Ohio’s HB 318

Late Wednesday, Ohio Senate Democrats rejected the latest Republican amendments to HB 318. The bill will attempt to fill the $851 million gap in the FY10-11 budget. The Senate Finance Committee has adjourned indefinitely--for time to enjoy a Thanksgiving Holiday while thinking this through. Too bad our federal Senators didn’t do the same--they could have used the T-holiday to read through 2074 pages commiting us to trillions of debt and the takeover of private businesses, all for the extremely small percentage of Americans who don't have health insurance (and that won't even change!). Then they could have enjoyed a turkey tryptophan stupor instead of gorging on this other turkey stuffed with pork and shredded taxpayers‘ investments.

Following are the provisions rolled into the substitute bill that were highlighted by Senate Finance Chairman Sen. John Carey (R-Wellston) during Wednesday evening's hearing. This information was provided by AIA Ohio which has a horse in this race, the Ohio Construction Reform Panel's recommendations which could determine how architects will do business with Ohio for the next decade. Notice the money hoped for from casino fees.

- Allows one-third of the scheduled income tax reduction to go into effect rather than freezing the full reduction. This nets the state $278.7 million in FY10 and $284.0 million in FY11.

- Creates a trigger mechanism by which an increased portion of or the full scheduled income tax rate reduction would occur if the governor moves forward on VLTs, or if excess casino revenues are generated within the biennium and could be used to offset GRF.

- Restores $25 million in FY10 and $35 million in FY11 for chartered, nonpublic schools that were disproportionately cut in the budget process.

- Transfers the casino licensure fees, approved by voters as 'State Issue 3,' into the GRF to offset current regional job program expenditures. This provides $200 million in FY11.

- Grants waivers for school districts regarding unfunded mandates for all-day kindergarten and class size reductions.

- Allows school districts to privatize transportation services if they choose to do so.

- Provides flexibility in state report cards for school districts that failed to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) in certain sub groups.

- Allows broader use of joint purchasing by education service centers and school purchasing consortia.

- Includes SB190 ROTC high school credit provisions.

- Requires DAS implement paperwork reduction/cost savings strategies. This is estimated to save $10 million/year.

- Includes comprehensive sentencing reforms. This is estimated to save $20 million in FY10 and $30 million in FY11.

- Establishes an oil and gas drilling pilot program on state-owned land at Salt Fork. This is estimated to bring in $10 million in FY11.

- Removes pay cut language as it is now contained in SB209.

- Creates a privatization commission to study state functions that could be privatized.

- Specifies that future collective bargaining contracts let by the state will coincide with the state's biennial budget time frame.

- Requires that three state agencies (natural resources, education, and transportation) undergo performance audits.

- Studies a state government restructuring plan similar to those proposed in SB52 and HB25.

- Studies potential cost savings and economic benefits to Ohio employers and injured workers by allowing private insurance companies to compete with the Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC).

- Requires the auditor of state's office to determine if BWC has adequate reserves compared to industry standards and to recommend rebates if an over-reserve is determined to exist.

- Studies cost savings that may be achieved if the state were to go to a four-day workweek.

- Transfers functions of the School Employee Health Care Board to DAS and deletes GRF appropriation in the Department of Education. This saves $800,000/year.

- Transfers $15 million per fiscal year from the liquor profits fund into the GRF.

- Transfers $15 million per fiscal year from the Housing Trust Fund into the GRF.

- Transfers $1 million per fiscal year in total from three public safety education funds (83G0, 83N0, and 8440).

- Specifies that the insurance settlement funds for the Lake Hope State Park lodge be used for the purpose of fixing that site.

- Uses half of the current scrap tire fee to provide funding to the state's soil and water districts.

- Ensures correct appropriation authority for the Department of Mental Health's 408 line item.

There are many things in here that deserve a closer look--and it's happening in all states, not just Ohio. Like that Housing Trust Fund--that's created from real estate transfer fees, but is used in conjunction with federal funds for housing programs. 20 years ago no state had this--now about 40 do. The high unemployment rate is squeezing the flood of tax money to a dribble. During the boom years, did anyone at the state or federal or local level think they should have paid down their debt instead of adding more programs?

Two Golden Ages of Television?

Peggy Noonan writes in the WSJ what she’s thankful for--the usual--friends, health, surviving. And then gets to this:

“And after that, after gratitude for friends and family, and for those who protect us, after that something small. I love TV, and the other day it occurred to me again that we are in the middle of a second golden age of television. I feel gratitude to the largely unheralded network executives and producers who gave it to us. The first golden age can be summed up with one name: "Playhouse 90." It was the 1950s and '60s, when TV was busy being born. The second can be summed up with the words "The Sopranos," "Mad Men," "The Wire," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "ER," "24," "The West Wing," "Law and Order," "30 Rock." These are classics. Some nonstars at a network made them possible. Good for them.“

Looks like I missed both golden ages. My parents didn’t have TV when I was growing up so if I ever saw Playhouse 90 (1956-1961) I don’t remember it. I was just too busy going to school, dating or working at the drug store to sit down and watch TV. And of the second group I’ve only seen Law and Order (now in its 20th season), and much of it only in reruns--miss Jerry Orbach. Hardly ever watch it these days--too predictable. The others in the second golden age I’ve never seen.

Over the years we’ve enjoyed Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966) both when it was current and later in reruns; Mary Tyler Moore (1970-1977) and the spin-offs Rhoda and Phyllis; Love Boat (1977-1986) was great for seeing all the stars not usually seen; Cheers (1982-1993); the Bill Cosby Show (1984-1992) and still laugh and identify with the family situations and love the fashions; Murder she wrote (1984-1996) with Angela Lansbury was never missed and we enjoyed it in reruns too; Golden Girls (1985-1992) although I think I saw this mostly on reruns; Murphy Brown (1988-1998)--great ensemble cast; Frasier (1993-2004) again mostly seen in reruns; Ellen (1994-1998); some of the movie channels like TNT and AMC for the movies I never saw when they were current; Third rock from the sun (1996-2001)--hard to believe Tommy is almost 30; we enjoyed Dharma and Greg (1997-2002); Monk (still current and watching it tonight); The Closer (now in the 5th season).

And remember the great variety shows--Sonny and Cher (1971-1974), Donny and Marie (1976-1979), The Captain and Tennille (1976-1977), Hee Haw (1969-1993) and now we even watch Lawrence Welk, which we never would have done in the 1950s and 1960s, as archives were dusted off with added interviews from the “Welk family” (1986- current) for its old time slot on Saturday evenings (tomorrow will be the Thanksgiving special on PBS).

The guy leading the global warming charge

If the interior of the earth is several million degrees hot, maybe that should be the cause of global warming instead of CO2 (which doesn't increase until after the temperatures rise, btw).

In explaining geothermal energy possibilities to Conan O'Brain Surgeon, Al Gore said, ". . . two kilometers or so down in most places there are these incredibly hot rocks, 'cause the interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees, and the crust of the earth is hot ..."

Close Al. Close. No one really knows how hot it is, but the experts' guesses are 4-6,000 degrees. Maybe Conan could use some of those extra Palin fact-checkers on his show. Or Al's next gig could be making up numbers for recovery.gov.

Friday Family photo--the snow horse

I'm dating these photos as the winter of 1949-1950, or 60 years ago, and I'm guessing this is before Christmas, maybe the first snow, and the horse is a bit skimpy. I did a painting from a photo of one of my snow horses with my brother and dog and I have on a lovely plaid coat, which I probably received for Christmas, plus there was a lot more snow and my ability to sculpt a horse had improved a lot. Lady the dalmatian was a replacement for Curly, a shepherd mix, son of Pretty, who had her puppies under the neighbor's porch. During the summer of 1949 Curly disappeared (I was told) while Mom, my brother and I were on a trip with my grandparents. Lady developed skin cancer after we moved to Mt. Morris and only lived a few more years.

The other little boy on the left is Buzzy Brown--the only name I ever called him--don't remember his real name. He lived down the street. I think he was an only child and his parents were rather affluent. He seems to be wearing a matching hat and coat. To show you how thrifty my mother was--I'm wearing a homemade headscarf and mittens, and the mittens were lined with my father's wool Marine uniform from WWII. The blanket on the snow horse was from my grandmother's house, and I guessing it was from her mother's house of the mid-19th century. I am wearing over-the-shoe boots, but my brother isn't--although in the photo of the other snow horse he is. Perhaps he came outside to pose after all the work was done?

He's a poor step-dad and significant other

Eighty six% of the households in the top 5% are married couple families. Only 19% in the lowest 5th are married couple families. Do you suppose this affects the income gap? You betcha! Households with two full-time workers earn five times as much as households in which nobody works. Median income for households with two full-time earners was $85,517 in 2003 compared with $15,661 for households in which nobody worked. Median income for households with one worker who worked full-time all year was $60,852, compared with $28,704 for those who worked part-time for 26 weeks or less.

Oh, the injustice of it. Two married people who work have higher incomes than people who receive government money provided by the people who work. Not only that, but the median income of working people increased by 13% from 1987 to 2003, but those who don’t work and depend on Uncle Sam only got a 1.4% increase. Indeed, marriage may actually penalize poor people while helping their children (they get fewer benefits, but studies show children do much better with married parents). Both Democrats and Republicans tossed the ball of control back and forth during that time period. And since social programs (far exceeds defense) grew faster than anything else in government during those years, especially under Republicans, do you suppose we could conclude that Uncle Sam is not only a lousy step-dad, he’s not even all that great as a lover and significant other? Source

Government acronym: CSEPP

I didn’t know we had a Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) whose mission is to “enhance existing local, installation, tribal, State, and Federal capabilities to protect the health and safety of the public, work force, and environment from the effects of a chemical accident or incident involving the U.S. Army chemical stockpile.” According to the page I read, the stockpiles are secured on seven U.S. Army installations in the continental United States. The map, which was hot linked with colored dots, had eight dots. The first location I checked said it was one of six locations in the nation where chemical weapons are stockpiled.

The chemical agents of primary concern to CSEPP are the nerve agents GB and VX and the blister agents H, HT and HD. The chemical agents are stored in three basic configurations: (1) projectiles, cartridges, mines, and rockets containing propellant and/or explosive components; (2) aircraft delivered munitions that do not contain explosive components; and (3) steel one-ton containers. Most of the stockpile (61%) is in the latter form.

So how'd you like to live in that county? So is it six, seven or eight? Did one of these guys get reassigned to recovery.gov which has bungled many of the numbers and dollars for ARRA for jobs not lost?

I also learned that in 1985 the United States Congress ordered that these weapons be eliminated in the safest manner possible. So that’s what these websites are all about, the ongoing elimination of chemical weapons. "Enhance" in government speak means "eliminate." I guess that's why the health care bill is going to enhance the lives of so many seniors. If we haven't been able to get rid of these in a quarter of a century, what's the rush on health care?

Oh Canada!

A different take on a familiar tune.

I’m proud to be in Canada, by Lee Greenwood.



and an interesting new book by a talented Canadian writer, Denise Chong. Egg on Mao. A good reminder for us, too.

“What I realized while writing this story, as I was tracking this growth and development of a moral being, is that if you don’t stand up for those rights, if you don’t stand up against the indignities that accumulate in daily life, then the very values that you’re supposed to defend—like decency, dignity, goodness, respect—they all start to lose their currency,”

Egg on Mao: The Story of an Ordinary Man Who Defaced an Icon and Unmasked a Dictatorship (Random House Canada, $32.95), by Vancouver-born author Denise Chong. It has revived interest in the moral heroism of Lu Decheng and his friends Yu Zhijian and Yu Dongyue in the 1989 pro-democracy protests. Review here.

Just 24 days

Things have changed since my first child was born in 1961. The thought then was that they needed some time to build up immunity before meeting the world and its bacteria, viruses and contaminants. When I was on my way out of the coffee shop this morning I stopped at a table and asked, "How old is your little one?" "Three and a half weeks," she said. So I looked it up at several web sites thinking perhaps there was new advice. Doesn't seem to be.

"Immediately after birth, the newborn has high levels of the mother's antibodies in the bloodstream. Babies who are breastfed continue to receive antibodies via breast milk. Breast milk contains all five types of antibodies, including immunoglobulin A (IgA), immunoglobulin D (IgD), immunoglobulin E (IgE), IgG, and immunoglobulin M (IgM). This is called passive immunity because the mother is "passing" her antibodies to her child. This helps prevent the baby from developing diseases and infections.

During the next several months, the antibodies passed from the mother to the infant steadily decrease. When healthy babies are about two to three months old, the immune system will start producing its own antibodies. During this time, the baby will experience the body's natural low point of antibodies in the bloodstream. This is because the maternal antibodies have decreased, and young children, who are making antibodies for the first time, produce them at a much slower rate than adults.
Once healthy babies reach six months of age, their antibodies are produced at a normal rate."

Add to that it is flu season; our government is hyping a pandemic; the mother might not be breastfeeding; the table where I sit always needs to be wiped down before I use it; it was noisy and confusing with strangers' voices (like mine) battering her little ears; she couldn't focus yet so was staring at the brilliant can lights above.

Maybe someday someone will investigate the increase in allergies and autism in today's children (peanut butter, gluten, pets, etc.) over those of 40 years ago and find out if they inhaled things in the built environment before their bodies were ready for the insult to their delicate systems.

On reading the new health care bill

There are 2074 pages in the Senate version of health care “reform.“ Fox News is suggesting that we not just accept the talking points of the Democrats, but that the ordinary citizen take a piece of the Senate Health Care bill, study it and send in comments. There is a template in which you can enter information you either like or don’t like. So I took the challenge. (HT Bob C.) I randomly selected a page--1896. That’s a huge mistake, I learned--you're probably better off to begin with a section that interests you. Oh well. I ended up in something called “Follow-on Biologics User Fees.” Call me crazy, but a “user fee” is a tax. Here’s a little poem to keep in mind while browsing this health care bill.

No matter who gets the fee,
it is passed on to me.
So don't be so lax,
Remember it’s a tax.
He said that he wouldn't,
We know that he shouldn't.
But we just can't win,
We've been lied to again.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t make heads nor tails out of this tax. I think a special college level course is needed in how to read a Senate or House bill. They first had to define a biological product, and to do that I had to see section 351 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 262) (as amended by
this Act) and I had to familiarize myself with section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 355) and section 3511 of title 31, U.S.C. for standards, and requirements prescribed by the Comptroller General, etc.

But I did see some very disturbing things in this unintelligible section, like dates (5 years after fiscal year 2012, for instance)--for review and audit that seemed to involve a population the size of a small city. Although the wording is “shall consult with“ not “will consult with“ so that might actually make a difference in who figures this one out and how much it will cost me in 2017. Assuming this reform hasn't seriously shortened my life expectancy, which today is somewhere in the 90s.

Eleven AP fact checkers for Palin’s book

Did AP fact check Obama's book? Just point to the article. It used 11 on Palin. She must really be a threat.

Associated Press writers Matt Apuzzo, Sharon Theimer, Tom Raum, Rita Beamish, Beth Fouhy, H. Josef Hebert, Justin D. Pritchard, Garance Burke, Dan Joling and Lewis Shaine plus Calvin Woodward all contributed to the article “fact checking” her book. Mark Steyn said that equaled about l.8333333 errors/facts per writer. Surely, if all 11 actually read it they could have found more. I find errors in books and web pages all the time. Spent some time tonight at a FEMA site and found three errors within three clicks. And the facts they disputed? Not so much. They were really flimsy--like “railed against taxpayer-financed bailouts.” Please? Most Americans on both the left and right have done that.

Has AP in 10 months of brilliant journalistic analysis even come up with 11 criticisms of Barack Obama? Like his deficit which makes George W. Bush, the biggest spender up to Jan. 20, 2009, look like a penny pinching piker? Taking over huge segments of the economy? Calling the Cambridge police stupid? Not knowing how or when to salute? Bowing to foreign leaders? Or his marxist passion to redistribute wealth? Or how about that terrorist trial he wants in New York City? Don't bother to count. It was just a rhetorical question.

Has AP ever looked so ridiculous?

If there are hungry Americans. . .

Then we have totally incompetent federal, state and local governments, because we tax payers have certainly done our part. We've given them enough money to cover the problem. $60.7 billion was the USDA's food assistance budget in 2008. Here's a tiny fraction of what went to the low income and poor, not for hunger, but for "food insecurity." Primarily, it pays the salaries of the people in the USDA "food chain," which include "public partnerships" like non-profits and churches.

Legislation
School Meals Programs
Child and Adult Care Food Program
Summer Food Service Program
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
Food Distribution Program
Women, Infants and Children

Regulations
School Meals Programs
Child and Adult Care Food Program
Summer Food Service Program
Supplemental Nutrition Asssitance Program
Food Distribution Program
Women, Infants and Children
Farmers Market Nutrition Program

Policy
School Meals
Child and Adult Care Food Program
Summer Food Service Program
Food Distribution Policy Database
Charitable Institutions & Summer Camps
Commodity Supplemental Food Program
Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations
Nutrition Services Incentive Program
Processing Policies
Schools/Child Nutrition Institutions
The Emergency Food Assistance Program

Sustainable Development is wealth redistribution

Your wealth into a giant green rat hole. I must get 3-4 items a week in my e-mail on sustainable development, buildings, products, and life style, both for my husband (architecture) and me (librarianship and news releases from OSU). As Christians, we are huge supporters of conservation and stewardship of God’s creation, but “sustainable” has become a code word for something much more sinister.

Both prophets and pundits, right and left, whether Glenn Beck, Tom DeWeese, Bill Maher or Van Jones , know "sustainability" calls for changing the infrastructure of the nation, away from private ownership and control of property to central planning first by our government, then by a world governing body--whatever entity the United Nations will evolve to. When you see the word “sustainable,“ you can safely substitute “wealth redistribution.”

We fought a few wars to defeat the centrally planned economic disasters based on the theories of Marx and Engels. You’re too young to remember millions of starving Ukrainians declared wealthy because they owned a cow or a wheat field, but the same thing has been going on for years in Communist North Korea. Those plans evolved and then failed in the USSR, its Eastern European satellites and Maoist China (which now under a cloak of capitalism owns us and is cautioning our president to cut back on his insatiable appetite for debt).

When our home grown Communist sympathizers found out that “revolution” wouldn’t work because the workers and labor unions of the USA already had too much freedom, material goods and wealth and were loyal to American ideals, they just drilled from within, driving our businesses off shore, and in 2008 we elected them (with a very long lead in from socialists and progressives in the government)! But for those who weren’t swayed at the polls or by campaign promises, there is always the great green hope and hype.

However, that hyped hope (cap and trade based on phony CO2 scare tactics) is death for the poor of developing countries. Did you see our food prices rise almost over night in 2007 when the bio-fuels fever really took over and land was being taken out of production for food and turned into bio-fuel for automobiles? We saw our price of bread, meat and milk go up a few pennies to a dollar, but in poorer nations, they were having food riots and killing each other as a shortage of wheat turned into a shortage of rice and cooking oil.

Tom DeWeese cautions us to pay attention to the language--we’ve been hearing some version of this since the 1930s--pausing only briefly as we finally dropped the cloak of protectionism after Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941

"We now have a new language invading our government at all levels. Old words with new meanings fill government policy papers. The typical city council meeting discusses "community development," "historic preservation," and "partnerships" between the city and private business.

Civic leaders organize community meetings run by "facilitators," as they outline a "vision" for the town, enforced by "consensus." No need for debate when you have consensus! People of great importance testify before congressional committees of the dire need for "social justice."

Free trade, social justice, consensus, global truth, partnerships, preservation, stakeholders, land use, environmental protection, development, diversity, visioning, open space, heritage, comprehensive planning, critical thinking, and community service are all part of our new language." Tom DeWeese

I wrote on this topic about a year ago, Prize for the most green words. Really made an architect unhappy; he thought he needed to attack me, instead of the topic at hand.

People are catching on

"Less than half the population believes that human activity is to blame for global warming, according to an exclusive poll for The Times. The revelation that ministers have failed in their campaign to persuade the public that the greenhouse effect is a serious threat requiring urgent action will make uncomfortable reading for the Government as it prepares for next month’s climate change summit in Copenhagen.

Only 41 per cent accept as an established scientific fact that global warming is taking place and is largely man-made. Almost a third (32 per cent) believe that the link is not yet proved; 8 per cent say that it is environmentalist propaganda to blame man and 15 per cent say that the world is not warming."

From First Things

Get your free download of The Skeptics Handbook

Katie Couric on the new breast guidelines

Isn't that just so odd? Katie says it's the REPUBLICANS making this into a political issue (she spoke on our local news show this evening). I guess those "women's groups" objecting and questioning the panel aren't DEMOCRATS? And it couldn't be that the DEMOCRATS have some of that transparent Pelosi tape over their mouths? Washington Wire (very liberal) at WSJ took the same tack (hmmm, almost like talking points were coming from the White House, isn't it?) Here's my favorite health writer, Tara Parker Pope

"The panel that issued the changes, the United States Preventive Services Task Force, advised doctors not to teach women to examine their own breasts, saying the self-checks led to more imaging procedures and biopsies but did not reduce cancer deaths.

Many women, particularly those of my generation, were mystified. Breast self-exams are inexpensive and noninvasive. No radiation, no fuss. You can do them in your own home, lying down in bed, in between checkups or mammograms. You don’t even need health insurance because they are free. So why not?"

Actually, the only detection that matters is your own--not the studies. Money raised for breast cancer for way too long has gone for education and detection, and not enough for research--just my opinion. That's always been my gripe about "runs" and "walks" for any disease of the week--the bulk of it goes back to support the organization doing the events, and then for education, and then a tiny portion for research.

Bernadine Healey was interviewed on Glenn Beck tonight and she said it should be between the woman and her doctor to decide. But Bernadine, there's that pesky insurance issue. . . women who have "cadillac" insurance are going to be taxed more, assuming their employer doesn't drop it, and that just might put a damper on what tests they're willing to put up with. And I know from Medicare, you don't just get any test or shot you want--it has to be one the approved schedule. If 40 year olds don't need it, maybe they'll decide 70 year olds aren't worth it either? Keep your eye on that Preventive Services Task Force once you're on the public health insurance.

Also, please read this story about Kerry Dumbaugh. I know her. She was interviewed in 2002 about a false negative mammogram, but 2 doctors could feel the lump. She was 42. Her grandmother died of cancer at 56--but her cancer had been visible for years. Kerry works for the Congressional Research Service and is an expert on China.

Now it's our turn to be Baby Jane

Baby Jane was born with spina bifida over 25 years ago. Her parents, on their doctors' advice,

"had refused both surgery to close her spine and a shunt to drain the fluid from her brain. In resisting the federal government's attempt to enforce treatment, the parents pleaded privacy.

What first piqued [Nat] Hentoff's curiosity was not so much the case itself but the press coverage. All the papers and the networks were using the same words to say the same thing, he says.

"Whenever I see that kind of story, where everybody agrees, I know there's something wrong," he says. "I finally figured out they were listening to the [parents'] lawyer."

He went after the story, later publishing it in The Atlantic as "The Awful Privacy of Baby Doe." In running it down, he found himself digging into the notorious, 2-year-old case of the first Infant Doe. That Bloomington, Ind., Down's syndrome baby died of starvation over six days when his parents, who did not want a retarded child, refused surgery for his deformed esophagus.

Then Mr. Hentoff came across the published reports of experiments in what doctors at Yale-New Haven Hospital called "early death as a management option" for infants "considered to have little or no hope of achieving meaningful 'humanhood.' " He talked with happy handicapped adults whose parents could have killed them but didn't. It changed him.” Finish the story here.

But keep in mind the slippery slope, and now fellow seniors, it’s our turn, and it's called ObamaCare.

Food insecurity is not hunger

"According to the USDA's annual poll, 17 million U.S. households reported some degree of food insecurity in 2008, up from 13 million households in 2007," writes Scott Kilman in yesterday's WSJ. I'm not sure when "food insecurity" became the term du jour, but it means at some point during 2008 someone in the family worried about not having enough food or their "normal eating patterns were disrupted." So that's what hunger has become to the USDA--worrying about food while HHS is wringing is bureaucratic hands over obesity. Even when unemployment was at 4.5%, journalists were writing food pantry and food insecurity stories, especially during the holiday season when many charities are making appeals. Now because of unemployment at 10.2%, people who used to contribute or volunteer at food pantries now are recipients, so the stories have expanded. In 2009 they are not directed at the president's policies, as they were four or five years ago. Even in food insecurity, Obama is untouchable.

And really, no modern day president can be blamed for hunger in the U.S., because it has been the policy of the government for the last 60 years to expand its largest welfare program to . . . farmers. And what used to be using up post-war surplus by giving it to the poor (blocks of cheese, butter, and boxes of dry milk back in the 60s and 70s) is now growing subsidized food to be given to the poor through schools (breakfast, lunch, afterschool and summertime snacks), churches (they usually run the summer programs), non-profits (they provide grants from donors and the government to buy the food), and federal and state "partnerships (redistribution of USDA money to many programs, rural and metropolitan)."

This at a time when there are entire households of adults and children where no one knows how to purchase or prepare food. I needed to buy 2 large containers of applesauce to donate to Faith Mission this week, so while I was going through the store, I jotted down some basic, non-prepared food items with prices.

Fresh items: 3 lb bananas, 8 lb. potatoes, 1 lb. carrots, 3 lb. apples, 8 lb oranges, 2 lb cabbage (total $11.18); main meal items: l lb pinto beans, l lb. black beans, 2 lb rice, 2 lb macaroni, 15 oz spaghetti, 26 oz spaghetti sauce (total $8.56); refrigerator case: 1 doz eggs, 1 gal milk, 1 lb butter, 2 lb cheddar cheese (total $7.45); beverage: 11.5 oz coffee to brew ($2.50). That came to $29.69, and for another $5.00 I could have had 2 loaves of bread and 16 oz. of natural peanut butter. For another $5.00 I could buy a 16 lb. turkey because they are on special right now. So for $40, that's a lot of food on the shelves, but someone has to buy it and someone has to prepare it who knows that beans with rice and potatoes combined with milk are almost nutritionally perfect.

But you can blow your way through $40 pretty fast buying soft drinks, potato chips, prepared individual meals at $3.00 each, crackers, cookies, etc. And it's not just poor people. On my afternoon walk yesterday I walked in a neighborhood that has a Tuesday trash pick up and at one home which I would estimate at $800,000, there were 6 plastic containers at the curb, all filled with flattened boxes and containers for processed food, many for the single server type. Her children probably don't qualify for school lunches, but they might be better off if they did.

See also my blog from April 2009 on What ever happened to food stamps.

A new blog coming on?

Sometimes it's like an itch you can't scratch, but I've been thinking about a new blog--would be my 13th I think. However, I have several I've not been keeping up, like my hobby bloggy on first issue magazines (I must have hundreds), what's on my bookshelves, coffee shop conversations (some are too wild to repeat), and the class reunion (it was 2 years ago).

The other day I scanned something for the class reunion blog. It was an award I'd earned in 8th grade for reading and was given at graduation. I had no memory of this or the books we read, and no one has responded to my questions. Surely I wasn't the only kid who got one of these? Total silence. But while I was rummaging around in the basement storage area, I again pulled out grandma Mary's box of clippings, papers and scrapbooks. And I could feel it coming on. . . a web log devoted to paper memorabilia.


Also just this morning I found a really nice blogger dot com template web site. I haven't looked at all the possibilities yet, but lots of variety and good design.

Maybe I could do it just for a month the way I did Memory Patterns in November 2005.

Non-obese and non-smokers, but still have clogged arteries

Well! Think of the research grants that will need to be rewritten! Read the story by Ron Winslow in today's Wall Street Journal.

We visited this museum when we were in Egypt in March. An amazing place, and we just scratched the surface. No cameras.

Invites to join Facebook

This morning I received an invitation from the fourth wife of the first husband of my sister-in-law to join her friends group at Facebook. Very nice lady. In my husband's family it really is until death do you part. Even if they get a divorce they still are welcome at the family events, which makes it nicer for the children who get to see their former step-parent occasionally. But I prefer blogging. I did go in and follow her link, however, and saw two other recent invitations (don't know how long that shows) and one has nine followers, the other has 109. The one who has 109 has never met a stranger, and she travels a lot. Long before e-mail and Facebook, you had to take a number to visit, or go shopping, or out to dinner. I don't think I even know 109 "friends," and I'm sure I don't want to go through junior high school again with people de-friending or refusing to even respond to my invitation to come to the party.

As it is, I'm on a number of e-mail discussion lists all sent and managed by men--four by guys who were in high school with me, and one from my husband's Wednesday morning men's group (he doesn't do e-mail). And they say women like to talk. The men do catch up.

Dirty little secrets in the House Bill reveal Obama’s claims for health reform are lies

"You lie." And this time it's the non-partisan and independent Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services saying it, not a "Southern racist congressman" as the media tried to portray Joe Wilson.

" A report released Friday by the non-partisan and independent Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency in charge of running Medicare and Medicaid, blows the lid off of every one of Obama’s claims. All of the following quotes are from the report itself [this summary is from The Morning Bell webpage]:

Health Care Costs Increase: “In aggregate, we estimate that for calendar years 2010 through 2019 [national health expenditures (NHE)] would increase by $289 billion, or 0.8 percent, over the updates baseline projection that was released on June 29, 2009.” In other words, Obamacare bends the cost curve up, not down.

Millions Lose Existing Private Coverage: “However, a number of workers who currently have employer coverage would likely become enrolled in the expanded Medicaid program or receive subsidized coverage through the Exchange. For example, some smaller employers would be inclined to terminate their existing coverage, and companies with low average salaries might find it to their - and their employees’ - advantage to end their plans … We estimate that such actions would collectively reduce the number of people with employer-sponsored health coverage by about 12 million.” In other words, Obamacare will cause millions of Americans to lose their existing private coverage. . .

Seniors Access to Care Jeopardized: “H.R. 3962 would introduce permanent annual productivity adjustments to price updates for institutional providers… Over time, a sustained reduction in payment updates, based on productivity expectations that are difficult to attain, would cause Medicare payment rates to grow more slowly than and in a way that was unrelated to, the providers’ costs of furnishing services to beneficiaries. Thus, providers for whom Medicare constitutes a substantive portion of their business could find it difficult to remain profitable and might end their participation in the program (possibly jeopardizing access to care for beneficiaries).” In other words, the Medicare cuts in the House bill are so out of touch with reality that hospitals currently serving Medicare patients might be forced to stop doing so. Thus making it much more difficult for seniors to get health care."

There is much more--go here to read the news about the lies we’ve been told or bring up the report and read it. Few, including your congressional representative, read the bill--so you might as well read the analysis.

Here in central Ohio radio land we are being annoyed by syrupy radio ads for Mary Jo Kilroy extolling her part in this mess (I think the ad campaign is sponsored by a union). Over half of government workers (local, state, federal) are now unionized, up from 17.3% in the early 1970s. Guess who your representative is really representing? Guess who wants to unload onto the taxpayer their health care responsibilities and pie-in-the-sky promises after taking workers' dues all those years?

Did Edwards want the Veep spot with Barack?

Democrats are arguing amongst themselves over this at Politico, but I thought this was a good explanation by a reader at Ben Smith: "Edwards was a stalking horse to draw votes from Hillary. He is a two faced lowlife and had no business running when he KNEW he was already busted with a pregnant mistress and cheated on his cancer stricken wife. As for Elizabeth she is an enabler and should not have helped him run. Obama used Edwards to siphon votes from HRC and now we have months with no decision for the troops and record unemployment. Thanks Johnny! Thanks Barack!"

Tell us how you really feel!

Louder with Crowder visits Gitmo

Obama has stained Gitmo. It’s well worth watching the whole thing. The terrorist prisoners certainly have it much better than U.S. prisoners. Find out what our enemies already know (thanks to Obama).

But how would it look?

Mark Steyn on the decisions not made. Thirteen dead--fourteen counting the baby.

"Two joint terrorism task forces became aware almost a year ago that Major Hasan was in regular e-mail contact with Anwar al-Awlaqi, the American-born but now Yemeni-based cleric who served as imam to three of the 9/11 hijackers and supports all-out holy war against the United States. But the expert analysts in the Pentagon determined that this lively correspondence was consistent with Major Hasan’s “research interests,” so there was no need to worry. That’s America: Technologically superior, money no object (not one but two “joint terrorism task forces” stumbled across him). Yet no action was taken.

On the other hand, who needs surveillance operations and intelligence budgets? Major Hasan was entirely upfront about who he was. He put it on his business card: “SOA.” As in “Soldier of Allah” — which seems a tad ungrateful to the American taxpayers who ponied up half a million bucks or thereabouts in elite medical-school education to train him to be a Soldier of Uncle Sam. In a series of meetings during 2008, officials from both Walter Reed and the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences considered the question of whether then-captain Hasan was psychotic. But, according to at least one bigwig at Walter Reed, members of the policy committee wondered “How would it look if we kick out one of the few Muslim residents?” So he got promoted to major and shipped to Fort Hood.

And 13 men and women and an unborn baby are dead." . . .

" “Diversity” is one of those words designed to absolve you of the need to think. Likewise, a belief in “multiculturalism” doesn’t require you to know anything at all about other cultures, just to feel generally warm and fluffy about them. Heading out from my hotel room the other day, I caught a glimpse of that 7-Eleven video showing Major Hasan wearing “Muslim” garb to buy a coffee on the morning of his murderous rampage. And it wasn’t until I was in the taxi cab that something odd struck me: He was an American of Arab descent. But he was wearing Pakistani dress — that’s to say, a “Punjabi suit,” as they call it in Britain, or the shalwar kameez, to give it its South Asian name. For all the hundreds of talking heads droning on about “diversity” across the TV networks, it was only Tarek Fatah, writing in the Ottawa Citizen, who pointed out that no Arab males wear this get-up — with one exception: Those Arab men who got the jihad fever and went to Afghanistan to sign on with the Taliban and al-Qaeda. In other words, Major Hasan’s outfit symbolized the embrace of an explicit political identity entirely unconnected with his ethnic heritage.

Mr. Fatah would seem to be a genuine “multiculturalist”: That’s to say, he’s attuned to often very subtle “diversities” between cultures. Whereas the professional multiculturalist sees the 7-Eleven video and coos, “Aw, look. He’s wearing . . . well, something exotic and colorful, let’s not get hung up on details. Celebrate diversity, right? Can we get him in the front row for the group shot? We may be eligible for a grant.” "

It's probably an urban legend, but. . .

"Iranian Air Defense Radar: 'Unknown aircraft you are in Iranian airspace. Identify yourself.'

Aircraft: 'This is a United States aircraft. I am in Iraqi airspace.'

Air Defense Radar: 'You are in Iranian airspace. If you do not depart our airspace we will launch interceptor aircraft!'

Aircraft: 'This is a United States Marine Corps FA-18 fighter. Send 'em up, I'll wait!'

Air Defense Radar: (no response .... total silence)"

Seen at DANEgerus

Palin on Newsweek

Sarah Palin had some photos taken for an article "I'm a runner," in Runner's World. I've looked at the article. The photos are cute. Newsweek didn't choose one with her son Trig--that might be a reminder to Democrats that they've successfully legislated about 90% of Down Syndrome babies out of existence plus untold millions of other babies that don't measure up to their high standards.

Besides, I've seen women show more leg than that just going to work--or they did when they were younger and looked better. Here's Sarah's comments on the Newsweek cover from her Facebook page.

"The choice of photo for the cover of this week's Newsweek is unfortunate. When it comes to Sarah Palin, this "news" magazine has relished focusing on the irrelevant rather than the relevant. The Runner's World magazine one-page profile for which this photo was taken was all about health and fitness - a subject to which I am devoted and which is critically important to this nation. The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now. If anyone can learn anything from it: it shows why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, gender, or color of skin. The media will do anything to draw attention - even if out of context."

Here's what Runner's World editor has to say: "On the cover of this week’s issue of Newsweek is a photo that was shot for the August 2009 issue of Runner’s World, in which Sarah Palin was featured on the monthly “I’m a Runner” back page. Runner’s World did not provide Newsweek with the image. Instead, it was provided to Newsweek by the photographer’s agent, without Runner’s World’s knowledge or permission."

Don't trust the internet--especially not dot gov

"Forget everything bad you’ve ever heard about President Barack Obama’s $787 economic stimulus. Combing through the data on the $18 million Recovery.gov website you’ll find tons of Obama stimulus success stories from across the country. In Minnesota’s 57th Congressional District, 35 jobs have been saved or created using $404,340 in stimulus funds. In New Mexico’s 22nd Congressional District, 25 jobs have been saved or created using $61,000 in stimulus cash. And in Arizona’s fighting 15th Congressional District, 30 jobs have been saved or created with just $761,420 in federal stimulus spending.

The it-would-be-funny-if-it-weren’t-our-tax-dollars-at-stake punch line here is that none of the above Congressional Districts actually exist." Morning Bell, Heritage Foundation.

and this one. . . Watchdog.org

"The government’s Web site that is supposed to tell taxpayers how their stimulus dollars are being spent, and which spends $84 million per year to do so, shows that $6.4 billion of the stimulus has been spent in 440 congressional districts that don’t exist [there are only 435 to begin with], according to a report by the Franklin Center, as reported by Watchdog.org.

The site, Recovery.gov, reports, for instance, that North Dakota’s 99th Congressional District has received $2 million in stimulus funding. But North Dakota has only one congressional district. The nation’s capital now contains 35 congressional districts, according to Recovery.gov."

And these guys want to take over health care.

Michigan got a bunch of new districts. . . According to Watchdog.org, the federal recovery Web site operates on an $84 million budget. One would think such hefty price tag would ensure more accurate reporting. Instead, it says nearly $6.4 billion was used to "create or save" fewer than 30,000 jobs in these 440 "phantom" congressional districts. That's almost $225,000 per job.

A note about town names

Many years ago I was looking at a letter written to my great-grandparents in the 1850s and it was addressed to the town of Ogle, Illinois. That puzzled me a little because I'd grown up in Ogle County, they had lived in Lee County, and I'd never heard of the town of Ogle. My dad, who knew every road and farm in northern Illinois (he delivered fuel oil and later owned a bolt supply service for farming equipment) explained it was an early name for Ashton.

Today I came across a clipping in my grandmother's quilt pattern file published sometime during or after 1982 (photos of missing children on the back, but no quilt information). The article is written for the Dixon paper by George Lamb who had written Historical Reminiscences about Dixon, Illinois in 1970. The column was called, "We Remember When," and included Nachusa (Taylor), Nelson (Summerset), Shelburn (Rocky Ford), Ashton and Franklin Grove. So here's the story.

In 1854 the railroad that passed through the eastern section of Lee County established a freight stop and at first called it Ogle Station. Later the name was shortened to Ogle and after a time this name was dropped in favor of the town title of Ashton.

In 1853 Christian Lahmann, who owned the tract of land south of the railroad several miles east of Dixon, platted about 10 acres of it and christened what the hoped would be a thriving new village, Chaplin. The name lasted only until the village of Franklin Grove was incorporated first in 1857 and, again, in 1865."

I'm sure all this is in the Lee County History (2 vols.) which is somewhere on a family member's book shelf.

Townhall meetings are OK in China, just not here

In the USA, citizens meeting peacefully to question President Obama's policies are vilified and criticized by our Congress, White House aides, and our media. Some citizens have been beat up or intimidated by SEIU Obama goons, and Obama didn't even say they acted "stupidly," nor have charges been brought against the union thugs in the Democrat controlled jurisdiction. Democrat operatives aren't calling Chinese citizens "tea baggers" and "astroturf."

"When the SEIU members went to the town hall meeting hosted by Democrat Congressman Russ Carnahan, did they have a fight on their minds? Were they spurred on by The President’s words or the HCAN national Field Advisor Margarida Jorge’s talking points? Did the favorite White House guest, Andy Stern promise the POTUS that the situation would be dealt with, as a way to curry favor with the King? We may never know if there was a specific instruction given, but we do know that four adults from the same gang decided simultaneously to mingle with the protestors and then single one out for a beating. We also know that the union has hired for them, Paul D’Agrosa one of the top criminal defense lawyers in St. Louis. Finally, we know that County Counselor Patricia Reddington, who serves at the pleasure of Democrat County Executive Charlie Dooley (previously a union member) is not moving the case." Big Government

According to ABC News, the Chinese townhall is OK, and no one has even "vetted" the questions. Do you believe that? [I don't.]

"In the afternoon at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum Mr. Obama will host a town hall meeting with “future Chinese leaders.” Several hundred students, the youth of China, will join the President at the event, coming from many local universities.

Beforehand the White House solicited questions online which the President will respond to during the town hall. White House aides estimate hundreds, if not thousands, have already been submitted online.

The President will call on the roughly 400 college students in the audience at random and no one from US will have vetted their questions, The White House says. Aides says this event "is the same as if it were in Iowa,” referencing the many town halls then-candidate Obama held during the 2008 Presidential campaign.

The town hall will be live streamed on the White House website, an unblocked website in China, in order to reach the “broadest possible audience,” Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes says." ABCNews

An unblocked website in China. Interesting.

The Time Traveler's Wife--Monday Memories

We hadn't seen a movie since Julie and Julia during the summer at Lakeside, so last night we went to the dollar theater to see The Time Traveler's Wife. I'd gotten the basic story from someone at the coffee shop and was hoping it wasn't a chick flick. Having paid $3 for our 2 tickets and $4 for a small popcorn, we settled in for the 7:30 show. I didn't know it was about a librarian! Henry is born with a wandering gene that causes him to inexplicably move around in time, even sometime appearing as the older Henry with the younger Henry. Only his clothes remain when he "travels" so when he reappears he's naked so he's often rummaging around or breaking into stores to get clothes. He meets a young girl periodically as she is growing up (she brings him her brother's clothes so he can dress in the woods), and they finally meet in the mid-1990s in a Chicago library, fall in love, and get married. After several miscarriages they have a baby girl who also has his genetic anomaly, so she too is moving back and forth in time watching her parents. Interesting movie, and my husband liked it more than I did, since I'm not much into fantasy. Henry is played by Eric Bana who bears an uncanny resemblance to our son--same age, height, weight and coloring. I kept wondering where (which movie) I'd seen him, then I realized why he looked so familiar.



When we got home we discovered the cat had done a little time travel herself. She was a rescue cat with a few bad habits caused, we think, by her abandonment. To be kind, she "had issues" about food and had learned to survive by stalking trash cans. Ate everything in sight. Dug things out of the garbage disposal. Would be on the kitchen counter in a flash if you turned your back. But she's over 10 now and not so limber, and is a bit more relaxed and trusting about food. But last night she reverted to kittenhood and while we were gone jumped to the countertop, and dug out the chicken bones and potato skins and had them all over the floor when we got home. And when that one last kernel of popcorn hit the floor when I took off my coat, she gobbled that down too.

Sarah Palin's book, Going Rogue

I hadn't planned to buy a copy, and it certainly won't be accessible at UAPL if other titles written by conservatives are any example (16 copies of an anti-Bush book are in the budget--they trained us well--we conservatives buy rather than wait for a 2nd copy of our books). The venom and wrath of the left lashing out at her again will probably boost the sales. Here's an item that highschool friend Bob C. sent. The source seemed a little iffy, so I looked it up. It is written by Dewey Whetsell of Alaska, and he is a sax playing fisherman, a firefighter, and a writer, who has a few books to sell. This is the blog, Restless Brain Syndrome that reposted his article. It's gone viral on the internet, which either shows Dewey's talent as a writer, or that a lot of people out there still love Sarah.

I know why men find Sarah so threatening, or the left in general, but really, I just don't get the women who become hysterical at her name. Other than Shirley Chisholm and Barbara Jordan I can't think of too many female politicians to do anything but ride the coattails of husbands and fathers.

-------------

"The last 45 of my 66 years I've spent in a commercial fishing town in Alaska. I understand Alaska politics but never understood national politics well until this last year. Here's the breaking point: Neither side of the Palin controversy gets it. It's not about persona, style, rhetoric, it's about doing things. Even Palin supporters never mention the things that I'm about to mention here.

"1- Democrats forget when Palin was the Darling of the Democrats, because as soon as Palin took the Governor's office away from a fellow Republican and tough SOB, Frank Murkowski, she tore into the Republican's "Corrupt Bastards Club" (CBC) and sent them packing. Many of them are now residing in State housing and wearing orange jump suits. The Democrats reacted by skipping around the yard, throwing confetti and
singing "la la la la" (well, you know how they are). Name another governor in this country that has ever done anything similar. But while you're thinking, I'll continue.

"2- Now with the CBC gone, there were fewer Alaskan politicians to protect the huge, giant oil companies here. So, she constructed and enacted a new system of splitting the oil profits called "ACES". Exxon (the biggest corporation in the world) protested and Sarah told them "don't let the door hit you in the stern on your way out." They stayed, and Alaska residents went from being merely wealthy to being filthy rich. Of course the other huge international oil companies meekly fell in line. Again, give me the name of any other governor in the country that has
done anything similar.

"3- The other thing she did when she walked into the governor's office is she got the list of State requests for federal funding for projects, known as "pork". She went through the list, took 85% of them and placed them in the "when-hell-freezes-over" stack. She let locals know that if we need something built, we'll pay for it ourselves. Maybe she figured she could use the money she got from selling the previous governor's jet because it was extravagant. Maybe she could use the money she saved by dismissing the governor's cook (remarking that she could cook for her
own family), giving back the State vehicle issued to her, maintaining that she already had a car, and dismissing her State provided security force (never
mentioning-I imagine-that she's packing heat herself). I'm still waiting to hear the names of those other governors.

"4- Now, even with her much-ridiculed "gosh and golly" mannerism, she also managed to put together a totally new approach to getting a natural gas pipeline built which will be the biggest private construction project in the history of North America. No one else could do it although they tried. If that doesn't impress you, then you're trying too hard to be unimpressed while watching her do things like this while
baking up a batch of brownies with her other hand.

"5- For 30 years, Exxon held a lease to do exploratory drilling at a place called Point Thompson. They made excuses the entire time why they couldn't start drilling. In truth they were holding it like an investment. No governor for 30 years could make them get started. This summer, she told them she was revoking their lease and kicking them out. They protested and threatened court action. She shrugged and reminded them that she knew the way to the court house. Alaska won again.

"6- President Obama wants the nation to be on 25% renewable resources for electricity by 2025. Sarah went to the legislature and submitted her plan for Alaska to be at 50% renewables by 2025. We are already at 25%. I can give you more specifics about things done, as opposed to style and persona . Everybody wants to be cool, sound cool, look cool. But that's just a cover-up. I'm still waiting to hear from liberals the names of other governors who can match what mine has done in two and a half years. I won't be holding my breath.

"By the way, she was content to to return to AK after the national election and go to work, but the haters wouldn't let her. Now these adolescent screechers are obviously not scuba divers. And no one ever told them what happens when you continually jab and pester a barracuda. Without warning, it will spin around and tear your face off. Shoulda known better."

Four little words

If you want to know why programs to end social ills or create social benefits never die, they only expand, just Google these four words, "dedicated revenue streams to" and then browse municipal, county, state and federal ways to keep a lot of people employed solving society's problems. Here's a few I found

• "The General Assembly has to think out of the box to come up with new and sustainable revenue streams." Democratic candidate addresses the Virginia state budget. The Republican suggested sacrifice and discipline.
  
  
• "Miami-Dade County Food and Beverage Tax: A Dedicated Revenue Source Invested for Results" [to end homelessness]
  
  
• . . . the General Fund would be placed under increasing stress in the next four years, making it hard to produce sufficient revenues to make up for the diversion of the two new dedicated revenue streams to transportation uses [New Jersey transportation proposals]
  
  
• Western Wyoming Community College Distict's Series 2007 Lease Revenue Bond SPUR Raised To 'A+' On Dedicated Revenue Streams
  
  
• The federal government could follow the example of enlightened states and municipalities that use dedicated revenue streams to fund arts and cultural programs. Some 40 communities nationwide dedicate a portion of hotel/motel taxes to arts and cultural programs, acknowledging that cultural activity attracts tourism.
  
  
• The VSO [Vermont Symphony Orchestra] must find new, permanent, and dedicated revenue streams to perpetuate this annual musical offering to the state’s most underserved regions.
  
  
• “As Colorado’s open spaces and agricultural lands continue to rapidly vanish, counties are searching for dedicated revenue streams to protect and preserve their valuable resources,” said Environment Colorado Land Use Associate Pam Kiely. “This legislation [sales tax increase] will provide an essential tool to tackle this problem.”
  
  
• "Americans purchase more than 30 billion single serving bottles a year—was used to create $3 billion-a-year revenue stream dedicated to a federal entity investing in the creation of clean water sources. A dedicated funding stream with a sound policy rationale to support investment ininfrastructure is not a new notion, just an underused one."
  
  
• [Robert] Moses leveraged tolls and other dedicated revenue streams to borrow money, and put shovels in the ground immediately even if all financing was not complete. He knew that once a project started it would be difficult to stop.
  
  
• As councilmember, I will establish one or more dedicated revenue streams to fund metro expansion. I will also seek funding from the federal government as well as our metro partners in Maryland and Virginia. [DC for Democracy, no party given, but he was pro-choice and pro-gay marriage]
  
  
• These proposals [tax on beverage and containers] could both increase dedicated revenue streams to preserve and promote City recycling and decrease the amount of waste to be transported through MTS sites.
  
  
• Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced legislation this week (HR 3032) that would create a new trust fund, supported by dedicated revenue streams, to fund an expanded federal water infrastructure effort. [$10 billion from taxes on soft drinks, pharmaceuticals, and other consumer products, as well as a 0.15 percent corporate tax on profits over $4 million.]
  
  
• Some states also create dedicated revenue sources to support out-of-school time initiatives. Dedicated revenue sources raise and/or direct public funds for a specifi c purpose. Mechanisms for generating dedicated revenue include special taxes, guaranteed expenditure minimums, fees and narrowly based taxes, income tax checkoffs, and children’s trust funds. Creating dedicated revenue sources can be diffi cult, but this funding can provide resources for out-of-school time programs throughout a state, including rural communities.

And so it goes. I don't know what they'll do if people actually stop drinking soft drinks or using throw away containers. Find a new tax I guess. One important "dedicated stream" is that which funds the various housing trusts which now exist in at least 40 states. The one in Ohio went from almost nothing to $56 million (FY 2008) in just 20 years. I think ours is based on transfer of real estate fees, but your state may be different. Transfer of wealth is not just for the federal government.

The Skeptics Handbook on Global Warming

If CO2 is not THE cause of climate change, then the whole Cap-and-Trade Scheme, as well as Kyoto Protocol is WRONG, and must be abandoned. But hurry, the gravy train is about to leave the station.

Free download here. I printed my copy--only 16 pages.

Origins of the current economic crisis?

Glenn Beck's been blaming Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson; maybe he should drop back another 100 years. Jason at Ohio Liberty Studies Group writes:

The basis of “Hamilton’s Curse” [by Thomas DiLorenzo] is simple. That, although the Jeffersonian philosophy of federalism initially triumphed when the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights were adopted, it is Hamilton’s vision of a strong, imperialist central government that has ultimately come to pass, and that we live under today. DiLorenzo provides us with a laundry list which gives us an overview of Hamilton’s political legacy:

“an out-of-control, unaccountable, monopolistic bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.; the demise of the Constitution as a restraint on the federal government’s powers; the end of the idea that the citizens of the states should be the masters, rather than the servants, of their government; generations of activist federal judges who have eviscerated the constitutional protections of individual liberty in America; national debt; harmful protectionist international trade policies; corporate welfare (that is, the use of tax dollars to subsidize various politically connected businesses); and central economic planning and political control of the money supply, which have instigated boom-and-bust cycles in the economy.”

That’s quite a legacy. Alexander Hamilton was this nation’s first Treasury Secretary, and a defender of the central bank, high taxes, protectionist tariffs, and public debt. Each of these, according to Hamilton, would bring with them untold blessings to the American people if instituted. It was Alexander Hamilton who sought to establish the first central bank. It was Hamilton who instituted the very first “bailouts.” It was Hamilton who unapologetically doled out favors and taxpayer funds to his personal friends and business associates. It was Hamilton’s belief in the “implied powers” of the Constitution that gave us the Judicial Review, the “living” Constitution, and justices legislating from the Supreme Court bench. It was Hamilton who espoused deficit spending by the federal government. Anytime you hear a politician talking about all of the wonderful things that the federal government can do for the “public good,” chances are you are listening to a Hamiltonian.

Someone didn't connect the dots in federal-state partnership

Tip lines and 250 agencies can't take the place of old fashioned common sense.

"Innovative Anti-terror Information Sharing: Maryland’s Federal, State, and Local Partnership Model," Chapter 11 in Safeguarding Homeland Security; Governors and Mayors Speak Out was just released Sept. 18. 2009. Former Maryland Governor Robert Erlich wrote about how Maryland was connecting the dots through an innovative federal-state partnership, but they seemed to have slipped up on Maj. Hasan who lived, worked and worshipped in Maryland.

Chapter summary: Maryland created the first fusion center which collects and analyzes disparate data or information to try to “connect the dots” to prevent acts of terrorism. The public is encouraged to provide information through a “tip line.” The Center has federal, state, local, and private sector participation representing 250 agencies or organizations. The Maryland Center is led by members of all three levels of government. A principal objective of such a fusion center is to develop a pattern of cooperation and information sharing.

Maj. Nadil Hasan had communicated 10 to 20 times with Anwar al-Awlaki, an imam released from a Yemeni jail last year who has used his personal Web site to encourage Muslims across the world to kill U.S. troops in Iraq. No formal investigation was opened into Hasan. Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said it was his understanding Hasan and the imam exchanged e-mails that counterterrorism officials picked up. Hoekstra requested that the CIA, FBI, NSA and DNI preserve all documents relating to the Fort Hood attack and related matters for potential investigation by Congress, so this isn't swept under the rug as just some demented soldier going crazy.

Dr. Val Finnell a former classmate of Hasan in Public Health (in Maryland) says Hasan was always focused on another subject. "He would frequently say that he was Muslim first and an American second. That came out in just about everything he did in the university," said Finnell. Hasan would become visibly upset when people challenged him about his beliefs, but no one ever thought he would resort to such violence.

"Instead of being investigated and punished for his treasonous behavior, political correctness assured that Hasan was fast-tracked through the Army ranks and allowed to continue as a psychiatrist treating soldiers returning from the front.

Political correctness is a lie employed by liberal elites to preserve myths about favored groups. It is sold as a way to ensure that society treats people fairly. But it is actually a derangement whereby normally lucid people disregard inconvenient truths and willfully reject facts to avoid confronting uncomfortable realities.

On Meet The Press last Sunday, Army Chief of Staff General George Casey now infamously said about Hasan’s rampage, “As horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse.” Gary Bauer

Subsidyscope to track the bailout

There are many websites to track government money, and although I haven't determined if this one, Subsidyscope is biased, it is by Pew Charitable Trusts, which is usually reliable. I would call your attention to SIGTARP quarterly report, although it does have its own website. It's easier to work back and forth to different programs if you stay at Subsidyscope. Neil Barofsky needs to watch his back. He was an end-of-term Bush appointee to keep an eye on TARP money as the Special Inspector General (SIG) and so far he doesn't like what he sees. He's supposed to go after waste, theft and abuse, and it has become the Democrat's candy shop. Ought to start with Obama, then Geithner, then Frank, toss in Pelosi just to make sure we have diversity of gender, color and religion, but doubt that will happen. I'm just saying. Cute logo, too.

TARP inspector general Neil Barofsky agrees that the mortgage modifications "will yield no direct return" and notes charitably that "full recovery is far from certain" on the money sent to AIG and Detroit. Mr. Barofsky also notes that since Washington runs huge deficits, and interest rates are almost sure to rise in coming years, TARP will be increasingly expensive as the government pays more to borrow. Link to WSJ article

Smells like Murder episode of The Closer

The Closer, starring Kyra Sedgwick, is my husband's favorite show. In the summer he goes to a neighbor's to watch it, so I don't see the episodes until they are reruns. Last Monday was "Smells like Murder" which I think is the fourth one that had Charlie (Sosie Bacon, her real life daughter) Brenda's rebellious, risk taking niece. In this episode there's a sub-lot about Charlie receiving a package of marijuana from a friend and then baking it into brownies. From the IMDB.com summary:

"Back at home, Brenda arrives to find Charlie cooking. Brenda asks what the delicious smell is. Charlie says it's a surprise, but she promises they're going to have a lot of fun tonight.

Brenda sniffs her way through the house and finds brownies in Charlie's room. She takes one. [If you don't watch this show, Brenda is a chocoholic and sugar addict, always sneaking food she shouldn't be eating, rolling her eyes and then hiding the leftovers in her purse or desk.]

Later, she wobbles out into the dining room, a little too relaxed. She tells Charlie they need to talk. She had a brownie. Or two, or three. Charlie looks totally freaked out. But Brenda says they're the best brownies she's ever had in her entire life. Brenda is stoned.

Later, lying on the living room floor, Brenda talks through the case, trying to figure out who could have done it. But then her words start to sound funny and she's singing Willie Nelson.

Fritz comes home to this scene, his wife on her knees, singing to him. He looks at her eyes, immediately figures out what's up and asks Charlie what's going on. Brenda shows him the brownies. He suggests she go to bed.

Fritz [a recovering alcoholic] is not amused. "Who the hell do you think you are, bringing marijuana into my house?" he asks Charlie. He figures her friend sent her weed - and he signed for it. He asks her if she knows what could have happened if he'd eaten one, telling her he's in AA. He's yelling. "It's not my fault you're a drunk," she says, snottily.

He picks up her phone and finds her friend's number. He's calling her parents. He tells Charlie to go to her room and that she's going home as soon as possible.

Brenda comes out, asking about the fuss. Fritz tells her they're sending Charlie back. This spurs a Brenda realization, even while stoned. She writes down "send back." And then she takes a nap."

When I checked this episode on-line, some viewers (younger than me and apparently wise to the ways of this drug) either thought it was a lame episode and not realistic, or they thought it was hilarious. It was neither, but it was realistic in some parts. People still do this either as food poisoning or a prank.

The October 21, 2009 issue of JAMA had a lengthy article from the CDC MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) about a group of preschool teachers who ingested brownies with marijuana that had been purchased and shared by one of the staff from a vendor who claimed to be part of a church group (that was false). They experienced nausea, dizziness, headache, numbness and tingling of fingertips, face, forehead, arms and hands. When the director discovered her staff was ill, all with similar symptoms, the LAPD was called and the Dept. of Public Health of California. Only one staff person spit it out immediately noticing the unusual taste, and the other six, although they thought the brownies had a medicinal aftertaste, ate them anyway. One woman was a breastfeeding mother; two required medical attention at an urgent care facility. All had blood and urine tests. Symptoms lasted 3-10 hours; all recovered. The sidewalk vendor was never found.

Accidental ingestion of marijuana has led to coma in children. THC is the major psychoactive ingredient and it rapidly distributes to the adipose tissue, liver, lungs, and spleen, and then is released back into the blood stream where it is converted to THC-COOH which can be detected for anywhere from days in infrequent users to weeks or months in frequent users.

I'm guessing that because this happened in California where the DPH may be accustomed to some strange drug episodes and the staff of the pre-school were cooperating with the investigation, it was cleared up pretty fast. In some other states, they might have had to hire a lawyer and lost their jobs.

Teaching pre-schoolers to use the phone

I've been updating the family address and phone list. Everyone seems to have 2 phone numbers and work numbers, and e-mail, and they keep moving! It's getting a bit long now that more of my nieces and nephews' children are college age and they too have cell phones. My niece told me a funny story about her youngest, a very lively and challenging little boy.

"When he was three, we let him have an old cell phone to play with. I was having an especially crazy morning (oversleeping, running late, getting Wy ready for school, the dog had terrible "stomach" problems all over the carpet, etc. etc.) Wy was having a very long "conversation" with his sister on his cell phone. I was impressed at how long the conversation was and actually was thankful. . . it gave me a chance to clean up the carpet mess. I finally told him he had to tell her goodbye so that we could leave for pre-school, to which he said goodbye and then told me that she wanted to talk to me. I took the phone and quickly said goodbye. . . only to hear someone say, "Hello... Hello..." I was dumbstruck and asked who it was. She replied that she was the 911 operator. I was mortified. I had no idea that old cell phones, even when they didn't have service, could still dial 911. The pre-school had been teaching the little ones what to do in an emergency. . . dial 911. Upon further investigation, it seemed that this was the 3rd call that he had made that morning. He told her ALL about my bad morning, including all the gory details about the dog's mishap. I told her how sorry I was and she just laughed and said it was the best call she had ever gotten. Shortly after that is when I started noticing numerous white hairs. Wy definitely keeps us all on our toes and laughing pretty much on a daily basis.

Obamacare won't help these women

On the way home today I was listening to WOSU (to avoid football games) and heard two women being interviewed about their health problems and insurance. Both had insurance--one had a combination of private and Medicare, the other, much younger who had Lupus, was on disability and was a widow with death benefits. The older one for some reason thought if the current health care "reform" passed, no one would be suffering the way she is--she and her husband have sold their "dream home" and moved to less expensive housing away from the city because of their high medical costs. The younger woman, ironically, was caught in a catch-22 situation only our government could dream up. When her death benefits were increased slightly over $100 a month, (I assume it was a private pension, but didn't hear that part) it put her over the maximum to qualify for the Medicaid benefits for her son who has an expensive disability and also needs speech therapy. Between her death benefits and her disability payments she is squeaking by but there is no extra money for additional speech therapy and her son only gets about 15 minutes a week at school which isn't enough to make any permanent changes.

Nothing in the current plan makes anything better for either woman, regardless of the clucking and tsk-tsking of the host. They probably both have better coverage right now than people in their situation will have in 3-4 years when these expensive "reforms" kick in, especially the older woman as Medicare benefits are cut and nothing is done about the fraud and mismanagement currently in the system.

The older woman was angry--"Health care should be a right"--that in her retirement years her money was going for her medical bills (I think she wants us to pay for it so she can live in her "dream" home). She thought it was very unfair--but she said she loved where they had moved. The younger woman with the disabled child was more philosophical and spiritual, believing she was fortunate to have what she had.

Climate politics

My thoughts exactly. From a letter to the WSJ

"The politics of global warming is an updated version of colonialism by the developed nations, which want to impose regulations on the "primitives" through the threat of denial of finances. This is to be done while ignoring the more pressing needs of the subjugated people under the guise of saving the planet, and it is really no different from previous colonial powers that also ignored humanitarian needs with the theological rubric of saving souls. Now it will be the United Nations that is the colonial monarch that dictates to the developed nations and takes ransom via global taxation.

Zev Joseph

Charleston, W.V."

Serendipity is a librarian's best tool

Yesterday as I stepped through the door of Panera's, Tina gave me a shout out--"Norma! We don't have any coffee!" I could have had espresso with some water added, or hot tea, but instead I headed two blocks south passing up a Starbucks to Caribou which used to be my morning spot. While there I picked up a "free circ" I'd never seen before--The Garage Slab. It wasn't a vol.1 no.1, but it was on a topic I'd recently covered in my blog--garages. If you've got any guys on your Christmas list who are hard to buy for, this is it. Four issues for $12.95. Not only is it about the style and contents of garages, but beer, sports, tools and cars. And each issue has a "guest mechanic" so if you like to write, you might just submit something. From the web site: instructions Although this issue's dedication to Aldrich Hamilton, a former newspaper man and printer, who "died," was resuscitated, and 20 hours later was photographed and interviewed reading his issue, would be hard to beat. I think he was interviewed by his son.

If you could visit anyone's garage whose would it be?
My son's, he has half of my tools! He hasn't changed a bit!!
There's even an advice column called Peg's Board. "Dear Peg, How do I get my buddies out of my garage without getting flack from them about being old and boring now that I have a wife and kid?" Seeking sleep in Solon, Ohio.

Dear Sleep Seeker, (gives a list of suggestions and etiquette rules), then, "Barring that just kick 'em out when you're ready for bed and blame it on your wife. She'll never know."

Attractive design; clever theme; humor; great photography; good quality paper; nice graphics and layout; an abundance of advertisers; published and printed in Columbus by Greasy Shirt Publishing, but available in 11 other states.

Site Meter Reports foreign visits

In the last few hours I've had visits from

A Corua, Galicia, Spain

Brussels, Belgium

Perth, Western Australia

Via Del Mar, Valparaiso Chile

Saint-Mand, Ile-de-France

Leeds U.K.

New Delhi, India

Seoul, Korea

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Tel Aviv, Israel

Burnaby, British Columbia

Many cities in Ontario

Zagreb, Croatia

Pretoria, South Africa
I hope they found what they were looking for.

Site Meter Reports

It's been a reasonably busy week here at the old blog, now over 6 years old. About 3,750 pages were viewed--that's about 1,000 more than "visits." Even so, that's not an indicator of readership, because Google or Yahoo any number of other crawlers might find my blog and so it shows a "hit list" but the searcher might choose 2 entries above it, read that and never get to mine. And the search engines might pick up words randomly on the page like something from the quote at the top, a line from poetry, and then a recipe causing some real head scratching. This past week my blog on Neal Boortz's story (fictional) on the Carrington Automotive Enterprises was picking up 20-30 hits per 100, or about 40 a day, and something on guy paper dolls I did years ago was grabbing about 15 a day (100 is a free service and so that's my ideal price range, nor do I pay to see who is visiting--but many do). The first week in November my issue three (guest blogger) was very popular--wish I'd written it! The Carrington story is zipping around the internet via e-mail and it's very good. It's an illustration of small business taxes and just how easy it is to be called "rich" in Obama fantasy land of redistributive wealth. At least one of my anonymous readers, probably John, just goes bonkers that it's not a REAL example of a REAL Sub-S corporation. There's a lot of truth in fiction, parables, myths, legends, fables, morality plays and fairy tales--maybe moreso that the evening news. In order to disagree with the truth, some go after the genre. Like the conversation with my shoulder pads when it was finally time for them to go. Honest, I really don't talk to my clothes.

I'm happy for her, but. . .

My daughter stopped by last night to drop off some magazines. I'm thrilled that she's dropped 4 dress sizes because she was dangerously close to being a diabetic and has a full range of other endocrine problems including thyroid cancer, Hashimoto's and metabolic syndrome. We can't do much with the genes we were given, and the endocrine system can get out of whack causing severe problems. She was always beautiful at any size, but I'm thrilled she's healthier--the labs are all back to normal. And it's all been through a very disciplined exercise program. Thyroid medication and diets did nothing for her. Exercise did. She's switched to an exercycle (mine, since I wasn't using it) after an injury, but is ready to return to the treadmill in her basement. For some people it's diet, some it's exercise, some it's both. The point is to get healthy and hit a balance.

However, when she told me she thought she'd need a size 8 pair of jeans next, I had flash backs to 23 years ago when she used to borrow my clothes. In her senior pictures she's wearing one of my dresses and one of my suits. I don't think kids dress up for school photos anymore, but in the 80s they still did that.

This morning I took my closet apart, rearranging summer and winter clothes, hanging by color, storing some, pitching others, but was really looking for a size 8 Tall pair of Bill Blass jeans that I'd never shortened, and then "outgrew" so they'd been hanging around feeling blue. After an hour and not finding them, I decided I'd given them away. Then moved my hand to the back of the closet and found them--still with the tags. I have on the other pair (shortened, Easy Fit, "antiqued"), but I'm more than happy to donate to the cause of good health.

Spreading a big TARP over a sink hole

From Forbes.com: - the $700,000,000,000 bailout will most likely fail according to the government's auditor Neil Barofsky. Some programs, such as $50 billion in mortgage modification subsidies and incentives, were not designed with any reasonable opportunity for a return to taxpayers. . . As of Wednesday, the Treasury said it had received repayments of $73.02 billion and had collected dividends, interest and warrant sale profits totaling $13.03 billion. How did we get here?

Remember how TARP, Troubled Asset Relief Program, had to be RUSHED through with no thought or the world as we know it would come to an end? But never waste a crisis. Obama's thuggery has stolen our freedom and our economy . When the state controls the owners of business you have Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. When it owns the business you have post-1920 USSR. Are these the "progressive" choices you want--national socialism or communism? Didn't we fight this in WWII and even longer in a Cold War in Europe and some hot spots in Asia called Korea and Vietnam? Why did we ask such a sacrifice of generations of our military if we would just give it all away in an election?

And it continues unabated. Our elected Congress is being pressured to rush health care bills, rush climate change bills, rush anything called eco- or sustainable or green, rush confirmation of cabinet, czars and judges so only socialists and/or communists get a seat at the table, rush, rush, rush. Or Obama's plans could collapse. So far, he's won all the battles; his plan is working, folks.