Stupak's decision didn't surprise me

Many Democrats fell on their swords rather than their principles in this frightening health "care" (take-over) debate. I would guess Bart Stupak (D-MI) knew before his vote what course his future would be. Here's Jim Taranto's take:

"Stupak allowed himself to be thoroughly humiliated during the ObamaCare debate. A proponent of socialized medicine but foe of abortion, he held out for months, insisting that he wouldn't vote for a bill that permitted federal funding of abortion. At the last minute he and a small group of "pro-life" Democrats ran up the white flag, casting the deciding votes in exchange for an executive order that everyone understood was meaningless.

Thus Stupak cast aside his putative principles and failed even to save face. You can see why he might want to "spend more time with the family"--and never have to show his face in public again."

I also believe the Conservative cause was weakened by hanging the defeat of this disaster on a few pro-life Democrats. Even if Obama had carved in the marble of his heart that he would no longer support late term abortions or taking the lives of Down Syndrome babies (93% aborted) and would not joke about special needs children and adults on late night talk shows, in the balance, it wouldn't undo all the other death blows he's dealing to the country.

$25 Million to create a model

Childhood Obesity Demonstration Project of Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA).

CHIPRA provides $25 million for FY 2009-2013 for a childhood obesity demonstration project. The law directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Administrator of CMS, to conduct a demonstration project to “develop a comprehensive and systematic model for reducing childhood obesity by awarding grants to eligible entities. . ."

I'm probably not eligible to apply for a grant, so I'll just submit mine for free.

Take their computers away
Send them outside to play.
Fly a kite or toss a ball
They can run, they won't fall.

CHIPRA reauthorization got an additional $32.8 billion on top of the $25 billion, and it will all come from the increase in cigarette taxes, Obama's first tax increase upon taking office. So unfortunately the parents of these fatties will have to continue smoking in order to pay for all of this new health care.

Urinary Concentrations of Triclosan in the U.S. Population

Triclosan is a synthetic chemical with broad antimicrobial activity that has been used extensively in consumer products, including personal care products, textiles, and plastic kitchenware. 75% of the population shows some Triclosan in their urine. For once, there is no gap between races and gender, so I'm sure that will give research some pause. But higher income people have more in their urine than lower income.

I looked at the April 2010 updated FDA page, and didn't see anything alarming. That won't stop the alarms, of course. I'm sure it's killed far more than its share of dangerous germs.

Environmental Health Perspectives: Urinary Concentrations of Triclosan in the U.S. Population: 2003–2004

Call me if you find this woman

I never thought our plan for creating a family (adoption) had much to do with anyone's health or taxes except our own. Fast forward 40+ years. Adoptive parents for some years have been able to take a federal tax credit for adopting. Ohio State University also offers many perks for adoptive parents, including time off, stopping the tenure clock, etc. (We missed all that government largess.) It's a pretty screwed up system, in my opinion. 1) Make abortion legal and socially acceptable, 2) reduce the number of babies, especially white infants, available for adoption, 3) increase foreign adoptions due to scarcity at home, 4) then offer tax credits on the exorbitant costs to obtain an ever increasing scarce adoptable child/infant. Does this sound like Congress has a collective IQ above 100?

But it gets better. Low-income families (about 17%) are more likely to adopt through public agencies, which are cheaper (ca. $2500) because they are tax supported, and who may hesitate to adopt their own foster children, for whom they have been receiving a subsidy, plus special medical benefits. Better educated, higher income adoptive parents (about 80%) adopt privately (ca. $40,000 depending on where and whom). So the federal tax credit for adoption is going primarily to people who actually pay taxes, and not to people who don't. Doh! The credit of up to $12,170 for both international and domestic adoption expenses didn't matter much to those who might not earn enough to owe much tax or any tax at all.

In the 2000 page Obamacare bill is a provision to give the low income, non-tax paying adoptive parents the cash difference (don't know the formula and don't know when this goes into effect). If they don't pay enough in taxes to allow for the credit for adoption-related expenses, the federal government will send them the difference in a refund. The credit tops out at $13,170. Although how you "refund" something that wasn't paid, I don't know. The idea is to encourage them to adopt special needs and their own foster children. Cha-Ching. A one time payout/bonus from the feds replaces a monthly subsidy by the state. How clever of the federal Congress to help the state governments with this pittance while slapping them with all the new mandates in Medicaid.

I have a lot of respect for the caring birth-mothers who seek a better life for their child/children while also looking out for their own welfare, and that of their own families who may not be able to absorb another child. I can't think of a single woman who tells the social worker/ government agency/ or lawyer, "Please find a low-income, marginally educated, non-tax paying family for my precious little one."

If she's out there, no one has interviewed her or told her story.

Who do they come for next?

The Obama administration has gone to a great deal of effort to destroy the livelihood of many well-off, well-educated, talented people--for no reason other than they are rich people who supply jobs and investment opportunities for others. Even the most radical appointments and groupies around the president have come from very comfortable, middle class or upper class life styles. Since most people in the U.S. didn't inherit their wealth or life style, what's all the anger about when people move up the quintiles to the next level? I've been in four of the five myself. So if they kill off the potentially poor before they are born because they believe they will have a miserable life, and the unacceptably rich after they become successful, who will they come for next. You?

Beheading planned in Saudi sorcery case - CNN

A Lebanese man charged with sorcery and sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia is scheduled to be beheaded on Friday, the man's lawyer said Wednesday. He had a TV show in which he predicted the future.

Lawyer: Beheading planned in Saudi sorcery case

A clever American pro-bono lawyer from a top flight law firm could get him off as a simple terrorist.

Shawnee State Park along the Ohio River

Joe Wagenhals has been out clicking the Nikon. He went a little south of here and found some fabulous red bud trees in bloom. http://jwagenhals.zenfolio.com/p899244680/slideshow . Just relax and enjoy. Also, you can visit his website. Watch for an upcoming photography show at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, Mill Run campus, Oct. 31, 2010 through Jan. 4, 2011.

The Liberal’s Biggest Blind Spot: Who Really Rakes In Their Government Largesse?

"It was in late 2008, under President Bush, that a threatened financial meltdown triggered some hasty and dangerous Washington policy decisions to bail out large firms. Unfortunately, President Obama has doubled down and more on those policies, with unprecedented levels of government spending, most favoring big finance, big auto companies, big labor unions, and now big pharma and medical insurance companies."

The Liberal’s Biggest Blind Spot

From the Foundry 2010 Chart Book

Letter to Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)

Arli Klassen
MCC Executive Director

Dear Ms. Klassen,

Today I received the Spring 2010 "A Common Place," featuring stories about microfinance in Cambodia and the earthquake in Haiti.

MCC's primary concern seems to be the material and political well-being of the people you're assisting with small loans, food aid, and "peace and justice" for immigrants. In the several years I've been receiving this publication (I sent a donation after the Tsunami which put me on your mailing list) I've seen very little about reaching anyone for Christ. Yes, you donate food and material goods, but if you tell them the Good News of the cross and resurrection it isn't reported. They are clearly Jesus for you (Matt. 25), but who is going to tell them so they have what you have? Is Jesus a secret? After the homes are built, the wells dug, the forests replanted and the schools staffed, then will you tell them? Or are they just supposed to figure it out?

In fact, the only spiritual part of the Spring issue is the story about the amazing faith of the Haitians.

"Earthquake survivors living in a camp in my neighborhood gather every evening to pray and worship--singing praises such as "God blessed us. He saved us," and asking, "God, don't leave us outside, give us homes." People shared testimonies of how they or their loved ones were trapped and rescued from under their homes. "When the earth shakes, Jesus is near us and we don't need to be afraid," my friend Emmanuel Michel preaches." [from article and photos by Ben Depp]

Over 30 years ago at Ohio State University I worked in a program sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development that did exactly what you describe in your small loan program. USAID didn't tell them about Jesus, although it did work with missionaries, nor would I have expected it. You folks, however, have a "great commission" to do so.

The cost of government workers

It is now known that government workers earn higher wages and have better benefits than private sector workers in the same or similar position. Therefore, I think it's time to start looking at some of the perks the private sector workers don't get, but have to pay for, or else Ohio will end up on the California/Illinois trophy head-on-the-wall award for bad fiscal management. Like this one for Ohio State University faculty and staff employees, for instance.

"If your dependent will be taking classes during summer term and you have an eligible regular appointment of at least 50 percent full-time equivalency, your family members can enjoy the benefits of higher education at a lower cost."

It's been awhile since I looked, but I think "family" has a rather broad definition in this case. Like the foster child of your same sex partner (not sure about opposite sex partner's foster child). And there is a "cap" on the benefits, but it's over $8,000 $6,000 per semester/quarter (in the process of changing from quarter to semester system).

Behavior, income and health

Because I knew the March 24/31 issue of JAMA contained that dreaded article that we need 60 minutes a day of exercise to maintain a normal weight (I'm barely managing 40 min. 3-4x a week), I didn't look at it until today. I discovered in that issue another, far more interesting article on socioeconomic status, personal behavior and health outcomes done in Britain, which has a single payer, government health care system and far more government interference in personal lives than we experience here.

Let me back up. One of the most frustrating features in reading JAMA is the constant emphasis on "the gap" and not on improved health outcomes for all groups over time. There's usually a PhD, MSoc or MSPH among the authors, which means the article will dredge up the obligatory difference between Blacks and Whites, or Blacks and Latinos or 10 years of education vs. 14 years, or inner city hospitals vs. suburban rather than lives saved by advances in technology, surgery or new miracle drugs. In many articles, there is at least the suggestion that the top two quintiles are somehow to blame for the bottom two in health differences, and more government funding (taking from the top 2) would somehow equalize this.

I'm guessing publication of this one was held up, and certainly not promoted in 2 minute summaries on the evening news. "Association of Socioeconomic Position with Health Behaviors and Mortality," JAMA, Vol. 303, no. 12, pp 1159-1166 with editorial content on pp. 1199-1200. CONCLUSION: "In a civil service population in London, England [i.e., white collar but from different social classes], there was an association between socioeconomic position and mortality that was substantially accounted for by adjustment for health behaviors, particularly when the behaviors were assessed repeatedly."

Let me translate. Smoking, drinking, over eating and little physical activity are not good for you, whether one or all four, and you are more likely to do these things if you have lower/working class origins. Health insurance doesn't change you or the outcome of your bad behavior. You don't become poor and less educated because of the degree of access to health care, and it's terribly hard to change behavior whether rooted in the genes or the early life culture.

Where do I get that free Obamacare?

Apparently, the President hasn't explained clearly enough the bill no one wanted, read, or understood.

Two weeks after President Barack Obama signed the big health care overhaul into law, Americans are struggling to understand how — and when — the sweeping measure will affect them.

Questions reflecting confusion have flooded insurance companies, doctors' offices, human resources departments and business groups.

"They're saying, 'Where do we get the free Obama care, and how do I sign up for that?' " said Carrie McLean, a licensed agent for eHealthInsurance.com. The California-based company sells coverage from 185 health insurance carriers in 50 states."

Read more

What makes this Census different?

Michelle Malkin, after filling in "American" in place of race says:

"So, what makes the Obama census campaign different from other census programs? First, its naked, left-wing special interest pandering. The White House is championing a “Queer the Census” movement by pro-gay marriage groups, for example, and the Commerce Department is working with open-borders leaders who want to use the census as leverage to stop all immigration raids.

The electoral stakes are high. Some $400 billion in federal funding and, most importantly, the apportionment of congressional seats are up for grabs. Instead of straightforward enumeration of the American population, Obama and the left’s identity politics-mongers are turning the $1 billion, taxpayer-subsidized census public relations drive into a government preferences lobbying bonanza."

Full article here.

Why health care costs so much

"American health care is an accidental system. Private coverage - the type most Americans have - has its origins in the wage controls of the Second World War as employers offered rich health-insurance benefits in pre-tax dollars. Public coverage like Medicaid and Medicare, on the other hand, takes its inspiration from the Beveridge report in Britain, drafted in the early 1940s; Lord William Beveridge believed in zero-dollar health care - that people ought to pay nothing at the point of use. Today's American health care fuses these two systems, but with a common economic flaw: people are overinsured, paying pennies directly on every dollar of health service they receive.

The end result: for every dollar spent on health care in the United States, just 12 cents comes out of the individuals' pockets. Imagine what food costs might be if your employer paid 88% of your grocery bill or what a trip to Saks might be like if your company covered the vast majority of the costs of the shopping spree."

RealClearMarkets

The lying and stealing commandments as practiced by ABCNews

This account of Glenn Beck cautioning his listeners about the "social justice" scams in the name of the Gospel is pretty much a lie about stealing, but that's what happens when you don't listen to Glenn Beck--you just read the filters.

Anyone who's ever read the Old or New Testaments knows there's not a smidgen of advice, commandment or admonition about taking money from the rich through government which got it through taxes or take-overs to "help" your fellow man. But many churches and their non-profit para-church arms regularly take government grants in a Faustian contract not to mention their religious beliefs, then preach diversity, sustainability, justice and whatever from the pulpit. Now, during the Bush administration, the liberal churches were all over President Bush for his conservative Methodist beliefs. Believe that sex should be reserved for marriage? Abstinance programs? Yikes. Marriage of a man and woman? That's just horrible!! That's obviously a violation of separation of church and state (which isn't in the constitution) because sexual purity is a religious, worthless, impossible to achieve concept. Sanctity of life? That's violating women's bodies in the name of religion, since everyone knows a fetus is a parasite without rights. Dr. Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, and Desmund Tutu are brought up as examples of "social justice" by Jim Wallis in this story. But I don't recall them taking government money, do you? In fact, the U.S. government kept a pretty close eye on Dr. King and Democrats tried to destroy him. Glenn would be in perfect agreement that theirs was a life style all religious people should seek, using their own resources, own time, and own beliefs.

When the rich don't buy

All sorts of people are losing their jobs--not so much from the recession, although that's part of it--but from the hostile, unfriendly, investment-cooling policies of the Obama administration. Let's say, just for fun and fantasy, you are worth a few million (like the current President) or many millions (like our former Presidents Bush and Clinton). How eager in today's climate would you be to invest in the finer things of life--like art. Now if you're a speculator, this might just be a great time. But let's say you became wealthy through solid investments and/or the smarts of your handlers and political friends.

In the WSJ today there's a story about a classy art gallery defaulting on loans. And apparently there have been a number of NY galleries go under. The rich aren't buying and probably credit sources have dried up because the bailouts have gone to a much higher tier in the credit food chain (that's not in the article--just my opinion). What happens when a first class art gallery closes? Staff is left go, of course; rent isn't paid and that hurts the bank that holds that mortgage; real estate firms are hurt; neighborhood business is hurt; the staff and shoppers who would have patronized the area shops now go elsewhere to spend their money; the delis and restaurants in the area lay off their immigrant counter clerks and bussers; the graphic artists and printers that worked up the catalogs have to cut back; the webpage designer for the gallery's sales has lost an important customer; rent payments and mortgage payments fall behind sending the economic ripples far down the subway line through people that never bought a piece of art in their lives; less tax money comes to the city, district and state; city workers get laid off; more demand on unemployment payouts.

On the plus side there are very good buys for art speculators; warehouses and storage facilities are doing well as banks look for places to store the seized art; court dockets fill up keeping their clerks busy; there's a demand for bubble wrap and protective coverings as art goes into storage; fraud investigators have more work as owners try to hide sales; lawyers are rubbing their hands since it looks like the terrorist trials might move elsewhere; they all need to hire more support staff.

And in Washington DC and the rubber chicken campaign circuit, our President flogs his health care plan oblivious to the ripples he sends out every day that keep the economy struggling and businesses sinking to the bottom of the government quagmire.

God, Satan and the Environmentalists

The coal mine tragedy in West Virginia is in the news. It is already morphing from a story of anxious relatives, grieving co-workers and community to one of the need for more government regulation for safety, and (who knew?), the dangers of fossil fuels. Let's forget for a moment that we Americans could save 2,000 to 3,000 lives a year by just raising the legal driving age to 18; what clout in Washington DC would that have? So whatever the hoopla or spin by the media, it isn't rooted in concern for the lives of the miners and their families and way of life in Appalachia.

Turn the page of the newspaper to the World Bank investing $3.75 billion to finance a coal fired power plant in South Africa. Notice the global spread of personal names and titles--Hitachi Power (Germany), Eskom Holdings (South Africa), the African National Congress, and S. Vijay Iyer (India) of the World Bank. This investment has the support of China, India, Brazil, and the African country members of the World Bank. Not so much the United States, which owns a lot but not enough to fight the rest.

I do love this quote by Mamatho Netsianda (who claims he answers to no white man) of Chancellor House Holdings, the investment arm of the African National Congress, which has a 25% stake in the new coal fired Hitachi Power. "I don't care who our shareholders are--whether it's God, Satan or the ANC--I'm running the company in accordance with South African law." Lucky he doesn't have a part African statist president changing all the rules as he goes along in order to by-pass both the laws of the nation and the power of the Congress at the expense of the shareholders.

Genetically Engineered Pig With Earth-Friendly Poop

Imagine the unintended consequences! Be sure to read the comments about Enviropig.

"The “Enviropig” has been genetically modified in such a manner that its urine and feces contain almost 65 percent less phosphorus than usual."

Meet the Genetically Engineered Pig With Earth-Friendly Poop | 80beats | Discover Magazine

Stain solutions

Here's a handy, dandy website from my alma mater, the University of Illinois. Or rather the Extension. Stain Solutions which is set to "grease" since "cat snot" didn't work. I'll have to browse a bit and see if it lists my favorite carpet spot remover, glass cleaner. Works like a charm (Windex or a knock-off from Meier's).

Speaking of colleges, I was going through a box of memorabilia the other day and found a clipping of my college graduation announcement from my hometown paper. Turns out I'd taken a class at Butler University and I didn't even remember! But last night I think everyone west and north of North Carolina was from Butler. Wasn't that a game! They had nothing to be ashamed of.

When Tea Party organizers say Take back your country

For some reason, they are racist haters and homophobes. How dare the Tea Party stand on the Constitution! When James Carville said it after the Democratic flop of 2004, well, it was just the coach laying out strategy (and it worked in 2006 by pretending to be moderate, middle of the road, core values candidates). "The book is organized under chapter headings from the Constitution, such as "The Common Defence," "Insure Domestic Tranquility," and "Establish Justice," under which he presents brief essays on Homeland Security, the deficit, jobs, the environment, etc."





The leftist media can say "Bush regime" thousands of times during his administration (a search of the Nexis database for "Bush regime" yields 6,769 examples from January 20, 2001 to the present) to proclaim their dislike, demean the war effort, and throw out road blocks to fight terrorism at home and abroad, but if Rush Limbaugh says "Obama regime," he becomes a racist who is accusing Obama of nefarious behavior, an act needing more government regulation of free speech. Drudge Report, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are somehow a threat to the most powerful man in the world, a man supported uncritically by the little watched broadcast media and cable news and opinion shows, leader of the formerly most wealthy country in the world just by criticizing him.

Meanwhile, the federal appeals court today has ruled that the FCC doesn't have the authority to require "net neutrality." This is not a ruling about the good guys and bad guys of free speech, but big and bigger. Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and eBay all have lobbied for net neutrality and stand to profit from it. This court ruling is a setback not only for the Obama administration, but also for Obama's corporate allies in the fight according to the Washington Examiner.

Child abuse in the news

You don't have to be a genius, or a math whiz or believe in conspiracies to figure out why the media plays up the problems in the Roman Catholic church. If it is 1% of the sexual and physical abuse problem, it's too much, and should be reported. The question is, when there is an elephant, why go after the gnat? Answer: What other organization or entity has as much power and clout to affect health care, education, and social agendas?

The dirty little secret is it isn't priests that children need to fear; it's the men their mothers bring home for a night, a month, a year, or a life time. Almost every day I read about a child somewhere in the country so battered and bruised he's dead or comatose by the time good old mom and her boyfriend finally take him to the ER and report he fell out of bed, or down the basement stairs, or accidentally hung himself in a closet, or burned himself with her cigarettes on his buttocks, or just happened to be walking around in 10 degree weather with only a pajama top while mommy and "uncle" party at the neighborhood bar. Little boys seem to be a high percentage of these victims. If Hollywood or TV execs had to produce stories about strangers in mom's bed, they'd have to shape up the twisted sexual values we're force fed year after year and stop the tirades against Christians. Don't send me links about danger from natural father or mother, or domestic violence in general. I've seen them, read them.

I've shared this story before, but it's worth retelling. In 1961 I was working the cash register at the Green Street Pharmacy. One of my co-workers about my age (21) who waitressed at the lunch counter never smiled or talked. I was expecting my first child and probably had the usual complaints about aches and pains, or maybe I shared my anticipation--don't recall why she opened up to me. She took out a photo of her little girl whom her live-in boyfriend had beaten to death. She was pregnant and had to testify during his trial--and permanently lost custody of that baby, too. He went to prison. I can still see her sad face when I read these boyfriend-batters-baby stories.

Explaining it to the grandchildren, guest blogger Murray

"Have you decided how you are going to explain to your grandchildren that their future has already been squandered?

That if they expect the same lifestyle that you had and fortunately still exists today, it's NOT going to happen for them?

That if they work hard to try to make it to the middle class or higher they'll have to do it while carrying someone on their backs?

That we screwed up and allowed Obamaism to dictate that we must share our successes with people who make little or no effort to succeed?

We have already helped them with their mortgage payments, buying cars, appliances, food, and weatherizing their homes. Then there are the bank and auto bailouts, Obamacare, and massive PORK spending all of which our children will have to pay for. Obama has only scratched the surface and he's still itching. Cap and Trade and Amnesty are coming up.

It has become quite obvious that Obama will lie, use deception, props, stage town hall meetings with planted questions and fake doctors, plus present people with hard luck health stories that are only partially true but are molded to sell his agendas. The only interview he has had where hard questions were asked was with Brett Baier of Fox News and it was a bust. Obama refused to answer the questions. Brett was criticized for interrupting the President in an attempt to simply get him to answer the questions. For Obama to answer them honestly, he would have to expose his massive destruction of our Republic.

The Stupak Eleven diversionary tactic on abortion was just to take the focus away from all the ugly things buried deep within the Obamacare bill. It worked. Ask yourself, if Obamacare is a good plan then why does Obama find it necessary to keep running around the country continually selling it after it was rammed through? There is no doubt that Obama will say anything to sell his agendas. Do not listen to what he says, but do pay attention to the results! They aren't the same."




Murray

Happy Birthday

Easter was a two-fer. Sometimes Thanksgiving is a Three-fer, since we have two birthdays that week. It's always the same question. "What shall I get for Dad?" " He wants a Dick Blick gift certificate." "I always get him that!" So I suggested that his summer print knit shirts were getting a bit shabby (probably 10 years old at least). "Oh Mom, the prints are no longer in style--it's all plain or stripes now!" So this summer, Lakeside will be shocked to see my husband in some new shirts! If it weren't for our daughter keeping tabs on fashion trends, we'd both look like yesterday's mashed potatoes.

We're eating apple pie in the photos (sugar free), but the "cake" is in the center of the table--Cheryl's Cookies, Sugar-Free in a wrapped birthday box. They are quite good.

NADA criticizes Obama over president's praise for GM dealer reinstatements? — Autoblog

If he reopens 661 dealerships he can put those on the plus side of the jobs ledger! Now, never you mind how does a dealer rebuild the trust with GM, his sales staff and his customers who have gone else where. Obama's never worked in the profit sector, so why would you expect him to have the answers?

"One of the most contentious aspects of General Motors' 2009 bankruptcy was the forced closing of 1,160 dealerships across the country. GM brass and the Obama Administration Task Force insisted that a smaller dealer body was necessary to make the Detroit, MI-based automaker viable again, while also helping to make the remaining dealers stronger. Opponents of dealer closings pointed to the thousands of dealership employees who would lose a job at a time when jobs are harder than ever to find. Dealers are also often among the most powerful small business owners in small towns, and that meant that the local congressmen were put in a tough spot, indeed."


NADA criticizes Obama over president's praise for GM dealer reinstatements? — Autoblog

Monday Memories--In your Easter bonnet

We served communion at the Easter Sunrise Service at our Lutheran Church. You can't really see the sun in our suburban neighborhood until about 9 a.m., but the windows were all darkened, and as we sang the first hymn, "Jesus Christ is Risen Today," the ushers pulled down the draping, and the lights gradually went up. With the pipe organ, full choir, and the processional it was sort of like a staged sunrise.

When I was in high school the community sunrise Easter service was a big event--I think it was on the athletic field at the high school and we sat on the bleachers. April services were better than March, sun better than rain or fog. I'm sure we ruined our new shoes in the wet grass. It wouldn't be a stretch if I said the girls were in little clutches, giggling and eying the boys. Some things haven't changed much in 55 years. I probably didn't do this more than three or possibly four times, but series of events in childhood seem to be in the "always" category. I can remember my Easter dress of 1955 and 1956, and although I know there are photos somewhere, I can't seem to lay my hand on them. I've been an early riser all my life, so sunrise services are just perfect for my internal clock. In my junior year, however, I overslept. My boyfriend came to the house to pick me up for the event, and the house was dark. So he walked in (no one locked their houses then), walked up stairs, past my parents' bedroom and into mine, woke me up, then went back down stairs to wait. That and my red shoes and noisy crinoline are about all I remember. Don't even recall who was the preacher that day, although the responsibility was rotated among the four churches.

Men and women don't dress up much these days, a little bit more for Easter. I actually saw two hats at church. But the little girls in the urban neighborhood UALC supports get to select lovely dresses which have been collected by members for weeks--with all the accessories, and they've been hanging in the hall at church before they are gathered up for distribution. Beautiful, dainty, gorgeous colors, delicate prints and bold designs. As we returned with family for the 11 a.m. service, the 9:30 (informal) was letting out, and I noticed the beautiful young teen girls almost all were in darling dresses.

Why do young girls get to have all the fun of dressing up?

Use of the word Terror

I subscribe to the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) reports. GTD is a project of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terror (START) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence, START, based at the University of Maryland, College Park. You may think our AG and newspapers don't use the word "terror," "terrorism" or "terrorist" much any more in describing those who would bring down the United States (although I think it's still an acceptable word in referring to Tea Party 70-year olds like Murray who marched on Washington carrying a sign, and groups of 9 or 10 Michigan militia). However, in the recent story I received about the Moscow subway bombing, I counted those words 30 times. So we know they still can use it when writing about other countries.

Speaking of that militia story, last week when I was on blogging break, I noticed that the Wall Street Journal devoted a full page to them on Wednesday. However, that same day within 7 miles of the White House, a drive-by shooter(s) killed or wounded 6 men and 3 women. I didn't see the words brown or black rage in that story (race baiters describing tea parties refer to "white rage" to describe people carrying signs, orderly assembly, and cleaning up after themselves).

Now he wants us to be patient and not rush to judgement!

The President is on the campaign trail again. Sarcastic. Whiny. Complaining. Showing is real face. Fooled them once; OK. Twice the independents wized up and left. Now shame, shame, maybe it will work again? An exodus of Democrats? Thuggery, arm twisting, Chicago goon politics, lies, obfuscation, pay offs to unions, Wall Street, insurance companies, bills too big to read, and Congressional pork. We've seen how they make the sausage. Let's not forget by November. The job growth is in the government sector. 16,500 new IRS agents for starters. Government IT workers to track your health care records--the same gang that can't get the Census right (although they'll find and count the illegals, I'm sure). Now he has to sell Obamacare as payback to those up for election, so he's on the road doing what he has always done best! Campaign. Even as a community organizer his talk was bigger and bolder than his walk--that community is in worst shape than ever. Hurry up and wait, Americans. Get used to it. Especially at the doctor's office.

“For the past year, Obama has been demanding that Congress enact his so-called reform immediately. Last July, it had to be done before the August recess. Then, after Democrats suffered big losses at the polls in November, it had to be done by the end of the year. It was so urgent that the House voted stayed in session late into Saturday night after Election Day, and the Senate actually voted on Christmas Eve. . . Last month, in a process as ugly as it was heedless of public opinion, Obama got what he wanted. Two weeks ago the time for debate was over. Now the president is still talking ObamaCare, trying to sell the public on what he and congressional Democrats have already imposed upon us. And he's insisting that the public owes it to him to be patient.” James Taranto April 2, 2010

The Obama Dependency Economy

". . . the U.S. economy has now lost a total of 3.8 million jobs since President Barack Obama signed his $862 billion stimulus plan. We are 8.1 million jobs short of the 138.6 million he promised the American people.

It is good to see the American economy finally recovering again. It demonstrates the resilience of the American entrepreneur in the face a punishing job killing agenda from Washington. And don't fall for any White House claims that this belated recovery is due to the stimulus."

Read the entire article here. Find out what the government coulda, shoulda, woulda do if economic recovery instead of more control of our lives were the goal.

And by the way, I'm still waiting to see what the ARRA funds will be doing on the Upper Arlington street just west of us. I drove the distance of the orange barrels, and don't even see a problem, let alone a worker. Meanwhile, the landscape company reworking our condo entrance (which included a Saturday and a brief snow storm) is finished.

I'll return after Easter. Lots to do this week, and I'm starting by going to a movie this afternoon. Precious. My husband turned up his nose, so I'll go alone. Besides, he really wants to watch basketball.

I was watching Kentucky and West Virginia play yesterday. Wow! What super athletes--every last one of them. Several thoughts floated through my mind as I looked up from my book (The Virginian, 1902). Not a single white guy on the floor. No women, either. No fat kids. No Asians. No disabled. Obvious age discrimination. They all had very expensive outfits and shoes (tax payers expense?) that most guys their age can't afford. Some probably had scholarships that others didn't even hear about. Last night those teams were the cream of the crop--and no one even cares that they aren't sharing their place on the team with someone less qualified, less tall, less skillful, less handsome, less melanin, less educated, less willing to work hard, stiffer knees and shorter fingers. Sports are really unfair. When will the President insist that athletes share the wealth?

The federal office that oversees the GSEs Fannie and Fred, right on its website, has diversity of employees as its number one goal. Imagine. The gang that can't shoot straight, that brought us our current recession, are looking for minorities and women and disabled, because they seem to think that's what caused the problem, but college athletic teams aren't. Go figure!

Male Answer Syndrome

When my children were toddlers, Phil Donahue was a local talk show personality in Dayton, Ohio, and I watched him everyday. If my friends came over with their babies, we'd watch him together. One thing I noticed 40 years ago was that no matter how famous the guest or how well-known the celebrity, when it was time for questions, the women in the audience asked questions, and the men expounded their own theories and ideas instead of mining for new information from the expert. Every program. Every guest! Many years later when I used to watch Charlie Rose on public TV, I observed that when he interviewed women authors, his questions were really expository and overly long and boring, often leaving her with nothing to say except, "Yes," or "No," or "I agree, Charlie." With male guests, he allowed them free rein and didn't interrupt them.

Today I was reading an artist's newsletter about Male Answer Syndrome, which led the artist-author to comment on the differeces between male and female artists. Apparently, it has had a name since the early 90s and I missed it.

How ObamaCare Will Affect Your Doctor

Billions for IRS agents to enforce Obamacare, but nothing for doctors. Not a pay raise; not a pat on the back. Not a penny. In fact, it will drive doctors out of business with higher taxes and lower reimbursement while adding more patients to the rolls. That's how he plans to ration care. It's only "fair," you know. Why should you have something you've worked for while others have nothing to reach for?

How ObamaCare Will Affect Your Doctor - WSJ.com

That would mean you have to stop killing jobs

Stop the war on the economy. Stop killing jobs

Cordless phones

When we moved here, the kitchen had what is probably second generation cordless phone--lots of heft, ugly as sin. Probably from the early or mid-90s. But we sort of got used to being able to walk around, or keeping it in the living room in the evenings. So I bought a GE 900 cordless phone for my husband's office about 5 years ago. I had to use the laundry room to dock it since you need a phone outlet and an electric outlet side by side, but that wasn't much of a problem. (I have no idea why the previous owner had both a phone jack and cable connection in the laundry room, but maybe she ironed more than I do.) Lately, it's been dying after an hour or two off the docking station, and he's been keeping the kitchen phone in his office (it no longer rings), and that's not handy or conducive to good marital relations. So today I looked up the cost of buying a new battery, Sanik 3SN-AA60-S-J1. Seems it is about the same cost as the phone was ($14-15.00). So he bought a new phone.

Stimulus evidence one year on

Watching the workers we hired to relandscape the condo grounds (below freezing today, and a Saturday) compared to 2 miles over where ARRA funds are (posted as) being used and nothing is being done, I thought about Barro's article.

The math is a bit over my head, but I can figure out the bottom line. Robert J. Barro says, "Viewed over five years, the fiscal stimulus package is a way to get an extra $600 billion of public spending at the cost of $900 billion in private expenditure."

The stimulus

ATT will take $1B non-cash charge for health care

And now it begins.

"AT&T Inc. will take a $1 billion non-cash accounting charge in the first quarter because of the health care overhaul and may cut benefits it offers to current and retired workers.

The charge is the largest disclosed so far. Earlier this week, AK Steel Corp., Caterpillar Inc., Deere & Co. and Valero Energy announced similar accounting charges, saying the health care law that President Barack Obama signed Tuesday will raise their expenses. On Friday, 3M Co. said it will also take a charge of $85 million to $90 million."

ATT will take $1B non-cash charge for health care

HT Bob who says, "They always say, and for damn good reason, "Hind sight tells the story." "

Obama Moves to worsen the housing mess

Haven't we been this route before? Didn't it lead to the bubble bursting in 2008? Did you know you can still get 100% financing, no money down, home mortgages (check out USDA--the food people--they also throw money at new mortgages). Now today we get the news that "The Obama administration on Friday announced broad new initiatives to help troubled homeowners, potentially refinancing millions of them into fresh government-backed mortgages with lower payments." Duh! 11,000,000 homeowners with property worth less than they owe, and the government continues to provide no-money down, 100% mortgage financing which is a 100% guarantee that the cycle will continue. Administration Moves to Assist Struggling Homeowners - NYTimes.com

Maybe we need a refresher on how our friendly government loan officer and enforcer got us here.

It has never been about health care--you've been conned

Today I was reading something from the American Roman Catholic Bishops about why they supported the health care bill--"the anguish of mothers who are unable to afford prenatal care, of families unable to ensure quality care for their children, and of those who cannot obtain insurance because of preexisting conditions." If that's all this health care bill was about, that could have been taken care of in a hundred pages or so. Isn't it amazing with all the food programs we've had in place since WWII, like SNAP (food stamps), WIC, commodity supplements, school lunch programs, summer feeding programs, after school snacks, school breakfast programs, fresh fruits and vegetables for the low income, TEFAP and food banks, the government only expands its assistance but never succeeds in feeding the poor? And even with all the Medicaid and Medicare, the SSDI, SCHIP plus all the non-profits and the power and wealth of the churches, all these people don't have health care? Whose pockets are being lined, who is taking a giant cut if it isn't getting to the needy? Why are more trillions needed if everything thrown at it since the 1960s isn't working?

And what exactly is a pre-existing condition? Our U.S. Census now reports that one sixth of us--50 million--are disabled. Other websites say that 111,000,000 have eating disorders, and 44,000,000 have mental problems. TV ads tell us that one in ten are autistic. And the stats on obesity and diabetes seem to change with the season. Soon, we will not have a single healthy, well-fed person in the United States! Won't the illegals be disappointed when they sneak in!! They could have been sick at home! These government programs must keep expanding, not because we are less healthy than 1950 or 1900, but because we are. No government program wants to go out of business due to success!

The ObamaCare travesty/takeover was never about better health; it has always been about government control and power. The Bishops should have seen this one coming, and raised a few more red flags, and not just about abortion. Millions of Catholics have lost their lives not just to legal abortion, not just to do-gooder DDT bans, but to democide--death by government. In gulags, in death camps, in reeducation camps, in starvation through collectivization. President Obama is ridiculing his opposition--he, the biggest advocate for abortion in the highest office in the land, in the formerly most powerful country in the world. Why in the world would the Bishops trust him with the rest of our lives?

Only the Word of God stands up to earthly powers. It's time to use it.

Media coverage of the Congressional threats

If you want to know why the news coverage (not the editorial page) of the Wall Street Journal has a reputation for being the most liberal newspaper in the country, just read journalist Naftali Bendavid's account of . . . just about anything political. Today's piece on the charges being thrown back and forth about threats is a good example.

"Democrats seized on the reported violence to portray opponents as irresponsible. Republicans condemning the acts, charged Democrats with trying to make political hay."

I'd say that's true--but words matter. Notice, she doesn't say who the irresponsible opponents are. We're left to conclude they are Republicans, which is exactly what the Democrats have said, with zero proof--some even demanding apologies. Naftali is much smoother than crazy Chris Matthews--after all, she did a puff piece book on Rahm Emanuel and was given access to the insider's view. If you look back at what she wrote in July 2009 about the 52 Democrats opposing Obamacare, you would think they had no power to hold up this bill if not for Republicans.

You have to get to paragraph nine of Naftali's article today to learn that the Democrats have not just charged "opponents," but their Republican collegues specifically and not the progressives, socialists, or Communists who believe they had been betrayed by the Democrats with a weak bill giving concessions to insurance companies and lobbyists.

Democrats and their supporting actors in the press do not put the various crazies we've seen since Obama took office--Amy the Professorial Shooter, Stark the suicide pilot, Hasan the military doctor, or Awlaki the American Muslim cleric in their column of extremists. Oh goodness No. That wouldn't be good journalism. Wouldn't be prudent. But let a white haired, 80 year old, Tea Party participant give them the finger and they rush into the streets screaming "stranger danger" and then spend days rehashing it with Chris Matthews.

The truth is, just in case you are in the information cave called broadcast news, we have well-trained FBI and police to investigate threats of violence. Reporters and Congressmen should not be deciding who threatened whom. A nasty fax, a brick through a window and a shot fired are at opposite ends of the voilence spectrum, and so far, the Republican side of Congress is in more danger.

Movie Fans Study Films for Flaws

And I thought my crabby, nitpicking commenter (180 visits) was bad! These people make a life of finding mistakes in movies. I occasionally see an obvious movie gaff as big as Joe Biden's mouth, but I don't think I'd watch Jaws that often, or Pirates.

Movie Fans Study Films for Flaws - WSJ.com

Three years ago, a joke

Glenn Beck made a joke about the Titanic when he was on CNN. James Cameron has never forgiven him. Cried all the way to the bank. How high school musical.

Where was the outrage?

In February, a CNN analyst and a Huffington Post writer advocated violence against Republicans and his own party (go gangsta i.e., breaking knee caps, etc.) for opposing Obamacare and appointments even though they had no power. Don't think it got much coverage. Imagine if that had been Rush Limbaugh? Perhaps the MSM were too busy trying to blame Tea Partiers for the guy who flew his plane (turns out he was a registered Democrat) into an IRS building and a looney-tunes professor who shot up her department to notice what their side was doing (she was a liberal through and through). Now some deranged idiots at that same level of talent and smarts are either threatening or pretending to threaten members of Congress, and the Washington Post (today's afternoon edition) is only mentioning the Democrats, even though two of the people threatened were Republicans, and they didn't worry a bit when Karl Rove got threats.

It is the left that is notorious for violence in political demonstrations. Look how they tried to stir up trouble among students a few weeks ago about tuition raises. Glenn Beck made a very interesting observation on his show last night. Now that the Weathermen, SDS types and Alinskyites have oozed their way to the top levels of government and are now "The Man," they have to put down the opposition at the grass roots in the same manner as they were treated in the 60s and 70s. However, the tea partiers aren't violent, so they have to stir the pot and work people up--or even fake it.

"What you need to do is collapse it from the inside. You need to get as many people from the welfare rolls onto it and collapse. But remember that there needs to be a framework that it collapses into. What that means is you must have power. It's not enough to be out on the streets. You must be Richard Nixon. You must have radicals at the top. . . Van Jones said. . . I am willing to drop the radical pose for the radical ends."

Some topics for Glenn Beck

We really enjoy sitting down together at 5 p.m. and watching Glenn Beck. Those of you who only get snippets through the George Soros funded Media Matters and other filters (Glenn usually greets their snoops as the "unemployed hippy-dippy dudes sitting in mom's basement" screening and reporting back to the watchdog agency) are missing some great history lessons and reading lists. He's probably done more for libraries and Amazon than any other author/host because he reads so much, and those titles fly to the top of the best seller list, faster than an Oprah Book Club selection. He even suggests going back and reading original sources--marxist, socialist, founding fathers, etc., something dear to this researcher's heart. Beck's film documentaries are stunning. I studied Russian history (19th and 20th century) back in college in the 50s and 60s and saw newsreels of the decimation of the Ukrainian farmers, the forced collectivization and starvation and the millions murdered in China's revolution. Some of the footage in his documentaries certainly ring more true, even with the dramatic voice overs, than watching a Katie Couric or Charlie Rose. That said, there are other topics I'd like to see on his programs.

1. There have been some really fabulous federal government programs that benefited millions of Americans and grew the economy. It would not be a violation of his core values and beliefs to mention

• the national park system
  
  
• the homestead acts and land giveaways
  
  
• the interstate highway system
  
  
• the land giveaways to the railroad barons who opened millions of jobs and opportunities for immigrants and city bound poor
  
  
• various public health advancements like clean water, polio vaccination, meat inspection, flour and milk enrichment, compulsory TB testing
  
  
• the Army Corps of Engineers and flood control
  
  
• mining rights to energy developers which revolutionized our industries
  
  
• compulsory education
  
  
• land grant colleges and universities.

Glenn. Here's a tip from a librarian and history buff. The founders are interesting, but a lot has happened since the American Revolution. Also, you like to talk about your Democrat grandfather. Didn't he tell you not to throw the baby out with the bath water?

2. Glenn has recently stepped on a real hornets nest--he's taken on the liberal church--more specifically the way "liberation theology" has infiltrated the pastors and pulpits, and "social justice" themes have replaced the gospel of Jesus Christ. Glenn is absolutely correct that Jesus not once asked the Roman government to feed the poor or visit the sick or set the slave free. What Glenn is missing in these mini-sermons is that in the United States, the Christian church was at the forefront of social change, long before the federal government got in that game. In fact, the government has usurped and co-opted the churches and made them just another non-profit employee of the government through tax grants for feeding programs, summer camps, pre-schools, prisoner reentry programs and housing renovation in poor neighborhoods while at the same time telling churches they can't preach the gospel or hand out printed material because they are taking government money to do their jobs!

• The great religious awakenings of the 18th and 19th centuries were followed by great fervor for combating sin and a movement toward greater personal responsibility all because of renewed faith in God, not the government
  
  
• Sunday schools were begun by "church ladies" so that children working in factories could get an education--this is the foundation of the public school movement
  
  
• the big three social movements of the 19th century, abolition of slavery, temperance, and woman's rights, were all Christian movements with women doing the heavy lifting; the woman's rights movement of the 19th century was not the feminist movement of today; it was faith-based action
  
  
• the Lyceum and Chautauqua movements of the 18th and 19th centuries were the originators of self-improvement movements and adult education--both were begun and funded by concerned citizens, not the government
  
  
• a less punitive justice system in the form of penitentiaries (penitent) rather than debtor's prison or corporal punishment was pioneered by the Quakers
  
  
• the spread of printed materials to an expanding reading public went viral through church printing presses--Methodists, Lutherans, Baptists, Congregationalists, etc. During war time soldiers were given free reading material and libraries by both the Protestant and Catholic presses
  
  
• medical care for the wounded during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars was led by bands of committed Christian men and women with nuns and priests working all sides of the conflict
  
  
• churches pioneered stewardship of the earth and the humane treatment of animals, long before the government thought to regulate it (19th century agricultural journals--take a look)
  
  
• it was the church groups that met the immigrant ships of their own ethnic groups and helped them resettle and learn the language, customs, and establish businesses
  
  
• after WWII pacifist denominations created a volunteer rebuilding program for Europe, which later the government used as a model for the Peace Corp and Vista.

Glenn. Here's the bigger story--bigger than liberation theology--many church members don't know their own history, let alone the Bible, and they don't realize they were the source, not the result, of these programs.

The Security of Your medical records

Your medical records weren't secure when they were paper; and they are even less so in electronic form. Any shred of privacy disappeared with HIPAA (1996, 2002). I've lost count of the number of times I've sat waiting in an exam room of a specialty clinic with the previous patient's information (including SS#) on the screen, or the name of the customer on the clip board with the number of the prescription at the pharmacy pick-up counter window. Read the small print in those privacy notices--it simply tells you who will see it--and that usually includes just about everyone you don't already know. "The HIPAA Privacy Rule allows a covered health care provider to use or disclose protected health information (other than psychotherapy notes), including family history information, for treatment, payment, and health care operation purposes without obtaining the individual’s written authorization or other agreement." (FAQ, HHS.gov)

President Obama said in his 2009 speech that electronic records for all, "will cut waste, eliminate red tape and reduce the need to repeat expensive medical tests [and] save lives by reducing the deadly but preventable medical errors that pervade our health-care system."

Nice for them. Not so nice for us, says this psychiatrist. And if you've read up on medical errors, you see that a simple 2 minute check list, if followed, can reduce many of them. She suspects (and she's been treating people for 35 years) that once patients understand that a vast audience beyond their doctor can see this at the touch of a keystroke, they'll be less forthright and honest about what to put in the record. Consent, she says, must be built into the electronic records system. Patients should be able to decide who sees their records.

"A 2009 poll conducted for National Public Radio, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health asked if people were confident their medical records would remain confidential if they were stored electronically and could be shared online. Fifty nine percent responded they were not confident."

Sounds good, but I think that genie popped out of the bottle years ago. Even in the 80s before any of this was possible I read stories of the information that insurance companies kept in databases, and how they traded that information with other companies, therefore a missed DUI or a "forgotten" treatment for depression somehow managed to catch up even after the life or health policy was approved. A "Do not Disclose" request doesn't mean no one sees it. And for those who think having the government in charge of this information means everything will be fair, just, and work on your behalf, I give you the new IRS agents who will be in charge of seeing that it all works on the government's behalf.

Deborah Peel: Your Medical Records Aren't Secure - WSJ.com

That's No Angry Mob, That's My Mom

Haven't read the book, but I love the title. Librarians are 223:1 liberal to conservative--probably won't be in my public library. "A full-throated defense of Tea Partiers and shows just how right conservatives have been on healthcare reform, the stimulus package, cap-and-trade, cash for clunkers, and more."

Book Details - That's No Angry Mob, That's My Mom

$10 billion for 165,000 new IRS agents

The IRS is the "enforcer" of the new health care mandates. It will have the power to

"monitor individuals and businesses’ health insurance statuses through the mandatory reporting the bill requires. Under the law, every individual and most businesses are required to report to the IRS, on their tax returns, whether they have purchased or provided the required level of coverage and disclose to the IRS which months, if any, in which they failed to do so.

Using this information, the IRS would then determine whether an employer or individual falls under the mandate, which contains exceptions for religious conscience, hardship, incarcerated persons, and members of Indian tribes.

If either an individual or a business has failed to comply with this mandate for any month out of the year, they are required to pay a separate tax to the IRS. For individuals this is a maximum of $750 per person (up to $2,250 per household) and $750 per uncovered employee for businesses. Article here.

Ways and means report

Illegal immigrants are exempt from all the taxes and penalties in this law.

Reach deadline at risk

Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical Substances (Reach).

And after the deadline, then what? I'm assuming that once the chemicals are registered with the required safety information THEN they will be withdrawn because they will be declared unsafe. That might be why some are still not registered. Also, in the EU, not all are using English, so those safety and substance requirements are a bit dicey. Lots of really fun acronyms in this article.

Reach deadline at risk

Americans are in for a big shock

when they see how much "free" government health care is going to cost them. After the band has stopped playing, the balloons have popped, and Obama has moved on to amnesty for illegals and higher taxes on CO2.

We are pensioners--Social Security for my husband and STRS for me (I'm not eligible for SS spousal benefit because of my teacher's pension). Our "health" expenses in 2009--insurance, drugs, dental, medical, etc. (we have vision insurance but neither of us used it) ran to about $11,000. How can that be when we have the premiere government health plan--Medicare? According to the Pelosi-Obama-Reid-Con (PORC) health care will be free for all!

We paid for it through payroll deductions while we were employed; we pay for the plan again quarterly (for me) or through deductions in the SS (for him). Then we each have to buy a supplemental plan (different companies) to cover the things that Medicare doesn't. Then we pay out of pocket for the rest that neither Medicare nor the supplement cover, like vaccinations for shingles or H1N1. Neither one of us was sick or hospitalized in 2009. My husband had a few "preventive" measures like some suspicious skin spots removed. But Obama assures us that prevention is going to save us money, so that's OK (it's never actually been proven because careful people then live longer and pay for more health care down the road). Does anyone think that we'll ever see that $2500-$3000 reduction Obama is promising each household/family? Or will it just keep going up, up and away through higher taxes and higher premiums?

Fun to read--Men are from Mars, etc.

This came from Rusty, who has a nice jazz radio program on KAMU-fm in College Station on Friday afternoons and whom I didn't know in high school. It's probably an urban legend, but I got a big laugh.

Here's a prime example of "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" offered by an English professor from the University of Colorado for an actual class assignment:

The professor told his class: "Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right. As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send a copy to me.

"The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story and send it back, also sending a copy to me. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on back-and-forth.

"Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking outside of the e-mails, and anything you wish to say must be written in the e-mail.

"The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached."

The following was actually turned in by two of his English students:

THE STORY:

(first paragraph by Rebecca)

At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted. The chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.

(second paragraph by Bill)

Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. "A.S. Harris to Geostation 17," he said into his transgalactic communicator. "Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance so far..." But before he could sign off a bluish particle beam flashed out of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship's cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.

(Rebecca)

He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4. "Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel," Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth, when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspaper to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her.

"Why must one lose one's innocence to become a woman?" she pondered wistfully.

(Bill)

Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands of miles above the city, the Anu'udrian mothership launched the first of its lithium fusion missiles. The dimwitted wimpy peaceniks who pushed the Unilateral Aerospace disarmament Treaty through the congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who were determined to destroy the human race. Within two hours after the passage of the treaty the Anu'udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no one to stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized poor, stupid Laurie.

(Rebecca)

This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic semi-literate adolescent.

(Bill)

Yeah? Well, my writing partner is a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent of Valium.

Oh, shall I have chamomile tea? Or shall I have some other sort of F---ING TEA??? Oh no, what am I to do? I'm an air headed bimbo who reads too many Danielle Steele novels!

(Rebecca)

A$$h@le.

(Bill)

B*tch!

(Rebecca)

F*** YOU - YOU NEANDERTHAL!!

(Bill)

In your dreams, Ho. Go drink some tea.

(TEACHER)

A+ - I really liked this one.

Religious Colleges should be allowed to follow their beliefs

even at sporting events. Goshen College, where my sister attended in the 1950s, is about 50 miles from Manchester, a Church of the Brethren college I attended. We shared a car (ca. 1951 Packard) to get back and forth to our parents' home in northern Illinois. Both colleges are picture post-card perfect, midwestern liberal arts schools. Goshen was recently in the news because a parent from a competing school athletic team complained that the Star Spangled Banner wasn't sung or played at athletic events at Goshen. I believe a compromise has been reached by using an instrumental version.

However, I was surprised to read in the paper that Goshen was still 55% Mennonite in student body. Mennonites along with the Quakers and Brethren are one of three historic peace denominations in the United States. In my family database I have many Mennonites and Brethren, and a few Quakers since they tended to hang out together in the 18th and 19th centuries. Are the rest of us really in danger of losing something if a few college students don't want to sing about an 1812 battle in a voice range that is almost impossible to reach and which celebrities regularly slaughter at base ball games?

Manchester's Brethren roots, on the other hand, are hard to find on the college web site. They are mentioned in the history section. Of the 10 or so MC web pages I searched with the "find" feature, Jesus' name appeared once. Environmentalism and religious pluralism are much bigger than Jesus at Manchester if pixels mean anything. At the About page the following values are listed: learning; faith; service; integrity; diversity; and community. It was hard to tell if there is any viable connection (other than funding support) from Church of the Brethren.

Anyway, I think little Goshen should stick to its guns--uh, um, its beliefs.

Fed Loses Secrecy Suit, Considering Options

The Federal Reserve lost an appeal March 19 in a bid to keep hidden the details of its estimated $2 trillion in bailouts to bankers around the world, prompting celebration among anti-Fed campaigners and promises of a continued fight from the banking cartel.


Read the story here

Iranian and Chinese funds support Obama

Hassan Nemazee was a prominent Democratic party fund-raiser. He pleaded guilty last Thursday to stealing hundreds of millions of dollars to buy property in Westchester County, donate to charity and give money to political campaigns. He was a national finance chairman for Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign before raising more than $500,000 for Barack Obama's campaign after the Democratic National Convention in August 2008. Mr. Nemazee was charged with bank fraud on Aug. 25, 2009.

This Business Week account doesn't discuss his funding of the Obama campaign. Can you imagine this slipping through if it were Bush?

Iranian and Chinese funds support Obama, Biden, Clinton and Kerry

Conestoga Spring Soiree

Soiree. Doesn't that sound classy? Well, it was a lovely event, and I learned a lot of history. Conestoga is sort of a "friends" group of the Ohio Historical Society. We do really interesting things and once a year there is a fund raiser. This year it was at the Bricker-Doody House in Upper Arlington. I've driven past that house for 40+ years, so it was fun to get a peek inside, and to also learn the history of John Bricker, former Ohio Governor and Senator. He was Attorney General from 1933-37, Governor, 1939-1945, and in 1944 he was the Republican nominee for Vice President on Thomas E. Dewey ticket.

A reenactor performed as Senator William E. Jenner of Indiana, reminiscing about his days in the Senate with Bricker from the perspective of 1980 looking back on their careers (Bricker died in 1986, Jenner in 1985). It was fascinating. Also two of Gov. Bricker's grandchildren shared memories of staying in the house when they were children.

The home has been beautifully restored and expanded, and it was so nice of the Doody family to share it with us for a good cause.

January 21, 2009--On this day

President Obama should have hit the floor running to fix the economy. Instead we got apology tours, unspent and poorly planned ARRA funds for businesses and districts that don't exist, inexplicable loitering, dithering and floundering over military requests instead of decisive action, bailouts of auto companies to save the unions, and months and months and months of boring, repetitious campaign speeches on "fixing" health care where he lied and obfuscated through his teeth and teleprompter. This man doesn't understand basic math. Can he add 65 to 1945 and figure out the Boomers are going to be collecting Social Security? That pensions are invested in private companies? Can he do the math on what a national unemployment rate of between 9-10% (but locally much, much higher--18-19%) does to tax revenue at the state and local level, to say nothing of the federal?

So he's got less, owes more, and like a hoarder applying for another credit card from China, decides that fixing something that wasn't broken is more important than saving the economy. Why? I don't think it's "legacy." It's way beyond that. He's a marxist; wants to destroy our market economy. He needs passionately to dismantle it. It's all he knows; all he's been taught from the beginning of his sad, stunted life. We're seeing him take it down, piece by piece.

FDR abolished benefits for American veterans as an economy measure

Maybe that's why all those WWI veterans' photos and stories in Life and Look are so awful! Go to a library and see for yourself! Look what FDR did to the veterans--those guys who survived the enormous battles in France that took thousands of lives, who survived gassing and the flu pandemic. And it could happen again if you give a President too many powers like FDR had during the Depression to "restore" the economy.

Veterans Administration Created

President Hoover, in his 1929 State of the Union message, proposed consolidating agencies administering veterans benefits. The following year Congress created the Veterans Administration by uniting three bureaus - the previously independent Veterans' Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions and the National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. President Hoover signed the executive order establishing the VA on July 21, 1930. Hines, who had served since 1923 as director of the Veterans' Bureau, was named the first administrator of the agency.

The new agency was responsible for medical services for war veterans; disability compensation and allowances for World War I veterans; life insurance; bonus certificates; retirement payments for emergency officers; Army and Navy pensions; and retirement payments for civilian employees. During the next decade, from 1931 to 1941, VA hospitals would increase from 64 to 91, and the number of beds would rise from 33,669 to 61,849.

In March 1933, President Roosevelt persuaded Congress to pass the "Economy Act." A response to the Great Depression, the measure included a repeal of all previous laws granting benefits for veterans of the Spanish-American War and all subsequent conflicts and periods of peacetime service.

It also gave the President authority to issue new veterans benefits. Roosevelt then promulgated regulations that radically reduced veterans benefits. When the President's authority to establish benefits by executive order expired in 1935, Congress reenacted most of the laws that had been in effect earlier."

You can read about this at the History of the VA.

Another fragile group FDR's new tax programs (tripled during the Depression) nearly destroyed was African Americans--one of his "new deals" threw half a million blacks out of work by raising wages above market levels and allowing union goons to organize by going after employees and employers alike with violence. Has a familiar ring, doesn't it?

Media focus is on racial slurs at tea party

Not on dirty trick tactics, bribes and pay-offs of our President and his Chicago goons. No one even knows if the slurs came from participants concerned about the slide into socialism or if they were Moveonover plants. Does it matter? Does the press ever report the obscene swearing and cussing when the left demonstrates? (BTW, weren't they having a war protest the same day? I didn't see any coverage.) The media doesn't investigate slurs when they are made against Conservatives--like when Fancy Nancy called them Astroturf or the sexual pejoratives. Or when the President the last few days of his recent campaigning threw out all the charges we've made, but didn't deny them? Racial slurs are never appropriate whether coming from the left or right. But the other side sure gets its dander up when they find minorites jumping the fence of the left-owned plantations.

I'm still looking for the men/media who can stop referring to women, even Tiger's lady friends, as bimbos, hotties, and words a real lady would never tolerate. 51.7% of us are female; 80% are white; 12.8% of us are over 65. If it's slurs you want to stop, let's spread the wealth of respect.

Country of Origin Labeling--COOL

I ALWAYS look for country of origin on packaged and fresh food. The 2009 7 CFR Part 60 and Part 65 obviously doesn't cover everything, like the "distributed by" note on the Trail's End Mix Gourmet Blend that was dropped off at my door today to promote Scouting. Not a word on the package about country of origin--raisins, cranberries, nuts, sugar. It should be my choice to purchase food grown in countries without the protections afforded us by the USDA. I never buy anything that will go on my skin or in my mouth that was made or created or grown in China--including toothpaste, hand lotion, etc. Look what the did to our pets; to their own infant formula. For other Asian nations, I'll decide on a case by case basis--like tuna or mushrooms. You really have to read the small print at Trader Joe's. Safe food is something the U.S. does well--and if the USDA would get out of the mortgage business (no money down, 100% financing) it would have more money to hire more inspectors.

Agricultural Marketing Service - Country of Origin Labeling

Sauerkraut-Raisin Drops

I saw this recipe at a defunct food blog. The writer said she'd never tried her grandmother's recipe because sauerkraut made her gag. I rushed right to the kitchen to make a batch, but discovered I was out of sauerkraut. Sigh. Maybe next week. My mouth is watering, so I ate some Girl Scout cookies instead. Not the same.

Sauerkraut-Raisin Drops

3/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 8-ounce can sauerkraut, drained
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup raisins

In mixer bowl, beat the 3/4 cup butter and brown sugar till fluffy. Add egg, milk and the teaspoon of vanilla. Beat till fluffy. Rinse sauerkraut, drain. Stir sauerkraut into creamed mixture. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Mix dry ingredients into batter. Stir in the raisins. Drop from a teaspoon onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool.

Do not frost.

Update: Made these on the 23rd. Really yummy. Can't taste the sauerkraut. However, it's hard to find an 8 oz. can of sauerkraut.

A peek at government health care in today's Dispatch

There's a brief article in the Dispatch today that is a peek at what we all can expect when the government controls our health care: lawsuits, people not signed up, information arrives too late to be useful, appointments are not set up, qualified recipients don't receive their medicine or services, or they are lost in the system.

Now this story involves a very small group, incarcerated mentally ill. How hard can they be to keep track of and serve with medication? It seems one in four declines post release services, but that hasn't kept advocates for nine former inmates from suing Ohio for more services. More of the mentally ill refuse post-prison help | The Columbus Dispatch

When you hear the sob stories in the MSM about Americans who die without health care (which is untrue because we have laws that require their treatment, even for the illegals and no amount of "preventive" medicine helps alcoholics, overeaters and smokers if they refuse to change), keep in mind that many people eligible for services either don't apply, or find the process so complicated and daunting they give up. There is so much red tape strangling the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill, the confused and the elderly, it's not surprising that millions don't use the health programs to which they are entitled. Without a family member advocate, many of the programs are useless. That won't change regardless of the trillions Obama throws at the problem. His intentions are evil; the results won't be any better because this take-over has nothing to do with health.