A sadness too big to measure

I was delighted to run into my old art class buddy at the book shop today. The class dissolved about 3 years ago, and so the three of us who used to go to lunch together, or enjoy an occasional afternoon movie or art show, had lost touch. After the hug--No, she wasn't painting anymore, Yes, her husband was doing better, and did I know her 52 year old daughter died this summer. I almost couldn't catch my breath. They were preparing to go spend a few days with her, to provide transportation to and from surgery, and keep her company, and then got the call. Irregular heart rate--I think she'd been scheduled for an ablation. My friend had returned to the central Ohio area over 30 years ago to care for her own mother, and I think she had some comfort as she entered her 80s that her daughter was just in the next state. Now it's the numbing grief plus the insecurity. All the whys and what ifs. They will be moving to Pennsylvania to be nearer their son.

Fast and fluttery are more serious than slow. If like me, you've always had an irregular heart rate (shortness of breath, fatigue, dizziness and lightheadedness), and you've learned to live with it, or just wait till it goes away, it's not a heart attack you need to fear, but a stroke. I'm always surprised when I read that A-fib is not life threatening; it certainly was for my friend's daughter. When the rhythym is restored and the electrical charge reconnects, there may be a clot waiting to be pushed through.

This chance encounter today was a kick in the pants for me to have mine checked again. Technically, my ablation didn't work--all the pulmonary veins around my heart had been doing it wrong so long, they just ignored the fact that the extra circuit was dead and gone. It's time to stick that 30-day monitor back on. Yuk.

Do what you can; let God do what you can't

That's what Blake Haxton said, a Freshman at OSU this fall who had both legs amputated in the spring.

Blake Haxton's story is amazing. In the spring his legs were amputated to save him from necrotizing fasciitis (flesh eating bacteria); he was not expected to live. His doctor said he'd never seen anyone that sick who had survived. Although the Haxtons were not members of our church, many days our whole community was praying for him and his family because teens in our community knew him through school and sports. His father has a journal at The Caring Bridge, and on Sept. 23 reported that Blake had entered OSU as a Freshman. The faith of the family has been an inspiration to all.

I haven't been able to embed it, but here's an Interview with Blake's Dad.

Who are the Ohio uninsured?

Today I saw a statistic at a progressive site that reported 1.3 million adults and children in Ohio don't have health insurance. Notice--that's people, not citizens. And if Ohio does have about 11.5 million people that's about 10%. A very small number for which to upend what we have by ramming health care bills down our throats which our Congress and Senate seem unable to read or explain. Just this morning I was listening to a report about a committee where it was just roughed in--no details, no CBO report, but would be added to the mix. So I looked a few minutes and found this report from Buckeye Institute written in mid-2007 which begins with the media depiction of poor people without insurance. The writer doesn't even address the illegals we have in Ohio. It's a bit wordy, but addresses the key points: 1) within the uninsured stats, are those uninsured for only a few months; 2) some who have incomes that could afford it chose not to carry insurance; 3) young adults, the healthiest segment, have high uninsured rates (and in my opinion are naive, but that's another blog); many poor are eligible for gov't programs, but don't sign up.

“While there are certainly a good number of poor people among the uninsured, what is left largely unexplored is the fact that a large portion of the uninsured choose to go without insurance. And, in fact, it is likely that a majority of the uninsured are only uninsured for a few months. The people who choose to go without insurance or who are between insurance plans do not fit the media stereotype, but they fill the ranks of the uninsured in far greater numbers than do the families living in poverty who want insurance but cannot afford it.

Who would choose to go without insurance? The simple answer is that those who do not see a value in health insurance choose to forgo purchasing a policy. People who are in good health and do not see any reason to pay a monthly premium for a policy they are unlikely to use may make a choice to use their money elsewhere. Young adults in Ohio, the healthiest segment of the population, are uninsured at rates over twice as high as other segments of the population.

People with money also choose to forgo insurance. Almost one-third of Ohioans who are uninsured make incomes at twice the federal poverty level. Sixteen percent of the uninsured have incomes at three hundred percent of the federal poverty level. It is likely that the vast majority of these people, if they really wanted insurance, could afford it.

Surprisingly, the poor also choose to go without insurance. In Ohio, the state offers Medicaid to any child living in a family below 200% of the federal poverty level. Many families choose not to sign up for this program, however. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, roughly 71% of Ohio's uninsured children are eligible for Medicaid but are not signed up for the program. The Governor is using the large number of uninsured children in the state to push for an expansion of Medicaid. As these numbers clearly show, though, most of the children are already eligible for Medicaid, they are just not using it.

The problem of current plan (Obamacare) is addressed at this article on the folly of expansion.

Blogs coming and going

Today I've taken down links to Doyle and Gekko, both of whom I met on Usenet about 14 years ago. Don't know if they have stopped blogging, or changed URLs and didn't let me know, but they're gone. I added Dana from Chicago who has an interesting cooking site with nutrition fun facts, and Mary Baker, one of the moms who appeared on Glenn Beck this week (there were 3 with blogs, but I didn't catch the others' URLs), and Thifty Rebecca, who seems to have about as many blogs as I do, but this is the one to which I'll link. I occasionally shop at Thrifts, but she's really good at the accessorizing. I just never got into wearing jewelry, belts, cute shoes, etc. but I can see that makes a difference. A few rings and the occasional pin is about it for me. No ear lobes to speak of (although they do grow with age) and the necklaces make my skin itch. I added Namaste a few weeks ago.

Please visit my new links and say hello.

Obama's War on the Economy

He may not be following through on his campaign promises about Afghanistan, but if you look back on his 2-3 years of campaigning for the presidency, his war on the economy is going well. Just look at the September job figures. Some of you aren't old enough to remember the transition from the Carter economy to the Reagan economy. The press really lambasted Reagan for not pulling us out sooner with his tax cuts from the disastrous Carter years (Carter can't be blamed, however, for the millions of women who rushed into the workforce in the 70s). Even when the economy recovered, they were critical of Reagan. For Obama, it's just warm fuzzies, and happy reporting on the jobs that haven't been lost. That's also why they are so careful to say the economy is the "worst in 26 years" because that makes it 1983 rather than 1980 or 81. And Obama just continues to blame Bush--for everything--Burris (D-IL) even blamed Bush for Chicago losing out to Rio, rather than acknowledging that Obama's constant denigration of the U.S. plays well in Europe even if his narcissism doesn't.

And most of us don't remember the Great Depression, but if you're my age, you certainly heard your parents talk about it. Obama's using FDR's playbook (with Saul Alinsky updates and Rahm Emanuel's advice for using a crisis to your advantage).

". . . during the Great Depression, the Statists successfully launched a counterrevolution that radically and fundamentally altered the nature of American society. President Franklin Roosevelt and an overwhelmingly Democratic congress, through an array of federal projects, entitlements, taxes, and regulations known as the New Deal, breached the Constitution's firewalls." In those days, Roosevelt used the Supreme Court (first packed it, then replaced retirees with those who believed as he did) to limit the freedom of Americans, as administrative agencies were created "at a dizzying pace, increasing [the government's] control over economic activity and, hence, individual liberty.

[the federal government] used taxation not merely to fund constitutionally legitimate governmental activities, but also to redistribute wealth, finance welfare programs, set prices and production limits, create huge public works programs, and establish pension and unemployment programs. Roosevelt used his new power to expand political alliances and create electoral constituencies--unions, farmers, senior citizens, and ethnic groups. From this era forward, the Democratic Party and the federal government would become inextricably intertwined, and the Democratic Party would become as dependent on federal power for its sustenance as the governmental dependents it would create. . . Ironically, industrial expansion resulting from WWII eventually ended the Great Depression, not the New Deal." (Mark R. Levin, Liberty and tyranny, Threshold Editions, 2009, pp. 6-7)

So if FDR is any model, don't expect recovery to the levels of the Bush years anytime soon. We're already in a war, so that won't help the economy; we now have a government "packed" with regulatory czars which has further diminished the power of the courts and Congress; we already know the stimulus package (ARRA) hasn't done a thing; plus people of my generation and younger, have been raised to wait for the government to do something, an attitude our parents and grandparents didn't have. Even the seniors objecting to the healthcare take-over and showing up at tea parties don't seem to grasp what Medicare is--only that even with all the fraud, graft and waste, it seems to be working for them.

During the last 30 years the government has "out-sourced" billions to non-profits and private "partnerships" rather than appear as it really is . . . bloated. . . and increasingly, non-profit is just another word for Democrat. The ACORN mortgage agencies (variety of names) "help" is a perfect example--they put the people into the mortgages with government help, and now are running the foreclosure workshops with government grants to help them refinance. Sweet deal.

This will be his most successful war.

It’s not America anymore

Black Cop: "If I told you once to take [poster with Obama-as-Joker] down and you put it back up then I can charge you with whatever I want to charge you with, okay?" [snip]

White Male Protester: "This used to be America."

Black Cop: "Well it ain't no mo', okay?"



Maybe the President could invite them over for a beer--this sounds a lot more serious that what happened to Gates.

HT Baldilocks

On treating the uninsured

Linda Halderman MD sees a lot of women in her rural practice--some without insurance are subsidized by the cash payments of the esthetics clients.

"Upon questioning Sherry S., a pretty 46-year-old seeking wrinkle relief, I learned that four of her immediate family members had been diagnosed with breast or colon cancer before the age of 50. Alarmed, I asked why she had not had the recommended screening mammogram for more than four years.


She said that she knew already that her risk for developing breast cancer was likely higher than that of most women.

"But I don't have insurance," she replied.

A screening mammogram could be obtained for about $90 and was discounted or free at local facilities every October for "Breast Cancer Awareness Month."

She smiled when I proposed a deal: if she were to get a screening mammogram within sixty days of her treatment, I would offer a discount on what she paid me for cosmetic services.

"I'll think about it," she said, then shelled out over $400 for BotoxTM injections that took me ten minutes to administer.

Five months later, when she returned for her next wrinkle treatment, she reported that she still had not obtained a mammogram."

Read her observations on those who don't have insurance.

Karen starts a business

At her blog, Some have hats, she explains it:

So by the end of the month, Chris and I will own a small (very small) business. A friend asked me if we'll be hiring and I laughed the Big Laugh. We will not be doing any firing either. We will be working. Those jobs that usually go to college kids? We'll be doing them. The jobs that go to people who have families to feed? We'll be doing them, too. Because we've got kids to feed and the business is only breaking even.

Now, we're going to work very hard to try to make the business profitable, but in the present economy ... with unemployment numbers continuing to rise ... it's going to be hard to find people with money to spend. So, no we will not be hiring.

You know why else? Because the Tyrant-in-Chief is going to sock us with a penalty if we don't provide health care for our employees. Here's some simple math: business is breaking even. We (a) provide health care for new employees or (b) get socked with a penalty ... then business is losing money. Soon, we'd have to fire the skeletal staff we have. Which means -- are you with me so far -- the unemployment figures go up even higher.

I have all sorts of ideas for how to expand the business, which would mean we could hire some of the many unemployed people, but if we expand enough to make a significant profit, we'll find ourself in the "spread the wealth" tax bracket, wherein we'd probably make about the same amount of money that we would if we did much less work. (Who is John Galt?) You can read the rest of the story at Some have hats.

Do babies matter in academia?

Here’s the rationale behind the class for National Work and Family Month at Ohio State.

The career aspirations and trajectories of men and women PhDs diverge strongly in academic institutions, with men over-represented in the professoriate and women over-represented in non-tenure-track teaching, administrative, and support positions. Mason's research links those differing trajectories to family constraints, and suggests ways that institutions of higher learning can evolve to retain faculty and staff talent, and provide satisfying work opportunities for everyone.

What is this really saying? That if a woman (or man) choses to limit her career or job “aspiration” to aspire to be a hands on Mom or Dad instead of dropping the kid at day-care or grandma’s, then that’s a trajectory, or a constraint, that suggests Ohio State needs to do something.

I returned to work in the late 1970s and found OSU quite friendly for part-timers like me, and I enjoyed sampling a number of different positions until I found a fabulous, full time, tenure-track position in the Veternary Medicine Library. Nothing I did between 1977 and 1983 was wasted--I used it all.

This isn't the 1950s. When women don't move up in academe, it's probably for the same reasons that men of similar training and qualifications don't.

• Department politics.
• Failure to relocate.
• Poor selection of a specialty.
• Personality.
• Lack of desire to make the personal sacrifices.
• Poor networking.
• Lack of social skills.
• Little desire for either administration positions or required research.
• Family responsibilities are more interesting or more demanding.
• Poor publication record.
• Substance abuse or other health problems.

Letterman's liaisons with staff revealed

Nothing will happen to Letterman, but the extortionist (also CBS employee) will probably go to jail. Letterman will continue in his job as late night molder of the culture and character of Americans with off color jokes and hypocrisy.

Update: This story in WaPo contains zero editorializing--something I've never seen in their reporting.

When the definition doesn’t fit the reality

Define SMART GROWTH: Well-planned development that protects open space and farmland, revitalizes communities, keeps housing affordable and provides more transportation ...

You know the buzz words: sustainability, community, affordability, green spaces, multiple use, stewards of the earth, carbon neutral, yada yada. It all translates into less housing for the poor and low income, and more wealth for government officials and developers.

Yes, there is a gap between blacks and whites and blacks and Hispanics when it comes to home ownership and the greening of the housing industry will set that in stone, with those on the lower end never able to catch up--unless they are part of the Chicago elite housing bureaucracy like Valerie Jarrett.

Read How Smart Growth Disadvantages African-Americans & Hispanics

Friday family photo

This has to be my all time worst school photograph and it gave my mother so much grief. I don't have a date on it, but I think it is second grade in Forreston, IL. She and dad were driving my grandparents to California to visit relatives, so my aunt came to stay with us (her children were not yet school age). She did her best, but her adorable, blonde, curly haired cherubs had short hair, and so she braided my hair the best she could. (Also I have a vague memory that I didn't have bangs when my parents left.) My mother was a meticulous creator of "French braids," a 3 part terror instrument that started at the scalp, and when she finished with me in the morning, my eye brows wouldn't drop until noon and everything was symmetrical. She explained to me one time when I was learning how to do it, that she sat behind a woman in church that had wonderful braids and analyzed how it was done (and then probably practiced on me).

Also, from the pattern on the dress, I'm guessing Mom made this one out of feed sack material--and she always told us there was nothing wrong with that, but if she'd known it was school picture day, she probably would have found something a bit nicer.

Why do Congressional Democrats want to change laws that help find terrorists?

Because they work?
Because some of them are criminals too and fear being stumbled over in an investigation?
Because they are on the side of the bad guys?

What’s your take?

"Roving wiretaps have been used for decades by law enforcement in routine narcotics cases. They reportedly were used to help thwart a plot earlier this year to blow up synagogues in Riverdale, N.Y. Business records, including bank and telephone records, can provide important leads early in a national security investigation, and they have been used to obtain evidence in numerous cases.

The value of lone wolf authority is best demonstrated by its absence in the summer of 2001. That's when FBI agents might have obtained a warrant to search the computer of Zacharias Moussaoui, often referred to as the "20th hijacker," before the 9/11 attacks—although there was no proof at the time of his arrest on an immigration violation that he was acting for a terrorist organization. But a later search of his computer revealed just that.

Rather than simply renew these vital provisions, which expire at the end of this year, some congressional Democrats want to impose requirements that would diminish their effectiveness, or add burdens to existing authorizations that would retard rather than advance our ability to gather intelligence. WSJ, Michael Mukasey, Intelligence Averts Another Attack

Certainly you can't feel safe with President Apology always chasing rainbows and a future Olympics for Chicago with the Democrats and White House czars in charge of our security!

If this is true

We’re all in trouble and I don't know about you, but I should be dead.

“. . . for every 2.2 pounds gained in weight since the age of 18, the odds of healthy survival into old age decreased by 5 percent.” British Medical Journal study, via Newsmax Health.

The research team used the Nurses' Health Study, which has gathered data from more than 120,000 female registered nurses living in 11 states since 1976. Follow-up questionnaires have been sent out every two years to update information on disease incidence and lifestyle factors.

Study participants who had reached the age of 70 and were free of major chronic disease had no major impairment of cognitive function and no major limitation of physical function were considered as examples of "successful aging," Franco said.

"In summary, this study provides new evidence that adiposity at midlife is a strong risk factor predicting a worse probability of successful survival among older women," he said. "In addition, our data suggest that maintenance of healthy weight throughout adulthood may be vital to optimal overall health at older ages."

Obama poll numbers continue to fall

And Americans think members of Congress don't understand the bills, therefore, they want to see them 2 weeks before the vote!

"Eighty-three percent (83%) say that all legislation should be posted online and available for everyone to read before Congress votes on it. Of those who want the information available, 64% say legislation should be posted in final form at least two weeks before a vote.

When it comes to health care, just 22% believe most Members of Congress will understand what’s in the legislation before they vote on it."

"On economic matters, 60% of Americans think international organizations should have less influence on U.S. economic policy, not more. Fifteen percent (15%) hold the opposite view."

So why is the Obama administration pushing for a world government to control our economy through energy policy, when we don't want it? If you voted for him, did you know this in 2008?

All figures and graphics from Rasmussen, October 1, 2009.

Non-Residential Construction Industry Worsens

The Economy Shows Minimal Signs of Stabilizing; Non-Residential Construction Industry Worsens says this report.

"Our country is in the middle of a deep recession and everyone is looking for any type of sign, data, graph, or chart to signify the end of this downward spiral. Miles•McClellan is no different in the search for answers. We have decided to share a few important economic indicators with you each month; in this, we may better understand the challenges facing us in the near future."

I don't know what a TED spread or a Baltic Dry index are, but they are the only pieces of this chart that look OK.

The map of recovery

Although I don't know if you can trust recovery.gov to tell the truth about ARRA money and what's happened to it, here's a map, even if they were lying, it's not a good picture. It's not being distributed for "shovel ready" projects, and not producing any jobs because the bureaucrats are just using it within their own agencies to clean up little pockets of problems they created under previous administrations. Just look at the "jobs" all of FDR's programs created. The fox is really in the hen house, folks.

This UNC site stopped reporting weekly updates on July 10. All done?

The White House Trifecta

Minority female slumlord. And rich. Valerie Jarrett. Just like the good old white boys from Chicago. Women! We've finally made it! Think of the real estate development if the Olympics come to Chicago!! More poor to be moved out and scattered--again--just like 20 years ago. More tax dollars down the drain.

White House Olympics crony watch.

From Change.gov: "Valerie B. Jarrett became the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Habitat Company on January 31, 2007. From November 1995 through January 31, 2007, she was the Executive Vice President of The Habitat Company. The Habitat Company is one of the nation’s premier developers and managers of residential apartments and condominiums. Habitat has developed more than 17,000 housing units and currently manages more than 20,000 units. Before joining The Habitat Company in 1995, Ms. Jarrett served for eight years in the City of Chicago government; first as Deputy Corporation Counsel for Finance and Development, then as Deputy Chief of Staff for Mayor Richard M. Daley and finally, as Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development. Prior to her City government service, Ms. Jarrett practiced law with two private law firms."

From Chicago Tribute: "Habitat has earned $6.8 million in fees and $10.8 million in administrative expenses since the plan started in 2000, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The company also earns millions as a property manager for the CHA."


From Boston Globe's story of Jarrett's (and Obama's) slum dealings in 2008.

Campaign finance records show that six prominent developers - including Jarrett, Davis, and Rezko - collectively contributed more than $175,000 to Obama's campaigns over the last decade and raised hundreds of thousands more from other donors. Rezko alone raised at least $200,000, by Obama's own accounting.

One of those contributors, Cecil Butler, controlled Lawndale Restoration, the largest subsidized complex in Chicago, which was seized by the government in 2006 after city inspectors found more than 1,800 code violations.

Butler and Davis did not respond to messages. Rezko is in prison; his lawyer did not respond to inquiries.

Jarrett, a powerful figure in the Chicago development community, agreed to be interviewed but declined to answer questions about Grove Parc, citing what she called a continuing duty to Habitat's former business partners. She did, however, defend Obama's position that public-private partnerships are superior to public housing. . .

[Obama] once told the Chicago Tribune that he had briefly considered becoming a developer of affordable housing. But after graduating from Harvard Law School in 1991, he turned down a job with Tony Rezko's development company, Rezmar, choosing instead to work at the civil rights law firm Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, then led by Allison Davis.

The firm represented a number of nonprofit companies that were partnering with private developers to build affordable housing with government subsidies."

Women's fashion

From my seat at Panera's in the morning I see the employed women and school girls of suburban Columbus setting out for work and education. Some younger women are showing up grandma and are again wearing skirts after a complete break down of good taste in the 80s and 90s, but still very casual with the low cut t-shirts. You gotta hope they don't bend over at work or some guy will be hit with a false charge of harassment for looking. Retirees of both sexes appear in public wearing shorts with all the veins, lumps, bumps and saddle bags. So of course I noticed this photo in the WSJ this morning, wondering why my suburban sisters can't look as good as an impoverish Indian farmer dealing with a drought. Attractive colors, artistic patterns, beautiful draping, sufficient coverage.

Glenn Beck's new book, Arguing with Idiots

It's going to be a tough read. I don't buy a lot of books new--usually pick them up used or check out a library copy. Unfortunately, my local public library's selection policy leans way to the left, and it's hard to find political books there with an alternate viewpoint. That teaches conservatives to stop asking, and stop using the library, so then they have a good excuse. But it helps bond issues to fail, too.

Back to Glenn. It's the format I don't like. Fingernails on a blackboard. This book is to readability the way The View is to good manners. The size is awkward. I've looked through my bookshelves and haven't found another one this size. The publisher is a division of Simon & Schuster, Threshold Editions/Mercury Radio Arts. Threshold Editions is a conservative publishing imprint at Simon & Schuster, owned by CBS Corporation (Leslie Moonves)--obviously, liberals don't want to miss the money train. Mary Matalin, a GOP strategist, is the chief editor. "Mercury Radio Arts is Glenn Beck’s fully integrated multi-media production company. Mercury produces or co-produces all Glenn Beck related properties including The Glenn Beck Program, America’s third highest-rated radio show, Glenn Beck, one of the most successful new shows on the Fox News Channel, Beck’s New York Times bestselling books, his live stage-show business, destination website GlennBeck.com and consumer magazine Fusion. Founded in 2002, Mercury has a full time staff of 20 employees and is based in New York, NY." So, I suppose Mercury isn't really into readable print products.

I don't like books or magazines that are designed to look like webpages--scrap booky cute boxes with torn edges, colored pages that look like something was dropped on them, cartoonish statistics. The promised bibliography is extensive, just like Glenn said, but it's in print so tiny I'll need a magnifying glass and is in run-on paragraph form, just like the medical and nutritional research on Activia if you ever find that web page. For this librarian, citing a scanned book page, google news or Yahoo news is disappointing "fact finding." My advice, hire a good researcher and do it the right way. It's not that hard to find the flaws in progressive/marxist theory or to examine the failures of every country that tried it; but use some decent source material. Citing google news which doesn't cite its sources just doesn't cut it.

The basic text font appears to be Times Roman, or something similar and readable, but the larger type for emphasis is red and yellow with a gray shadow, in a horrible font where the capital K looks like an H from a little distance, so that slows down reading. Then there's the fakey backward facing N and R (which are an I and a Ya in Cyrillic, but how many people know that?). Yes, it goes with the photo on the cover of Glenn in a quasi Russian/Soviet military uniform (and those guys really do look that weird and scary because we saw them board our train at the Finnish border to collect our passports in 2006), but it's so "The Russians are Coming" movie poster.

Because some of the outlandish things the leftists in education, cultural arts, and government say and do, it is difficult to tell the cartoonish representations from the real thing, like the "Nannies winner" and posters of Surgeon General's warnings. Glenn, if 400,000 don't die of obesity, but were fat people who died of other diseases, like old age, and the actual toll is 25,000--couldn't you have found a better footnote than a website I've never heard of questioning the CDC which most of us have? Chapter 10 on presidential progressives is virtually impossible to read due to clutter, cartoons, type font changes and blobs of color like splashed garbage--checking the bibliography on that one will be tough.

Glenn, I like your shows, but you get an F for readibility.

Hmmm. Maybe I should have waited for the library to buy its one copy.

Pelosi won't weep over Grayson's behavior

“Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL) recently gave an angry speech about members of the GOP on the House floor. CNN.com quoted Grayson as saying on the House floor that "[I]f you get sick America, the Republican health care plan is this: die quickly." (If you click the link, you can watch the video of Mr. Grayson in action espousing his bitterly partisan view.) Some, including members of the GOP, have compared this speech to Congressman Joe Wilson's outburst during President Obama's address to Congress. That comparison of the two pieces of rhetoric ignores some of the major differences between the two.

Firstly, Congressman Wilson's shouting of the phrase "You Lie" was unacceptable and I do not support that behavior. However, Congressman Wilson has said that he did not plan that outburst and he apologized for it afterwards to the White House. On the other hand, Grayson's speech was planned. You can tell it was planned well in advance because he had visual aids for those who might have been watching the speech but not listening to it. One of his signs said the following: "The Republican Health Care Plan: DIE QUICKLY." “

Read the rest at American Issues Project blog

My sixth Blogiversary

According to the first entries on "Collecting my thoughts," this blog begins October 1, 2003. However, I had to back fill a little, using October 1 as sort of an indexing page for topics [see right side links on my blog] poetry, family stories, fiction, etc. My first entry was actually October 2. It didn't quite work out the way I'd planned--the people to whom I'd been sending my writing beginning when I retired in 2000 are either disinterested or enjoying other adventures of their own, although a few do keep up, so I just write for me and the few regulars I've picked up along the way who drop by occasionally. According to the "dashboard" of blogger dot com, I've written 7,015 entries at this blog, but that doesn't count the ones I removed. Altogether at all my blogs I've written about 8,500 entries and over 400,000 have visited, although some of those entries have been written by guest bloggers, particularly at my "Reunion" blog where high school classmates have been contributors of stories and photos.

The imaginary menu, if you stop by for the celebration and conversation free of politics, religion and health tips, is: Morning--tea, coffee and mixed fruit with a few nibbles from Panera's bakery; noonish--chicken salad on croissants with veggie snacks; afternoon--high tea with assorted goodies, a few sugar-free; dinner hour--baked salmon with my secret sauce and asparagus, with something gooey, decadent and chocolate for dessert. If it's warm enough, we'll sit on the deck and enjoy the fall color and the birds that stop by the creek. Please, no gifts--I have a full house. I'll put the cat in the laundry room, and the imaginary dog (a dalmatian) will be at the neighbors, so no animals will jump on you or make your allergies flare.

Why Obama had to go to Copenhagen

"[Chicago Mayor] Daley's son, Richard R. Daley, learned a lesson from his father. Go with the political flow regardless of its direction because it's all about Chicago, not any political ideology. Left or right, all are precious in the Machine's sight -- as long as there's a money river to tap. So what if the political flow of the Democrat Party has turned decidedly left. Chicago is neither left nor right -- it's permanently Machine centered.

Daley the Younger called in his markers and drafted President Obama to go to Copenhagen and lobby on Chicago's behalf. Wherever he was born, Obama will now always be the favored son of the Machine. Obama original allegiance is to that Machine. He owes it. And it's payback time.

When Obama came to work as a young lawyer at Allison Davis' law firm, one that represented slum landlords like "Tony Rezko," Obama learned the lesson of "go-along-to-get-along" that his new boss had once learned. Davis learned not to cross the Machine. Davis, Rezko and current senior presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett were Obama's finance campaign committee in his run for the Senate. They're all serious contributors to the Machine.

Jarrett was the president of a property management firm that managed large Chicago Housing Authority properties. In other words, a city-designated slum landlord. Before that, she was Michelle's boss in the Office of the Mayor of Chicago -- that would be Richard the Younger. After that, she became Michelle's patroness at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

So, of course, the President has to go to Copenhagen to push for Chicago as the site for the 2016 Olympics. He is the duly elected Patron in Chief assigned to bring home the bacon. The closer. He says he's can now leave Washington because the campaign for healthcare reform in under control. Right. And the Cubs are destined to take the Series this year in four straight." Read the rest Lee Cary at American Thinker

Sarah Palin's charge of death panels

In an article at American Thinker on the existence of “death panels,” the author, Joseph Ashby, says it’s not in HR 3200 because it already exists: “H.R. 1 (more commonly known as the Recovery and Reinvestment Act, even more commonly known as the Stimulus Bill and aptly dubbed the Porkulus Bill) contains a whopping $1.1 billion to fund the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research. And on this council is Dr. Death himself, Rahm Emanuel’s brother, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel.

One of the commenters at this post, Redhawk, analyzes the role of statism in our Congress’s health care plan.

When you get past all the doubletalk, this is what the people who are advocating a government-run healthcare system truly believe. The foundation of the statists' philosophy is that the people in a society are in essence the property of the state. Given limited resources and the state will always claim to be short of resources, the state will decide the extent to which a person will be medically treated for a serious illness, depending upon that person's perceived value to society. To the statist, this makes perfect sense. Of course in actual practice, the final decision can be heavily influenced by how many friends in Washington one can petition, which is a storyline right out of Atlas Shrugged; how one's success in life and in this case life itself will be determined by political pull. Washington apparatchiks and their hangers-on will of course automatically receive the best of care.

I have not read whether this is happening in Britain, but I would be surprised if it were not, since such a system invites corruption. There you can be denied cancer treatment even if you are willing to pay for it out of your own pocket or you may be denied stints if you are above the arbitrary age limit of 59; unless of course you lucky enough to have friends in high places who can make an exception in your case. Otherwise, you have a duty to die. They may or may not decide to pay for the pain medication to relieve your final suffering, since it is all subject to the whim of some bureaucrat. This is the type of system to which we are heading unless we can stop it. We are being asked to quietly accept a socialist plan that promises to improve the healthcare of roughly 20% of the population, many of whom are here illegally, but in doing so will intolerably degrade the healthcare for the rest of us.

HT Murray

Did you see that Sarah's book is already #3 on Amazon and it isn't published yet, and that Glenn Beck's new book is outselling the Kennedy memoirs?

Have you planned ahead?

Take the Long Term Care planning quiz.

Here was my "score."

You have obviously given this topic some important consideration. Congratulations! By planning ahead, you can have more control over your care choices and the financial impact of paying for care. Planning ahead also provides important peace of mind for you and your loved ones.

They didn't say this but I will, since I keep track of these things: one month in a nursing home costs more than one year's premiums on long term care.

The rush to defend Polanski

"A high-profile rush to defend Roman Polanski after the film director's arrest sparked a backlash on Wednesday, as a growing number of politicians called for him to face justice over a three-decade-old child sex case."

I'd sure hate to be on the side defending a guy who made bad movies, but in this case, I think the case should be dismissed. First, it looks like the judge in the first plea bargain for which he served time, really messed up, and second, the woman who was 13 at that time, wants it dropped. There are a lot worse things for 13 years olds than having sex with a movie director, and it happens all over the world--forced marriages, rape, incest, etc., baby mommas for high priced bad hip hop musicians and traumatizing movies called "art" from Hollywood. No one seems to care about these things except Christians, and then they are ridiculed if they try to get a smidgen or morality included in school curricula. The guy is scum, no doubt about it. But he has paid, and paid, and paid. Let it go.

The decline of English

As I've noted before, except for some Freshman composition, I didn't take anything in college that could be called "English," because I was a foreign language major. But I do think it's important, and I've been sad to see it's importance go down hill since the radicals took over the campuses of the USA in the 1970s. The decline of English by William M. Chace, formerly of Berkeley, Stanford, Wesleyan, and Emory, notes the following grim statistics, the numbers of those majoring in the humanities dropped from a total of 30 percent to a total of less than 16 percent in 30 years:

English: from 7.6 percent of the majors to 3.9 percent
Foreign languages and literatures: from 2.5 percent to 1.3 percent
Philosophy and religious studies: from 0.9 percent to 0.7 percent
History: from 18.5 percent to 10.7 percent
Business: from 13.7 percent to 21.9 percent

I did a few word searches on this article--Marxism, feminism, deconstructionism, etc.--and see he doesn't address any root causes driving students away who don't want to be harangued during class with political poop and Michael Moore movie mayhem. Chace thinks "at the root is the failure of departments of English across the country to champion, with passion, the books they teach and to make a strong case to undergraduates that the knowledge of those books and the tradition in which they exist is a human good in and of itself." Maybe the students figure out on their own that selecting an obscure female author from 1910, or a gay Mexican who died for a cause in 1930 doesn't mean much in the big picture? Ya think?

When I was doing my research on private libraries I tracked down a fabulous Professor of English who had taught at a prestigious school--past tense. He'd been driven out of his position (he had tenure and was a full professor, but there are ways by denying funds for assistants, research and rearranging offices), and was in another state teaching at a state school extension, basic composition and grammar. But at least he was free of the radical demagogues. And he was a liberal--but beaten down by the feminists and marxists in his department because he wanted to teach what was important, not their political theories. We talked for a long time on the phone and his assistance was invaluable, his knowledge of private collections enormous. He kept cautioning me to close the door of my office, to make sure no one was listening. And that was in the mid-90s.

The media are kind to Obama

But they lie to us. Here's an example. "Mixed data reflect fragility of economic recovery" by Sara Murray, WSJ, Sept. 30, 2009

I realize she didn't write the headline, but the graphs don't exactly show a "recovery," more an occasional blip. In most of those cities, the home prices are still above 2000 levels, despite the dramatic drop beginning when the sub-prime mess revealed the folly of the constant government interference in the housing market by using it as a carrot for politicians of both parties and non-profits like ACORN to look good to low income people.

Only one city, Detroit, owned for decades by Democrats pushing wealth transfer, dropped below 2000 levels. The upticks recorded in July were tiny, with Minneapolis the best, Las Vegas the worst.

But back to "words matter."

I know I sound like a broken record, but if this article had been written during the Bush years, there would have been considerable differences.

"Consumer confidence drops, despite a tiny rise in home prices in a few cities during July, underscoring the disastrous decisions of the Bush administration in how to lead us to a recovery."

I shouldn't provide Obama any hints, but if the media were as vigilant with him as they were with Bush, I think he would be ahead of the game with rising poll numbers instead of dropping. They could have been corrective. Just by telling the truth, which they didn't do during the Bush years.

What is a mixed metaphor?

A combination of two or more metaphors that together produce a ridiculous effect wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

In today's Wall Street Journal we had this gem:

"Housing is on life support. . .until market forces replace the prostheses of government."

Most people on life support don't need a prosthesis, let alone more than one. And usually the government pulls the plug with its plan, as it will seniors relying on Medicare.

Cash for Clunkers end result

According to this report from Edmunds, sales of new vehicles in September 2009 fell off a cliff, dropping 41% from August 2009 and down 23% from September 2008. This shows that the primary sales effect of the “Cash for Clunkers” program was to harvest sales that would otherwise have occurred later in the year and compress them into an earlier time period.
More details at Taxman Blog (another great Ohio blogger)

Lytham Road Exercise class

This works well as a hymn, and since the class is in the church fellowship hall, I'll sing it for you. The class meets Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9:15 for an hour at UALC Lytham campus, 2300 Lytham Rd., Upper Arlington, with three different instructors and work-outs. No matter what. I'm really not into exercise, but it's good for me. And you.


It's Wednesday
It's Wednesday
It's Exercise day (2x)

Oh card i o
Oh Weight lift
It's jump and repeat.

It's Wednesday
I hate it
It's Exercise day.

When I sang it for the class, demonstrating why I'm no longer in choir, Jan recognized the tune as "Immortal, invisible, God only wise," composed by Walter Chalmers Smith, and used with a Welsh melody.

What's wrong with calling it PLPCB?

"The five partners in the London office of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates have left to start their own practice, named PLP Architecture. The founders of the new firm are Lee Polisano, FAIA, former president of KPF, as well as David Leventhal, FAIA, Fred Pilbrow, RIBA, Karen Cook, AIA, and Ron Bakker, AIA. The move comes after the five made a failed attempt to buy out KPF's UK operations in July." Architectural Record

I guess it wasn't as pronounceable as PLP.

Response from Sherrod Brown

Yes, I know everone who wrote got the same response, but at least Sherrod Brown (D-OH) responded and he has been listening to the people. But here's what caught my eye and the only thing I'll direct this comment to:

"One thing is clear - we must keep what works and fix what is broken. We must protect health coverage for those who like what they have, and we must ensure those with no coverage have insurance options they can afford."

Keep our insurance, but fix what is broken and cover those who don't have it. Now I would have added--we haven't collapsed in the 17 years since we didn't pass Hillarycare, so we have time to look at all the angles, but then. . . I'm no longer a Democrat.

Now wouldn't that have been a simple plan--and we have all those laws and regulations in place, with some that need to be repealed. We could have tightened the oversite of Medicare and Medicare, imposed some penalties on the crooks, stopped the ridiculous testing with tort reform, there could have been a better effort to get people into the programs for which they were eligible without months or years of waiting, and we could have removed the laws that prevented competition across state lines. Nothing would have required the massive, tangled, intrusive, economy-deadening bills that have been proposed.

Except.

The sensible approach wouldn't have given the federal government more power over the people who manage just fine without it!

Adult stem cells used in hip replacement

Doctors in Southampton, England have successfully used adult stem cells to repair hip bones, allowing patients to avoid hip replacement surgery. After removing dead tissue in the hip, the cavity is filled with bits of ground up bone and the patient’s own adult stem cells. So far six patients have had the treatment with only one failure, doctors said. From FRC Blog.

If you read the original Telegraph article, you'll see the word "adult" isn't used, leaving the impression it might be embryonic, but if you're using cells from the patient, they aren't going to be from a killed embryo. The article actually mentions the controversy, although there is no controversy about using adult stem cells, only embryonic.

Adult stem cells, taken from sources such as bone marrow and cord blood, have now been successfully used to treat well over 70 medical conditions. None for embryonic.

Although I said it first

Glenn Beck quoted from the NYT tonight on their assessment (negative) of the 9/12 peaceful, trash-free gathering, at which no one was arrested, in Washington DC, and their puff ball piece covering the protests at the G-20 with 190 arrested. I'm really glad to see he had the video to back it up. The conservatives have been maligned enough on this issue. I had pointed out the silence of the left and Pelosi on this issue here. Really, you do wonder how they have any self-respect at the Times, although Glenn says they've assigned someone to watch Fox because they are missing so many stories.

Good analysis of Ahmadinejad's closing words of his speeches, by Joel Rosenberg, too--about how true Muslims have to bring about the chaos to usher in the end-times.

“Oh, God, hasten the arrival of Imam Al-Mahdi and grant him good health and victory and make us his followers and those who attest to his rightfulness.”

Did NYT or LAT or WSJ object to any of this? Not to worry. The great one will snuggle up and make it all OK. I just checked Huff and Puff on this--those folks live in an alternate universe.

First beer sales are flat, then Obama happens

Poor Poland. No global warming (for a decade), and then Obama snubs them. "The Association of Beer Industry Employers, “Browary Polskie” (ZPPP), explains that the decline in beer consumption was prompted by the 13.6% increase in excise duty in March 2009, the economic recession, increases in beer prices caused by the higher costs of ingredients and packaging, and the cold weather reported at the beginning of the summer of 2009. Furthermore, the Polish beer market has reached saturation point – Poles consume 95 litres of beer per capita every year." Business Portal for Poland

HT Tom Nelson

Running for Kennedy's seat in the Senate

"We're in the second year of a major recession. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs. Our 401Ks and retirement plans have plummeted in value. Businesses have closed and are continuing to close. We have all seen examples throughout this state and certainly throughout the country.

Here in Massachusetts, as the unemployment rate rises toward double digits, the response of the Governor and the majority party has been to raise taxes of every type and make it tougher for businesses to survive. Remember they are the economic engine that will help us recover. I have stated on many occasions that higher taxes will further weaken our economy and put even more people out of work. In Washington, the politicians mistakenly believe that spending more money and growing the size of government is the answer. They are wrong. I believe that it is the private sector - small businesses and entrepreneurs -- that will get our economy moving again. Government can and will help, but it also needs to know when to step out of the way."

Grant fraud to wasting time on porn

If you go to work for the National Science Foundation as an investigative attorney, you never know what you might be called on to do. . .

"When established by President Harry Truman in 1950, the National Science Foundation's (NSF) budget was $150,000. Congress trusts the NSF with an ever-increasing responsibility to fund the most meritorious programs and initiatives in scientific and technological research and education, keeping the U.S. at the frontier of discovery. With an emphasis on advancing national health, prosperity, and welfare, NSF brings together scientific and education experts to shape the direction of national research and education in science and technology. NSF maintains a creative and collegial atmosphere . . . "[taken from an ad for a full time investigative attorney, Arlington, VA, $61,000 - $113,000] Job Board

“Employee misconduct investigations, often involving workers accessing pornography from their government computers, grew sixfold last year inside the taxpayer-funded foundation that doles out billions of dollars of scientific research grants, according to budget documents and other records obtained by The Washington Times.” Worker porn.

I called this the ACORN defense--the "retired" worker said he was helping--he frequented the porn sites to provide a living to the poor overseas women. NSF isn't the only government agency with this problem--only the most recent in the news. Very few firings, some brief suspensions.

Hillarycare 17 years later

Here’s a good analysis of Hillary care of 1992 (as it was known by its detractors) written in 2007. I was looking through it to see what the reasons were that it went down. The author, Paul Starr, was an insider, having been brought into the process by Ira Magaziner. He sites:

• right-wing misrepresentations
  
• malicious personal attacks on Hillary
  
• reporters and the public thought that Bill Clinton had handed over the policy to Hillary
  
• false charges
  
• misunderstanding the politics behind the plan
  
• distrust of the Washington bureaucracy
  
• no positive consensus about what to do among Democrats
  
• change in priorities by President Clinton
  
• charges of heresy from the Left and Right alike
  
• accusations of secrecy (30 working groups)
  
• began with a huge program that could be bargained away by layers
  
• lurid fears from talk radio that the federal government would control every detail of medical care

It all sounds quite familiar given what we've been going through since Obama tried to ram jam the mega-health bill through in August. Apparently, some of his supporters are too young (or too old) to remember that many of us remember 1992!

But in that entire list, which could be ripped right out of a report from Katie Couric this evening, there's not a single charge of racism. Odd isn't it? I'm sure personal animus toward Mrs. Clinton was part of it, particularly since she wasn't elected and according to Starr her role was misunderstood, but apparently no one said the conservatives dislike for her plan was based on her race. Yet faced with many of the same arguments, and an even bigger, more complicated and confusing plan/bill, now we're racists.

My note to Kilroy, Voinovich and Brown

"The Democrats are drumming up the public option AGAIN. The people of the USA have made this very clear; your poll numbers and Obama's and Congress's are dropping quickly. WE DO NOT WANT THIS. I won't need 72 hours to read the latest version and the internet will go down anyway. We want more competition to bring down prices, less fraud and waste in Medicare and Medicaid, and tort reform. Why is that so hard to understand, and why are those no where in this or any other plan (except Republicans)?

Speaking of privacy

Apparently there are some who don't believe the government (layers and layers of departments of people) can keep a secret, so Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) wants to exclude records about AIDS, STDs and abortion from the electronic health records that are going to be required of all of our doctors. Doesn't that seem a little odd? Is that a racist smear against the President, Pelosi and Reid to find one more thing wrong with this plan? I just don't recall seeing that before. Do you suppose it was slipped into another funding bill, like armored vehicles or old growth forests?

A glimpse of the future?

Our internet is down--I'm at the library with the other homeless and out of work. I'm looking around at the wonderful book collection, wondering. . .

Our neighborhood is so small it's hard to get the cable company to pay attention to us. Some have switched companies but their service is no better. I don't know when our cable lines were laid, sometime since my 30th birthday, but I'm sure they are frayed and fragile. And the faucet squeaks, and the dryer is broken, and the road tar is still on the van, and the bottom panel of the garage door is looking a bit funky from water damage, and the cat has a funny cough, and the racks in the dishwasher are still rusting, and I woke up at 1:30 thinking about all the things that aren't working.

However, the good news is the President is flying to Denmark and ignoring the war, the terrorists, and healthcare, and the USAToday says RV sales are up, so someone is doing well or at least planning some short trips.

Does anybody really know what Obamacare is

Guest blogger Murray sez:
"Ask yourself this. What is Obama selling? He has been campaigning for months on a healthcare plan that really doesn't exist. He expects you and I to buy into what he says might be a plan that promises everything that is good for us. But we all know how much we can trust any of Obama's campaign promises. There was a bill presented to require the latest proposal/bill to be posted on the Internet for a lousy 72 hours so not only could the legislators see what it was (if they would read it) but gee... ALL the citizens that it will affect could get a peek also. The people's friend, Nancy Pelosi, quickly squashed that idea. No, No, No, we must keep this as an ugly surprise for the taxpayer and just send them the bill.

Why is it ugly you ask? Well, it's ugly because it does not include the obvious provisions like tort reform, allowing insurance companies to cross state lines, flushing the illegals out of free healthcare and allowing Medicare to negotiate the price of drugs. Those four things would cost nothing and definitely lower the total cost of healthcare in this great country. Why aren't they in the proposal? BECAUSE THE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS DON'T WANT THEM!. Just like the Prescription Drug Plan that the Republicans pushed through that is draining the Medicare funds. That dog was created by the insurance and pharmaceutical companies.

Now, I ask you, how in the world could we trust our federal government to manage a nationwide healthcare plan? They have destroyed Medicare and Social Security. These plans should have been a piece of cake to manage. But your legislator will tell you that both plans were nothing but Ponzi schemes that were doomed to fail. (This, of course, takes the responsibility of failure off their shoulders.) Well, as usual, they lie. A Ponzi scheme is one that fails because the perpetrators steal the money and when investors want to cash in and they run out of investors there isn't enough money for pay outs. Medicare and S.S. were designed NOT TO FAIL unless of course someone stole the funds or failed to manage the funds. In this case, our legislators did both. Both plans were designed to SUCCEED. Why? Because there were unlimited investors, the amount of money being invested into both funds could be controlled, and there would be many years to accumulate reserves BEFORE the masses began to draw benefits heavily. It takes a room full of idiots to allow something like that to fail.

So now we have a room full of idiots trying to sell us on their ability to run a nation wide health care plan. They want to manage doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, plus you and me via Obamacare. They don't know how much it will cost, but they don't care. You see, it's really not about health care. It's about POWER. Our freedom and way of life is now being threatened, not by terrorists, but by our own federal government. If you stand by and do or say nothing, your grand children will never forgive you. For it is you, right now, that needs to stand up and be heard. You are their only chance to come close to anything like the lifestyle that you have enjoyed while getting old. Hopefully it's not too late. Hopefully your final days will not be flat on your back waiting for your congressman to determine what treatment "the plan" will allow you to have. Ask you doctor, "Is this plan right for me?" He/she knows the answer!

Murray

He's got his I on us

This is what some Americans call eloquent; inspiring. Others arrogant; insipid.

"In mythology, Narcissus was the guy who fell in love with his own reflection.

In 2009, he’s the president of the United States.

Instead of adoring his own image, Obama loves to hear himself talk – about himself. In just 41 speeches this year, Obama has talked about himself nearly 1,200 times – 1,198 to be exact. (That breaks down to 1,121 “I”s and just 77 “me”s.) And that just includes 34 weekly addresses and his seven major speeches. Count the hundreds of other public speeches and he’d be off the charts." Link on our self focused President.

Are you feeling safe yet?

While Iran tests nuclear missiles capable of hitting Israel and parts of Europe (a purely peaceful exercise), Obama dashes off to Copenhagen to plead for Chicago Olympics. Oh yes, and our military in Afghanistan is vulnerable because of his inaction. He's just too busy to think about or talk to McChrystal. Remember? That's the war he wanted us to fight! When he was campaigning.

"Locked in a deepening dispute with the United States and its allies over its nuclear program, Iran was reported Monday to have test-fired long-range missiles capable of striking Israel and American bases in the Persian Gulf in what seemed a show of force," reports the New York Times' Alan Cowell.

"The reported tests of the Shahab-3 and Sejil missiles by the Revolutionary Guards were not the first conducted by Iran, but they came at a time of high tension, days after President Obama and the leaders of France and Britain used the disclosure of a previously secret nuclear plant in Iran to threaten Tehran with a stronger response, including harsher economic sanctions.

"Iran says it wants to develop a nuclear capacity for peaceful purposes but many in the west say it is seeking to create a nuclear weapons capability. Tehran says its missile tests have been planned for some time and are not linked to the nuclear dispute." NYT

Of course he's not thumbing his nose at Obama. That would be racist.

Can the rich save the planet?

"Fisker Automotive Inc., a U.S. startup planning to sell luxury plug-in hybrid cars, secured a federal loan for as much as US$528.7-million to fund production of its low-emission models."

Investors in closely held Fisker, founded by car designer Fisker, include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a Menlo Park, California-based venture capital fund that employs former Vice President Al Gore, and Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc. Link

"KPCB has announced an historic alliance with Generation Investment Management and its chairman Al Gore who has become a KPCB Partner. The combined network, expertise, vision and global reach of Gore, Generation and KPCB will help our entrepreneurs change the world."

What others are saying: "Let's see - not only is a Gore-backed company getting hundreds of millions to produce electric cars for the status conscious wealthy, these electric cars won't even be built in America (a non-stimulus stimulus, so to speak). Plus, the electric cars will require more coal-fired plants to be built in order to supply the extra electricity these cars will consume, which happens to result in more net CO2 emissions. Ya gotta love how the corrupt, liberal Democrats always make sure to first take care of the common American worker and the global environment." C3 Headlines

Report on Lutheran CORE in Indianapolis

Here's a summary, but DVDs of the presentations will be available. "The ELCA has fallen into heresy. It is a time for confession and a time to resist. It is, please God, also a time for new life and transformation and for mission," said Paul Spring, the retired bishop of the Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod. Leaders of the African immigrant and Hispanic churches in the ELCA also attended. Both communities have been deeply hurt by the ELCA's actions. Pastor Paul Ulring of Upper Arlington Lutheran Church where we've been members since 1976 is included in the summary,

"We are not dividing the church. The church is already divided. We're just mopping up what the church did," said the Rev. Paul Ulring of Columbus, Ohio, a member of the Lutheran CORE Steering Committee. "There is a future for us, a future that we only glimpse right now. Things will happen that will make it possible for us to do this, things that aren't clear right now, but Jesus is in clear view," said Ulring.

Ulring outlined steps that individuals and congregations can take as they move into the future. "We've spent all our ELCA years and before, struggling and working against what has now happened. It's over; it's done. We don't have to spend ourselves there anymore," Ulring said. "Let's take that energy, that passion and transfer it to a future that we don't have clearly, but a future that surely is better than what we've been messing with. And let's be gracious and kind, known for our positive spirit and hope. Let's be known for what we believe, not what we're against anymore. Let's be faithful to the Gospel, the Word of God, and the Lord Jesus."

"Let us stand together, as we see the future of Lutheranism change for the good. It's worth it. Jesus calls us to do it. He is not defeated or set aside by any decision or action. We have the opportunity to make an eternal difference," Ulring said. "God has given us this new freedom and opportunity. Let us rise in hope and forgiveness, to put aside the past and find the future we have been called to for Jesus' sake and for the sake of those he loves and wants."

Softball article on BOA and ACORN in WSJ

Isn't that just so sweet. James R. Hagerty wrote, Bank of America, "a corporate partner of ACORN" is going to end its relationship. I'm not diminishing the seriousness of the video'd prostitution sting at the ACORN offices, but really, these ACORN guys at the top of the chain were high class hookers long ago selling mortgages to people who can't pay for them. Clinton knew it; Bush knew it; Obama says he's clueless and clean. Sex just got the public's attention. Go to American Spectator to see how this works using Greenlining as an example. Greenlining is another nonprofit partner which you can see on this long list.

The requirements for an ACORN-assisted mortgage is still on their web page--it looks pretty loosey goosey to me. And we wonder why CRA contributed to the housing crash?

• 2003 and 2004 year tax returns and W2s [what's wrong with 2007 and 2008?]
  
• One month of current paystubs
  
• 3 most recent bank account statements
  
• $20 in check or money order for a credit report
  
• Rental history for the last 12 months: cancelled checks, receipts, landlord letter, etc.

Banks were being forced to lend to non-credit worthy applicants, to set aside all the known principles of sound financing to reduce the possibility of default. Take a look at what minorities were borrowing, as compared to whites, and guess who was pushing them there--certainly not the banks! Immigrant homeowners were actually failing less than native born minorities--probably had traditional resources backing them.

From Winter 2000 City Journal:

"The Clinton administration's get-tough regulatory regime mattered so crucially because bank deregulation had set off a wave of mega-mergers, including the acquisition of the Bank of America by NationsBank, BankBoston by Fleet Financial, and Bankers Trust by Deutsche Bank. Regulatory approval of such mergers depended, in part, on positive CRA ratings. "To avoid the possibility of a denied or delayed application," advises the NCRC in its deadpan tone, "lending institutions have an incentive to make formal agreements with community organizations." By intervening—even just threatening to intervene—in the CRA review process, left-wing nonprofit groups have been able to gain control over eye-popping pools of bank capital, which they in turn parcel out to individual low-income mortgage seekers. A radical group called ACORN Housing has a $760 million commitment from the Bank of New York; the Boston-based Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America has a $3-billion agreement with the Bank of America; a coalition of groups headed by New Jersey Citizen Action has a five-year, $13-billion agreement with First Union Corporation. Similar deals operate in almost every major U.S. city. Observes Tom Callahan, executive director of the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance, which has $220 million in bank mortgage money to parcel out, "CRA is the backbone of everything we do."

Now ACORN is back in the swim, getting federal dollars to run foreclosure workshops. Sweet deal. You get the homeowner in the mess, charge a fee and get a kick back from the bank; then get government funds to run workshops, collect fees, to get them out of the mess you made for them.

NeighborhoodWorks America is just another branch of ACORN, as are others on this list. ACORN has so many tentacles interwoven with state, local, federal and church agencies, we may never get it figured out.

A model for the White House?

We've all heard the stories about the White House czars--no vetting, no accountability except to Valerie Jarrett. Obama's never run a business, never met a payroll, knows nothing about the difference between billion and trillion. Today the WSJ had a feature section on outstanding small businesses. Not that the federal government is small, but I think I saw one that was a good model for Valerie--I skipped over the businesses that featured buzz words like "teamwork," great perks, and open communications, and zero'd in on Mike's Carwash of Indianapolis. It's been around for 60 years, and I think their hiring practices are something I could recommend to both Governor Strickland and Ms. Jarrett. Mike's Car Wash has 437 FTE--261 full time employees and 352 part time. Here's how Mike's provides stellar service and stays in business: it hires the right people, then provides heavy training and when they work out THEN they get the perks as incentives.

Only one out of 100 applicants get hired.
Each candidate is interviewed by two people.
Testing of candidates finds those with strong social and reasoning skills.
Candidates are drug tested.
Managers are trained to spot the red flags of substance abuse.

Then once they've found the right people, vetting even the lowly entry level people, they have heavy training, education reimbursement (great PT job for college kids), profit sharing and incentive plans.

USAToday also had a smaller feature on small businesses today. We all know that small business is where the recovery lies--not higher taxes on the people who create wealth and employ other people. Someone show this to the President--or better, to Valerie.

How the polls look in Ohio

Not looking so good for Obama and Strickland. Rasmussen

Strongly or somewhat approve of Obama--48%; strongly or somewhat disapprove of Obama 50%; strongly or somewhat approve of Strickland--47%; strongly or somewhat disapprove of Strickland--50%.

Governor Strickland has had more time to mess up than Obama, so you could say his numbers are better. He's been plagued by criminal or crooked appointees and buddies and flip flopping on gambling and taxes. Sound familiar?

Right now I'm for John Kasich, although I think his web page could use a little work. I've never been impressed with Obama's oratory, but his PR/web/graphics guru Axelrod is top notch--especially with the Soviet realism stuff.

On a personal note

This book, "On a personal note, a guide to writing notes with style" is my newest book, [cross referenced at my book blog] having received it for my recent birthday along with lots of note cards. I was told it has many good tips, and it does--most of which I already know. But it's a great review. Books on how to write letters and notes are a genre that go back a few centuries. What note and letter guides don't tell you is the effort that goes into it. Even for someone who writes as much as I do, I sometimes get discouraged by the task.

Here's how mine goes. First, I look through the list of names on my family list--siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews, my own children, to jog my memory if I need to write something--encouragement for that elusive job, a wedding anniversary, a thank you note for a special favor, or a get well/thinking of you card. Since paper address books just don't do it anymore (although I still have my mother's, grandmother's and some old ones of mine), I usually have to go to my computer database and check the Christmas label list. Then I get out the last several issues of the church newsletter--hospitalizations, moved to care facility, baptisms, deaths, etc. Then I check off the people I know, and get out the directory for the people I don't know, or can't quite remember the face. The picture directory isn't as up to-date as the printed directory, so both have to be used. Then I get out the bound day-by-day calendar book (no year) in which I record who got a note and why on what date (I write in the year). This needs to be reviewed from time to time, because if a church member I don't know well comes up to me 2 months later and thanks me for the card, I don't want to say, "Who me?"

We were out of town for 10 weeks this summer, so yesterday I covered up the kitchen table and counter top with all my accoutrements, and wrote 25 notes and cards, using my new gifts. I'm not done yet, but I ran out of stamps. So many people use e-mail these days, that a regular U.S. mail piece is a real treat--at least it is for me. It's especially so for people who are residing in assisted care or a nursing home. Even if they no longer remember who you are by name, they can enjoy a pretty card. There's one family in church I don't know but have been sending notes for several years about their daughter who was in a terrible auto accident caused by a drunk driver. Many people must be writing to them, or calling, because I've received occasional updates on her condition. One man I never expected would leave the hospital is home and in remission. My friend Lynne crafts lovely cards and she has helped me out with special "guy type" cards which are a little difficult to find.

If you're on one of my lists, you'll probably be getting a note on my new birthday stationery soon. The handwriting isn't what it used to be, so I hope you can read it.

Peroxide VS Bleach

Mike and Judy sent this along. I use peroxide for a mouth wash, but not much else. I’ll have to try some of these. If you see misinformation, just pass it along. The Truth or Fiction site rates some of these as TRUTH, some as UNPROVEN some as DISPUTED and some as UNDETERMINED. Also that list is slightly different. e-How site has some of the same. Suggestions from an earth friendly site. Snopes doesn't enumerate, but advises caution, and says this particular e-mail started circulating around January 2006. Always check any health claims for any product received by e-mail at several fact checking sites. Or just google, and find an EPA or FDA or CDC site.

"I would like to tell you of the benefits of that plain little ole bottle of 3% peroxide you can get for under $1.00 at any drug store. What does bleach cost? My husband has been in the medical field for over 36 years, and most doctors don't tell you about peroxide.

Have you ever smelled bleach in a doctor's office? NO!!! Why? Because it smells, and it is not healthy! Ask the nurses who work in the doctor's offices, and ask them if they use bleach at home. They are wiser and know better!

"Did you also know bleach was invented in the late 40's? [One site said this isn't true.] It's chlorine, folks! And it was used to kill our troops. Peroxide was invented during WWI. It was used to save and help cleanse the needs of our troops and hospitals. Please think about this:

1. Take one capful (the little white cap that comes with the bottle) and hold in your mouth for 10 minutes daily, then spit it out. (I do it when I bathe.) No more canker sores, and your teeth will be whiter without expensive pastes. Use it instead of mouthwash.

2. Let your toothbrushes soak in a cup of peroxide to keep them free of germs.

3. Clean your counters and table tops with peroxide to kill germs and leave a fresh smell. Simply put a little on your dishrag when you wipe, or spray it on the counters.

4. After rinsing off your wooden cutting board, pour peroxide on it to kill salmonella and other bacteria.

5. I had fungus on my feet for years until I sprayed a 50/50 mixture of peroxide and
water on them (especially the toes) every night and let dry.

6. Soak any infections or cuts in 3% peroxide for five to ten minutes several times a day. My husband has seen gangrene that would not heal with any medicine but was
healed by soaking in peroxide.

7. Fill a spray bottle with a 50/50 mixture of peroxide and water and keep it in every bathroom to disinfect without harming your septic system like bleach or most other disinfectants will.

8. Tilt your head back and spray into nostrils with your 50/50 mixture whenever you have a cold, plugged sinus. It will bubble and help to kill the bacteria. Hold for a few minutes, and then blow your nose into a tissue.

9. If you have a terrible toothache and cannot get to a dentist right away, put a capful of 3% peroxide into your mouth and hold it for ten minutes several times a day. The pain will lessen greatly.

10. Put half a bottle of peroxide in your bath to help rid boils, fungus, or other skin infections.

11. You can also add a cup of peroxide instead of bleach to a load of whites in your laundry to whiten them. If there is blood on clothing, pour it directly on the soiled spot. Let it sit for a minute, then rub it and rinse with cold water. Repeat if necessary.

12. I use peroxide to clean my mirrors. There is no smearing, which is why I love it so much for this.

The UN loves Obama because he's weak

Sad but true. Read it Americans.

"It is not hard to see why a standing ovation awaits the president at Turtle Bay. Obama’s popularity at the UN boils down essentially to his willingness to downplay American global power. He is the first American president who has made an art form out of apologizing for the United States, which he has done on numerous occasions on foreign soil, from Strasbourg to Cairo. The Obama mantra appears to be – ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do to atone for your country. This is a message that goes down very well in a world that is still seething with anti-Americanism.

It is natural that much of the UN will embrace an American president who declines to offer strong American leadership. A president who engages dictators like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez will naturally gain respect from the leaders of the more than 100 members of the United Nations who are currently designated as “partly free” or “not free” by respected watchdog Freedom House.

The UN is not a club of democracies - who still remain a minority within its membership – it is a vast melting pot of free societies, socialist regimes and outright tyrannies. Obama’s clear lack of interest in human rights issues is a big seller at the UN, where at least half its members have poor human rights records."

Whatever happened to the Ideal City?

The people have moved away. "Today (2005) no one in Germany refers to . . . suburbs as "monotonous." This term is instead reserved for the grey slabs of concrete that most people are abandoning as fast as they can. Throughout Europe, high-rise apartments are increasingly becoming ghettos for Muslim and other foreign "guest workers."

Read a fascinating article about Halle-Neustadt (referred to as Hanoi by residents), a high-density, soviet-built city in East Germany that some urban planners once rated “the most sustainable city in the world” by the Antiplanner. Terrific photos.

President Pantywaist as the Brits say

"If you read the entire article, [says Neo-Neocon,] you’ll see a few more things: Ahmadinejad’s exquisitely contemptuous message to Obama. Britain’s Brown responding by saying “Iran must abandon any military ambitions for its nuclear program,” as though he’s got anything to say about it. The news that Obama was briefed about this second enrichment facility back when he first came into office, and yet he still abandoned the planned missile defense for Poland and the Czechs last week designed to counter a nuclear threat, citing the fact that Iran wasn’t on track to develop nuclear weapons within the next five years."

Remember Poland. It was 70 years ago we did nothing. If you think immigration is unfair now, you should see what the "rules" did to European Jews. How did this one work? "The good neighbor respects himself and the rights of others. (FDR)" Does that remind you of any of the golden sentences we heard this past week from another Democrat?

Funny as a crutch, as we used to say

Oba mao



HT Taxmanblog

The Barney Dodge

The man knows no shame. He hid behind a Medal of Honor recipient, (published a whiney letter in the WSJ 9-23) in order not to appear at the defunding vote for ACORN. Oh Barney, you're the only thing transparent in this current administration!

Poverty pimps live well

Actually, main stream reporters couldn't be called exactly poverty pimps--they aren't the Jesse Jackson types where their entire livelihood is based on scamming the wealthy CEOs to give to their causes. But they do harange us ordinary folk with "social justice" sob stories and try to make us weep that we have more than others. Like Matt Lauer.

He has recently bought a waterfront "cottage" for $2.15 million in South Hampton, NY. He works for NBC's Today Show.

It was the closest nomination contest in a generation, with just one-tenth of a percentage point — 41,622 votes out of more than 35 million cast — separating Barack Obama from Hillary Clinton when the Democratic primaries ended in June 2008. Obama’s margin among elected delegates was almost as thin, just 51 to 48 percent.

But Barack Obama had a crucial advantage over his rivals this year: the support of the national media, especially the three broadcast networks. At every step of his national political career, network reporters showered the Illinois Senator with glowing media coverage, building him up as a political celebrity and exhibiting little interest in investigating his past associations or exploring the controversies that could have threatened his campaign. Read the entire report here

So what sort of pay back do these MSM reporters get? After all, Obama's going to redistribute their wealth to the bottom one-third (actually, that would include me). Maybe they just get to share the beach. I wouldn't deny a liberal media maven his millions, I just wish they'd be less a hypocrite about wealth, taxes, poverty, health insurance and Obama!

WSJ says luxury real estate is rebounding in the Hamptons thanks to Obama's "bridge loans" for the well connected with our tax money. (Lots of snobbish blacks in the Hamptons. They used to be only for snobbish whites.) Really, these people didn't get rich by being stupid.

A possible homicide. Foul play. Ya think?

It wouldn’t take me long to decide it was a homicide if the guy’s eyes are taped and mouth stuffed, his hands and feet bound, and he was hung naked except for his socks (Columbus Dispatch). Really, reporters sound a bit funny. Like this at Huffington Post

"Our job is to determine if there was foul play involved – and that's part of the investigation – and if there was foul play involved, whether that is related to his employment as a Census worker," said Beyer.

Attacking a federal worker during or because of his job is a federal crime.”

I'm voting that this had nothing to do with his part time job, and everything to do with kinky sex gone bad. Or he stumbled onto the modern version of an old timey Kentucky still (drugs).