The Massachusetts Primary--Guest Blog

Yesterday the primary took place in Massachusetts to replace Senator Ted Kennedy. Link. AG Martha Coakley won the Democratic nomination with 304,056 votes or 47% of the Democratic vote and 37.5% of the total vote. Scott Brown won the Republican nomination with 141,810 votes or 89% of the Republican vote and 17.5% of the total vote. You can cross parties in the primary so it is difficult to say whether a Republican voted Republican or did they cross over and vote Democratic. But a big factor is that only 11% of all registered voters in Massachusetts are registered Republicans. The last time there was a Republican Senator was Edward Brooke who lost his seat in 1979.

But how come Massachusetts gets a Republican governor every second or third election? Because they need one to clean up the financial mess the Democrats create. Well, the Democratic train wreck is here now and the nation, along with Massachusetts needs to put a Republican in this seat. Is it impossible? It is next to impossible, but the time has never been better. Republicans don't vote much in Massachusetts elections as they think it is no use. Well, with these very small turn outs the Republicans have a better chance than normal. I have addressed this communication to those of you who live in Massachusetts. You must vote! Also, please send this to all the people you know in Massachusetts and work to get a better turn out. I believe the election date to fill this seat is January 18th or close to this date.

Democratic candidates for governor in NJ and Virginia were voted down. That made big news and sent an unsettling message to the 111th congress. A Republican Senator from Massachusetts would be like setting of the A bomb in Congress.

Again, please vote and pass the word onto your fellow Massachusetts residents and friends. It is not impossible. And just as important, Scott Brown is a well qualified state Senator who has great values and represents a true difference to the liberal politicians trying to destroy or republic, our culture, and our future.

Bill L.

(Bill and I attended the same high school in Illinois, although I'm not sure we ever spoke. He was in my sister's class; an upperclassman and an athlete and I . . . wasn't. His permanent residence is Florida for the taxes and the weather, but he has had a home on Cape Cod since 1976. His roots and both children (small business people) and grandchildren are there. He lived in Massachusetts for a decade in the 1970's and for three short years in the late 1990's when he worked out of Sweden as a senior executive for a global manufacturing corporation headquartered in Goteborg, Sweden. Bill maintains an extensive e-mail list for discussion and information and that's how I came across this information.)

If you don't vote in Massachusetts, consider sending a contribution to Mr. Brown's campaign. Something or someone has to stop the Obama machine. Norma

A beautiful Christmas card

This may be the all time favorite e-Christmas card going around. It's from 2004, but never gets old. One of the lists from my high school (Bill L.) sent it this year. It comes from Ashland University here in Ohio, and I think may be one of the best PR tools a school could have. Great links, easy to read web-page.
http://ecard.ashland.edu/index.php?ecardYear=2004adm

More on this topic at my faith blog, Church of the Acronym.

Can Google make you stupid?

No, but it can help get you there if you're not careful.

"Larry Sanger has made his living on the Internet. He co-founded Wikipedia, one of the world’s top 10 Web sites with more than 65 million visitors monthly, and he now leads two other ambitious online projects. So why does he fear what the Internet is doing to our minds and those of our children?" Inquiring minds want to know.

Google won't make you any more stupid than reading only Reader's Digest instead of the original, Bible commentaries instead of the Bible, or consulting a watch instead of figuring out the position of the sun and moon. It's a tool, and I love it. I actually know (or used to) some of the arcane rules for searching complex databases, but I "google" it instead. The difference is, I know not to trust everything I read and check several sources, look for not just two sides of a question, but four or five. I've even poked through that long list of e-mails from the Climategate whistleblower and read a number of scientists who don't agree there is a consensus on the cause of global warming.

Right now I'm reading "A faith and culture devotional" by Kelly Monroe Kullberg and Lael Arrington (Zondervan 2008). I just love it that Kelly and Lael sifted through the world of Christian intellectuals and selected the authors and the topics in art, literature, history, science, etc. and that they provide further reading suggestions and web sites if a particular topic interests me. From there I can google til my heart's content.

My Monday book group, and we all read and we know how and when to Google.

Obama pays Hillary's bills with our money

Stimulus money--about $6 million--pays off Marc Penn, Hillary's pollster. I guess that answers the question about where are the jobs.

And here's his version:

"A public relations firm headed by Hillary Clinton's former campaign strategist shot back Wednesday at a report saying it received nearly $6 million in federal stimulus funds, blasting the claim as "fundamentally inaccurate."

The Hill newspaper reported that two companies run by Mark Penn -- Clinton's pollster during her 2008 presidential run -- received $5.97 million from the $787 billion stimulus package so he could preserve three jobs at his public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller.

The firm had secured a contract to work on a campaign advertising the nation's switch from analog to digital television, and the Hill reported that $2.8 million of that contract was given to Penn's polling firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates.

But Burson-Marsteller on Wednesday disputed the newspaper's report, calling it "fundamentally inaccurate" in a statement. The firm said it was awarded a "competitive bid contract" in 2009 to support the Federal Communications Commission's initiative to "educate and advertise the congressionally mandated switch to digital television."

The firm said the contract, which included other vendors, was completed "under budget" and cost $4.36 million -- not $6 million." Fox News

Competitive bid, eh?

I don't care if it is 100% organic cotton

This is drop dead ugly, and women should be insulted to be told it's fashionable. Bad hair, too.

Blizzard closes Wisconsin

What? We're used to the University closing in Columbus when the high wind and snow gets blowing building a few drifts over the parking lots, but Madison? What happened to the global warming? This sure isn't climate change, because when I was a kid it always piled up in Wisconsin and then sort of slopped over into Illinois.

"In response to the blizzard that has impacted the state, [Wisconsin] Governor Jim Doyle has ordered the closure of all state government and University of Wisconsin campuses for public business. The Governor's order directs that state employees are not to report to work, unless their job duties include the provision or support of an emergency response, public health or public safety function, and their absence would compromise delivery of essential public health, public safety or emergency response functions that are required to continue despite weather conditions."

I tried a couple of sites today and they either weren't working or closed due to the weather.

Digging out (Madison) at Wunderphoto

Soapbox Jill at Real Debate Wisconsin

Robinson's column on race

Now, if a conservative white radio commentator had been this racial, all hell would break loose, but I think we get Mr. Robinson's drift.

Drunk driving accidents down

In Ohio in 2007 there were 1,255 traffic fatalities, 389 (31%) were alcohol related. We made headway in 2008--that dropped to 1,190, 356 fatalities, or 30%. A change in one year of 8.5%. Of course, if it was your wife, daughter, son, or dad killed or injured by a drunk driver feeling invincible, that figure runs about 100% doesn't it? Even worse and more dangerous than drunk driving, is allowing teen-agers to drive before age 18. Even riding with a teen makes life more dangerous for the passengers, whether or not he's driving!

Per mile travelled, you're safer in urban areas than rural. In fact, the worst stats are for those states with the wide open spaces--except Utah, bless their tea totalling, Mormon livers.

"State impaired-driving laws have been enacted in all 50 States and the District of Columbia that make it illegal for a driver or a motorcycle rider with a BAC of .08 or above to drive a vehicle. In 2008, the alcohol-impaired-driving fatality rate declined from 0.43 fatalities per 100 million VMT in 2007 to 0.40 in 2008. In 2008, Montana had the highest alcohol-impaired fatality rate in the Nation – 0.84 fatalities per 100 million VMT while Vermont had the low-est rate in the Nation – 0.16 per 100 million VMT. In 2007, Montana had the highest alcohol-impaired fatality rates in the Nation – 0.93 – and Utah had the lowest alcohol-impaired driving fatality rate – 0.21 fatalities per 100 million VMT. Traffic safety facts"

And the man who probably saved more Americans from death by car crash was Robert McNamara of Kennedy/Vietnam fame and "inventor" of the seat belt. He was both safety and fuel conscious when not many others were.

"Soon after taking over at the Ford Division in 1955, McNamara had gone way out on a limb by adding several safety devices to the 1956 model and then making them the focal point of the marketing campaign. By today’s standards it was a modest effort. The 1956 Ford’s five-part Lifeguard System included two standard features, a deep-dish steering wheel that gave way in a crash and safety latches that kept doors from springing open on impact. Three options also were offered: front seat belts anchored to a steel plate; a padded instrument panel and padded sun visors; and rearview mirrors with backing that reduced glass fallout when shattered. Also, the front and back seat supports were redesigned to reduce the possibility of their coming loose in a crash." American Heritage

I used a seat belt for the first time in the mid-50s when I worked for a feed company and the owner had a sporty Ford.

If Europe wants to continue paying guilt money

And that's what Copenhagen-Hopenchangen is about. Be my guest. European countries had colonies all over the world, including North America, South America, Africa and Asia. The guilt money that France and the UK have poured into the various corrupt African dictatorships could sink a fleet of Somali pirate ships, but it hasn't done a thing for the people. There are many books on this topic, written mostly by liberals--government, non-profits, and NGO officials. All the money does is prop up goosestepping, military regimes. And we aren't much better. Our own environmentalists have been killing Africans for years through our misguided, misdirected anti-DDT programs. Far more Africans have lost lives and livelihood through bleeding heart (for animals and insects) liberal-environmentalists than ever made it through the swamps and jungles to the coastal areas with their African captors and on to the slave ships owned by Europeans to be sold in the Islands and the future United States. And now they are about to do it again, only to all of us this time.

If Obama wants to help some Africans, let him begin with his own extended family. The Obama Diaspora. Although one brother is following in his footsteps and will write about book about. . . nothing except being an Obama.

Here in Ohio

Much of the upper Midwest is covered in snow today. Here in Ohio it is 51, but we'll soon get your wintry blast, but not the blizzard. About every 5-10 years we get a blizzard--although Iowa and Nebraska would laugh at it.

Also in Ohio yesterday the state put a murderer to death with a single injection. The official announcement on the radio sounded a bit like a weather reporter announcing a new gizmo.

I don't support the death penalty--why should we the people sink to the low of a common criminal? However, if I did, I would have chosen his method. Ken Biros got off and out much too easy, and he was convicted close to 20 years ago. After killing Tami Engstrom, he dismembered and mutilated her and scattered her body parts here and there in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

A wordsmith? Hardly!

Tina Brown writes: "It's a strange paradox for a great wordsmith, but when Obama makes an important policy speech these days he leaves everyone confused."

Only guilt-ridden, diversity obsessed liberals who'd probably never listened to a really good black preacher thought Obama was a great wordsmith. So he gave one inspiring, crowd-weeping speech in 2004--and even then there were detractors (in his own party, probably PUMAs) who noted that speech had been around the block many times when he was drumming up votes for his Senate run.

Nuance? Sub-text? Really! How about this one. He's a marxist (aka progressive, socialist, communist). Do your homework, folks.

Obama's Fog of War by Tina Brown

It's in my DNA

When I retired October 1, 2000 I was faced with a unique and wonderful challenge: TIME. A gift of twenty-four hours every day to use any way I wanted. Time is money, and I became an instant millionaire, a winner of the lottery. Unlike most women I knew, I really didn’t have any hobbies, just a variety of interests. I’d always liked writing and art, animals and travel, religion, history and science, but especially research got my blood flowing to the brain. That interest in everything is probably what drew me to library science first as a staffer (high school and college in the 50s), then a professional (University of Illinois and Ohio State University in the 60s). That career is a never ending quest for information in a logical progression, and because I was an academic librarian, publication was a requirement for promotion and tenure. However, both my mother and grandmother were researchers in their own way--so it's in my DNA.

For 30 years I’d been dabbling here and there with genealogy, looking through scraps of paper and family Bibles each time I visited my parents. In the mid-1990s, I even signed up for a pass to use the genealogy sources at the Ohio Historical Society. In 1993 I wrote down the recollections of my father and aunt, “Tales from Pine Creek” and created a family recipe book to use at a 1993 reunion of the 100 or so descendants of my grandparents. However, once I had the time, I soon learned that genealogy is more than a hobby, it’s an obsession requiring more devotion and days than I had left. From time to time, I do look through the records I’ve accumulated and I read the newsletter from Rootsweb, a wonderful resource for anyone interested in beginning this fascinating hobby, step by step from the beginning. December's issue was on one of the newer research tools, DNA testing:

The most common test used today is for the Y chromosome. Males are tested because only males inherit a Y chromosome. Y-DNA testing is surname-based with a specific surname (and variant spellings) included in a project. Surname projects will generally have a group of people whose results indicate that they share a common ancestor. The degree of the match helps to pinpoint the approximate number of generations separating a person from the shared ancestor. Common surnames may have many separate groups whose results indicate they descend from different ancestors.

Although only males can be tested for Y-DNA, females can use a surrogate male relative, usually a brother, for testing purposes. The surrogate male must share the top line of the pedigree with the female relative, usually represented by the father's surname. DNA tests, for genealogical purposes, must be taken from a living person. Most tests are self administered by swabbing the inside of your cheek – no blood, no needles!

mtDNA testing is for everyone (male and female). All children inherit mtDNA from their mother. mtDNA isn't a chromosome like Y-DNA. It comes from the egg contributed by our mother. This type of test tells us about our straight maternal line -- the very bottom line of a pedigree form. Finding a relative based on your mtDNA is quite rare.

Y-DNA and mtDNA tests will provide us with information about our paternal and maternal "haplogroup." Our haplogroup tells us about our deep ancestral origin.

These are the only portions of our DNA that are inherited "intact" from one parent or the other. This means they can be traced back to a specific ancestor and the results compared with others. DNA won't identify the common ancestor. That element is left to the paper records we've gathered in our traditional research.

Keep in mind that Y and mtDNA tests only tell us about the very top and very bottom lines of our ancestry -- a tiny fraction of our overall ancestry. These tests will not tell us about our father's mother's, or our mother's father's, ancestors. For another explanation, see the Ancestry blog entry.

Party like it's 1875

"Barack Obama, understanding the histrionics required in climate-change debates, promises that U.S. emissions in 2050 will be 83 percent below 2005 levels. If so, 2050 emissions will equal those in 1910, when there were 92 million Americans. But there will be 420 million Americans in 2050, so Obama's promise means that per capita emissions then will be about what they were in 1875. That. Will. Not. Happen."
George Will, Washington Post

"Some climate scientists compound their delusions of intellectual adequacy with messiah complexes. They seem to suppose themselves a small clerisy entrusted with the most urgent truth ever discovered. On it, and hence on them, the planet's fate depends. So some of them consider it virtuous to embroider facts, exaggerate certitudes, suppress inconvenient data, and manipulate the peer-review process to suppress scholarly dissent and, above all, to declare that the debate is over.

Consider the sociology of science, the push and pull of interests, incentives, appetites and passions. Governments' attempts to manipulate Earth's temperature now comprise one of the world's largest industries. Tens of billions of dollars are being dispensed, as by the U.S. Energy Department, which has suddenly become, in effect, a huge venture capital operation, speculating in green technologies. Political, commercial, academic and journalistic prestige and advancement can be contingent on not disrupting the (postulated) consensus that is propelling the gigantic and fabulously lucrative industry of combating global warming."

The praying cat

We had a good time discussing Dewey the library cat last night at book group. Dewey certainly has a second, maybe third life, and is making Vicki a rich woman, something that doesn't happen often to small town librarians. She's just returned from Turkey promoting the book, has a possible movie in the works, a children's Dewey came out in September, and she has a new boyfriend. Oh yes, she has a new cat, Page Turner, which was found by a library staffer (the board won't let them have any more cats) as a cold, wet kitten, and is now quite large. But you can look in its eyes and see it isn't Dewey.

Dear Brown, Voinovich and Kilroy

What's the point of our having elected senators and representatives, if you guys sit back and let the regulators do your job with no laws passed?

USAToday: "The latest step by the government to regulate carbon dioxide emissions saddles industry with uncertainty and potentially higher costs, industry groups said Monday after the Environmental Protection Agency declared carbon dioxide a health hazard.

The EPA's decision paves the way for new regulations on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and factories even if Congress doesn't pass legislation to do so."

During the campaign, Obama promised he would raise energy costs for every American home and business, thus destroying jobs. Unfortunately, this is one promise he intends to keep. What else can this man do to worsen the economy? How about another job summit and invite more job destroying union reps?

We exhale CO2. I wonder if he know that?

Retired Old Men Eating Out--ROMEOs

Actually, this group is The Pump House Guys, a group of artists, but they are retired and they go to lunch together. I just thought it was a cute name, but I think it belongs to another group. They are seen here at the art show currently at The Church at Mill Run, honoring one of their deceased members, Fritz Huffman, called "Fritz Huffman and Friends." The show runs from November 12 through January 5, 2010, Sunday-Thursday, 8:30a.m.-4:30 p.m. (Mill Run is closed Friday-Saturday.) Fritz' family provided the t-shirts at the reception.

Obama's safe schools czar--Kevin Jennings

You might want to read this. It's a porn list for children. From Maggie's Notebook:

Kevin Jennings, Barack Obama's failed "safe school czar" has a recommended reading list for children of all ages. What has been revealed is sick and perverted, and until you read this, you simply cannot image what Jennings recommends as appropriate for school children in this country. I implore you to read and pass it around. Contact Congress, your schools and specifically the White House.

More at Breitbart TV--teaching children about "fisting." Jennings, Obama's choice to lead us to safe schools, created the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). Although supposedly GLSEN's mission is to discourage harrasment of gay children, it appears to any observer that its mission is to promote pornography and creating sexually ready children for men who like little boys. And who enjoys reading about first grade boys performing fellatio, other than older boys and men desiring boys? Sounds like child porn to me. Do we need this in schools?

Really, this administration is just a wiggling, squirming swarm of mischief and mayhem. You hardly know which rock to peek under next!

The most biased Climategate story I've heard

This morning driving to the coffee shop (and again on the way home) I heard a story on NPR by Richard Harris about "climategate." It was so appallingly biased I almost couldn't believe that even NPR, darling of the left, would put it on the air. "The deniers" who don't believe in AGW (man caused warming through CO2) were depicted as knuckle dragging, politically motivated morons who couldn't think their way through a kindergarten playground maze. I hope you all remember the next time we're asked for money through one of their boring, happy clappy, fund raisers.

Now the MSM is using the word "stolen" to describe the damning evidence that the so-called scientists e-mailed, distorted, and prevented from making it into daylight. When the story first came out on Nov. 20, they ignored it. When they realized it could be serious, they started with the word "hacked," you know, like Sarah Palin's e-mail was hacked--don't think they said it was "stolen." Actually, it's pretty clear this was the work of an inside "whistle blower," usually someone admired by the left, unless it's their team that gets the whistle and a penalty.

Harris never mentions the thousands of scientists who've been denied a voice, who have web sites, who've been sounding the alarm for years as they've been denied access to peer review journals, places at symposiums, or the lush government grants. He doesn't note the lost, destroyed, or paltry evidence for AGW. Money? Politics? He can only find the trail when it is coming from the other side, as though the thousands of bloggers and amateurs are being bought by big energy interests (who, by the way, are the same folks funding and supporting all the green angles).

And he's on his way to Copehagen. Wonder who's paying his way?

Dewey the library cat

Tonight our book club will be discussing Dewey; The small town library cat who touched the World by Vicki Myron and Bret Witter (Grand Central Publishing, 2008). It was my nomination back in May when we chose this year's books, so I am the discussion leader. And, if I must say so, I'm well qualified for this one, unlike when I did 1776 or Alexander Hamilton. I am a retired librarian, a former resident of two small towns in the midwest, and a current cat lover. In fact, my own cat is so intuitive, she's hardly left my lap since I began rereading Dewey in preparation for this event. I think she suspects competition. And she's right. She's a wonderful cat with her own personality and quirks, but she's no match for The Dewkster.

Everything you need to know about the basics of this book is on the front and back cover. The cat, the town, the world, Vicki, and the marketing blitz. I didn't do any internet searches to confirm my own ideas until after I read it. I didn't care for the book that much my first time through, but really enjoyed it while preparing for tonight. I originally read it in March when we were on our Holy Land Cruise and I was trying to fall asleep on the very rough seas--didn't work--so I only skimmed it. Asking an Iowa cat to compete with the Steps of Paul and the Pyramids is too much.

Those of you who've never worked in a library, particularly a public library, will probably skip over the library history and details--I loved it; if you've never lived in a small town you'll miss the places Vicki evens some old scores--I saw that immediately; if you haven't raised kids and been through that pulling away time when they are teens--that cuts like a knife--other parts may not be so meaningful; if you didn't grow up or live in the rural midwest, you may be puzzled that some people think flat acres of corn in deep black soil is as beautiful as the ocean or mountains. However, if you have a "companion animal" in your home, or remember one fondly from your childhood, you'll identify with all the Dewey stories which is only about one third of the book, the rest of it being about Vicki and Spencer, Iowa.

Dewey enters the library world on January 28, 1988 at about 6 weeks old, and died on November 29, 2006 and that's a very long life for a cat. But he lives on today in book tours and radio interviews with Vicki, a children's book that came out this fall, a young adult book not released yet, a sequel, and someone is working on the script for the movie, possibly with Meryl Streep playing Vicki. Dewey has made Vicki very rich and famous, and probably the target of jealously and envy back home. You go girl! You've done more to explain how the library world works than a hundred "how I did it good" articles in library journals.

Shoot the old people

No, not that way, says Zoanna. Remember to take more photos of those important family members. A penchant for pens. When I go back and look at old photos, I'm so aware that when you only had 27 or 36 photos to a roll, you used them sparingly, and then perhaps didn't develop them until months later. Zoanna thinks that computer hard drives may be 100:1 kids to older relatives. No babies here to take pictures of, but if I were guessing buildings to people. . . it would be about that.

Here's one of my favorites of the "old folks at home,"--my grandparents with their nine children in 1972 (no date, but that would have been their 60th wedding anniversary). I used this on a family cook-book cover in 1993. Four in this photo are still living, and I sent them Christmas cards today.

Crimes against humanities

"The economic downturn is having a dramatic and deleterious effect on historical societies, libraries, museums and other cultural institutions around the country. A combination of plunging endowments, reduced grant and foundation support, and budget cuts on the federal, state and local levels has led to job losses, service cuts, and outright closures from coast to coast." There's more.

And with Democrats hunting down the "rich" to hound them at every turn--health "reform," cap and trade--destroying the people who create jobs, and inviting the unions to a job summit, we can expect even more institutions that depend on donations and charity to struggle, cut hours, or close.

Non-union teacher must pay union dues anyway

Darren over at Right on the Left Coast (that's California in case you didn't know) is not a member of a teacher's union, but to keep his teaching job he has to pay $1,000 as his "fair share" for the representation he doesn't want. Then he has to apply for a rebate to get back that portion of his non-dues that they spend on non-collective bargaining--i.e., political lobbying. 55% of his rebate comes from NEA--it spends over half of its dues influencing/supporting left wing politicians and 28.6% comes from CTA, and the rest from his local. What a screwed up system. Link. Many states have this "fair share" provision. I think Ohio is one of them, but don't know for sure.

Churches provide many benefits to the community; maybe non-members should be assessed for their non-participation and non-worship.

At the Freedom @ Work blog they suggest that Obama's job summit should have included more Right to Work laws:

"For many years, U.S. Labor Department data have shown that states with Right to Work laws on the books have far faster private-sector job growth than states that do not protect employees from federal policies authorizing the termination of workers for refusal to pay dues or fees to an unwanted union.

Between 1995 and 2005, private-sector jobs in Right to Work states increased by a net 20.2%. That’s a 79% greater increase than the relatively small increase in private-sector jobs experienced by non-Right to Work states over this period. Link.

But that would make too much sense. If he were interested in creating jobs instead of killing them, why did he invite the unions?

Sarah did the right thing: Dan Fagan

"Sarah Palin has within her power to bring about great change in our nation. She can do this by ushering in a Republican resurgence in Congress. . . and derail Mr. Obama’s runaway spending and his socialization of America."

"Did she make the right decision in quitting? Will she end up better serving her country on the road campaigning for others instead of being tied down to the Alaska governor’s job? Does the Republican Party have a better chance of taking back the house and senate with Palin on the campaign trail? Could Sarah Palin end up saving our republic because she quit as governor? You betcha!"

Read the whole article from Alaska Standard here.

The Lakeside Christmas Party

It's tonight. Always fun to see our old friends. We meet at Wesley Lodge, enjoy a dinner, and usually sing carols or have a program or both. Many have already closed their cottages for the year, but we don't since ours is a "real" house with plaster walls, gas furnace, storm windows, etc. We bought it from the original owners who were year around residents. If the sun is out, our porch acts as "passive solar." I'm taking along the book "Dewey," the story of the Iowa library cat because I'm leading a discussion at book club on Monday and need to review, since I read it in March. This time around I'm looking at it much more closely and enjoying some of the stories even more, like Dewey's special relationship with a handicapped girl, Crystal.

I moved my winter coats from storage (a downstairs shower we never use) yesterday. It's time. I'm hoping to get a little walking in along the lake. It actually stays warmer longer there because of the lake--but boy is it a killer walk in February or March! This will be our first road test for our new van, purchased a week ago.

I was checking a weather blog yesterday and it looks like Ohio and the eastern U.S. will be having a fairly mild winter, but Illinois and Indiana, where we have so many relatives and friends will really be blasted. My "guest blogger" Murray has already gone to his Florida home--said it got cold very early in Illinois, or maybe he's just got old bones like the rest of us.

There's an excellent letter in today's Dispatch written by Kim Pickett on the importance of libraries in hard times and how they serve the community. If you get a chance, take a look. I think they only stay up a short time. Unfortunately, she weakens her good points with the last two paragraph by moralizing. Judges the one she says is being judgmental. And closes with some phony stats that were going around when unemployment was 4.5%. Could be wrong, but I'm guessing she's left of center. But other than that, she really knows her stuff.

Update from party: Big turn out!

Water not oil is priceless and scarce--biofuels won't save us

CABS, the Ohio State bus system, received a one star green fleet certification from the Ohio Green Fleets Program on August 13, 2009 for using B20 biodiesel in all its transit buses and para-transit vans. CABS began in September 2003 with its first soy B20 fueled bus and by June 2006, extended B20 to all its fleet of 27 transit buses on 6 different routes.

The Ohio Green Fleets Program is part of CleanFuels Ohio, a non-profit funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. CleanFuels Ohio. It was created with federal money in 2002--so this isn’t a recent development, it‘s a Bush Administration program. However, V. P. Joe Biden stopped by in August to announce that this Bush era alternative fuels program was receiving stimulus funding. The CAB accomplishments preceded that announcement.

“the U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $11.04 million in economic stimulus funding to Clean Fuels Ohio's Ohio Advanced Transportation Partnership through the U.S. DOE Clean Cities Grant program. Funds will be used to support the deployment of 283 alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles plus refueling infrastructure for 26 government and private sector partners throughout Ohio. Including matching support from local partners and additional industry supporters, the award embodies an investment of nearly $30 million in alternative fuel vehicle and infrastructure projects across the state.”

So now, while millions of people are struggling in third world countries for enough to eat, and the most valuable commodity we have is water, a major input for biofuels, we worsen the condition of millions by putting soy and corn products in our gas tanks. Doesn’t anyone remember the food riots of just two years ago? It doesn’t help the environment, and we knew even before Climategate that global warming isn’t caused by humans. I’m all for a clean environment and more efficient fuels, but you don’t have to read too far into the biofuel publications to see we’re going backward with expensive inputs, more water usage and waste water, and pollution.

How to stimulate the economy--NOT

"In January 2008, the United States economy employed 138.1 million people and the unemployment rate stood at 4.9%. But the powers in Washington thought deficit spending could boost a slowing economy, so Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) passed and President George Bush signed a $168 billion economic stimulus bill made up of temporary tax cuts and increased mortgage grantees for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

By January 2009 that economic stimulus worked so well that the U.S. economy had lost 3.5 million jobs and the unemployment rate stood at 7.6%. Again the powers in Washington thought deficit spending was the answer, so Speaker Nancy Pelosi and newly minted President Barack Obama dialed up $787 billion in temporary tax cuts and permanent spending increases. Ten months later, the U.S. economy has now shed another 3.59 million jobs and the unemployment rate stand at 10%."

And since none of that worked, they'll make a third stab at it. They're rejoicing that job loss fell--and yes, that's better than the alternative, but the unemployment rate fell from 10.2 to 10 percent in part because 98,000 workers left the labor force. The bigger problem is no job creation. What employers, when faced with the uncertainty and higher taxes that the health "reform" is promising ("tax" used 183 times) wants to call back workers or expand? The only places in the USA not hard hit are the suburbs of Washington--Virginia, Maryland, etc.--where workers are needed to fill the posts required to distribute your tax money and buy bottled water for congressional staffers. In Ohio most of the "recovery" money has gone to Democrat districts. So we'll just get more of the same ineffective, high cost nonsense.

[The Foundry and Morning Bell, Dec. 4, 2009]

Climategate--it's no joke

Rex Murphy of CBC on the pettiness and turf wars of the CRU. "Science has gone to bed with advocacy, and both have had a very good time. . . The stink of intellectual corruption is overpowering."



"CRU is not the universe of climate research, but it is the star. These emails demonstrate one thing beyond all else: that climate science and global warming advocacy have become so entwined, so meshed into a mutant creature, that separating alarmism from investigation, ideology from science, agenda from empirical study, is well nigh impossible. Climategate is evidence that the science has gone to bed with advocacy, and both have had a very good time: - that the neutrality, openness, and absolute disinterest that is the hallmark of all honest scientific endeavour has been abandoned to an atmosphere and a dynamic not superior to the partisan caterwauls of a sub-average Question Period.

Climate science has been shown to be - in part - a sub-branch of climate politics."

Common sense skeptics want to know

Gradually, the scandal in the U.K. over the hidden and doctored climate data is slowly swimming across the ocean to lap up on our beached media whales. Wall Street Journal, the most liberal of our news sources, had an article on p. A-16 today. Not ready for prime space yet--it's only been 2 weeks.

"The East Anglia institute that Dr. Jones headed has become a key player in building evidence for the U.N.'s argument that humans are behind global warming.In statements released by the institute in recent days, Dr. Jones has defended the integrity of the institute's scientific work, while saying that he and his colleagues "accept that some of the published emails do not read well."

On Tuesday, Penn State University confirmed that Michael Mann -- a climate scientist on its faculty who figures prominently in the emails -- was under "inquiry" by the university. In one email, Dr. Jones suggested to Dr. Mann that they should try to keep out of scientific journals the research of scientists who challenge the idea of manmade global warming.

The U.K. probe, to be completed next spring, will also review the climatic research unit's policies and practices on disseminating data and research findings and subjecting them to peer review, and look at how the unit handled requests under Britain's Freedom of Information Act."

Our media have been totally consumed with the couple who strolled into a White House party without an invitation, and the Tiger Woods' semi-private party. Apparently, scientists, reality show wannabees and celebrities can all be bought for the price of a dream--be it money, power, fame or sex. They've all turned out to have clay feet firmly resting on the pedestal we've built for them. The White House party crashers, Michaele and Tariq Salahi, not a climate/economy scam scheme, are worthy of a congressional hearing. I'm in complete disagreement with Glenn Beck on this one. He thinks the President was in danger. They were security screened for weapons just like all the other guests, so I doubt that; and someone on Obama's staff got them in. They might be stupid, but they love the guy.

Let's think about it. Tiger couldn't have pulled off a couple of long term affairs without his staff and friends helping him and bringing the women to him; the Salahis couldn't have made it into the party without their connections with NBC (which owns Bravo) which has been drooling over Barack Obama for 3 years; and the climate data people couldn't have pulled off what they've been doing for 10 years without a lot of backing--probably from people in the "green" industry, and a second guess would be those who want all western governments and cultures to fail, or maybe they were colluding with both. That one definitely has the money/power smell to it. Tiger's mess just smells like soiled sheets.

The U.K. probe won't be completed until next Spring; by then Obama should be ready for another economic coup if we don't stop him. He told us during his campaign that our energy costs would skyrocket. He didn't tell us that the fuse was a complete phony and might blow up in his face. 1) Manipulating peer review journal publication of anything that dissents with the AGW religion; 2) denial of requests under the freedom of information act; 3) "losing" the data on which the whole AGW scare is built.

Friday family photo--the baptism

Why do people bring tiny babies to the coffee shop--especially with it being flu season? Maybe it wasn't the same baby I wrote about at my coffee blog on Nov. 20. The mother said it was 30 days old, and the one I saw two weeks ago was 24 days. Anyway, too tiny to be out and about.

Yesterday packing away some things I came across my son's immunization and well-baby pediatric booklet from Dr. Batterson. I think at first it was once a month, then every 6 months, then once a year. They do grow up, and I do mean up (over 6'), very fast. I doubt that I took him anywhere except to the doctor when he was an infant. Might have had a few people stop by the house to admire him, but I didn't have a car, so we probably stayed home until it was stroller weather in April and May. We put a lot of miles on that red plaid stroller with a rumble seat.


As I noted before, because I was raised in a tradition (back to the 18th century) that didn't baptize babies (Church of the Brethren), we had no sweet little outfits to pass around at baptism time, so this little double breasted suit was practical. I can tell from his position he's trying to squirm out of my arms and get down on the drive-way to crawl.

When they quote costs, what do they do with this?

Here's a scan of my flu shot "This is not a bill" notice. Does the government say it paid $45 per person or do they use the $31 figure? For several million seniors, that might make a huge difference. And if I'd paid cash, it would have been $25.00. So is this just monopoly money?

Use Lasik surgery as the model for health care

A few months ago my daughter had lasik surgery--she paid for it with her health savings account. It's much cheaper, safer, and with a quicker recovery than 10 or 20 years ago. Why? Competition. Improved technology. No insurance coverage.



HT Taxmanblog

College student sees problems with cohabitation

Paige Vigil of the University of Minnesota advises her fellow students not to mimic marriage and to wait--don't settle:

"While moving in with your significant other may seem like the perfect solution to help stall the big walk down the aisle, it isn’t. In fact, it will eventually have the opposite effect on your relationship, and more than likely you’ll end up old, alone and unhappy. Your beauty will have faded, and the fellow singles in your now middle-aged category will be seeking younger, more nimble models. You’ll wish you could have done something to save your marriage. . .

I do believe that couples who move in together before marriage can find ways to make it work, but the odds are against them. I was raised in the nuclear insulation of a Christian home. I have since come to form my own beliefs and do not believe my upbringing influences this decision. What does influence my opinion is not only the dream of sharing my first home with my loved one after marriage, but also objective proof all around me. It is easy to spot the unhappy couple stuck in a marriage because of children or for financial reasons. I can only hope that my future marriage will not mirror that of others and that I will indeed have the fairy tale ever after I have dreamt of. . .

Waiting to discover your predominant annoyances about one another in the home setting is best left until after marriage. A study published in the February issue of the Journal of Family Psychology reported that 70 percent of couples live together before marriage. In the same study, couples living together pre-marriage reported not only a lower quality of marriage but a higher divorce rate. These statistics don’t lie.

Read the whole article, "Cohabitation makes courtship more complicated" here. And of course, she's slapped down in the comments probably from fellow students who must know everything about commitment, stability, relationships and breaking up. I know marriages that have survived that "live-in, shack up" period, but not because of the trial period. Statistically, if you want your marriage to last, don't "play house" or "Let's pretend." And you really make holidays awkward for your family!

Robot, puppet or paper doll--who was that masked man?

I didn't watch the President's speech on Afghanistan. Nothing against him. I didn't watch George Bush's speeches either except after the fact. Other people write the speech and the presidents use telprompters--so what's the point? Might as well listen on radio or read it. But I have seen clips and excerpts and critiques. He was wearing his angry face. He had no goals, especially not victory. What a snooze! And this is the guy you Democrats were swooning over for his elegance and rhetoric? Oh my! I support him on the troop build up, but since he cut the request in half, what was the wait about? Maybe if he'd acted promptly on the advice of his general, chosen by him, the troops could have had this mopped up (without a socialist mop) and come home for Christmas. Violence went down when they got reinforcements a few months ago. He said Afghanistan and not Iraq was the place to be when he was campaigning. On this issue he has more support from Republicans than he does his own party, but even they aren't happy with the cuts he made. He might find out just how nasty the lefties can be--or they may realize he's not the one making the decisions.

The Anchoress wrote: "The president is doing the right thing, and he deserves props for it. Good on you, Mr. President, for listening to your generals.

In his speech last night, though, he seemed like a man very unhappy to be doing the right thing, and rather testy about it. There was a defensiveness, and others have noticed, as I did, the scolding tone. As Althouse says, “he seemed annoyed at us.”

Yes, that’s what I got too. The speech didn’t soar, fly or inspire; it actually kind of plodded. Obama delivered it with the passion of a 14 year old forced to do the dishes after Thanksgiving." Link

On to the job summit. If he'd been interested in saving the economy instead of making war on it, he would have hit the floor running on January 20. Nothing was shovel ready; nothing has created jobs; they've lied and manipulated the numbers from the beginning. Only about 1/3 of the stimulus money has been assigned, and probably not spent--waiting for the next election so he can buy more votes while you line up or serve at food pantries. The Senate health bill is really a tax bill, and nothing kills investment faster than taxing the people who create the jobs. Confidence in him is plummeting; he was inexperienced, never held a real job, and doesn't like being an American.

The New 4-H Center at OSU

Nationwide Foundation and Ohio Farm Bureau pledged more than $6 million toward a new 4-H building on the Ohio State University campus in Columbus and in January 2008 the staff began moving in. From OSU Extension, Jan. 3, 2008:

“The new Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center has opened, with two dozen faculty, staff and student workers beginning their move into new offices on Jan. 2. The center was built to the specifications of the national LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program and is the first "green" building on the campus of Ohio State University. It is located at 2201 Fred Taylor Drive, across from the Schottenstein Center."

And I missed it. I think because during its building phase I was using the Ackerman temporary location for the OSU Libraries, and wasn't using Fred Taylor Drive to go to the Agriculture Library where I'd been picking up my paged books. Today I saw an item about it. Quite a change from the little office I remember on Fyffe Road for 4-H and Extension in the same building where I worked as the Agricultural Economics Bibliographer from 1978-1981 on a USAID grant to build a collection on agricultural credit in 3rd world countries.

While I was browsing all its "green" and "sustainable" features (LEED), I clicked over to the Farm Bureau site (very handsome, btw) and browsed some recipes. Here's one from the vegetarian section.

Eggplant sandwich

1 small eggplant, peeled, sliced into ½ inch thick slices
1 tablespoon olive oil, or as needed
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 (6-inch) French sandwich rolls
1 small tomato, sliced
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
¼ cup chopped fresh basil leaves

Salt eggplant slices and let them sit for 30 minutes to let the excess water drain. Blot with a paper towel. Brush eggplant slices with olive oil, and cook on grill or under broiler for 10 minutes, until tender and toasted. Split the French rolls lengthwise and toast. In a cup or small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise and garlic. Spread this mixture on the toasted roll. Fill the rolls with eggplant slices, tomato, feta cheese and basil leaves. Serve hot.

Years ago I made an eggplant casserole, then discovered that eggplant is good only for supporting other things like cheese and tomato sauce because it has no useful nutritional value or taste. So if you make this, and it does sound tasty, you'll have to rely on whatever is in the bread, olive oil, cheese, tomato and mayo to fuel your engine.

Ah, the 4-H memories. Were you a member? I'm sure it's very different today, and even 60 years ago was different for groups made from town, or farm or city kids. I think I joined in Forreston (pop. 1,000) because my sisters were members and I always wanted to imitate what they were doing. Not only did you have useful projects--sewing, cooking, raising animals, art, home maintenance, decorating--but you learned to give oral presentations to explain your project to your local club and leaders, far more complex than anything done in school. Agricultural extension/Cooperative extension are the original "continuing education," and should go down in history as a very useful government program which benefited many. When Congress created the Cooperative Extension Service at USDA in 1914, it included boys' and girls' club work. This soon became known as 4-H clubs - Head, Heart, Hands, and Health.

Photo from Arizona 4-H archives.

The mother in law problem--a repeat

I don't dither. Here's my response to a mother-in-law problem--this is a repeat from February 2007:

I have so many people on my prayer list with really serious, mind numbing problems, I admit I got a bit testy and talked back to the ingrate woman who wrote "Dear Abby" this week about her mother-in-law.

It seems her MIL does her laundry and dishes when she comes over to babysit. She started doing it when the complainer was bedridden and really needed the help, but she just won't stop! Really, what some people call a problem, I can fix in 3 shakes of a lamb's tail. DO THE LAUNDRY AND DISHES BEFORE SHE GETS THERE. Start picking up after yourself so Mama and others won't see your home looking like a cyclone went through as you run off for lunch with your friends, or where ever you're going. If your home looks like a federal disaster zone, don't be surprised when the volunteers show up for cleaning. Or, here's another thought. HIRE SOMEONE TO BABYSIT. Then invite your in-laws over for a non-working time with the kids (she wanted MIL to supervise the kids instead of cleaning up messes).

Now, wasn't that easy?

What are you doing with the turkey leftovers?

There was a box of Kraft Stove Top stuffing mix for Turkey in the pantry and a package of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving in the freezer. So I looked at the recipes on the box and decided to go with Turkey & Stuffing Skillet, only I'm going to bake it.

1 pkg of stuffing mix
1 1/2 cups hot water
3 cups chopped turkey
1 jar turkey gravy
1 pkg frozen mixed vegetables (I used green beans, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms)

Add hot water to stuffing mix; set aside.
Cook turkey, gravy and vegetables
Top with the stuffing mix.

Put in the oven at 350 around 5 p.m. for 30 minutes, and sit down to watch Glenn Beck. Serve with fresh strawberries and blueberries for dessert.

Too much time or too much wine

I was browsing a Christmas craft site today. I always admire these things, like ripping pockets off jeans and making a quilt out of them (I wear my old jeans), or the present we got in 1960, a piece of art made from glued macaroni pieces from my husband's aunt. This one, looked like a lot of work and a lot of drinking.

Who killed the Constitution?

I wrote that I read the Constitution while I was on my blogging vacation. So I checked the public library for some recent material. There wasn't much. I recommended a book I'd seen at a conservative think tank, and my request was denied--I was told not many public libraries had that book so I should try Ohio State's Law School library. Too bad we're such a low level, low achieving community here in Upper Arlington reading only fiction, cook books and travel books. Anyway, I did find two interesting books at UAPL (most are actually on the amendments). "Who killed the constitution?" by Thomas E. Woods Jr. & Keven R.C. Gutzman, and "America's Constitution, a biography" by Akhil Reed Amar. Notice at the Amazon site the review by Scott Turow of the second title. This paragraph in his review is quite telling--at least it explains what most lawyers in Congress, the courts and the White House have been taught:

"In college, I was taught that the Constitution was essentially a reactionary document, a view that had become standard in the wake of the historian Charles A. Beard's epochal 1913 study, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. Beard had contended that the Declaration of Independence contained a broadly idealistic vision of American democracy premised on John Locke's notion that "all men are created equal." The Constitution, on the other hand, was meant to serve the interests of the wealthy; it subverted democratic ideals, especially with its odious compromise providing that each slave be counted as three-fifths of a person for purposes of determining the population upon which congressional districts would be based."

Who killed the Constitution? tells us on the first page that both the right and the left killed the Constitution, and then provides 12 interesting cases from the last century, some well known, others overlooked, that show having the federal government take over health care is nothing new (in actions). I'm only in the first chapter--Woodrow Wilson and Freedom of Speech, and given all the czars and plots afoot now feared by the right, and how unhappy the left was about the Patriot Act, it's really a wonderful way to begin.

Some of the hysteria against Germans in WWI is very instructive, especially in light of the very mild prejudice against Muslims today. There was terrible stereotyping--even though probably a third of Americans were of German ancestry at that time. My family lived in a community after WWII where many people still spoke German, and I remember the suspicion and prejudice that still existed well after the war. During WWI (remember, at first Wilson pledged to keep the U.S. out of war) sauerkraut became "liberty cabbage"--sort of makes you think of "freedom fries" a few years back when sentiment against the French was running high. Germans lost their jobs, changed their names, and some were beaten and killed. In Iowa and South Dakota using German in public was forbidden except at funerals. There were volunteer enforcement organizations and neighbors were encouraged to snitch (remember Obama's request in the summer?) A movie called "The Spirit of '76" got its makers a 10 year prison sentence for portraying the British in an unflattering light (they were our allies in WWI). The authors said they could write a book just on the outrageous suppression of free speech during that period.

So it was that climate that gave us the Espionage Act and the Sedition Act in 1917 and 1918. The first involved promoting the success of our enemies (if Bush had had that most Democrats in Congress would have gone to jail) and the second gave the postmaster enormous powers to remove things from the mails that he decided would hamper the war effort. Of course, "intent" as in hate speech, was one deciding factor. These acts didn't come under court scrutiny until 1919, after the war was over when the Supreme Court heard 3 cases.

One of those cases was Debs v. United States. Eugene V. Debs delivered a provocative speech in which he claimed, among other things, that the capitalists were responsible for the war fever, and that as usual the common man had never had a chance to express his own preference for peace or war. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and Justice Holmes upheld his sentence. Warren G. Harding who followed Wilson, finally freed him in 1921, saying "I want him to eat Christmas dinner with his wife." It's useful to remember Holmes was a liberal, Wilson a progressive and Debs a Socialist.

Obviously, the first amendment (Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech,) can be trampled today just like 1917 and 1918. Politicians haven't changed in 100 years.

How I spent my vacation (from blogging)

Only my cousin seemed to miss me, but I was on a blogging break for about 6 days. I certainly didn't accomplish all I'd intended, partly because I didn't STOP reading other blogs--which is also very time consuming! And I continued to read in the topics that interested me. I'm a slow reader, have a few eye problems, so reading is sometimes a challenge.

1) Although I forgot to bookmark it, I read a study on NCLB that said it did indeed raise test scores of the bottom, most challenged group. But it was apparently at the expense of the top group which made no progress or even fell back. Sort of redistribution of wealth, Bush style.

2) Learned that the universe is composed 99.73% of "dark stuff." There are 3 types of dark (absence of light). Now we know of a fourth category, and it seems to be sucking in money in the area around the beltway.

3) I looked at the cheat sheet the Democrats printed up (pdf) of Obama's accomplishments to discuss over turkey. But it really was the turkey. Stuffed and expanded with lies, some created, some saved.

4) I began reading the Constitution of the United States. I may have had to pass a test on it in high school, but all I remembered was the preamble. A few weeks ago I bought a very small book from the Barnes and Noble bargain stack "The United States Constitution and other American Documents" (Fall River Press, 2009). It has almost no commentary except an introduction. I found it a fascinating read, and not at all the document that Obama claimed to know during his campaign, nor the one that conservative talkers say we're losing. It is 100% amazing in its brevity, insight into human nature and ability to see the future based on past events. And to think Congress must print 2,074 pages to fix a "system" that isn't a system, and isn't broken. I think it would be a great stocking stuffer, but I just checked the website, and it says they are sold out. That must mean other people are reading the original documents too.

5) I read an interesting comparison of the recent (Nov. 20 it was revealed about a decade of false information) manipulation and hiding of data about CO2 and its role in global warming with the "banned books" mythology and yearly event of the American Library Association at another blog.

6) I found out by following a link from ChemWeb Newsletter (in my e-mail) what makes up the dust in my house (remember--I was going to clean). Turns out 60% is made up of arsenic. Wow. That sent me right to the window blinds to remove the dust!

7) Read an article on who "invented" the global warming scare and why--it was Margaret Mead!

8) Learned by experimenting that the alcohol hand rub that is now ubiquitous is great for cleaning the bathroom. Dab a little on a cloth and wipe off the toilet flush handle, faucets, door knobs--also does a great job on the mirrors.

9) I made gift cards (I'm not very crafty) for my children's birthdays with inspirational stickers I found in my desk and attached their birthday checks to them--good at any store!

10) Attended a fabulous Thanksgiving service at UALC Lytham Road where Buff Delcamp preached and reminded us that the light of Christ is the answer to darkness in the world (see my #2) and John Stolzenbach got a standing ovation for the 25th anniversary of his ordination. That was followed by a wonderful dinner prepared by my daughter who lives over the river and through Scioto Woods, with lots of left overs to bring home and enjoy. She had alerted me to the pumpkin shortage earlier in the week, but I had a few cans, so we had plenty of pie.

Religion or Science?

Today I was looking through the online The Habitable Planet, a multimedia course for high school teachers and adult learners interested in studying environmental science. I just took a cursory look, but every topic seemed to include something about how fragile the earth's climate is and how man is contributing to its demise through global warming. So when I bookmarked it, I wasn't sure if I should file it under religion or science.

New Christmas dishes

Here's something I didn't need--new Christmas dishes. I bought a set about 10 years ago, and we use them once a year. But I was at the Discovery Shop and saw a hand painted set, priced separately. Well, I didn't want cups and bowls and tea pots and cookie jars, so 6 plates for $15 seemed a bargain. But first I looked for country of origin. I no longer buy anything made in China to use with food. There were no manufacturing marks at all. On the very last piece I turned over I found a sticker that read, "Diane's Delights, Columbus, OH," so I bought them. However, when I googled that name I found nothing, not in Columbus, not any place (for pottery and dishes). Any ideas? Each piece is slightly different, so they are hand painted. I think they are adorable.

Thanks to President Bush, Afghan women now in medical school

JAMA Nov. 18, 2009, p. 2081: "Afghan Military medical school reopens, enrolls women in first class of cadets." Obama dithers, quivers and crumbles for 10 months. Bush freed the Afghan women.

"The recent reopening [of Afghanistan's military medical school closed by the Taliban] in Kabul, in the spring of 2009, could help change the shape of medicine in Afghanistan. . . about one-quarter of students are women. Allowing Afghan women to attend medical school, or any school for that matter, was unheard of in the past [before Bush freed them from the Taliban]. . . Most Afghan women have not been allowed to learn to read and therefore cannot pass an entrance examination. However, the 9 female cadets accepted for medical training passed all entrance exainations and met all stringent scholastic and physical requirements for admission to the National Military Academy of Afghanistan. "Girls in Afghanistan sometimes have acid thrown in their faces for going to school," said CDR Gary Harrison, MC, USN.

"We're at the very beginning, but the legacy we leave here will have an influence for decades to come," said LCDR Sunny Ramchandani, MC, USN, who helped establish the medical school's curriculum.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Facebook--again

Don't blame the Secret Service. They are non-political. Political appointees are not.

"People familiar with the inquiry into how the Salahis were able to attend Tuesday's gala, even though they weren't on the official guest list, said the Salahis exchanged e-mails with Michele S. Jones, special assistant to the secretary of defense and the Pentagon-based liaison to the White House. It was unclear how well the Salahis know Jones, but Jones includes the Salahis' lawyer, Paul W. Gardner, as one of her 50 friends on Facebook.

Several people familiar with the Jones-Salahi correspondence, including some who requested anonymity because it's part of an ongoing investigation, said the e-mails support the Salahis' case that they were cleared to attend Tuesday night's gala." WaPo

I've talked to Columbus school teachers who've told me they are not allowed to have Facebook accounts. Sounds like a good idea for anyone in public education, academe, or government. Why do you want to tell nosy people who your friends and associates are? Especially reporters from the Washington Post who are good at gossip but not tracking down global warming myths and document screw ups? I looked up Michele S. Jones. She's another "first," and a two-fer, and maybe she just wasn't carefully vetted or wasn't given enough instruction and training on security and the importance of protecting the president from friends of friends. Or then again, perhaps she had nothing at all to do with this and the e-mails to her went nowhere.

Incidentally, far removed from this story but about social networks, have you heard of the book Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, by Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler (Little, Brown, 352 pp., $25.99). It's reviewed at City Journal--go take a look. It's not about electronic social networks but the old fashioned type--like the brother-in-law of your best friend.

"Controlling for environmental factors and the tendency of birds of a feather to flock together—happy people prefer hanging out with other happy people—Christakis and Fowler found that we really do emulate those we care about, whether we mean to or not. Being connected to a happy person, for instance, makes you 15 percent more likely to be happy yourself. “And the spread of happiness doesn’t stop there,” they note. It radiates out for three degrees of separation, so that, say, your sister’s best friend’s husband’s mood exerts a greater influence on your personal happiness than an extra $10,000 in income would. If he gains 50 pounds, it will be that much harder for you to stay slim, as the frame of reference for what’s “normal” changes through your network. Or, on the positive side, if he quits smoking, your chances of kicking the habit improve, too, even if you’ve never met him."

Sounds like a title for next year's book club, and that maybe I've put on 10 lbs because my friend's husband can't lose weight.

Monday Memories--our 50th Christmas

We decorated the tree Saturday. As I was placing a shabby, scarred, blue flocked bulb on the tree I commented that this was our 50th Christmas, and it dropped and shattered. Well, it had a useful, long life. The tree we bought in 1993, and have definitely gotten our money's worth, but it is shedding almost as much as a natural tree, and each year, we toss 5 or 6 branches that break. The first photo below is me with the tree we had in 1969--a cut tree which we put in the dining room to keep a certain curious little boy from taking it apart (put a baby gate up). Many of the decorations are still the same 40 years later. I buy one or two new ones each year. We gave up the tinsel in the late 70s when Mystery our first cat ate them and they ended up decorating the litter box.

A Geezer Rant

Ronald Clark, a blogger who's a few years older than me, lives in Indianapolis and writes Banging the Drum. He wrote "Geezer Rant," and here's part of it.

How did it happen that manly men started replacing a hearty handshake with an embracing hug?

How did it happen that a proud free people began letting the Government completely run their lives?

How did it happen that shapely women are now kicking manly men’s butts in pop media?

How did it happen that even sailors blush when hearing mainstream movie dialog?

How did it happen that modern women have now become the sexual aggressor?

How did it happen that grade and high school students now feel free to cuss-out and physically threaten their teachers in the classroom?

How did it happen that it is now socially acceptable to scorn Christianity?

How did it happen that Governments and people are afraid to criticize Islam?

How did it happen that the New York Times changed from the paper of record to an ideology rag?

How did it happen that people who don’t want to work have now become respectable welfare recipients?

How did it happen that it is socially acceptable and celebrated to have children outside of marriage?

And there's more.

Handeling my new van

This morning after exercise class I stopped at the Lane Rd. branch of the Library to pick up a book I reserved (my last request for purchase of a title on the Constitution was denied but that's another blog). While I was there I flipped through the classic CDs in hopes there might still be a Messiah in the box. With hundreds in our congregation using the same material for Advent, I didn't think I find one (probably the largest Lutheran church in Ohio and the library hadn't purchased a new title on Lutherans in the U.S. in 40 years before I asked for one). But--there it was--Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

So on the drive home I popped it into the disc player in my new van, and now can't learn the trick to remove it. But the first 3 or 4 minutes are great. I also learned today what happens if you push the "panic" button on the key.

The "lost" climate data

"SCIENTISTS at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based.

It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years.

The UEA’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) was forced to reveal the loss following requests for the data under Freedom of Information legislation." Times on line

On the other hand, some very old stuff is now going to be available on line.

"Rare scientific manuscripts from Britain's Royal Society go online - 30 Nov 2009

The UK’s Royal Society has announced that historic manuscripts by scientists such as Sir Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin and others will be published online for the first time. As part of celebrations to mark its 350th anniversary, the society will make original manuscripts of papers published in its journals available to the public via Trailblazing, a new online resource.

Trailblazing contains 60 articles chosen from among the 60,000 that have appeared in the Royal Society's journals. Among the highlights from the Trailblazing site are: a 1770 scientific study confirming that composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a genius and, more recently, acclaimed British scientist Stephen Hawking's early writings on black holes. Also included are Sir Isaac Newton's landmark research on light and colour, a gruesome account of a 17th century blood transfusion and Benjamin Franklin's famous kite-flying experiment to identify the electrical nature of lightning in 1752."

My 2010 Chrysler Town and Country Van

This is a stock photo, but it's about right. I bought it yesterday. It's like marrying a total stranger you met in a bar and waking up in the morning and wondering what did I do? Actually, it's not like that, since I've only been married once, to a man I'd known for 2 years, and never go to bars, so that's fiction, just like a lot of other examples, parables, fairy tales, etc., that has confused some of my readers when I explained Neal Boortz' fictional story about Carrington Motors. But it's really odd anyway.

This morning I went out to the garage at 6 a.m. and climbed in. I wanted to be sure I knew where the lights were because I knew I'd be leaving home in the dark. When I picked up Paul (son-in-law's father) for church this morning, I didn't know which button to push to open the passenger door. When I went to Panera's after church and decided to practice in the parking lot, I managed to power down all the windows but didn't know what to do to get them back up--and it was rather nippy. Also, the key thingy is a bit sensitive and I seem to be beeping the horn.

This van is about 13" longer than my 2002 Dodge Caravan, which means my husband and I have traded sides in the garage. That means when backing out in the dark of the first day of our "marriage" I was headed for the neighbors' bushes instead of the road. Also, it seems to be wider, because I can't get out of the driver's side without bruising my left calf. The frame seems to be about 12" away from the seat in which the rest of my body is waiting for a foot to hit the ground. And I'm not terribly tall.

And junk. Oh dear. Where will I put my junk? Although Chrysler has designed lots of neat storage, some under the floor, nothing hides things quite as well as a bench seat--like the huge road atlas, my extra athletic shoes in the big orange box, the snow scrapper/brush, and a pile of JAMAs. Now the passenger row has bucket seats, not a bench. My old van had a storage net anchored between the two bucket seats in the front--this van has a tidy little box, not expandable. The T&C has all sorts of pockets and cup holders in the door and between the seats--I guess for all the people who eat in their cars. It's a 7 passenger van, but I think you could serve snacks for 12. I don't eat much while driving, but I do drag along a lot of "stuff," none of which will fit in these little compartments.

However, there's a lot to love, too. It's awfully comfortable--no complaints about my Dodge, but this T&C makes it feel like a horse cart--or my husband's Ford Explorer (a fancy name for a small truck). Oodles of positions for the seats, and the middle and back row can disappear into the floor all together if you want to carry a small pony, dry wall, or some living room furniture with you. There are dual ventilation controls and back of the van vents, but I haven't figure that out. We weren't interested in a GPS system but this does tell me which direction I'm driving and the temperature. But I really liked the price. It had about $4,000 in discounts, plus they gave me $4,000 for my van, so it was under $20,000, making it cheaper than my Dodge was in 2002.

I went a bit more high tech in this search. Because of Chrysler's financial trouble, I was afraid this style might disappear. And it still could, of course. It's not like God created it--mortals invent things like AGW. I first saw the ad in the Columbus Dispatch. I went on line and looked up all the specs and printed them out. Then I e-mailed two dealers (the one who had the ad, and a Dodge dealer) explaining what I wanted. I got prompt responses and we chatted by phone with me questioning everything on the printout I didn't understand. One salesman sent me a brochure. But the Dodge salesman wasn't even coming close to the T&C in features or price. So after lunch, we drove to the east side (that's another bad point, location of dealer) which seemed like we were going to Pittsburgh, test drove it, and made a deal.

If you've had as many minivans as I have, you'll see this one is more boxy like some of the newish sedans or even the original mid-80s minivan--maybe muscular would be the word. I hope it gets good mileage like my Dodge, which was just great on the road.