Believing Ben

Justin Fox writes: "Yesterday afternoon, TIME.com's business editor, John Curran, recommended that I take a look at Ben Bernanke's speech at the Brookings Institution. I glanced at the text, saw that it was an exact repeat of the speech he'd given at Jackson Hole in August, and thought, naaaaah. A couple hours later I read online that in the Q&A after the speech Bernanke had said the recession was "very likely" over. Which is what everybody and his brother—including, I thought, Bernanke—has been saying for weeks. No news there, either, I figured.

So I when I picked up my NYT this morning I was a little surprised to see Bernanke's words highlighted on the front page (although at least the actual story was relegated to the front of the business section). Then I'm walking Curious Capitalist Jr. to school and I see the FT at a newsstand. The lead story: "Recession likely over in US, says Bernanke." When I got to work I checked the WaPo and WSJ. Front page of the WaPo: "Recovery Underway, Bernanke Suggests." Top of the "What's News" box in the WSJ (with the actual story at the top of A2): "Bernanke: Recession 'Likely Over.'"

Why on earth would all these newspapers, struggling to survive in straitened times, devote valuable space and reporting time to this non-news? It certainly can't be because of Ben "the impact ... of the problems in the subprime market seems likely to be contained" Bernanke's brilliant record as an economic forecaster. Bernanke's words also didn't mark any sort of major change in his outlook. If Peter Schiff announced that he thought happy days were here again, now that would be news. Bernanke's Fed, meanwhile, has been giving pretty clear signals over the past couple of months that it thinks the recession is ending but the recovery will be weak. Which is exactly what Bernanke said yesterday. So again, why all the coverage? I can think of three main reasons." See what they are at Curious Capitalist

Finally

He's a little slow when it's not his team, but better late than never. Seen at Catholic Exchange.

"President Obama issued a brief statement Sunday calling the Friday murder of Michigan pro-life veteran Jim Pouillon “deplorable.”


“Whichever side of a public debate you’re on, violence is never the right answer,” the president added."

Web of deception and corruption--ACORN

Today's Morning Bell has an item on the ACORN web--noting 174 entities. Which is why I say to John Fund, these folks aren't going anywhere!Poverty pimps just make way too much money to give up because of a few video tapes!

"Despite the swiftness with which the Senate acted, this is hardly the first time ACORN has been accused of illegality. Last fall when ACORN was investigated for vote fraud in a dozen states, the New York Times reported that an internal ACORN legal memo raised “questions about whether the web of relationships among its 174 affiliates may have led to violations of federal laws.”

The Times reporter who wrote that story, Stephanie Strom wanted to pursue the story further, but she was discouraged by her superiors at the Times and gave up after blistering phone conversation with then-candidate Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Strom revealed in an email: “I’m calling a halt to my efforts. I just had two unpleasant calls with the Obama campaign, wherein the spokesman was screaming and yelling and cursing me, calling me a rightwing nut and a conspiracy theorist and everything else.” Explaining why she wanted to pursue the story further in another email Strom wrote:

"The real story to all this is how these myriad entities allow them to shuffle money around so much that no one really knows what’s getting spent on what — and for the charities like the housing orgs, that’s a problem. Charitable money cannot be spent on political activities. It’s a big no-no that can cost charitable organizations their exemptions."

Please read the entire article. I have no way of knowing to whom she talked in the campaign office of the President, but he does have the MO of Toes.

Jimmy Carter, one of the most maligned Democrat Presidents of modern times, calls our alarm about Obama’s direction and plans for our country, outlined by Saul Alinsky, racism. Last I looked, Jimmy is a white man, and the right didn’t have anything good to say about him or his one term presidency or his follow-up apology tours, so it is possible Mr. President, to dislike a politician’s policies regardless of gender, skin color, ethnicity, religion or amount of botox.

And from Catholic Exchange last October:

Obama trained ACORN activists. A 1995 Chicago Reader article on Obama stated “Obama continues his work largely through classes for future leaders identified by ACORN and the Centers for New Horizons.” Obama also ran Project Vote, known for widespread voter fraud, which Time magazine called “a non-partisan arm” of ACORN. In a speech to ACORN in 2007, cited by Newsmax, Obama gushed “I have been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you care about my entire career. Even before I was an elected official, when I ran Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois. ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it and we appreciate your work.”

ACORN follows Saul Alinsky’s teachings to a tee. In Rules for Radicals (which was dedicated to Lucifer), Alinsky wrote “the morality of means depends on whether the means is being employed at a time of imminent defeat or imminent victory.” ACORN voter registration fraud is just shy of becoming epidemic. ACORN employees are facing investigation, indictment or prison time for voter fraud in at least a dozen states. During the Democrat primary, the Obama campaign paid Citizen Services Inc., a subsidiary of ACORN, more than $800,000.

Like Alinsky, who wrote “multiple issues mean constant action and life”, ACORN, through its “affiliates”, has its hands in numerous socialist projects in addition to voter fraud. ACORN Housing Corporation (AHC) was beyond knee-deep in the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failures which have riveted our economy. Promoting an ACORN housing development in Texas on its website in 2006, ACORN boasted “in addition to providing access to AHP grants, ACORN’s lending partners provide low cost, easier to qualify for mortgage loans.”

And from James Lewis at American Thinker,

Alinsky's disciples -- including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama -- have a warlike political style. They learned politics as war from the Master. Obama is so well-trained in Alinsky tactics that he used to teach workshops on it. That is why Obama can knowingly violate Federal law against usurping the presidential power to negotiate with Iraq before ever getting elected. Actual election to head of state by the voters means nothing, just as it means nothing to Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, who have negotiated with Syria and the Muslim Brotherhood in clear violation of law while serving in Congress.

Teaching hatred for the normal majority is the key to power for radicals. But Alinsky taught that you can't easily hate millions of people. To do that effectively you need a one-person scapegoat to focus all your hatred on. "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." That is the politics of personal destruction, and it doesn't matter if the target is black like Clarence Thomas, or a woman like Sarah Palin, or a severely wounded war veteran like John McCain."

Reducing health benefits

Avery Johnson reported today that "More companies are reducing health benefits or passing rising health care costs onto employees." (WSJ, 9-16-09, citing 2 surveys)

Isn't that a surprise? They knew they'd get either Hillarycare or Obamacare, they know they can't handle all the mandates, and the illegal, undocumented workers and their relatives, so they are passing along the costs.

How dumb are American employees? Don't they know how perks work? When I was employed at Ohio State, each year I received a benefits booklet. It showed two salary figures---what I was paid, and what it cost the university to employ me. The second figure was at least 25% higher than what I was paid--it added in the value of my vacation time, my sick leave, my health care, OSU's retirement contribution, plus all the other stuff I'd never use and didn't want--gymnasium use, tuition waivers, health care fairs, computer labs--so many I can't even remember them all. The advantage to "buying" your health care from your employer's plan is that it is one of those "tax loop holes" Obamacare will close in order to cover those 30 million. You'll probably soon be taxed for it off the top (because university employees had their own retirement system, we did pay into Medicare).

Corruption in the UN World Food Program

Now there's a shocker. UN contractors are corrupt--and in Somalia! Denise Brown, borrowing the Charlie Gibson line when she learned of the investigation, said she was unaware of the probe and is quite happy with the current system for tracking the food. Let's see, there are 3.5 million recipients, and the US alone donated $124 million in 2009 through USAID for food aid for Somalia. That doesn't even count what all the other European countries donating, who are investigating the corruption. I wonder how the farmers and small business people of Somalia compete against free food, or even corrupt food, distributed by family members of the most powerful business people, who are awarded the contracts?

I think I've received e-mail from some of those folks working for peace and stability in Somalia, if I'd just co-sign for $100,000 until they can get uncle the prince out of jail.

Daring and Eloquent

That's what Georgie Anne Geyer called Obama's speech to Congress on a "crucial and complicated theme."

She's really angry with big insurance. I read through her article, and everything insurance, either private or government, is supposed to do, it has done for her. But she's still very, very angry. Her cancer sounded just awful, and one has to sympathize with her on that.

She battled cancer, but with her excellent insurance and terrific medical care and probably the latest in drugs and technology, she survived (this with lack of innovation and investment will all shrink under Obamacare). So what's she mad about? Her insurance was then cancelled. Legally. No tricks. She says they claimed she was an independent contractor and therefore not eligible for her employer's benefits. It's just like your car insurance if you haven't reported a DUI and later make a claim. I don't really know how they could do that unless she's filed that way with the IRS--but she doesn't go into much detail, and didn't deny it, just that she'd paid her premiums. A quick check with her syndicate's HR could settle that one. But they did pay for her cancer treatment. How many private contractors (free lance writers) should your syndicate have to pay for? Just you? What do the other writers do?

Have you checked with Timothy Geithner? He seemed baffled by the independent contractor rules too, and he's head of the IRS, formerly big poo-bah with the fed--maybe he could offer some sympathy.

Then she lauds Medicare and COBRA, both government plans, and AARP, a lobbyist for private insurance companies, which is apparently her supplemental coverage for what the government plans don't cover.

Well, lady, what do you think the rest of us old people are complaining about? The elders in the USA, many of whom aren't quite clear that Medicare IS socialized medicine, don't want to lose what they have, they like it. And you, by supporting Obama's "daring and eloquent speech" on a "complicated theme" (which seems to evolve each time he speaks on it) are trying to trash it.

Let's eliminate the fraud and waste now

So writes Cameron Wiley, MD, in today's letters to the WSJ. If that's a problem in a government plan, why would making it bigger automatically eliminate the waste and fraud? Why didn't he start on that on Janaury 21 if he was in such a big rush to reduce costs, save lives, and make Americans healthier?

Because that isn't what this "reform" is all about. It's about power over an industry and control of our lives.

If it weren't, then he would have looked at the 30 million (noticed he reduced that from 47 million in his recent speeches, having apparently figured out the foreign element) and figured something out that didn't change it for the other 90%.

ACORN and the Seven Squirrelies

What a surprise. The two of the Seven (one independent, six Democrats) who voted to continue ACORN funding in the Senate are from Illinois--Burris and Durbin. Here's another gaggle of seven, from the DC Protest on the 12th: Shanky, Sleazy, Fishy, Queeny, Dopey, Cheaty, and Gaffy.

Photo by Murray

ACORN isn't going anywhere!

John Fund thinks ACORN may be finally running off the rails. That’s ridiculous.

“On Monday, the U.S. Senate voted 83-7 to strip Acorn, the premier community organizing group on the left, of more than $1.6 million in federal housing money meant to assist low-income people obtain loans and prepare tax forms. This dramatic step followed last Friday's decision by the U.S. Census Bureau to sever its ties with the organization, one of several community groups it was partnering with to conduct the nation's head count.

Both of these actions came after secretly recorded videos involving employees in Acorn's Brooklyn, N.Y., Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Md. and San Bernardino, Calif. offices were televised on Fox News. The videos were recorded by two independent filmmakers who posed as a prostitute and a pimp and said they were planning to import underage women from El Salvador for the sex trade. They asked for and received advice on getting a housing loan and evading federal taxes.

In response, Acorn has so far fired four of the employees seen on the videos. But it claimed the videos were "doctored" and accused critics of a smear campaign and "racist coverage" of the incidents.

Such rhetoric in the past has deflected scrutiny of Acorn tactics, such as street demonstrations and boycotts against banks to force lower credit standards for home loans, which a congressional report found contributed to the subprime loan mess. But now Acorn may be finally running off the rails.”

I think his story in today’s WSJ is only the 2nd or 3rd WSJ has ever done on ACORN, and it's on the opinion page, which is usually conservative--the newslant is always liberal/progressive. Yesterday Charlie Gibson laughed and guffawed when asked about it on a radio interview. He’d never heard of these tapes showing the corruption and willingness to bring in sex slaves. Unless we get some serious investigation by our main stream media which have been in the tank for Obama and his colleague, cohorts and mentors from the beginning to assuage their own guilt for past unpunished racist crimes, we’re toast on this one. Any questioning of ACORN is now also "racist" because of its close ties with Obama, even though it's owned and run by white guys, one being the brother of the union leader of SEIUS, also a work horse for Obama. This story, as ridiculous as it is, gets attention because of the sex angle. Sex slavery is a global business--it's a horrible crime and not just because you don't like ACORN. Racism is when American liberals want to get heated about the 18th century which they can't do a thing about, but not the 21st.

ACORN is in violation of a number of laws, first and foremost, the tax laws for 501-charity and non-profits. They were a one candidate, one party front during the whole 2008 campaign and that's a violation of the tax laws. They registered illegals to vote, and bussed out of state voters here in Ohio. They took money from the Obama campaign to get out the vote. Barney Frank had them bussed to homes of CEOs after his mccarthysque hearings; Obamacare organizers had them bussed to the town hall meetings on health care to shout down concerned voters. I'd heard of ACORN voter intimidation and fraud investigations long before I'd ever heard of Barack Obama. But they certainly knew him!

ACORN appears under so many false and misleading patriotic scam names with beautiful, professional web sites--foreclosure workshops, tax preparers, poverty clinics, food distributors, after school care programs, etc.--it would take the combined forces of all the fresh faced wannabee journalists and unpaid interns at NYT, LATimes and WSJ to ferret them out.

With Holder as our AJ and Geithner head of IRS, there's no way they are going to spin off ACORN from Obama's close circle of advisors.

Will it be one more tax on marriage?

Obama wants to punish the most productive, the biggest contributors to the government in terms of taxes, even more. The top quintile. These are the ones whose wealth is transferred to the bottom fifth.



86% of the households in the top 5% are married couple families. Only 19% in the lowest 5th are married couple families. Also, the people in the top fifth have attained more education, with people holding professional degrees doing considerably better than PhDs. Is this "gap" so difficult to understand? Two people make more money than one. Check! One person working full time earns more than one person receiving transfer payments in the form of food stamps, subsidized housing and Medicaid. Check! What's so hard about that math?

Now, Obama is an educated man with a professional degree and he's married. He's made a ton of money writing about himself and being in government. Shouldn't he be able to figure out that he's killing the golden goose with his punitive tax plan? Since he doesn't mind telling people what to do, maybe he should just tell women to stay in school and get married before having a baby, instead of promising them that he'll take care of them as long as they're in the lowest quintile.

Murray reports on 9/12, pt. 2

The March began an hour early because the plaza could no longer contain the number of patriots as they just kept coming in with each Metro stop. So at 10:30 they began the March up Pennsylvania Ave. with a small but appropriate Revolutionary Band leading the way. It started smooth with the patriots positioned by state as best they could. I heard that every state was represented. As we marched the patriots would break into song and chant. The ones in the back would start a voice wave that was awesome. You could hear it coming from behind and reaching a crescendo as it got to us. We then joined in and you could hear it progress on up to the front. The singing and voice wave repeated as we progressed up Pennsylvania Ave. There were people on the sidelines cheering us on with personal cameras everywhere. There had to be a million pictures taken that day.

Capitalism was not dead as there were people selling flags, tee shirts, food and beverages. One old timer was pretty clever. He set up shop right in the middle of Pennsylvania Ave. selling bagels and bottled water. The patriots were young, old, people limping and in wheelchairs. It was a fantastic sight.

When we reached The National Mall it was an impressive sight. People as far as your eye could see. They were everywhere. The Fox news truck was there and as we paraded past their truck the people chanted we love Fox News. The CNN truck was there also. ABC, NBC, and CBS choose not to show up for this un-newsworthy event. We stood and listened to the various speakers for about an hour on the far side of the pond.

Unfortunately the sound system was inadequate and could not provide enough power to reach the thousands in attendance. We could only understand the speakers with the loudest voices. It was here that we started to hear from the crowd about how many people were in attendance. The numbers were from 10,000 to 2 million. It was next to impossible to be accurate because as we were walking back to the Metro around 2:00 p.m., people were still showing up and arriving. My best guess would be around 50,000 to 100,000. But to put this number into it's proper prospective, you must understand that not only were we on the far east coast but there were over 800 other "Tea Parties" going on in major cities all over the country.

So, what do we have here? We have one of the largest civil protest ever against our federal government in this country and the news media ignores it. ( Except Fox News) Our President leaves town to continue to campaign for HIS causes and our representatives cower where they can't be reached. Now, here we are at the very spot that thousands of citizens (many who are in this March) paid their respects to our new President at his inauguration and what does he do in return ? He and his cohorts turn their backs on the patriots of this country and refused to even acknowledge we exist. To me, this is like a declaration of war against their own countrymen! When you consider that our representatives, our President, the newspapers and the video news media all ignore the patriots of this country, there has to have been a carefully planned conspiracy that has been a long time in the making. There can be no other conclusion. They are muting the spirit of hope and change that is driving the patriots to rise up and be heard. How else can you explain that our President and the media are together to fight the spread and existence of the grass-roots movement if it isn't a conspiracy? Why, every major newspaper is involved.

All I can say is what I saw on 9/12 tells me that the patriots are prepared to fight for the preservation of our great country. They are definitely not going to sit idly by and watch the current administration destroy the greatest country in the world. Do you want to join this fight or watch this great country be destroyed? If you are interested in joining then you can do yourself a favor and watch Fox News as they are the only news service that I know of that keeps you up to date on what your government is doing to you while you are not looking. Someone said, "Do not pay attention to what Obama says, but what he does!" I wish I would have said that.

Murray reports on 9/12, pt. 1

I would have sent this sooner but you have to understand that you're dealing with a 71 year old that drove 950 miles, marched 3 miles, and then drove back 950 miles over 4 days. I was pooped. But it was worth every minute and I would do it again.

When we got to the Freedom Plaza at 9:30 a.m. on 9/12 and saw the thousands of patriot grass-root protesters already filling the square it was AWESOME! It was emotional, inspiring and encouraging. It was all of those things because it proved that the SPIRIT OF AMERICA was alive. The spirit that started this country of ours and built it to greatness.

I left Mt. Morris and picked up my son-in-law in Sidney, Ohio. We stayed at a motel in Rockville, Md. When we went for breakfast the next morning the motel breakfast area was packed with patriots from Michigan. The excitement had already started. These people came prepared to voice a message to our President and representatives. The message wasn't just about healthcare as some will lead you to believe, it was about that plus all the reckless spending that has taken place the last several months. These people weren't the dangerous, threatening, angry "mob" that the Democrats claim is behind the protest. They were simply frustrated grass-roots taxpayers who do not agree with the direction our government is taking us. They wanted someone to listen to the voices of the masses. So far they have been muted by the press, the video networks and their own representatives. The lens caps remain on the network's cameras.

We took the Metro down to the Freedom Plaza where the March was to begin. While I was waiting at one of the changeovers I had two young ladies eyeing my sign which read PUT "WE THE PEOPLE" BACK IN GOVERNMENT. One of them ask what it was all about. I ask them if they knew what was happening that day and they said no. They had not heard of The March on Washington. So I turned my sign over to the message on the other side which read WHERE IS? NBC, CBS, ABC and said this is the reason why. I told them this was going to be one of the largest civil protest ever and the media has not considered it newsworthy. They asked good questions and I provided answers. Healthcare care up and one lady said she didn't have health insurance. I told her that if Obamacare went through she would have no choice, she would have to buy health insurance. She didn't know what to say. When it was time to leave they shook my hand and thanked me for providing them with the information about what was happening that day in their city and to their country.

We boarded the Metro and the excitement was mounting as we made each stop along the way and more and more patriots boarded. By the time we reached Freedom Plaza the Metro was so jammed packed it was almost impossible for passengers to get on or off. Then it happened. We walked out to the plaza around 9:30 and there they were. Thousands of grass-roots patriots already assembled in the square for a March that wasn't to begin until 11:30. There they were both young and old from everywhere across the country. Signs and flags waving with singing and chanting U.S.A ! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! I was moved. I was overjoyed. I was proud. I was glad I was a part of this and wished every grass- root patriotic American could feel that moment of electricity and power that can be achieved peacefully. The crowd was in unison singing, "God Bless America" and The National Anthem. Their many sign messages were clear, precise and to the point. There where no disagreements or arguments taking place as to what direction the country should take. People were friendly but focused and determined to have their messages be heard and seen by their representatives.

Van Jones and Louis Caldera both hired by Podesta

Center for American Progress is a leftist think tank funded by George Soros and founded by the well-connected John Podesta, President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, and President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff for the presidential transition. Located in Washington, D.C., the Center for American Progress, according to Wikipedia, has a campus outreach group, Campus Progress, and a sister advocacy organization, the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Citing the significant number of its staff and former staff that have been appointed to positions in the Obama Administration, Time magazine recently declared that there is "no group in Washington with more influence at this moment in history." (Here's what CAP thinks of conservatives--they poll their own readers.)

CAP is also a foster home for the under-the-bus Obama appointees. Louis Caldera, the head of the White House military office forced out over the controversial Air Force One photo-op over the Statue of Liberty, became a senior fellow at CAP in June. Then Podesta also took in Van Jones, the recently resigned-in-the-middle-of-the night green czar of Obama. Podesta had a weepy (or was it wee-wee'd--I can't locate it) letter published in the Wall Street Journal extolling Van Jones virtues.

Actually, Jones, a "truther," says he "chose to quit rather than cost Obama the political capital it would have taken to save his job, saying now was not the time for the President to turn his attention from his agenda." (NY Daily News) Is it right wing McCarthyism and smears?

All Jones did was adjust the focus of the same “career” he’d always had – that of radical left-wing activist – to focus on pushing the latest fashionable excuse for all the same policies the left always wants.

The “revolution” Jones seeks would re-order the entire economy to take state control of private wealth and redistribute it to the hapless proletariat. This is the same agenda the Democratic Party has embraced for more than a generation, offering whatever excuse might sell the idea. They’ve been trying to sell poverty and health care as excuses to do this since at least the 1960s. Even the anti-war movement is, at least in part, about wanting to re-allocate the Pentagon budget for social do-gooder programs administered by the agencies and nonprofits that employ so many of these people. Dan Calabrese

So you see, it really wasn't his fault. Still you wonder what sort of mischief he will be up to sharing office space with Caldera and anyone else Podesta has taken in.

We're looking out for you (pimp and prostitute) says ACORN

The DC office of ACORN is a bit more sophisticated and savvy than the Baltimore office, but they are sure looking out for their clients, especially the cute guy who wants to become a politician. Need to hire any tax preparers? I hear they are looking for work.

Too much exposure?

Is this over exposure or just naked power?

Good news: Obama to appear on five separate chat shows Sunday morning to push ObamaCare

He won't appear on Fox or the Foodie nextwork. One commenter wrote: “An apple Obama a day, keeps the doctor away.”

The Signage at the 9/12 Protest

From a friend of a friend of a friend--Paula's account of 9/12 in DC. And this is just a small part of it. But it will probably go viral, and you'll see it.

Signage was amazing. . .swastikas everywhere. . .well, not exactly. I saw one sign that had two swastikas on it but the message was "Never Again." I carried two signs: "Don't ruin the health-care that saved my life" with a pink breast cancer ribbon and "to PresBO: if you misrepresent, we will call you out." I guess the last one could be considered a threat, but wasn't considered that when the president said it. Hobie's signs were pretty extreme: "Stop the Spending" and "Cut the Bureaucracy." Most signs were home-made, as we can't afford those slick things used by the unions.

American ingenuity in slogans always amazes me. Some of my random favorites were:

-- a very artistic skull and crossbones draped in black: "He lied, Grandma died"

-- picture of MLK: "he had a dream".....picture of BHO: "we got a nightmare"

-- "czar strangled banner" - a "flag" with pictures of the 30+ czars on the field of blue

-- "even my dog has a birth certificate"

-- "ACORN: because every pimp needs a federally funded home" (if you don't understand this one, you've not done your homework)

-- "Democrats have ACORN; Republicans need to grow some NUTS"

-- "bankrupting America - one unread bill at a time"

-- "tell the czar the peasants are pissed"

-- "28 years ago I fled communism and now it is catching up with me"

-- "Obamacare = Rationed Care," held by a well-costumed grim reaper

-- a picture of a backbone, and the words "Republicans need to grow one"

-- "national health care is like a hospital gown - you think you are covered but you are not" - you can imagine the visual that went with that.

-- "Congressional pink slips - coming soon"

-- "Stop bailing - you're drowning my kids"

-- "Truly toxic assets - U.S. Senate and House...stop whining and start resigning"

-- "seniors should not become shovel-ready projects"

-- "we are here to give corrupt public servants end-of-job counseling"

-- "get your hands off my private sector"

-- "what about transparency?"

-- "under Barack, America will go Ba-roke"

-- "I love my country but not this government'

-- "Bankrupt America?....yes we can"

-- "pucker up, Nancy...kiss my astroturf" (again, if you don't understand...homework time)

-- "Save the Constitution"

-- "Will the real Barack Obama please stand up?"

-- "stop, think, read, vote"

-- "Bush Republicans bankrupted America - Obama socialists are destroying what is left"

and my personal favorite,

-- "Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant." - James Madison

Interestingly enough, Rep. Joe Wilson was the man of the day, garnering more references than Obama or anyone else. Lots of signs indicated that, although he said it in the wrong place, the sentiment was correct. Not just about the president, but about most politicians.

Governor Strickland's illegal immigrant problem

Henry Guzman, Ohio's Safety Director, resigned in August. About a year late. From AP:

[His] Department of Public Safety delayed a proposed crackdown [on registrations and plates for illegals] for more than a year, a newspaper [Columbus Dispatch] reported Sunday.

Director Henry Guzman, whose last day is Friday, delayed the proposed crackdown after meeting with Latino business owners and those who profited by charging fees to falsify power-of-attorney forms to obtain registrations for illegal immigrants, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Guzman announced his resignation last Aug. 27 because of a feud with State Highway Patrol Superintendent Richard Collins, who also resigned.

Guzman did not know that so-called "runners" - Latinos with legal U.S. residency who collected fees of more than $100 each to get the registrations - were present at a July 31, 2008, meeting to discuss a crackdown on the policy scheduled to begin the next day, officials said. Car dealers, financing and insurance company officials were worried about their bottom lines and undocumented workers' ability to drive and support their families.

New restrictions didn't take effect until Aug. 24 of this year. The new policy requires a valid driver's license number or state ID number for the person receiving the registration when power-of-attorney forms are used. . .

Ohio House Minority Leader Bill Batchelder, a Medina Republican, said the new policy should have been in place to keep undocumented workers from getting registrations. Any problems could be worked out over time, he said.

"I'm absolutely baffled," Batchelder said. "They were intentionally permitting the law to be violated. It's unbelievable."

Records show that BMV investigators have considered Ohio to be a haven for the registration of vehicles by illegal immigrants - inside and outside the state - for at least four years.

Ohio only required a Social Security number for a person to register a vehicle on behalf of another with a power-of-attorney form. Federal law prohibited the state from checking the numbers to verify identities.

Read the blog of Kyle Sisk. He notes that our Republican governor was humiliated for far less.

Again, it looks like the Republicans and our ever vigilant "free press" were asleep at the switch. That automobile registration means they could register to vote--a fact I'm sure was not lost on ACORN. But not to worry. A runner could earn $8,000 a week getting license plates for illegals, and so it's sort of Guzman's stimulus plan.

Bill Maher's sexism and racism

He's good at finding subliminal racism in others, like an abbreviation for "negative," but stuck on stupid about sexual slavery and "don't teach them to read" advice from ACORN. Just google Bill Maher and ACORN. Oops. Nothing there. Oh, except to shoot the messenger.

Glenn Beck’s army of zombie retirees are marching on Washington in protest of, well, everything. It’s the Million Moron March, although they won’t get a million of course, because many will be confused and drive to Washington state. But they will make news, because people who take to the streets always do. They’re at the town hall screaming at the congressmen, we’re on the couch screaming at the TV.

So folks, he calls you morons for expecting your representatives to represent you, but sex slavery of children is just not worth commenting about. He says you, Democrats and Republicans and Independents, can't find Washington DC. I think the last count was around 2 million. On ACORN, he's tongue tied. Slavery only matters to a liberal if it happened in the 18th century.

One year anniversary since Lehman and Ike

Yes, Hurricane Ike also hit Ohio with $553 million in losses, the second most expensive storm to ever hit. But unless you live here, you probably don't remember. The Lehman crisis you may recall--lots of news stories about it yesterday. WSJ (9-15) our nation's most liberal newspaper (can't find a thing to report about ACORN) had several related comments, op-eds and observations:

Speeches were made which the authors (By John Cochrane and Luigi Zingales) paraphrase tongue in cheek: "The financial system is about to collapse. We can't tell you why. We need $700 billion. We can't tell you what we're going to do with it." from "Lehman and the financial crisis" "One year, 2 CEO's and $82 billion since the government rescue of AIG, monsters are still rattling in the closet." Dennis K. Berman, "The Game." "At the height of the [housing] boom, just 20% of Universal Lending [Denver] mortgages were backed by FHA, which guarantees loans to borrowers who can't afford big down payments. Today FHA accounts for more than 80% of his business," more government, more paper work, but more sales. It's no longer free enterprise for Peter Lansing. "Today I think of my self as a government contractor. . . Plan B is to sell pencils on the corner." John Helsinrath, "No easy exit." Gee, I hope all those doctors who think a public option is OK for health insurance are paying attention to Mr. Lansing's business.

Keep in mind FHA always had a higher rate of foreclosure, so don't expect that to change, except to climb higher, like your taxes. Also notice that the same non-profits that funnelled people (for a handsome fee skimmed from the government, the agent, the buyer and the lender) into homes they couldn't afford, are now (for a handsome fee) offering foreclosure workshops and tax advice. Meanwhile, yesterday we were treated to the most tepid good economic news by Gregory Zuckman (for rich people who gamble) I think I've ever seen in the Wall Street.

1. Stocks are up nearly 50% since early March. 2. Housing markets are stabilizing. 3. So are auto markets. (Sorry Chrysler dealers and pension plans) 4. Consumer confidence was higher in mid-September than was originally forecast. 5. Labor markets, although grim, are stabilizing. 6. Global trade is rebounding. 7. Durable goods orders are climbing. 8. Core inflation rates are trending lower in many countries. 9. Inflation seems to be under control. 10.Risky bonds are climbing.

Wow. I'm underwhelmed.

If you want to witness a real hate crime

Just go to Google and type in "Hate crimes against women." Personally, I don't think special laws are needed for specific groups--gays, blacks, the elderly, etc. Most black men are killed by other black men; most gays are killed by other gays; most elderly are not abused, but are injured from their own confusion and neglect. Hate crimes are just laws to trip up the white majority--they rarely apply to minorities. But if there were a need for a special kind of law to hang someone twice for the same crime, it should be those against women. We saw the President of the United States jump to the defense of Louis Gates, with no knowledge of the situation, a man who had been locked out of his house and the police called when it appeared to a neighbor that he was trying to break in. We saw him speak out on the death of Tiller an abortionist; and the death of a museum guard. All men. Meanwhile, all over the nation, women were being beat up, raped and murdered, and not a peep from Washington.

Shortly before we left northern Ohio to return home, the local Toledo stations were all reporting the death of a women tied up and weighted down with cement blocks and dropped in a marina. You probably didn't hear about it. I'd call that hate, wouldn't you? Last summer it was the pregnant white Akron mother killed by her black policeman boyfriend, and father of her toddler who witness his mother being shot. No one called that a hate crime. What about the young girl held prisoner in the back yard of her captor, raped and forced to bear his children? Sounds like hate, not lust. Only the bizarre story could bump Michael Jackson off the news for a few minutes. And remember the guy who shot up that exercise class? How many women did he kill? He didn't even know them. But they were women. Now they've found the body of Annie Le, the missing Yale student and bride to be, hidden in the basement of a medical building.

The despicable crimes against the women of Darfur at the UN refugee camp in Chad so far exceed anything that happened at Abu Graib or Gitmo, you can't even put them in the same category. But what gets the headlines? Whatever fits the liberal agenda, and feminism aside, which these days won't even speak out against Muslim oppression for fear of losing their position on the left, crimes against women really aren't important. . . because they are. . .after all. . . just women.

Fix Health Care Policy

Yes, let's. . . Fix Health Care Policy

The Problem. Obama wants to make all the decisions.

The Solution. Individuals and families make the decisions.

America's health care system is one-sixth of the entire economy -- larger than Britain's. Restructuring something that large and complex in one massive bill rammed through Congress is a fool's errand.

Remembering how we got here

Was it just two years ago we woke up to the damage the sub-prime loans and putting people into mortgage products they couldn't possibly pay was going to do to all of us? Usually, I don't search out Wikipedia for answers, but this little paragraph really sums it up nicely. The numbers refer to its footnotes.

The Community Reinvestment Act (or CRA, Pub.L. 95-128, title VIII, 91 Stat. 1147, 12 U.S.C. § 2901 et seq.) is a United States federal law designed to encourage commercial banks and savings associations to meet the needs of borrowers in all segments of their communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.[1][2][3]

Congress passed the Act in 1977 to reduce discriminatory credit practices against low-income neighborhoods, a practice known as redlining.[4][5] The Act requires the appropriate federal financial supervisory agencies to encourage regulated financial institutions to meet the credit needs of the local communities in which they are chartered, consistent with safe and sound operation. (See full text of Act and current regulations.[1] To enforce the statute, federal regulatory agencies examine banking institutions for CRA compliance, and take this information into consideration when approving applications for new bank branches or for mergers or acquisitions.[6]

Reading through it, you see all the intentions were good--by community activists, the FHA, Fannie and Fred, oh, and lookee here

Community groups only slowly organized to take advantage of their right under the Act to complain about law enforcement of the regulations."

So soon banks and lending institutions were being threatened and pushed into unwise credit risks by these "community groups," [who were taking their cut from the applicants.] Hmmm. Now those same groups are threatening Americans who are exposing them--like the film maker in the Baltimore ACORN and Glenn Beck and Fox News. [I don't know if they've intimidated NYT and CNN and broadcast news, but they are certainly quiet.] Time to wake up, folks, You've been scammed big time--the intentions of the Democrats 30 years ago were good (I was one so I know). And the Republicans and business CEOs fell in line and were afraid of being called racists if they resisted. Who could not support a welfare mother or a Latina housekeeper with suspect documentation getting her own home?

Interesting that I got to this article through another article on "Centrally Planned Economies" which used the CRA to show how it's done in America.

English Pronunciation

Last week I was at a local department store attempting to spread some money around to help the economy (I got a lovely one piece, full coverage swim suit for only $6 marked down from $40 and I don't even swim!) and I was behind a good old boy with tattooed arms neck to wrist who was attempting to be pleasant with the Pakistani check out clerk. I didn't understand a word he was saying; and I'm sure she didn't either. When it was my turn, I was tempted to mention it to her, but wasn't sure how much English she knew other than the basics--did you find what you need and sign here.

I noticed OSU has a class that even non-foreign students are allowed to take called

Pronunciation
Understanding English Pronunciation
02 credit hours
"An overview of the English sound system, with emphasis on understanding meaningful distinctions in rhythm, stress, and reductions. In-class practice of listening and speaking skills."

I'm pretty good with accents and dialects, but I have to say, this guy really put me to the test, and I failed. I've taken the on-line pronunciation quizes. Have no idea how authoritative they are, but apparently I'm part Canadian.

Rebuke your representative

if she tries to vote on a formal House rebuke of Joe Wilson. He has already apologized and the President accepted it. Harry Reid and John Murtha have never apologized to anyone for their outrageous speeches and acts, and they never will.

Donations pouring in for Wilson

Politico reports

"A source on Rep. Joe Wilson's campaign says his fundraising has broken $1 million -- and surpassed that of his Democratic rival, Rob Miller -- since his outburst of "You lie!" during President Obama's address to Congress Wednesday.

The source said Wilson's current tally is $1,005,021 from 18,859 donations amid a high-profile campaign on the Drudge Report and elsewhere telling conservatives that Wilson is "under attack" for his willingness to take on Obama.

Wilson, who initially apologized for his words, is now riding a reaction that has surpassed the liberal backlash to his words: Miller has raised less than $900,000, according to the Democratic fundraising site ActBlue -- though still more than enough to envigorate his challenge. [this was updated later to a million for miller]

Still, Wilson's success -- despite having been criticized by Republican leaders -- represents the power of the conservative grassroots to reward politicians who confront the White House in the sharpest terms. Link.

That's a lot of small donations. Want to bet on the big guns donating to Miller like Soros, Move it over, ACLU etc.? Also, if you wish to contribute, I'd use snail mail. The wackos have hacked his site.

Notice Politico's wording and scare quotes. (Liberal site which struggles with fairness) Why is a Drudge Report called high profile, but ALL the MSM supporting Obama isn't? And Reid's calling Bush a liar and loser many times wasn't sharpest terms, but Wilson's spontaneous outburst was?

No trash day

Over at The Lonely conservative there is an interesting photo essay about the lack of trash left by the tea party folks. She has photos of the Obama inauguration compared to the 9/12 tea party. Maybe it's people who walk the talk, (the green-goes have bad manners but talk a good line), or maybe these protesters just bent over during the walk and looked for a trash receptacle. Being primarily conservatives, they've probably figured out tax dollars have to clean up trash. The photos of the trash left after the Obama event were the worst I've ever seen and apparently there wasn't a very timely pick up afterwards. Sort of a foretaste of what would happen to the economy. But just as the media has underestimated the number who attended, they'll probably over estimate the trash problem it created.

We'll try to get a first hand report from Murray when he returns.

Hispanic Pastors respond to ELCA Sexuality statement

"We have received with profound sadness the ELCA Churchwide Assembly decision of passing a Social Statement on Human Sexuality which significantly changes the historical teaching and practice of the Church on Sexuality. We have also read with great disappointment and grave concern the changing of our ministry standards, allowing non-celibate homosexual pastors, associates in ministry, diaconal ministers, and deaconesses to serve as rostered leaders in the ELCA.

We, Hispanic ELCA rostered leaders of the Florida-Bahamas Synod, REPUDIATE these new policies, declaring them to be incompatible with Christian teaching, the tradition of the Christian Church, and our consciences. As Martin Luther did in his own day, we reject the idea that ANY human being, prelate, council, or Assembly, can rightfully vote to invalidate the teachings of Holy Scripture.

It is clear to us that the ELCA has decided to stop recognizing the Authority of the Bible, presenting a different and diluted Gospel not in accordance with the teaching of the Scriptures (Galatians 1:6-10). Therefore, we RENOUNCE the decision of the Churchwide Assembly and will continue to uphold the clear Biblical standards for marriage, family, and sexuality."

From the CORE website

If you haven't been following this painful, long drawn out battle, read "How the ELCA Left the Great Tradition for Liberal Protestantism" at Christianity Today.

Right before the vote on the Social Statement a totally unexpected tornado hit the Minneapolis Conference Center where we were meeting as well as the huge Central Lutheran Church next door, knocking the cross off one of its towers. Orthodox voting members saw the work of God in the tornado's cross-toppling effects and in the vote that passed with a .666 majority. Revisionists noted that the sun came out after the vote. In response the orthodox quipped that the sun comes out almost every day, but rogue tornados are pretty rare!

H1N1 Flu

I've been looking over the suggestions at the Ohio State health site (even has a blog) and the CDC 2009 H1N1 Flu site, and it looks to me that one of the best things you can do is get the regular flu shot, because I don't really see much difference in the list of symptoms. In fact, I see no difference.

•fever greater than 100 degrees
•cough
•sore throat
•body aches
•headache
•chills and fatigue
•respiratory congestion

So if you feel crappy, at least you can partially rule out regular flu, and also, you're not in a weakened condition if exposed to the swine flu. Third, many more people have died from plain old seasonal flu than the H1N1 type. In May 2009 CDC reported "With seasonal flu, we see in the United States over 30 million cases. We see 200,000 hospitalizations and, on average, 36,000 deaths."

Also, I don't think this will help the economy much with people missing work at the first sign of a sniffle and staying home from cultural and sporting events, which in turn hurts restaurants.

I just hate, hate, hate even catching a cold, which for me usually lasts 6 weeks. So I'll really be awful if I get the flu.

And while researching this I came across the sites that think this is a conspiracy between the government and big pharma and I think the WHO (UN) is in that mix someplace. Yawn. Have you noticed evil and sin can never happen or evolve. There always has to be a committee planning it?

History repeats itself

A cartoon from the 1930s (I haven't vetted it, so if it's as phony as an ACORN registration gig, it's still true) seen at The Lonely Conserative The artist in the foreground writes "Spend spend spend, under the guise of recovery. Blame the capitalists." Stalin lurks in the background. There's even some pinkos from Harvard and Columbia enjoying the ride. Yes, change a few names and it is deja vu all over again. FDR managed to extend the Depression about a decade after Hoover's failed policies.

ACORN loses Census account

"ACORN Housing Corporation received $1.6 million to provide housing services to low-income communities in this fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, according to USASpending.gov, a federal government Web site for tracking government grants.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development Grants has given $8.2 million to ACORN in the years between 2003 and 2006, as well as $1.6million to ACORN affiliates.

HUD could not be reached for comment.

The hidden-camera videos, released this week, showed workers in two separate ACORN housing offices apparently helping a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute evade the IRS and apply for an illegal housing loan for a brothel. A 25-year-old independent filmmaker, James O'Keefe, posed as the pimp in the undercover expose, which was conceived by a friend, 20-year-old Hannah Giles, who posed as a prostitute.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the offices shown in the videos had received any of ACORN's federal grant money for housing services.

The Census Bureau notified ACORN on Friday in a letter that it is severing all ties with the group for all work having to do with the 2010 census.

"Over the last several months, through ongoing communication with our regional offices, it is clear that ACORN's affiliation with the 2010 Census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public, has indeed become a distraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 Census efforts," read a letter from Census Director Robert M. Groves to the president of ACORN.

"Unfortunately, we no longer have confidence that our national partnership agreement is being effectively managed through your many local offices. For the reasons stated, we therefore have decided to terminate the partnership," the letter said." (FoxNews.com)

ACORN, not surprisingly, is going to retaliate big time against Fox. After all, exposing the schemes that some very rich white guys think up to fool and scam minorities can get you in a peck o' trouble. When can the rest of us expect the NYT, LATimes, CNN, NBC, etc. to start doing a little homework on the side? Their main job seems to be as campaign hustlers for Obama. Still, it shows a certain shallowness when a saucy story with a pimp, prostitute and underage sex slaves gets Americans more worked up than obvious voter fraud in 2008 which helped elect the president and the corresponding crimes in 2006 and 2007 of luring bad credit risks into homes with sub-prime loans and grabbing big fees.

Geithner's on top of this tax cheat scheme

Sept. 8, 2009 "WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced that the United States and Monaco have signed an agreement to allow for the exchange of information on tax matters between the two countries. The agreement was signed by Deputy Secretary Neal Wolin and Minister Franck Biancheri in Washington.

"This Administration is wholeheartedly committed to combating offshore tax evasion," said Deputy Secretary Wolin. "We are working with countries like Monaco to ensure that the IRS has access to the information that it needs to enforce U.S. tax law. Today's agreement serves as an example for other financial centers around the world and reflects our continued efforts to end the use of offshore accounts as a tool for tax evasion." (Weekly Digest e-mail from U.S. Department of the Treasury) "

What I wrote about Timothy Geithner on January 15

Someone at IRS gave Geithner a pass Go, do not go to jail card, because he was too big to fail. It was the Obama team vetting him that found the error. The IRS let him off the hook. Another too big, too brilliant to fail, Washington insider. When will we learn? We are about to have a tax crook as head of Treasury!

There was plenty of information for Geithner to correct his own mistakes--no special laws needed--even very low level employees paid by international organizations knew what to do with that reimbursement money. But because of his position with the fed, he was above the law. So how has his appointment helped our economy?

Is there a double standard based on race? Van Jones has to go because he's a loud mouth paranoid bigot, but the white guy crook with good manners gets to be a member of the inner circle?

Forget Maytag

When we moved here in 2002 I bought a matching washer and dryer--I'd never had a matched set. My older models used to last 15-20 years, but they'd wear out on a different schedule. I'm about to go back to a mismatch. My Maytag dryer, which has been a constant frustration for seven years because it balls the clothes instead of fluff, needs a new motor, according to the repair man, to whom I gave $35 just to come and look at it. We thought it was the timer-switch, and even that was going to be about $150 with labor, but the motor is much more expensive, both in parts and labor. What a piece of crap. The repairman said he bought a rebuilt Maytag about 15 years ago, and now at 30, it's still going strong, but the new ones aren't worth piddle.

Anyone have a recent model (not Maytag) they'd recommend? The washer squeals when stopping after spin cycle, so maybe I should just start over with one of those efficient models. I have a CD coming due, and that's certainly not worth reinvesting, so maybe that's the route to go.


I'm not sure of the date of this photo, but I think it's about 1953, and my mother had her first automatic washer and dryer. Before that she used a wringer washer and we either hung the clothes in the basement (which I've been doing this week), or outside if the weather was good. These were in the downstairs 1/2 bath which in an earlier era, was a porch to the back yard, so this bathroom had four doors, one to the kitchen, one to Dad's office, one to the outside, and one to the basement. My mother was about 40-41 in the photo.

Do leftists know people are employed in the food industry?

The food industry--agribusiness, processors, packagers, designers, marketers, chemistists, nutritionists, magazine writers, etc.--will continue to be under attack by the left as we inch our way through the health care mess. Diabetes, cardiovascular problems--it's all the fault of evil capitalism, not our genes, not our personal choices.

Here's an item from today's paper that will thrill Michael Pollan. Even by suggesting in his editorial that the food industry is the next target of the Obama surrogates, he's probably killed investment.

"Marzetti Pfeiffer foods plant is to close in western New York putting 150 people out of work." Link

Oh look. The announcement came on 9/11--maybe the President could find volunteer jobs for all those people in Wilson, NY.

Back to the gardens and kitchens ladies! Drop those brief cases and get out the aprons. It's your patriotic duty.

Dear Ted Celeste

You are a nice guy. I think you are one of the few democrats I voted for. But really, today's editorial on civility was a bit one sided. One Republican yelled out in a fit of righteous anger, "You Lie," to a President who was lying to Congress and the American people, and you just fall apart. The only items you listed were failings of the Republicans. That's odd. Listen to these NO's and Boo's during Bush's important (and truthful) speech on Social Security, when Democrats were the minority party, before 2006 when they set in concrete really rude behavior--like Barney Frank's imitation of Joe McCarthy, or confirming tax cheats like Timothy Geithner and wackos like Cass Sunstein who perform as Obama surrogates.

You suggest people look in the mirror, and Ted, that's an excellent idea, especially for Democrats with a poor memory, and those who worry about "birthers" on the right but ignore "truthers" on the left, even appointing them to influential offices within government where they can continue their paranoid hate in comfort.

Bag Lady in suburbia

Bag lady you gone hurt your back
Draggin all them bags like that
I guess nobody ever told you
All you must hold on to
Is you, is you, is you

One day all them bags gone get in
You way (x4)

So pack light (x4)
Bag Lady sung by Erykah Badu


I saw a young, slender attractive "bag lady" in the coffee shop--don't know what else to call her. She had 4 or 5 large bags outside next to the window so she could keep and eye on them, and inside she was sorting compulsively through smaller bags, wallets, boxes, etc. She was dressed for cool weather. I remember seeing her about 5 or 6 years ago at Caribou when unemployment in Ohio was under 5%, so I don't think the current Obama economy is the cause of her condition. She's probably eligible for numerous programs, especially if she's disabled because of mental illness, but perhaps in her mind the social workers just want to entrap her. Or maybe she just lives in the neighborhood and enjoys carrying her worldly possessions with her. Over the years, I've seen several mentally ill regulars at local coffee shops. Once I saw one attack the manager, and he was even with his care taker, so when I see him I usually go to a different store.

Where's the splashy headlines about this killing?

On A6 of the Columbus Dispatch I read about the murder of a Michigan man--an abortion protester. The killer, according to the news account, didn't like the activist holding a sign with graphic images of a fetus in front of students. So he shot the guy in front of the students--I suppose in his twisted mind, that wouldn't disturb them. The killer then went to a business and shot another man, and was on his way to kill a third, when he was shot by the police. Apparently he wasn't a minority, because there was no mention of an investigation of the police killing an armed and dangerous man. But also, the press and the president haven't taken much notice. Remember back in May?

"The killing of abortion doctor George Tiller, who was fatally shot in his Kansas church Sunday morning, drew a flood of denunciations from President Obama along with liberal and conservative lawmakers and abortion rights groups and abortion foes. The murder occupied front pages and led news broadcasts for nearly three days."

At the same time an army recruiter William Long was killed and Quinton Ezeagwula wounded by a Muslim terrorist (homegrown) but Obama, the men's Commander in Chief, didn't even blink. Attorney General Eric Holder called for protection of abortion clinics, but ignored the killing of a U.S. soldier and ignores the attacks against U.S. military facilities since 9/11.

Some lives, matter, some don't. Abortionists and terrorists get a pass during this administration.

Julia and Michael

Recently at Lakeside's Orchestra Hall (only movie theater in Ottawa County) I enjoyed Julie and Julia, which is not just about cooking, but also marriage and blogging. It's rare you'll ever see a movie about happily married people, but this be one! So it also launched Michael Pollan, who wants the government in your kitchen, pantry and shopping list, to comment on what overstuffed pigs we all are and why after Obama takes over 1/6 of the economy with his healthcare grab he should start in on the food industry. His book was also featured in the Public Library of Cincinnati moving slide feature (which moves way too fast for my reading level).

"The imminent release of Julie & Julia has so far launched about 5,000 articles, and this weekend, Michael Pollan will bring us one more. The film has inspired Pollan to pen over 8,000 words in The New York Times Magazine about, among other thing, the rise of cooking as a spectator sport, the decline of home-cooked meals, the evils of the processed food industry, and the brilliance of Meryl Streep.

As for whether Americans can reverse the trend that's taken us away from the kitchen and towards permanent posterior indentations on the couch, one food-marketing researcher Pollan interviews isn't optimistic: "We're all looking for someone else to cook for us. The next American cook is going to be the supermarket. Takeout from the supermarket, that's the future. All we need now is the drive-through supermarket."" The village voice

I just love being able to walk two blocks at Lakeside to the Farmer's Market, but I've read enough of 19th and early 20th c. women's magazines to know that eventually the greenies and the feminists are going to be butting heads. No one embraced the processed food industry more than the women who had sweated in the sun digging potatoes, drowning bugs, canning tomatoes and meat from the butchered stock, (I gag even remembering the texture and taste of home canned meat) and selling their eggs to put junior through school. Yes, we certainly don't need 14 versions of the Ritz cracker, nor do we need the federal government telling us what to eat.

The health care bill is just the first step says Pollan who lives and performs in Berkeley. You can expect more government control after this one is done.

"All of which suggests that passing a health care reform bill, no matter how ambitious, is only the first step in solving our health care crisis. To keep from bankrupting ourselves, we will then have to get to work on improving our health — which means going to work on the American way of eating." His NYT op ed

It is always the dream of the liberal to find that next big thing--like purifying water which totally changed life expectancy in this country, or spraying mosquitoes with DDT which rid us of the scourge of malaria, or small pox vaccines, or the polio vaccine (needed because we cleaned up the water supply), or TB screening tests. I don't think changing our diets will be that, but they'll try any way, some in good faith, others for the power over our lives.

Mary Jo (my rep), asleep at the switch

Stammering cliches, garbled platitudes, lies about wellness savings. Is this what the rest of you are getting from your representatives?

OSU Library renovation declared Stupendous

It's considered a success. Link with photos. I haven't seen it yet.

New magazine, Cesar's Way

Today I bought a copy of Cesar’s Way, a first issue journal, for my collection. It promotes the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, a program I’ve watched a few times on cable. Until I glanced through it, I didn’t realize he had such a love affair with pit pulls. They are everywhere in this magazine. The photo that really disturbed me was on p. 19: Halle Berry in Miami Beach playing with a neighbor’s dog--a pit bull. The toddler in the photo appears to be her daughter, but children shouldn’t be encouraged to play with strange dogs. ALL DOGS WILL BITE--they especially will bite children whose actions they don’t understand or which appear threatening to them. If Cesar has pit bulls and trusts them, fine, but this magazine encourages their selection as pets for families, and that's dangerous for your neighborhood.

According to the Examiner.com, only Ohio has a breed specific dog law singling out pit bulls, and it is considering legislation (H.B. 79) that would keep them from being labeled inherently vicious. But in Lucas County (Toledo) where Ohio State Representative Barbara Sears, who is from suburban Toledo, introduced the bill, over 1350 pit bulls were picked up in 2007.

According to DVM360.com, other states are considering breed specific bills. In Montana, House Bill 191 seeks to prohibit the ownership, harboring, or keeping of dogs described as pit bulls. The legislation considers pit bulls to include Staffordshire Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers and "any dog that has the physical characteristics of a pit bull.

In Oregon, H.B. 2852, introduced in March, would require pit bull owners to have $1 million in insurance to cover any economic or non-economic damages that result from physical injury or any damage their dog causes to personal or real property. Of course, what insurance company would do that?

Hawaii Senate Bill 79 would prohibit the ownership, possession or sale of pit bulls in the state.

A New Mexico bill introduced in February would have automatically labeled pit bulls and Rottweilers as dangerous. Under current law there, any owner of a dog deemed to be dangerous must be spayed or neutered, microchipped and registered each year.

Many dog shelters are overrun with pit bulls. Nice pit bulls exist, says Sharon Harmon, Oregon Humane Society executive director, but "you can't escape the fact that it's a dog bred to kill."

They called Bush a liar and terrorized our soldiers with rumors

So will they stand up and apologize on the floor? No, of course not, because the biggest hypocrites in the world are the Democrats in Congress. They want Joe Wilson to apologize again for saying, "You lie." Obama was lying practically every other sentence. Who's going to make him apologize to the people? And hasn't the President used this as a wonderful teachable moment--blaming all the vitriol on the other side and not himself?

"Mr. Obama then turned to use Wilson as something of an example – making this a teachable moment, perhaps – saying that “we have to get to the point where we can have a conversation about big, important issues that matter to the American people without vitriol, without name- . . ."

Oh gag! Hot Air said it best

"That’s why you farm out the rhetoric about “evil-mongers” and “political terrorists” to halfwits like Harry Reid and Democrats in the House instead of dirtying those dainty hands of yours. But as painful as the vitriol might be to your tender Hopenchangey heart, you never open your mouth to specifically rebuke your own side, do you? A wise man once had something to say about presidents who don’t keep their surrogates in line, but never mind, I guess. Enjoy the lecture from Captain Civility."

I've been pulling weeds today on my walk. There are many, but I've selected just one--don't know its name. Small single root, with tiny leaves, and it branches out and spreads like crazy, killing everything around it; and loves the heat of the curbs. If you can find the root and give it a yank, the whole thing--about 2' in circumference--comes up. I've christened it "Obamacare."

The Wisdom of Sarah Palin

"Ezekiel Emanuel is upset. The president's health care czar sees the growing resistance to his vision, to his brave new world of government-run "communitarian" health care in which politicians and bureaucrats control one-sixth of the economy and 100% of our bodies. He doesn't quite understand how it all came apart on him, but he does know who started the unraveling: Sarah Palin. . .

Sarah Palin had done the unthinkable. She had read the health care bill. Mainstream journalists hadn't read the bill. Congress hadn't read its own bill. But Sarah Palin did. Sarah Palin! He has a medical degree and doctorate in political philosophy from Harvard. The only Harvard she's knows is the chunk of ice off Prince William Sound, Harvard Glacier.

Then she writes something on Facebook -- Facebook, for Obama's sake! -- and suddenly the president, congress, the media, and everyone who is anyone inside the beltway is scurrying for cover. Palin wrote that she wanted nothing to do with Obama's "death panel," the collection of bureaucrats who Zeke was so proudly putting together to assess the "level of productivity" that would determine individual access to medical care. . .

No, Zeke believes that those who know better, who understand morality, should make decisions for those less able to do so. Like Sarah Palin. Like Trig. Like your grandma. And this is because he cares. Just ask him." Read the whole article; this woman makes me proud!

HT Pat in North Carolina, another senior blogger paying attention

What we can learn from the plight of Pakistan’s Hindus

Will Obama be honoring them on one of their holy days?

Hugh’s comments on Jihad Watch

The percentage of Pakistan's population that is Hindu has gone from 15% at partition to 1.5% today. The percentage of Bangladesh's population that is Hindu has gone since partition from 35% to 8%. Meanwhile, the percentage of Muslims in the population of India has gone steadily up. The same kind of thing can be seen everywhere where significant non-Muslim minorities have existed. The percentage of Christians -- Copts, Maronites, Assyrians and Chaldenas, in the total population of Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq -- has gone steadily down. The same is true in North Africa, where after the French left, the screws were turned on the Christians who remained. As for the Jews, they were subject to so many attacks that the Arab lands emptied out of them, and in Iran, when the Shah fell, and under Khomeini Islam returned with a vengeance and legal (and informal) protections for Jews as for Baha'is and Christians ended, the Jewish population went way down It is the same everywhere in the Muslim-ruled lands.

Meanwhile, in Western Europe, every European country opened itself to Muslim immigrants, offered them every conceivable benefit generous welfare states could offer, and whose non-Muslim taxpayers funded. Free medical care at the Western level, free education, free or heavily subsidized housing, family allowances (and Muslims have large families), and so on, and by now there may be 20 million Muslims in Western Europe, the historic victim of Muslim attacks (in East and in West, from Poitiers to Vienna), either by armies, or by ships with Muslim raiders who for many centuries ravaged the coasts of the non-Muslim lands, even going so far as Ireland and, once, Iceland. About 1.25 million non-Muslims were kidnapped by Muslims from Western Europe. In the East, among the Circassians and Georgians, and the Slavs, there were similar Muslim raids, and seizure and then enslavement of men, women, children.

Is there nothing to be learned from this? Does the Western world, or those in it who presume to protect us, not have a duty to know this history, both in the distant and in the recent past, and to draw some conclusions from it?

Phyllis Chesler writes

“. . . the fact that I support America and Israel and oppose Islamic jihad and Islamic gender and religious apartheid means that my reputation as a feminist–and the work done by conservatives on behalf of women–must be either demonized or disappeared.”

Read her views on Muslims, women, sex slavery, battered women, religion, Israel and conservatism at Pajamas Media, Chesler Chronicles.

Medical news Obama can use to ration or change health care

Nearly 50,000 older adults are treated for injuries related to falls involving a walker or cane each year in the USA.

Cancer drugs that produce only a marginal survival benefit are much too expensive. The NIH and the NCI are urging limits on the use and pricing of such drugs.

There have been reports of impaired renal function in people taking a once-yearly infusion of zoledronic acid for the treatment of osteoporosis and Paget disease.

Removal of organs from the dead donor is the norm in the West, but internationally, that's not the case.

Diet and exercise intervention in older, long-term survivors of colorectal, breast, and prostate cancer can reduce functional decline.

"Obama has to provide strong reasons for the average individual in our society for wanting to embrace health reform," said MSU Medical Ethics Professor Dr. Leonard M. Fleck. Fleck advocates in his writings the theories of John Rawls (Karl Marx lite).

Every year in the USA tens of millions of prescriptions are dispensed and billions are spent for antithrombotic medications and acid-suppressing drugs. Elderly patients can be at risk from prolonged use.

Past use of hormone therapy with estrogen plus progestin increases the risk of dying from non-small cell lung cancer for women who develop the disease. Especially for smokers.

Thousands of veterans may have been exposed to contaminated endoscopic equipment (hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV).

Three health insurance companies CEOs were grilled by Congress about rescission if the information supplied at application is inaccurate or misleading (cancelling coverage of policyholders). The committee noted it is legal, but unfair, so they smacked them anyway.

Bottled water and tap water are regulated by 2 different government entities. Requirements for bottled water (FDA) are less stringent than tap (EPA).

There are 2.8 million new cases of chlamydia each year, about half in females aged 15-25. The solution seems to be more screening, not responsible behavior or education. Certainly not chastity pledges!

The Mediterranean-type diet has been associated with healthful outcomes including reduced risk of cariovascular disease, cancer, and mortality, and more recently with cognition. Mid-life obesity, diabetes and hypertension are risk factors for late-life dementia and influenced by diet.

The most common reason for referral to adult protective services by "first responders" required through Title XX of the Social Security Act, is self-neglect, not abuse by a care giver (4 to 1). Society and the health care system have failed the most vulnerable older adults. While we look for evidence and solutions, we must act NOW!

Women physicians who travelled to Chad (Africa) heard stories of women living in Farchana Camp (UN) of rape, torture, beatings and stigma after fleeing genocide in Darfur at the hands of the Sudanese Army and Janjaweed militiamen (Arab Muslim against black Muslim). The American researchers themselves were in great danger during their time in Africa.

The increase in drug-related homicides in Mexico (400 a month) is a result of the Mexican government's crackdown on drug trafficking organizations, but it's really the fault of the demand in the US, not the supply in Mexico.

Although they can't find any evidence of health benefits for "intimate partner violence" screening, it should be implemented and rigorously tested anyway. It's the thought that counts. And the grant money.

All stories taken from JAMA August 2009 issues.

The Madison Miracle

As you probably know if you live in the midwest, Madison, Wisconsin is our most left leaning city. Detractors sometimes called it the "People's Republic of Madison," or "The left coast of the midwest" and it is the home of "The Progressive." I've only been there once or twice, and so I'm just passing along rumors about its reputation. Personal observation here. A recent issue of JAMA had an interesting CDC study on Dane County (Madison) on the the Infant Mortality Gap. JAMA itself is editorially a very liberal journal (with almost all the advertising from pharmaceutical companies), so it's important to remember that "gap" is the key word here--it's what liberals care most about--especially academicians and researchers paid by government grants. Never the individual, or even the group, but the GAP. It doesn't matter one bit if a second generation Hispanic family lives in a home with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 3 color TV sets, and a 2 car garage, because if a 5th generation white family has 6 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 4 HDTV sets, and a 3 car garage, you have a terrible gap problem that only demonstrates the evils of free market capitalism.

Well, somehow, the Infant Mortality Gap has disappeared in Dane County, and they can't figure out why--obviously, someone has miscalculated, because this just can't happen, not even in liberal Madison. I was a little puzzled too, reading through the stats

Of a population of 472,000 in 2007, only 4.8% is black

black women giving birth in Dane County have a median household income of $28,103 compared to white women giving birth with a household income of $50,927

77% of the black women giving birth are unmarried, compared to 19% of the white women (That ought to clear up the household income problem, right? Two incomes instead of one--duh!)

71% of the black women giving birth in Dane County have a high school diploma or less versus 21% of the white women (This is a very awkward way to say the white women are more likely to be college educated--the University of Wisconsin is located there.)

and

62% of the black mothers are on Medicaid, but only 13% of the white mothers in Dane County.

Despite poverty ($28,103 is called poverty in this study), out of wedlock births, and incomplete education, the gap has disappeared. So they're looking for all sorts of possibilities since 2002, the first year of the decline--increase in graduation rate, reduction in smoking, improved prenatal care, better record keeping, broader health insurance coverage, targeted public health programs, better neighborhood safety, advocacy for black women and their families and other variables. For now it will remain a mystery, because anything good that happened during the Bush Administration will have to be debunked, especially in Madison.

Personality development in adulthood

Most of this research sounds like common sense. I remember my pediatrician reminding me that children are born with their personalities, same as eye color, intelligence, athleticism, etc. Check the webpage of Brent W. Roberts, University of Illinois, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, who was featured in the last U of I LAS News.

Highlights of Recent Findings of Brent W. Roberts

Personality traits predict mortality, divorce, and occupational attainment as well as, if not better than socioeconomic status and cognitive ability (Roberts, Kuncel, Shiner, Caspi, & Goldberg, in press).

Personality traits continue to change in middle and old age (Roberts, Helson, & Klohnen, 2002; Roberts, Walton, & Viechtbauer, 2006). Specifically, people become more socially dominant, conscientious, and emotionally stable as they age.

People who are engage in counterproductive work behaviors (e.g., fighting, stealing, malingering) become more more alienated and less controlled than people who do not engage in counterproductive work behaviors (Roberts, Bogg, Walton, & Caspi, 2006).

People who become more involved in work and stay in stable marriages increase on measures of conscientiousness over time (Roberts, Caspi, & Moffitt, 2003; Roberts & Bogg, 2004).

People change their perception of their environment more than they change their self-perceptions over time (Harms, Roberts & Winter, 2006).

Goals for investments in work and marriage are related to increases in agreeableness and conscientiousness in college (Roberts, O'Donnell, & Robins, 2004)

People who are more conscientious avoid most of the risky behaviors that lead to premature mortality and participate in the positive health behaviors associated with longevity (Bogg & Roberts, 2004).

Glenn Beck and ACORN

Yesterday on both the radio and TV shows, Glenn Beck played a tape of an interview at a Baltimore ACORN program that assists people applying for government subsidies for mortgages, helps with tax problems, and other assorted problems. A tour of the beautifully designed ACORN-ilk websites which lured unqualified people into sub-prime mortgages with government kick-back loans, to then running foreclosure workshops (all with government grants), or to borrowing government money to fix up the damaged home they helped them buy are disgusting. ACORN takes their cut at every level. Membership fees isn't how ACORN makes its money or pays its staff.

Yes, the Beck information was shocking, but not more important than the health care scam or cap and trade or automobile take over or the McCarthy-worthy interrogation that Barney Frank put on a few months ago.

Whether you love or hate ACORN, every smarmy act by the Baltimore ACORN staff could be explained.

For those who love ACORN, it could be (and the one you'll hear the most), 1) it's just one bad apple, these people do fine work; 2) it was all staged; 3) legally a prostitute only has to report the income, and all the ACORN tax advice was correct; 4) the ACORN workers were not being judgemental and that's the most important value in today's world (work in a phrase from the Bible here if possible); 5) and then ACORN apologists will segue to Christian, Jewish or other faith based organizations who have made similar "mistakes." They'll for sure bring up scandals they've read about priests. Maybe some witch burning in American history--that's always good. Or homosexual evangelical pastors visiting male prostitutes, etc. It's key to remember that for the left, hypocrisy (not sex slavery of children, not laundered money, not lying), is the most evil of all sin. And that part about the illegal, under-age prostitution ring the mortgage applicants were going to use the house for? Well, that's all open to interpretation, and Media watch dogs and fact checkers on the left will parse that tape to shreds, and close their eyes and ears.

And if you think ACORN is evil, the spawn of Satan, and this tape just proves it, you'd better look at the "laundered" government grant money your own organization gets, because the federal government has been taking more and more power from the local level through laws and regulations for decades, then to support those programs it taxes us, then it turns around and passes that money back to the local jurisdictions, states, non-profits, universities, think-tanks, foundations, churches, and political groups like ACORN, to do the "work of the people." (There's a sidewalk going in on our street and I'm betting it's your stimulus money.)

President Bush's administration was extremely careless with oversite of outsourced government programs, and fertilized the dirt in which the little acorn has grown to a huge tree with deep roots and wide branches. Remember, before Obama, no president had spent more on social engineering programs than Dubya, especially in education. Obama has left him in the dust with his trillions compared to Bush's billions.

The crime Beck exposed (although it wasn't his tape or his investigation) isn't the corruption, like he claimed. There were plenty of YouTube videos of ACORN stealing votes and bussing voters across Ohio's state lines during the 2008 campaign, and we just let that go. ACORN helped elect Obama, so nothing will come of this tape. It's the routine usurption of our rights and stealing our money that has been going on for decades through many administrations that is the big crime.

If conservatives try to make ACORN the whipping boy for problems that go back to Wilson and Roosevelt and probably before, this mess will never be cleaned up and we should never, never again go into a foreign war to aid a 2nd or 3rd world country in becoming a democracy, because we don't do so great at representative government ourselves.