washington, D.C., to its final resting place in Illinois, more than 50,000 people came to Columbus to pass by the fallen President’s body. This continues to be the highest attended event at the Capitol to date. It is important to note that the city of Columbus only had a population of 31,000 residents at the time of Lincoln’s assassination.

7. Then stroll a few blocks and visit the incredible Ohio Judicial Center on Front Street. "The building was constructed in an era when architectural sculpture – carved and sculpted decoration and inspiring slogans – was popular. In carving the exterior, sculptor Alvin Meyer used the highly ornamental Beaux Arts style, incorporating symbolism and history. The exterior features portrayals of Ohio industry, bas relief sculptures, inscriptions and sculptures devoted to Ohio’s history." We watched the murals being cleaned back in the 1990s--which upset some citizens who thought the "original" colors too bright--and for one of the early repairs of the building before this current one (when my husband was a partner in another firm), we actually had the original architectural drawings from the 1930s in our house! They were a piece of art in themselves. Even if you are not a librarian, go up to the 11th floor and visit the Law Library. SPECTACULAR!!

8. I knew Ohio used to be under a glacier (we've had global warming big time), but I didn't know about Glacier Ridge Park. This is the one I said you'd need to plan for NOW. Winter survival skills Learn techniques to survive the winter cold, with John Bieseker of Coyote Trails. Only Jan 4, 2009 2 p.m. Named for the end moraine that was left behind when the Wisconsin Glacier retreated some 12,000 to 17,000 years ago, much of this Metro Park was once covered with farm lands. With help from Honda of America, Metro Parks has restored a 250-acre wetland area. Eleven miles of trails wind through the park.

9. Yes, this is a bit heavy on art, isn't it? Can't sing or dance. And what better topic for these days of sub-prime meltdowns and no more house flipping than real estate?
Dublin Arts Center
7125 Riverside Drive
Dublin, Ohio 43016.
January 6
Charles Kanwischer: Real Estate Drawings
DAC gallery
Opening reception
6 to 8pm
Artist's talk, The Poetics of Real Estate, 6:30 pm
Exhibition continues through Feb. 20

10. Sharon Weiss Gallery in the Short North. There's all kinds of things to see in the Short North, but I chose this because we were in Florence this past summer. Open Thursday through Saturday from 12 until 5pm, and Sunday from 1 until 4pm. The gallery is located at 20 East Lincoln Street, just east of North High Street in the Short North. January 2009 is Rachel Stern, artist, featuring paintings from Florence, Italy.

11. Short North is the home of The Gallery Hop which is First Saturday of the month, so if you miss this month, try February or March. Our friend Jeff Hersey runs Terra Gallery, 8 E. Poplar Ave., in the Short North. He's a member of the UALC Visual Arts Ministry.

12. Anthony Thomas candy tours
1777 Arlingate Lane
Columbus, OH 43228
614-274-8405
Free Open House Factory Tours are every Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30 am. to 2:30. In about an hour, tour groups can experience candy making from start to finish in our 152,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art candy factory. Opened in May 1995, it is conveniently located off I-270 in west Columbus, Ohio. I'm thinking they get crowded around Valentine's Day, so beat the rush and go in January or March.

13. This one was listed in the paper, but must be a mistake--the museum website said it is only open April through mid-December. The Dispatch reported that Jackie Kennedy's dolls were there. Mid-Ohio Historical Museum, 700 Winchester Pike, Canal Winchester, Ohio -- "Memories," dolls from the Jackie Kennedy Onassis collection; antique dolls and toys, such as the Stallsmith collection of china dolls; dolls from the 1800s and early 1900s; playroom from the 1950s; docent-led tours by appointment; closed on holidays and holiday weekends; $3 (614-837-5573). Call to be sure, maybe the website hasn't been updated and the Dispatch is correct.

Happy New Year!

Originally, I had 13 New Year's Resolutions finished for Thursday Thirteen, which upon rereading them, sounded about as interesting as "I promise to clip my toe nails," and "I will brush the cat twice a year." So I deleted the entire post (after printing it and putting it in my desk drawer). But I will share #5, as it was just about the most interesting, plus I told the group at Bill and Joyce's party last night, so they'll probably all ask us about it.

5. Buy a floor lamp for the living room.

Back story: About 25 years ago, my sweet, non-critical mother said on one of her visits, "Don't you think it's a little dim in here?" For 48 years I've lived in poorly lit spaces as some sort of concession to living with an architect, and we have different tastes in decor. The result of this is, if we don't both fall in love with something, we don't buy it. Look through any decorating or architectural magazine and you might see table lamps, but rarely floor lamps. If you want to know why, try googling the term "floor lamps" and then click on "images." Ugly your name is floor lamp. I want one or two like the 1930s style my parents had--a center bulb in an open globe with three naked side light blubs, all gently enfolded in a nice silky shade--preferably with cellophane to protect from dust.

Floor lamps spread and diffuse light--they don't throw and bounce it. Designers love track lights, floods, and buried can lights, all of which I hate, hate, hate. We also are cheap--keep what comes with the house, which is why we had funny glass baubles ca. 1940 over the 1960's modern dining room table on Abington, and why we have its first cousin from Woolworth in our hall here at the condo. Jim Tuthill, the carpet cleaner, commented on the hall fixture when he was here on Tuesday. He had something similar in his house rescued from an old theater in downtown Columbus when he worked there as a janitor. The previous owner took her fixture with her, and I think this one was in the basement.

Anyway, I'm getting too old to sit in the dark and squint to read. The older you get, the better light you need, even if it shows your wrinkles. Which may be why my Mom waited until her 60s to say anything. With my new glasses and better lighting, I may be able to keep resolution #2 which is to read one chapter a day in my 10 volume Westminster Pulpit, a collection of the sermons from 1906-1916 of G. Cambell Morgan. I got a set for Christmas.

Thank you, thank you, Mr. President

As I read the year end article on science breakthroughs in the paper yesterday I could only whisper a Thank You to George W. Bush for holding the line on embryonic stem cell research. Perhaps you've forgotten, but that issue became a subplot in the 2004 election. Like the Iraq War, stem cell research was off the political agenda in 2008. GWB held out.

"In an effort to cause the country to abandon this conviction [ethical principles], some advocates of the research, including nearly every prominent Democrat in Congress, have made reckless and irresponsible promises, offered false hope to the suffering, depicted their opponents as heartless enemies of science, and exploited sick people for crass political gain." Link.

It's not illegal in the U.S., never has been, to experiment on human embryos, to wallow up to your knees and soul in a bioethical swamp that hasn't been drained. But it wasn't expanded with government money during the Bush years. And then. The break through that only PETA extremists could quibble about (originally done in mice).

"A crescendo of discoveries pushed stem cells from the lab dish to news headlines this year. Only two years ago, a Japanese research team led by Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University announced a method for turning mouse skin cells into unspecialized ones that resembled embryonic stem cells, prized by biomedical researchers for the potential to turn into any kind of tissue. This year, teams made use of the discovery in human cells to earn "Breakthrough of the Year" status from Science magazine. For the first time, two teams created families of induced pluripotent cells — unspecialized cells derived from specialized cells — from patients suffering 11 different diseases, including Parkinson's disease and juvenile diabetes. And a team led by Harvard's Doug Melton demonstrated "lineage switching" in a Nature journal study, switching ordinary kidney cells into specialized tissues that produce insulin in mice. The end goal of cell reprogrammers is to create immune-system-friendly transplant tissues for patients." USAToday

Now we won't have to have colonies of poor women farming their eggs, and Bush has saved the Democratic Party from yet one more accolade of being the party of death, already enthusiastic about abortion and euthanasia for the less than perfect, the poor, the elderly and the handicapped.

"In one fell swoop the politics of the issue shifted, says Ramesh Ponnuru, a harsh critique of the Democrats' stem cell policy and author of "The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life." "I am not surprised to see that politicians running for office on the Democratic side are talking about this issue less because there is not as much profit to it anymore," Ponnuru said. Democrats had downplayed the possibility that adult stem cells could be used as an alternative. They argued instead that embryonic cells represented the cutting edge of science. "Now that same argument can be turned against them," Ponnuru said. "If they want to go based on clinical results, adult stem cells are better. If they want to go based on which has more promise, these (new) alternatives are better." Link

Thank you again, Mr. President. So your Treasury guy was a bust--you still saved a lot of lives.

The unfairness doctrine

If it were up to me, and it is because I change stations or channels, I'd eliminate these guys from the airways and TV screens of America

Anderson Cooper

Chris Matthews

Larry King

The View

Charlie Rose

Mostly it's just their liberal twaddle--global warming, health scares, what's wrong with our culture--that makes little sense because they spew sound bites we've been hearing for 30 years. But Larry and Charlie just look worn out and bored; Anderson takes himself way too seriously; Chris shouts; the View insults women's intelligence. I know some of you enjoy this, so it's OK by me if advertisers and consumers want to support them. I can change channels. And I expect you to do the same when my favorites come up and not legislate/regulate them off the air.

Great Orators of the Democratic Party

Via Best of the Web.

• "One man with courage makes a majority."--attributed to Andrew Jackson

• "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."--Franklin D. Roosevelt

• "The buck stops here."--Harry S. Truman

• "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."--John F. Kennedy

• "I'm really coming into this as somebody who isn't, you know, part of the system, who obviously, you know, stands for the values of, you know, the Democratic Party. I know how important it is to, you know, to be my own person. And, you know, and that would be obviously true with my relationship with the mayor."--Caroline Kennedy

Off teleprompter, she's as good as Obama and most of us. She can hire a speech writer for the big events. I think she meets all the constitutional requirements for office even though she has rarely voted and hasn't contributed much except her name to local or national candidates who will fawn all over her. That gives her a cleaner record than most pols. She's no Sarah Palin, but maybe she's a fast learner.

One more week to see the Blue Shoes Art Show

If you'll be attending the New Year's Eve Jazz Service at The Upper Arlington Lutheran Mill Run campus on December 31, walk up to the second floor gallery area and enjoy the Fairfield Blue Shoes MRDD exhibit, hosted by the Visual Arts Ministry of UALC and promoted by Cheryl Fey, art director with Blue Shoe Arts, who said the self-taught artists receive all the money their art brings in, minus the cost of their supplies. Cheryl is such fun to talk to--a woman with a mission and a heart for God's special people.

These are some of the most delightful, colorful paintings we've ever exhibited. We fell in love with the first one, Noah's Ark--notice the animals are sea sick. I would have never thought of that! We bought it. One of the disadvantages of being in that ministry is we keep buying more art, and because we both also paint, we are getting a bit cluttered here at home.

The second photo shows some wonderful butterflies--want to guess what their bodies are made of? Salt shaker caps. The third one has almost perfect perspective and is an orchestra. There are so many things to see in this painting you could look at it for hours. Click to enlarge.





Reminder: The Mill Run Campus is now closed on Friday and Saturday to save energy costs. So if you want to see the show, check it out on Thursday, or on Sunday if you attend services there.

Your health savings account

If you've got some money left in your HSA you'll lose at the end of the year, you might take a look at your booster and vaccine record. Thursday when we were at our son's for Christmas, my husband went to pick up his cat Edy and move her over and she bit him--really chomped down hard. Edy was a feral kitten and although she seems quite loving and friendly, she occasionally returns to her wild behavior, and that hand apparently looked suspicious. Animal bites are very dangerous because you can't clean a puncture wound. Only a human's mouth is worse. This article in JAVMA about the danger of animal bites is a bit dated on dollars and stats, but accurate. All pets will bite, especially male dogs biting male children. Just never say never. My husband isn't threatening and likes cats, but the cat saw he was sitting on her territory (the couch) and she wasn't about to be moved. He had had his tetanus shots for Haiti, but that won't clear the bacteria from her mouth. The next day his hand and wrist started to swell and redden from fingers, heading for the elbow. Of course, it was a holiday week-end for the doctors. But we got a 10 day dose of an oral antibiotic called in and the cellulitis and inflammation are retreating. Get attention immediately if this happens to you or your children.

However, our daughter and son-in-law, during the discussion of options, apparently weren't up on their shots, so today they were both off to get boosters and vaccines to use up their HSA before they loose their 2008 balance. A good use of the money if you have any left in your account. You never know where an Edy might turn up.

Cat bite wounds

Are you making New Year's Resolutions?

In January 2006 I made a quasi-resolution to get back into my painting. We'd spent several weeks cleaning and decluttering and I had a new workspace with natural north light. I still haven't used the new area I set up described in this blog. But today I got an e-mail from Mindy Newman about the Tuesday watercolor workshop at the UA Senior Center. I'm there on Tuesdays anyway serving lunch, so that might be a good deal. $10 a class, walk-in, in case you're interested. Mindy's a fun teacher. She's especially outstanding with beginners, so even if you've never picked up a paint brush, she'll find you have talent. I'll add it to my "maybe-a-resolution list" I'm working on a Thursday Thirteen Reveal. This is just the advertisement.

This photo has appeared several times, but since I mentioned my premiere issue collection blog yesterday, that's what is on the bottom two shelves. That too should be one of my resolutions--if I were to make any, that is. When I was looking at the Stampington web site yesterday I see that it is coming out with a new magazine about aprons! So I'll have to watch for it to add to my collection. My sewing memories blog gets a lot of hits about aprons.

Since this photo was taken, I've bought several pretty storage boxes which help keep them in place. I can still see the titles, but it puts a little color on the shelves. Can't do that in libraries.

And all those books. Just look at them! Some belonged to my great grandfather. If I were to make any New Year's resolutions, I might make one about reading some of my books. I got new glasses yesterday. That should help. The new glasses (they should be called plastics since they aren't made of glass anymore), or my new eyewear was returned 4 times. I think these are keepers. I went back to the original frames I had during the Italy trip. Turns out it wasn't the frames afterall--the prescription was wrong.



And then there are all the oldies but goodies: eat right, exercise more, try new recipes, keep my desk clean, brush the cat, yada, yada.

Ask a Librarian

As I was leaving Panera's this morning, I told the counter clerk I was having my carpet cleaned today, and I told her the story of my old carpet on Abington looking like new when we were getting ready to sell. The man waiting for his shopping bagful of bagels asked me his name, so I told him, Jim Tuthill, and he asked the clerk for a pencil. Then I told the clerk who had been having a problem with her car and driving a friend's car to work to take it to my son at Jack Maxton Quick Service Plus, and the guy waiting for his bagels wrote that name down too.

Update: Wow. You should see my carpets. This guy is fabulous. We paid him more than he asked for, it looks so good (and because he's so reasonable you can do that). I had triple vacuumed everything yesterday to try to get all the cat hair, but he dug out handfuls of the stuff. And she's just an itty bitty 6.5 lb kitty. The white carpet is white again; the forest green is glowing; and the pale green is pale; and the bright blue is bright. Not much can be done for the stairs--they are carpeted in a brown/white patterned wool, and it is starting to wear. Now imagine all this with brown walls, red walls, orange walls, lemon yellow walls, and bright blue walls the way it was in 2002. And the floral drapes. Oh yes, we were the color clowns--or they, the decorator guys who lived here, were. We looked like HGTV--3 shows worth at least.

And now for a change of pace

The carpet cleaner is coming tomorrow. We have white carpet against brown marble floors. And it hasn't been cleaned since we moved here in 2002. So today, while blowing my nose (I have a cold), I'm scurrying around trying to get piles of this and that off the floor. He will work around the furniture, but most likely not boxes and piles of books. So when I removed the debris from under my office couch, I found a stack of premiere issue magazines awaiting description in my other, other blog, called In the Beginning. So if you want to see a blog that probably is not like any others you've read, go there. I added three entries today, but there are nine still on top of my desk, and several hundred more calling to me upstairs. It's an odd hobby, but someone had to do it. Actually, other people do--people in the magazine business, but my blog has my special touch--opinion and no ads. I don't remember why I thought it was a good idea now. They can really take over a place.

The Party's Over

On September 19 Patrick Buchanan posted a very good article on what has happened to our economy, titled, "The Party's Over." For the most part I agree.

“Government must save us!” cries the left, as ever. Yet, who got us into this mess if not the government — the Fed with its easy money, Bush with his profligate spending, and Congress and the SEC by liberating Wall Street and failing to step in and stop the drunken orgy?

For years, we Americans have spent more than we earned. We save nothing. Credit card debt, consumer debt, auto debt, mortgage debt, corporate debt — all are at record levels. And with pensions and savings being wiped out, much of that debt will never be repaid.

Our standard of living is inevitably going to fall. For foreigners will not forever buy our bonds or lend us more money if they rightly fear that they will be paid back, if at all, in cheaper dollars.

We are going to have to learn to live again without our means.

The party’s over."

I'd add to that, the insane belief that home ownership, fueled by the CRA hoodlums through 3-4 administrations, Fannie Mae and Barney Frank, is a "right." Or that it is even an "investment." It's only an investment if you rent it to someone for a profit. Otherwise, it's a place to live. Then next, I'd hang Hank Paulson up by his thumbs for bailing out the banks with fewer guidelines (voted for by both presidential candidates) than we give children on how to spend money from the tooth fairy. But Pat wrote this in September and probably in his wildest dreams didn't see the collection plates that would be passed between the aisles of Congress.

Also, this article is whizzing around the internet under the name of Linda Monk. I don't know how her name got attached to it--but she's probably more famous now. Any way, Pat Buchanan wrote it. Check his web site. He's a libertarian, a Catholic, and he doesn't like Bush.

Democrats haven't denied this explanation

It's been over a week. This interview explained the bi-partisan support for Bush

who has kept us safe since 9/11 even with the flawed intelligence he inherited. So if you have problems with the terrorist surveillance program, write your Democratic Senator or Representative. The rest of us should stop buying the New York Times whose owners and editors leak information to our enemies.

The Christian bailout of 2008

"If 2008 is remembered as the year of the “bailout,” when the federal government spent billions to rescue the nation’s financial system, it should also be recalled for another kind of bailout—Christians with impeccably pro-life records who suddenly abandoned what they declared to be a sinking ship." Touchstone

Code in my node

Down for the count. Really miserable with a winter cold, but I made it through Christmas. I've switched a social engagement so I don't have to host in a germy house on Sunday; we have one Hormel heat and eat in the cupboard (they are wonderful according to my husband) and we got carry out pizza last night. I have a few leftovers from Christmas Eve still in the frig, but after today, someone will need to go shopping.

My husband's gone off to spend his gift certificates at Dick Blick, which is also having an after Christmas sale. I've been admiring my 10 volumes of Westminster Pulpit by G. Campbell Morgan, although I'm only opening them, not reading. My eyes don't seem to be focusing.

This would have been a good day to go for a walk--it's supposed to be in the 60s. And in some places in the city gasoline is $1.29--so a good day for a drive too, for all those after Christmas specials (which I'm missing).

My Christmas card

Not everyone is fortunate enough to be married to an artist, someone who has consistently been kind, thoughtful, considerate and creative for 50+ years. I didn't get a dual bag vacuum cleaner, but I did get a very nice, hand made Christmas card. It's the only blogger award I've ever received, and since he doesn't use the computer, he only reads what I print out.



Then he also painted a watercolor version of this, which now hangs in my office. There have been many "do not enter" signs on his office door in the last few weeks.

Consider your year-end gifts carefully

Choose a worthy cause, like "Sponsor and save a lifestyle."

Double whammy if you’re 70.5

President Bush has signed legislation that will temporarily suspend the penalty for seniors who fail to take the required minimum distribution from IRA and employer retirement accounts in 2009, but you’ll still need to do the required distribution for 2008--and that’s based on your fund balance at the end of 2007. Not good, folks, not good. Imagine this (and I know you can with little trouble). Congress, particularly Democrats, with Hank and Ben leading the charge, just had to rush through that horrendous September bailout which was supposed to create more credit from banks so they could help business. At least, that’s the way we were told it would work. But so far, all that’s happened is a run on the government for more bailouts, from the auto industry to universities to home builders. And the lending institutions have continued to give their year end bonuses and perks. But those mental midgets we elected just couldn’t figure out a way to rush through a plan to change the wording in the 2008 requirement--the year a lot of us lost 40-50% of the value of our accounts. How tough would it have been to change 70.5 to 71.5 or 72.5? I'm not sure this is the best source, but I'm going with it now because it doesn't require registration. Full text of HR 7327 here, but use your "find" command (control F) with the word "retirement" to get to the correct section.

No surprise here--NY Times lies about President Bush and covers for Clinton

In fact, the Times' article ignored a wealth of its own reporting, dating back to the era of Bill Clinton, whom the article mentioned only once, in passing.

For example, in September 1999, the Times noted that, "Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stockholders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits."

The 1999 piece went even further:

"In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times," the Times noted presciently. "But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's."

Likewise, the Times made no mention over the weekend of President Clinton's aggressive deregulation of the financial services industry, which empowered banks, brokerage firms and insurance companies to engage in some of the very practices -- such as credit default swaps -- that contributed most to the current fiscal crisis.

While the Times mentioned that mortgage bankers and brokers donated almost $850,000 to President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, the newspaper omitted the fact that the top three recipients of campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and its sister organization Freddie Mac over the last two decades were all Democrats.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, head of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; President-elect Barack Obama; and Bush's 2004 opponent John Kerry all benefited from Fannie and Freddie.

Asked to respond to the White House criticism, Times Executive Editor Bill Keller said Sunday's article "was based on on-the-record interviews with dozens of current and former (Bush administration) officials."

"It is part of an ongoing series that examines in-depth the accountability of numerous players in the economic meltdown, including Congress, rating agencies, brokerage houses and the Fed," Keller said.

Merry Christmas

Let's not forget the other babes

After Herod got word that there was a Jewish baby born recently, "king of the Jews" who could be a threat to his power, he decreed that all male babies under the age of two should be murdered [Matthew 2]. "Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more." It's a sad, sad story from history. But so is this--a leader, a king maker like no other we've ever had, not because of his color, as some want to think, but because he's the first president openly and proudly hostile to the unborn, our future:

"Despite some Catholics’ claims to the contrary, the new president’s approval of legalized abortion is unmistakable. Unlike Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and John Kerry, Barack Obama refused to make even verbal gestures toward compromise or nuance during the presidential campaign. The flatfooted line he delivered at the Saddleback Forum—that a decision about when life begins is “above my pay grade”—proved that he has internalized the peculiar logic of Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood, which cast laws against abortion as government’s unconstitutional intrusion into private metaphysical decisions. But his earlier line that he didn’t want young women “punished with a baby” proved that he has also internalized what stands behind those decisions: a worldview in which life is not a gift but a burden to be shouldered only when we will." First Things

We both laughed

My husband is the flowers and jewelry for gifts type--if I ever got an appliance as a gift I probably requested it. Like the year he gave me a laptop. I returned it--didn't like it, but the one I bought (half the price) hasn't been all that reliable. But some men may not be amused. Well written and acted, though.

This ad is ubiquitous

It's at every blog, news source, and on-line product I see. "My Teeth are Finally White." Not once did I bite--so I have no idea what would come up if I clicked.

I drink a lot of coffee and tea, and my teeth are definitely not white. I notice it in most people my age. Think about it. If you expose anything to the chemical make-up of food and saliva for many decades, you'll have staining, whether it's your brick walkway, a ceramic sink or your own teeth. I think I've found a solution. I've started wearing lipstick again. Had only used it occasionally for probably 30 years. Sure, it's an optical illusion, but it works.

And so, it is Christmas Eve Day. The temperature here in Columbus is 39 degrees, it rained during the night, so I'm hoping the ice build up is gone. I haven't left for the coffee shop yet, hoping a few more early travelers will clear the roads for me.

We'll have a casual dinner here with the children tonight--soup and sandwiches--then church, and tomorrow we'll go to Canal Winchester to our son's home. His handsome face and mellifluous voice were on TV yesterday, as he was interviewed about an unhappy event. For the second time in 6 weeks someone has died in front of his place of work in an auto accident. He and some fellow workers rushed out to help, but it was too late. Then a nurse stopped to help. God bless the Good Samaritans of this modern age. Two elderly women, one dead, one in critical condition according to the news. You almost pray that she expires without waking up--they were 81 year old twins, we heard. They've probably spent their lives together, sharing and caring, and so it was perhaps at the end.