Velma and Peggy

The source of the previous political verse was Peggy Noonan reflecting on Velma Hart's comments to the President at the townhall last week, saying she was exhausted from defending him. I still believe she was a plant intended to make sure Obama looked more human in his president struggles, because really, have you ever known a politician who created a more scolding, cold image? Well, she failed, or he failed, but way too many people including Noonan and Rush Limbaugh were taken in by this exchange. I just don't buy it. He's let a lot of things slip, like the exchange with Joe the Plumber, and announcing proudly after the election that he was just a few days away from fundamentally transforming our country (to what?), but usually he's very carefully scripted by like-minded speech writers and it all scrolls across the teleprompter.

Besides, for the life of me, I can't see what Velma is complaining about, even if she's for real and not a plant. She has a cushy government job (no unemployment, only growth at the federal level); she's married and her husband has a job; she's got great perks plus veterans benefits; she's rich enough to send her kids to private school which must be about $20,000 a year per child; so what exactly was she expecting from a president who promised to transfer some wealth. She's wealthy! He was planning to take it away from her and give it to you! If she didn't crunch the numbers before voting for him in 2008, I don't feel sorry for her.

Her life, her complaints, confirm to me she's a plant. Obama's not one of us--and I'm not talking about his birth certificate. Especially he's not an American black--even Jesse Jackson complained about that before 2008. Velma's just the type of woman Obama would select for the job of poor mouthing, and trust me, she'll be blamed if this backfires.

Reflections on a phrase from Peggy Noonan's The Enraged vs. The Exhausted

"This "will be remembered as the year the American people said no" to the status quo. The people "do not trust" those who make the decisions far away. They want to restore balance." Peggy Noonan

Let this be remembered
As the year
Americans said, NO
To the status quo.

Let this be remembered
As the year
Americans with tea,
Said Don’t tax me.

Let this be remembered
As the year
Americans tossed RINOs
And Pelosi DINOs.

Let this be remembered
As the year
To media mainstream
“Stop stealing our dream.”

This will be the year
Americans will vote
And remember
This coming November.

Obama blows over wall of separation with hot air!

Will Christmas pagents reappear this year in schools? Can we decorate the public square again? President Obama has enlisted pastors to plug his health care plan. Whoopee! The man who asked Georgetown University to remove any signs or symbols of the faith, now comes crawling since 70% of us reject his ideas on a takeover of a huge segment of the economy. The president most far out on late term killing of unborn babies, now wants churches to plug his program to impoverish more Americans. If you start hearing this drivel in your church either in Sunday School or from the pulpit, I hope you walk out!

. . .on Tuesday President Obama and his director of faith-based initiatives convened exactly such a meeting to try to control political damage from the unpopular health-care law. "Get out there and spread the word," Politico.com reported the president as saying on a conference call with leaders of faith-based and community groups. "I think all of you can be really important validators and trusted resources for friends and neighbors, to help explain what's now available to them." Since then, there's been nary a peep from the press.

Jim Towey: Pastors For ObamaCare? - WSJ.com

Obama's foreign agenda

President Obama's devotion to international institutions like the United Nations is the core of the Obama Doctrine. . . The United Nations finds no moral conflict in having human rights abusers sit on the U.N. Human Rights Council; in having socialist countries sit on the United Nations' Economic and Social Council; or having terrorism-sponsoring nations block the United Nations from defining an act of terrorism."

Morning Bell: Waiting for Crazy | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.

So the UN doctrine on human rights is now the BOUSA doctrine on human rights?

The "crazy" in the title refers to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and not Obama--just in case you don't read the article.

Congress again puts politics ahead of rescuing the economy

Obama and the Democrats find yet another way to keep the economy sinking, sinking, sinking--mass uncertainty about taxes. Yes, Mr. Obama's plan is working.

"The delay could complicate the financial planning of millions of Americans. "You're going to have families sitting there thinking about the tax consequences in end-of-life situations," said Alan Rothschild, chairman of the American Bar Association's section on estate law. "That's a horrible situation." The estate tax, which lapsed in January, will return next year at rates up to 55% unless Congress acts."

Congress Punts on Taxes - WSJ.com

Would there be a Republican pledge without the Tea Party movement?

In 18 months the Tea Party went from zero to 29% of the voters. What would Republicans be pledging or debating if it weren't for these folks nipping at their heels as they turned tail and ran?

Highlights of the Pledge include:

1. Small business income deduction of 20% of income
   
2. Permanent extension of current tax rates to avoid largest tax hike in history
   
3. Cancel unspent stimulus funds
   
4. Place a cap on all new discretionary spending
   
5. Restore spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels of 2008
   
6. Repeal and replace the health care law

For more information on the Pledge to America

Childhood memories? Where did she grow up?

One of the bottles I found under the sink today in my week of kitchen cleaning was a handsome spray bottle with a teal label called "Beach Days Surface Cleaner." I think I bought it some years ago at an eco-friendly display at Meijer's and some how it got stuck in the undersink clutter. It's made by The Good Home Co., established in 1995. The label says,

"In 1995, I began to hand-make quality products with frangrances that were based on my memories of simple, beautiful places. My own wonderful, childhood memories of perfect days by the sea inspired this Beach Days fragrance."

Whew! She must have grown up next to a solvent factory if this stuff makes her nostalgic, because a whiff of this can make your eyes burn from 20 ft. There was only a little left in the bottle, so I added water. That seemed to make it worse.

The main solvent is "propylene glycol n-butyl ether" and it's not recommended for glass, wood, marble, fabric or painted surfaces, which leaves me what exactly in the kitchen?

Glycol Ethers - General Information

And sound and look of affluence

On my morning walk today I could hear the sound of traffic roaring both north and south from Rt. 315--several miles away. I could also hear the happy sounds of the Upper Arlington High School band practicing miles away. I saw construction/remodeling signs of contractors in the yards of the upscale neighborhood built in the mid-1970s. Then I picked up a flyer from a real estate sign for 3815 Criswell Drive.

Half a million won't get you much in Huntington Beach, California, or Coolidge Corners, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, but it buys a heck of a lot of house in a very convenient neighborhood of Upper Arlington, a community of outstanding schools and community services, minutes to Dublin or downtown Columbus or OSU, Battelle or Chem Abstracts and a stone's throw from one of the country's best golf courses.

1. Almost 3,000 sq ft
2. 112 x 150 lot
3. finished media room
4. bump out on garage for hobbies or third car
5. beautiful yard with patio and irrigation system
6. island kitchen with pantry wall and mud room
7. dining room with wet bar and built-ins
8. marble floors in foyer and kitchen
9. 2nd floor laundry
10. deluxe master bath with jetted tub and shower

So the taxes are over $10,500, but we don't have personal property taxes like some of you do; we don't have mountains and beaches near by, but there is an airport; and of course, we have football out the wazoo.

Today I got an e-mail from Bob, a high school friend warning me Starbucks prices were going up, up and away. (About 6 guys from my high school (1950s) have e-mail lists--and they say women talk. . .) I wrote back and told Bob I judge affluence by . . . kitchen counter tops. Recently our neighborhood had a home tour. You would think laminate counters are a sign of 3rd world poverty. Granite, marble, polished concrete, and the new cabinets to support them, the track lighting to shine on them, and the gorgeous art to hang above them are a sign that Americans are still doing quite well, thank you. Also, I'm a fan of HGTV, and hooked on the home buying "reality" shows (completely unreal). You would think people have seen a rat if the buyers see laminate.

Personally, I think marble is way overrated. It's hard to clean--in fact my kitchen counter never feels clean to me and it's too dark to tell. The instructions for its care read like a school exam, so now I just clean it with anything handy--usually Windex, which I've learned is just about the handiest tool around.

The point of all this is to tell all those economic experts and journalists who for the last 30 years have been telling me how awful it is to be poor in the United States and how we're all going to hell in a hand basket, that many Americans are doing just fine. And they are very, very tired of hearing our scolding, obsequious president diminish what a market economy can provide for most of us, and give hope for the rest. We started our marriage in the bottom quintile 50 years ago and never even noticed we were poor because we had so much for which to be grateful.

The Carter-Obama Comparisons

This is a "kiss and tell" entry. I adored President Jimmy Carter, and wrote him a fan letter after he was turned out to pasture by Reagan (and I received a thank you note which I kept on my refrigerator for at least a year). However, at first I thought he was a wonderful ex-president going about inspiring people with authentic Christian good works (Habitat for Humanity). However, as he got older and more restless he began setting a really bad example for future Democratic ex-presidents and ex-vice presidents. (This doesn't seem to be an affliction of Republicans.) He began to act as though he still mattered to the American public, that people cared what he thought. That said, I still admire a man who will defend his record while working out of a cramped apartment with a Murphy bed rather than living it up in high style the way other Democrats do. Old clips seen on 60 minutes a few days ago, however, did bring some unfortunate comparisons with my least favorite president, Barack Obama.

"Princeton University historian Sean Wilentz, for instance, told Fox News in August 2008 that Mr. Obama's "rhetoric is more like Jimmy Carter's than any other Democratic president in recent memory." Syndicated columnist Jonah Goldberg noted more recently that Mr. Obama, like Mr. Carter in his 1976 campaign, "promised a transformational presidency, a new accommodation with religion, a new centrism, a changed tone."

But within a few months, liberals were already finding fault with his rhetoric. "He's the great earnest bore at the dinner party," wrote Michael Wolff, a contributor to Vanity Fair. "He's cold; he's prickly; he's uncomfortable; he's not funny; and he's getting awfully tedious. He thinks it's all about him." That sounds like a critique of Mr. Carter.

I don't think Carter is the narcissist that Obama is, nor is he a Marxist, but he is a liberal, finger wagging whine. When I saw that 1970s clip of him lecturing the American public on their morals, it just sent a chill down my back. Excuse me if it sounds racist, but that was way too much blue-eyed, elder soul for this former fan.

John Fund: The Carter-Obama Comparisons Grow - WSJ.com

Look out Illinois, here he comes

"There is a "decent chance" Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will leave the White House as soon as October of this year to run for mayor of Chicago, a senior White House official confirmed this afternoon to CBS News, though the official stressed that no final decision has been made."

This might be your only opportunity to have the words "decent" and "Rahm Emanuel" in the same sentence. Act now if you're from Chicago.

The unintended consequences of government take-overs

This is what happens when 1) lobbyists write the bills, and 2) congress doesn't read the bills, and 3) a president puts his own leftist ideology ahead of what's good for the nation (a good economy so we can pay for health care).

"Anthem Blue Cross, Aetna Inc. and others will halt new child-only policies in California, Illinois, Florida, Connecticut and elsewhere as early as Thursday when provisions of the nation's new healthcare law take effect, including a requirement that insurers cover children under age 19 regardless of their health histories."

LATimes

Senate Republicans hold up Dream Act for children of immigrants--a lie

Republicans can't stop anything in this Congress (which is why Obama won't be sorry that some Democrats will be defeated in November--he'll be able to continue blaming Republicans for all his mistakes). And slipping the Dream Act into a defense bill is defenseless. WaPo is so biased in this story it is unbelievable that anyone buys or advertises in this yellow rag. The vote was 56-43 and 60 were needed. Arkansas Democratic Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor voted with Republicans. Majority Leader Harry Reid also voted to block the bill in a procedural move that allows the defense bill to be revived later.

The DREAM Act allows young people to become legal U.S. residents after spending two years in college or the military. I'm completely in favor of young people entering the military and achieve a fast track to citizenship--the U.S. has been doing that since the early 19th century. But why give citizenship to illegal students? Then why not any international student who is here with his/her parents for any reason?

What about all the people who have come here and followed the rules. How will the Democrats and RINOs reimburse them? Why, when a college education doesn't guarantee even a citizen a job, are we using it as a carrot for illegals to come here?

Senate Republicans hold up Dream Act for children of immigrants

Gabourey Sidibe's 'Elle' cover: Why the outrage? | EW.com

There was a photo of President Obama in the newspaper today and his skin looked lighter than mine. Must have been the lighting, because I think everyone, even Joe Biden*, knows who he is. So what's the fuss over Gabourey Sidibe? Is this a new form of racism? A black woman, can't be enhanced, can't be photographed to look glamorous, and only Oprah gets that privilege? Magazine cover editors can't make their own decision without checking with the race police? Like those white models look like that first thing in the morning?

*""I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said. "I mean, that's a storybook, man."

Gabourey Sidibe's 'Elle' cover: Why the outrage? | EW.com

OSU's Brutus Buckeye tackled by Rufus, mascot of OU

It came as a shock that when the OU mascot, Rufus, ran on to the field he attacked Brutus Buckeye. Now after all the shock, awe and apologies, it turns out the doofus Rufus wasn't even a student at OU-- "[Brandon] Hanning, 19, is a student at Hocking College. He enrolled at OU last year but dropped out, he said. He added that he still hadn't been informed of his firing, but didn't care." Link. The only reason he tried out was so he could tackle Brutus.

"As the Buckeyes ran onto the field of the “Horseshoe,” packed with 105,000 cheering fans, Rufus spotted Brutus running out with the team, got in front of him and attempted a tackle. Brutus avoided this first attempt, with Rufus losing his head, literally. Brutus lifted his arms in a “what the hell?” gesture, and jogged away.

Rufus got up, collected his head, adjusted it and gave chase. By the time Brutus got to the end zone, Rufus caught up with him and jumped on his back, pulling him to the ground.

Brutus appeared unfazed, and made his way back up, with Rufus still clinging around his neck and striking Mr. Buckeye about his stuffed mascot head and face. The two then toppled to the painted ground again. As they got up, Rufus still swinging, Brutus pushed him off and again raised his arms in protest, with Rufus responding in kind.

A member of Ohio State security then escorted Rufus to the sideline and told him that if he touched Brutus again he would be forced to leave." Athens News

Funny? I don't think so. And after reading several accounts, it's still not clear why a non-student was their mascot. Maybe no one checked after he dropped out of school?

Minimum wage, no benefits temps hired by union to picket Wal-Mart

The UFCW of Nevada pays temporary workers minimum wage to demand fair treatment and wages from Wal-Mart. Doing the same thing it claims Wal-Mart does.

Working stiffed, the Jon Stewart show.

Bad kitty

Summer at Lakeside

Old habits die hard. Ours is a rescue cat. She was turned in at Cat Welfare, but had clearly been a pet--was declawed and spayed. However, she'd been living by her wits for awhile, possibly inside an apartment where we speculate the owner had died or gone to a nursing home. She was very adept at digging food out of the garbage disposal or trash, and would gobble all her meal in a matter of minutes instead of nibbling through the day as our other cats.

This morning when I walked in the kitchen I stepped on a chicken bone, which she had dug out of the trash.

The street easement mowing and care is a home owner's responsibility

Construction during 2009

We have "new" sidewalks in our neighborhood. The easement, which belongs to the city, is narrow and when walking you're probably within about 6' of cars and trucks whizzing by, drivers on cell phones, moms talking to kids, stuff blowing off trucks. But most of us are happy to have them, and I see a lot of people getting out to walk. It's supposed to be near 90 today, so I went out at 8:10 to take advantage of the shade walking north.

The residents at the corner of Kenny and Millcreek do not take good care of their property in general, but the easement along Kenny is a disaster. Horizontal weeds grow out on to the sidewalk 12 to 18 inches. Vertical weeds are 2-3 ft tall. Plastic bottles and bags snuggle up to the weeds.

If the owners won't take care of it, the city should give them a warning and then charge them for the maintenance.

Then on Regency Dr. a bit east of Kenny the driveway ribbons and curbs that connect to the street are crumbling and dangerous--chunks of concrete are in the street. The other streets aren't that way. Whose responsibility is this? All the houses through there are very expensive, some are for sale. I wouldn't want to purchase a home where taxes are high and maintenance and pride are low.

Sickle cell testing of athletes stirs fear of discrimination

Nothing like a helping of ignorance to assist young athletes in dying on the field.

This must be the worst case of race based discrimination I've heard in a long, long time. Don't allow the testing so you can make money on black athletes.

Sickle cell testing of athletes stirs discrimination fears

Clean the kitchen week

No, you won't find it on any calendar, but I'm declaring this as "Clean the kitchen week." Pretend your mother is visiting; or that you are moving to a new place and you don't want to take anything you won't use.

Monday: Refrigerator; toss the frosty frozen stuff; make vegetable soup from the tired left overs. The photo above is chicken broth, tomatoes left from summer (peeled), a quarter of a green pepper, some celery tops, chopped onion, and some left over brown rice. Consolidate or pitch. Wipe down the shelves. Clean the cabinet above (if you have one) and the floor below. Don't forget to vacuum the dust.

Tuesday: Gunky, sticky stuff--Stove top, oven and microwave.

Wednesday: Hard to reach stuff--get out a step stool. Shelves in cabinets, both wall and base; pantry if you have one; bookshelves if you have one in the kithen. Look at past due dates on staples; resort your can goods so you know what you have; toss discolored or old food items.

Thursday: Hidden away stuff--Drawers, including that junk drawer where you toss everything you don't know what to do with.

Friday: Shiny stuff--Counter tops, sink, faucets, pictures and mirrors (if you have them) floor.

Saturday: If you're employed, I guess you have to do Monday-Friday all in one day. Otherwise, take the day off.

Democrats spend on anti-health-reform advertisements

Where were these brave Democrats (that's a joke) when 70% of the American people let them know we didn't want ObamaCare? Politico's Sarah Kliff notes:

"Democratic candidates are spending three times more advertising against the health reform law than they are in support of it.

Since the beginning of Congress’s August recess, Democratic candidates have poured $930,000 into ads deriding the health overhaul but just $300,000 in pro-reform spots, according to Evan Tracey at Kantar Media."

Politico is a liberal site--insists on calling it "health care reform." Sounds better I suppose than health care swamp, health care sop, or health care boondoggle bill which no one read.

Clarice Feldman at American Thinker says the Democrats have noticed the guillotines being rolled up to the polling places. Would you trust a flip-flopper, tax-and-spend-and-lie-about-it, incumbant Democrat/Republican or a TEA candidate?

And what about Molly?

James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal tells about Molly Norris, a caroonist who's been driven underground and forced to give up her job for suggesting something Muslims didn't like. Now we have Sharia for our newspaper staff? Taranto continues and notes that Obama has only championed First Amendment rights for Muslims:

"Where is President Obama? Last month, speaking to a mostly Muslim audience at the White House, the president strongly defended the right of another imam held up as a moderate to build a mosque adjacent to Ground Zero. The next day, and again at a press conference last week, Obama said he was merely standing up for the First Amendment. As far as we recall, it's the only time Barack Obama has ever stood up for anybody's First Amendment rights.

Now Molly Norris, an American citizen, is forced into hiding because she exercised her right to free speech. Will President Obama say a word on her behalf? Does he believe in the First Amendment for anyone other than Muslims?"

Story about Molly Norris.

Molly disappears.

People understand the Tea Party candidates

Dan Green writes in response to Peggy Noonan: "When you see tea Party folks on the tube, or see them interviewed, I see a next door neighbor. I see someone who pays their share of taxes, struggles but pays their mortgage, I see folks who helped their kids through college. When I see or listen to numerous economists, and elected legislators, I sense babble."

Now maybe that's not a political philosphy to satisfy 8 term congressmen of both parties or rich union leaders, or Karl Rove, or mainline Protestant misleaders and passive pastors, but it works for a lot of us.

Peggy whined her way through most of George W. Bush's 2nd term, and she's not quite on board with most conservatives. . . yet. But she's moving. She's moving.

Black Civil Rights Mafia Betrays Black America

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican says Lloyd Marcus (Confessions of a Black Conservative). Black Americans are being mislead by dinosaur Civil Rights "leaders."

"Black kids were doing extremely well in the D.C. school voucher program. Obama killed the program to appease the teachers' union. Blacks overwhelmingly oppose illegal immigration. Obama and company support illegals because of their coveted votes. Blacks oppose gay marriage. Obama and the progressives support gay marriage. . . Please allow me to set the record straight. Beck and the Tea Party patriots are far greater stewards of MLK's dream than the "sold out" Black Mob."

American Thinker: Black Civil Rights Mafia Betrays Black America

Pertussis in California

In the first six months of 2010, there was a 418% increase from the 258 cases of pertussis reported in California during the same period in 2009. But don't blame immigration from Mexico, says the LATimes article. Mexico does an excellent job of vaccinating its children. (But do illegals once they are here?) Pertussis is whooping cough, and it's a sound you'll never forget once you've heard a child or adult who's had it. According to MMWR, pertussis is cyclical with peaks occurring every 3-5 years in the U.S. But if this increase continues in California, it would be the highest since 1963. Infants die of whooping cough--there are some parents who are spooked by vaccines, but they are putting their children and other children in grave danger.

Also, your immunity after awhile wears off and you may require a booster. I actually had the disease and don't think I've ever had the shot.

Today the world stops turning

It was probably sometime during 1956 when I stopped in to chat with a very young, stay at home mom, and was shushed because she was engrossed watching a "soap," As the World Turns, whose characters Penny Hughes (Rosemary Prinz) and Ellen Lowell (Wendy Drew) were struggling with Ellen's unwed pregnancy in the fictional Oakdale. The world stops turning today, September 17, 2010 having had a long run since it began April 2, 1956. I remember a few critical episodes from the 50's and 60's, like Ellen giving her son up for adoption and then later marrying the adoptive father, and Penny losing her husband Jeff (played by Mark Rydell) in an auto accident. I wouldn't recognize any of the story lines or characters today, so I don't think I'll tune in--I'll just remember them they way they were.

People are groomed to be Marxists

says Teague Cuddeback, a former protégée of a Marxist activist embedded within the Democratic Party. She was suckered too, so she points out what to watch for--particularly among idealistic young Christians who mean well, but don't know their Bible.

"We were young, impressionable, sometimes alienated but always seeking greater autonomy from anxious or overweening parents. We just knew we were changing the world for the better. It felt great to be appreciated, considered important, to be working under the guiding hand of someone older, but not too much older; someone in the know, well placed, intelligent, well-read, cheerful, always encouraging, affirming us as talented, valuable persons. We were praised for unselfishly standing for the disenfranchised, the disrespected, those without the legal power to do much for themselves. Oh, how we identified!"

She also makes this interesting comment about the Tea Parties:

"The TEA Party movement has emerged to the utter shame of the Republican Party. It is challenging the brain-dead thinking of those still surrendering their votes to Leftists whose policies are directly responsible for most of the social and economic ills we face today. They are having some impact. The Tea Partiers also have shocked and frightened Republican Party stalwarts who have been doing the same thing for so long with the same pathetic results and are threatened by voters who now demand accountability or their jobs.

Anyone who’s been to a TEA Party rally has felt the energy and desire to “get ‘er done” and know the blanket charges of racism are ludicrous. Democrats make these statements to disguise the fact they have been promoting genocide among blacks for decades and more recently encouraging Hispanics to be law breakers. The Tea Partiers – bless their souls – are attempting to demonstrate that it is the institutionalizing Democrats that block all efforts to unleash the native intelligence and skills of those kept poor by deception and fraud."

So ignore the charges of ignorance, racism, homophobia, Islamophobia, and take a good look at what you can do. You just might be able to see November from your house, your job, your polling place.

Ouch! Trees have feelings too

This afternoon I was at our city building which has a large concrete mall area with a low wall, and one round opening for a sycamore type tree--the type with the peeling, multi-colored bark. I'm guessing it's about 40 years old to judge from its girth. They left enough space in the original landscaping for it to really spread out.  The trees on the other side of the wall are spreading too, so it's getting harder to see the tree.  But up close you can see that huge hooks have been screwed into two lower limbs on which to hang "art."  One looks like it might be an elongated bell, the other a crooked globe trapped inside metal toothpicks.  They are BIG and HEAVY and in my judgement, not nearly as beautiful as a tree spreading its limbs to kiss the sky.  I'm afraid this is an example of tax supported "public" art--ugly rusting blobs of metal sitting around city buildings usually are. I have no idea why the artist didn't suggest an appropriate hanger for the art so the tree wouldn't need to be damaged and defaced.

Teachers union helped defeat Adrian Fenty

Why it's so hard to get a good education in a city school system. Did you know that even the non-union teachers have to pay dues to the union in order to teach in the system? They have a lot of money to defeat a politician who tries to change things to favor the students rather than the teachers--and there was indeed change happening in DCPS.

Teachers union helped unseat Fenty - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com

Four years ago the newly elected Adrian Fenty, mayor of DC and a man with a passion for improving education, appointed Michelle Rhee chancelor of the DC Schools.

"Rhee hit the ground running. She closed schools. She removed principals (who are not covered by a union) whose schools scored low on tests with more reform-minded replacements. She proposed to the Washington Teachers' Union a contract that sharply curtailed job protection. And as the contract worked its way through an interminable set of negotiations, Rhee terminated hundreds of teachers in layoffs she attributed to budget shortfalls. And she brought the union contract negotiations to a successful conclusion, trading higher salaries for less job protection.

Rhee got results. The year after she arrived, DCPS had the greatest gains of any state in fourth-grade math and was one of only five states to show increases in math for both fourth and eighth grades. The high school graduation rate increased faster than in previous years. And last month, the U.S. Department of Education awarded D.C. one of its highly competitive Race to the Top grants." NPR Report

Do the right thing, Craigslist

Do the right thing. Shut down the sex ads and go back to making your money on used refrigerators and spare bedrooms for rent. The alternative is for all honest, decent people to stop using this service.

"More than 250 Craigslist sites exist around the world that still feature 'Erotic' sections where trafficked children and women are being sold for sex," according to the letter signed by 100 representatives from such groups as the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, the Rebecca Project for Human Rights and the Salvation Army."

Craigslist under pressure

Would you paint in a $200 t-shirt?

Mrs. O's $207 t-shirt for 9/11 service day

Would you even buy a $200 t-shirt? This is in keeping with Mrs. O's style--take 40 of your best friends on a trip to Spain and put them up in first class 5 star hotels while the little, unimportant people struggle with a recession, made worse by your husband's tax and spend policies. This "let them eat cake" attitude has given rise to an extended nickname for her, Michelle Antoinette Obama.

I think the tasteful light green cover ups the residents are wearing would have worked just fine for a paint in service day.

Mrs.O - Follow the Fashion and Style of First Lady Michelle Obama - Home - Service and a Statement Tee

Yesterday I bought a $4 Jaclyn Smith t-shirt at KMart (on sale). It is tasteful, practical, a good color for me, it covers what needs to be covered, and if I spill or splash something on it, I'll be sorry, because I think it's a great buy. Jaclyn Smith's designs are great for the mature woman--she's had a relationship with KMart for 25 years and isn't just a brand, but is an entrepreneur who participates in the design and production. I'm a much smarter shopper than Mrs. O. who during the 2008 campaign tried to commiserate with pink collar workers by complaining about her college loans, and the costs of private schools and piano lessons for the girls. Some rich people are clueless about how others live.


My $4 Jaclyn Smith just-because-I-like-it t-shirt

Smutty Nose and Herring Gut

The September 15 cover of JAMA is Monhegan, Maine, by Rockwell Kent. Monhegan is an island off the coast of Maine, accessible only by ferry; it has hiking trails, but no roads or cars. To get you there, the ferry will negotiate Herring Gut, the opening between tiny Smutty Nose islet and Monhegan.

The painting is owned by Colby College, a lovely and very liberal, liberal arts college I attended one summer where I had such a good time I didn't even attempt to transfer my credit hours to the University of Illinois for fear of pulling down my grade point.

40-Year-Old Virgin Actor Admits to Brutal Stabbing of Girlfriend, Blames "Chaos," Mistaken Identity - E! Online

Move along. This is not a hate crime. The victim is a white, straight, female. She'd have to be a Muslim, or a lesbian, or a minority for her ex-boyfriend to get an additional charge of "hate crime," and thus more years on the sentencing (which seems terribly light to me).

40-Year-Old Virgin Actor Admits to Brutal Stabbing of Girlfriend, Blames "Chaos," Mistaken Identity - E! Online

On the road to the wedding--Monday Memories

Today I received a 50th anniversary card from my cousin Sharon Weybright, which included a photograph of her and her fiance at an Oasis rest stop near Chicago, taken by her father, Leslie, when the family was on the way to our wedding in Mt. Morris, Illinois on September 11, 1960. I think the tollway was only about a year or two old then, and Fred Harvey Restaurants were the vendors. The Harvey restaurants started on trains in the 1870s and continued to serve travellers in automobiles until the mid-1960s.

Notice not only how glamorous Sharon is--hat, gloves, high heels (she was about 21), but how well dressed the people are who are entering the restaurant. It was a different time. No baggy jeans and butt cracks in those days!

They bought it--crook, line and stinker

The old "hope and change" message sounds pretty hollow today. And another stimulus isn't very stimulating, no matter what it's called. This item is from How Barack Obama Became Mr. Unpopular. Of course, if TIME and other news tools had been doing their job of vetting candidates, he might not have sneaked through, right? So why believe them now?

"We bought what he said. He offered a lot of hope," says Fred Ferlic, an Obama voter and orthopedic surgeon in South Bend who has since soured on his choice. Ferlic talks about the messy compromises in health care reform, his sense of an inhospitable business climate and the growth of government spending under Obama. "He's trying to Europeanize us, and the Europeans are going the other way," continues Ferlic, a former Democratic campaign donor who plans to vote Republican this year. "The entire American spirit is being broken."

Mr. Ferlic, what were you thinking?

The plight of the small businessman

Small businesses generate 65% of job growth and Obama plans to tax them to death if they are successful. So when the head of SBA says they need access to capital, that's only part of the story. Small business owners often pay taxes at individual income-tax rates rather than corporate rates, so these rich "fat cats" that Obama demonizes in almost every speech may be a dress designer or dry cleaner or dairy plant that employs 20 or 30 people and easily go over his magic number of $250,000. I'm not sure why Geithner, who couldn't even figure out his own income taxes, is saying Obama's increases will only affect about 3% of the population. We're retired, and looking at the tax charts it looks like we'll be paying more--I sure we all will, even if it's indirectly through higher prices.

As the saying goes, "I never got a job from a poor man." Increasingly, you only get a job through some level of government, and that will impoverish all of us, so the only people hiring will probably be poor, too. Ending Bush tax cuts?

She can pull it off; why can't he?

Today I've heard speeches from both the First Lady and the President. I doubt that you could get a piece of thread between them on political philosophy and beliefs. But somehow, she can sound like one of us and he can't. Is it the speech writers' fault? I don't think so. He doesn't know who he is--how can we? After watching a 90 minute rerun of the National Cathedral service on September 14, 2001, Obama's performance, and that is what it is, just makes me want to cry.

September 11, 1960

And all the while the world whirled by--the Vietnam War, the Jesus Movement, the Civil Rights movement, the cultural revolution in China, new immigrants fleeing their homelands, the rise of Feminism, assassinations of our leaders, apocalyptic religious timetables, the Cold War, the nuclear arms race, the obsession with youth culture, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the rise of the European Common Market and the Euro, Middle East wars and terrorism, increasing depravity in entertainment, the 9/11 attack (on our anniversary!), the loss of family and friends through divorce and death, and technology drawing us inward while pushing us apart. Barely able to keep up the pace and race, we eventually got a garage door opener, microwave, computer and a cell phone. We traveled to Alaska, major cities and tourist spots in the U.S., Germany, Austria, Ireland, Italy, Finland, Estonia, Russia, and toured the Holy Land seeing sights we never dreamed we‘d see on trains, planes, buses, foot and camel. Whew! What a ride it has been. How fast the time has gone and how blessed we have been.
Update: September 12--a few party photos:

What a surprise! My sister had the wedding dress sent (a big hush, hush secret) which our mother made for her in 1955, and which I wore in 1960.



Another huge surprise--my brother came from Illinois! The new deck (finished on Saturday) worked out great.



We cut the cake about 3 p.m., but most of the guests were enjoying the lovely weather and were outside on the deck or in the tent.  The knife is the one we used at our wedding.

Our Indiana family drove over for the occasion and my son-in-law's father from Cleveland.

Friends from UALC enjoying some fellowship in the family room.  We think there were between 115-120 guests, most signed the guest register, which was also my original book from 1960.

The illusion of safety

While I was in the car today I was listening to a talk show where the host and listener/caller were discussing texting while driving. The caller was a truck driver and he said it was a federal crime with a $2700 fine and points on your license to text and drive for truck drivers. But he was talking on a hands free phone--assuming that was safe! It's not the hands, it's the brain. It's the equivalent of driving while drunk.

The Illusion of Safety « All 2010 News « News « College of Liberal Arts & Sciences « University of Illinois

Where’s Next: November May Determine Regional Winners

Democrats love to paint the lie that it is the Republicans who are the "fat cats." Gosh, how many times have we heard that phrase from the president's blue lips? Washington DC with hardly a blip of unemployment has seen its economy roaring. Never better for federal jobs--federal employment, excluding the postal service, remains roughly 200,000 larger than in 2008. New York City and Silicon Valley, bastions of liberal greed, are bloating on government grants courtesy of Obamanomics,is another. This article even says Ohio--specifically Columbus--will be one of the regional beneficiaries, although not the outlying areas. I wondered why he had so many return trips here--preaching to the union choir in campaign singy songy happy clappy praise choruses.

"Other regional winners from the Obama economy generally can be found in state capitals and University towns, particularly those with the Ivy or elite college pedigrees that resonate with this most academic Administration. One illustration can be seen in the relatively strong recovery of Massachusetts – home to many prestigious Universities and hospitals – which has seen jobs grow by 2.2 percent since the Obama ascension. Similar, albeit less dramatic recoveries can be found in Columbus, Madison and Minneapolis-St.Paul, with their large university communities and regional federal employment centers. Yet the political benefits of this growth may be limited. Many other parts of these same states, including the outer boroughs of New York are not doing well; aside from Columbus, Ohio has continued to skid as its industrial and corporate base dwindles, often moving to more business friendly states.

Wall Street CEOs love the Democrats--more regulation means less competition from the little guy and up and coming competitor.

But not so fast. Some regions are sticking to basics, sound planning, lower costs. And when this passes, those regions may siphon off some of that blue region growth.

" . . . the fastest growth in science, engineering and technical jobs has been in low-cost states such as North Dakota, Virginia, New Mexico, Utah and Texas. Just recently, several major Silicon Valley powerhouses – Adobe, Twitter, Electronic Arts and eBay – announced major new expansions in Utah, a state that is among a brood seeking to move prized businesses, including even entertainment, from the Golden State."

We'll see. November will be a contest of ideologies and the private sector against the public for economic growth.
Where’s Next: November May Determine Regional Winners | Newgeography.com

A Tsunami Approaches: The Beginning of the Great Deconstruction

I obviously was in the wrong public service profession. My teacher's pension, Ohio's STRS, is almost exactly the same as my husband's Social Security--a little less, for 24 years of service, and I'm not eligible for the SS spousal benefit if something happens to him, nor even my own Social Security payout.

"By 2010, the general public received a series of shocks. The first shock was the jobless recovery of the Great Recession that cost 8 million jobs. Most of the job losses occurred in the private sector yet the majority of the $800 billion Stimulus Bill went to “save and create” public sector employment.

The second shock was learning that civil servants earned twice that of private workers. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Federal workers received average pay and benefits of $123,049 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation.

The third shock was revelation of incredible retirement plans doled out by politicians since 1999. In 2002, California passed SB 183 that allowed police and safety workers to retire after 30 years on the job with 3% of salary for each year of service, or 90% of their last year’s pay. During the Great Recession, fireman began retiring with $150,000 pensions at age 52 despite a life expectancy approaching 80. In Orange County CA, lifeguards, deemed safety workers, retired with $147,000 annual pensions. The Orange County sheriff, recently convicted of witness tampering, will receive $215,000 annually while in jail. Bob Citron, the Treasurer of Orange County who pushed the county into bankruptcy in the 1990s, receives a pension of $150,000 per year. A tsunami of anger and resentment is building.

Keep bailing, folks. Looks like the public sector pension plans are going to have a melt down.

A Tsunami Approaches: The Beginning of the Great Deconstruction | Newgeography.com

Gov't: Spending to rise under health care overhaul

This doesn't come as a huge surprise, but who can we blame. The American people wanted him. His agenda from the beginning has been to destroy, and we are sure getting it. Don't worry about this "low" figure--the next report will show it to be much higher, I'm sure.

"Factoring in the law, Americans will spend an average of $13,652 per person a year on health care in 2019, according to the actuary's office. Without the law, the corresponding number would be $13,387. That works out to $265 more with the overhaul. Currently, Americans spend $8,389 a year per person on health care."

The Associated Press: Gov't: Spending to rise under health care overhaul

Said the pot to the kettle . . .

It's amazing that President Obama didn't notice the divisivness, hate and racism in Rev. Wright's sermons for 20 years--a huge UCC church in Chicago, but somehow he finds the leader of a tiny no-name sect in Florida threatening. My book club is bigger that that guy's church. Here he is "looking back" declaring integration a failure, white motives corrupt and immoral, yada, yada. Let's see, I think we heard almost the same line of thought in Obama's campaign speeches. Maybe he was listening after all.

Pork and gravy for the obesity problem

Yesterday while making a salad for the meal to take over to my daughter's home where a beehive of activity is taking place to build a deck, I had a flashback to my childhood. The after school snack. A chunk of cabbage. Crisp, crunchy and sweet, and probably from Mom's garden. I'm sure kids would turn up their noses at vegetable snacks today, but that's what we got. Desserts were for meal time, and that might be something I call "warm milk cake" because I don't think it had a name, and it certainly didn't have icing.

For years women's magazines have been sounding the alarm on the obesity problem--a lot of good that has done. Personally, I think the current feminist movement which started the back to the workplace shift for women in the 1970s, which grew an entire casual eating out restaurant industry-- take-out, pizza, and fast food empire--because women weren't home at 5 or 6 p.m. to cook, is the source of many of the problems we have in 2010 with over weight children, who then become over weight adults.

There are medical problems--some genetic--that can cause obesity, such has metabolic syndrome, but even these can be controlled or helped with a simple plan of ELMM. Eat less move more. It's darn hard work, but not a penny from the government pork and gravy train is needed. Here's a common sense tip from a government program called Letsmove dot gov:

•Keep fruits and vegetables within reach; store cookies, chips and ice cream out of immediate sight.

•Schedule specific family activities at regular times. Instead of saying "we need to be more active," plan a 30-minute neighborhood walk after dinner three evenings a week.

•When shopping, park the car as far from the store as possible. Make it a game: Count the steps as you walk to the store -- and next time, try to park even farther away.

When my mother sent us outside to play, I don't think it was a plan to be more active, but it worked. As did mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, riding our bicycles to friends' homes, and running around outside at school recess, even in extremely cold weather. Ice cream? We didn't have a freezer, so if we had it, it was a very special event.

But where's the money in common sense?

What could possibly go wrong?

This was forwarded by guest blogger, Murray.

Let me get this straight.

We're going to be "gifted" with a health care plan we are forced to purchase and fined if we don't,

written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't understand it,

passed by a Congress that hasn't read it and

whose Speaker states we will pass it to see what it says,

and by a Congress that exempts themselves from it,

to be signed by a president who also smokes,

with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes,

to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese,

and financed by a country that's broke.

Food Crisis Worsens in Central Africa

Read between the lines of this New York Times "green" article and do a little research, and you'll find food aid is often the cause of the crisis in these intractable hunger areas. Their governments use the food aid to hold the people hostage and to relocate them at will; the food aid depresses prices driving farmers from the land.

Food Crisis Worsens in Central Africa - NYTimes.com

Today's WSJ reviewed a new book on the outcomes of money gathered from the feel-good Live Aid concert. The government of Ethiopia killed more people than the famine through forced resettlement. You can read sections of the book at Google. "Famine and foreigners, Ethiopia since Live Aid," by Peter Gill.

As Gill notes, aid agencies (generally foreign) have been involved (and/or meddling) in Ethiopia for decades now, as have foreign governments, and the roles of these often very well-backed foreign governments and institutions has played a part in the course various famines (and periods where famine was a threat) took. In the mid-1980s, for example, the Derg imposed a mass resettlement policy, trying to move people from one area of the country to another. They often did so forcefully, and the policy divided both the nations providing aid as well as the aid agencies with their differing policies of non-interference and conceptions of sovereignty.

As Gill repeatedly notes, many aid agencies did very well by the famines -- in getting cash, raising their profiles, becoming players. While avoiding outright condemnation, Gill does note that, for example, Oxfam in particular not only expanded rapidly into a dominant player, but eventually also was closely tied to the British Labour government -- and that its self-interest seem to have influenced at least some aid-decisions, such as silence on the resettlement policy. (On the other hand, he seems to approve of Médecins Sans Frontières' (Doctors without Borders') focus solely on conditions on the ground, and indifference to stepping on anyone's (and particularly any government's) toes.) Link

ARRA at Ohio State University

As of a year ago, Ohio State University had been awarded 174 grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act--and although I think any one project is worthwhile and will help Americans and world citizens in the long run, in the short run, they probably have done nothing for the economy. Even little for the immediate Columbus community. Over 82 million dollars. Multiply that by all the other universities, colleges, and non-profits who got their cut. These are not "shovel ready," "boots on the ground" jobs for working people. Like $1.5 million for "autonomous vehicles." Or $1.5 million for "understanding cancer" spread around 240 scientists in 14 colleges? That will hardly pick up the travel tab at the conferences they'll attend.

"Conquering disease and improving health, reversing the effects of climate change from global warming, creating new nanotechnological materials, and exploring alternative energy sources – these are just some of the research thrusts in ARRA awards to The Ohio State University."

ARRA Funded Research at OSU, November 2009

Labor Day Detour

Usually we go to the Upper Arlington Art Show on Labor Day, but this year we'll be at my daughter's home to help with building the deck, the decorating and whatever else needs to be done before our party next Sunday. So I've got some bratwurst grilling on the stove top which I'll reheat there; made some cole slaw with carrots and pineapple; about 2/3 of my pumpkin coffee cheese cake (made without the pumpkin since there's none to be found); and I'll swing by the store for chips and buns.

Not that I didn't know this, but I'm not an "event planner." Oh, I have great ideas 6 months going into it, but as the day draws nearer whether a luncheon, dinner, bridal shower or 50th anniversary party, I lie awake at night thinking about the "what ifs." In this case, where will everyone park. Well, at least we've cancelled the one in Illinois--I've been awake since mid-June. I need some sleep!

Shiny lip glosses gluten free?

You look at the list of ingredients on the internet for your cosmetics for gluten free products, but with ingredients like polybutene, octydodecanol and others maybe you should check a bit further?

"Although Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is more commonly known for its use in pans found in the kitchen, it is now seen in cosmetic and beauty products, in a wide range of products including mineral make up, nail polish, injectable wrinkle fillers, skin care creams, and other formulas. It is used as a bulking agent, slip modifier, binding agent and skin conditioner, according to the Cosmetics Database, and can create a smoother application for a variety of products, and fill in fine lines and wrinkles on the skin."

Here's an interesting use of a natural product we're probably all pruning and throwing into the garbage. Scientist Creates Sunscreen from Ivy

Tough times call for creative gifting

Richard, at Three Score and Ten tells the story of a friend who got a very creative gift for high school graduation.

"One of the guys in my high school class received a gift that is probably unique, at least I have never heard its duplicate. His father was a trucker, or contractor, or something like that. He gave his son a great big, brand new, six wheel, diesel dump truck, with a belly dump. He told his son that he should go to college if he wished, or go full time into the trucking business, but if he wished to sell the truck he had to wait at least six years. By then the truck would either have become a permanent part of his life, or it would have financed four or five years of college." The friend then sold shares in his "business" and they all made money. Read more at 3 Score and 10

The Uncool Kid featured in (614) Magazine

This should resonate with every kid, because in junior high no one thinks he's cool. Vada Mitchell aka L.E. wrote this. He's a Columbus (former) high school basketball star, who attended Columbus College of Art Design, and musician.

"Whatever you think is cool, is cool
And you ain't have to change for them bustas at ya school
'Cause after graduation there is no communication
So stay focused and keep ya concentration
And you're lame if you make people lame
And you should be ashamed about that garbage on your brain"

featured on p. 18 of 614 (magazine).


The Uncool Kid - (614) Magazine - Columbus, OH

There's no joy in being right

Neo-Neocon writes: "A number of readers felt that the high rates of unemployment among the young is a case of just desserts: serves them right. And although I want a great many young people to learn the lesson that voting for a con man, an empty suit with little or no experience who makes beautiful promises that mean little or nothing, is a bad idea—and that they retain the information for decades to come, so it doesn’t happen again—there’s no joy in my heart about the rest of it."

Like me, she used to be a Democrat, so she knows how easy it is to fall for that feel-good, do-good line. And these young people didn't even have parents who made it through the Great Depression like we did. They've never known anything but good times. It's tough out there.

Spouses do not grow more alike, study at MSU finds

"Contrary to popular belief, married couples do not become more similar over time, according to a team of researchers led by Michigan State University." I didn't think so, did you? My maternal grandparents were married 63 years, my paternal grandparents over 70 years, and my parents over 65 years. They weren't at all alike. We've been married 50 years next week. Although we've learned to accomodate each others' differences, I don't think we have similar personalities.

Spouses do not grow more alike, study finds | MSU News | Michigan State University

Vanity Fair reporter admits error in Palin article

Vanity Fair has a very unflatteringly article about Sarah Palin--hostile, some might call it. Nothing sells magazines like a negative Sarah Palin article, the independent, no-man's-shirtail politician from Alaska. She lost me when she resigned her governorship, but I still admire her pluckiness and willingness to go up against the male dominated political system on her own. Hillary had Bill. Look at the bio of any woman who's made it to the top in business or government, and you see a man with money or a name behind her.

Vanity Fair reporter admits error in Palin article - KansasCity.com

The truth about dishonesty

More on this "Gross" topic at Adrienne's blog.

Now I feel better--I'm not the only one who doesn't finish books

"The older I get, the fewer books I finish, and the more I read highly selectively — fast forward set on high. This is either the getting of wisdom — or the gradual shutting down of (what to call it?) one’s social and engagement functions as one gets closer to in-turnedness of dying, the inability of the aging to take in new stuff because we are too occupied trying to process the accumulation of the previous decades."

Kenneth Anderson The ethics of not finishing but still criticizing books

Loving my "new" Easy Loving" CD

I got a 2 disk Time Life Superstars of Country Easy Loving (2005) at a yard sale in Lakeside for $1.00. There were several others--wish I'd bought them, too. Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Lynn Anderson, Crystal Gayle, Tammy Wynette, Charlie Rich, etc.

Library of World Religions and Spirituality

If you've ever wondered how many are in the various religious groups, here's a good chart.

Library of World Religions and Spirituality | Faith | Patheos

At this time, Christians (2.1 billion) outnumber Muslims (1.5 billion), but when they take over a piece of land, say, near Ground Zero to build a mosque, or a convert who later converts to Christianity, there's never a reversal in their view, so that could change.

There's a pumpkin shortage

I've been to 5 grocery stores / supermarkets and can't find a can of pumpkin. If you have one, better hang on to it. I gave my stash to my daughter last Christmas and figured there'd be more, but there isn't it. Apparently a freeze in 2008-09 growing season caused the problem.

Now I'm wondering what I can substitute for canned pumpkin in my Pumpkin cheese coffee cake recipe. Applesauce? Pineapple? Sweet potato?

Why Progressives aren't for progress anymore

I'm not sure how historians date "progressivism." Some equate it with socialism and marxism. If so, that's a bit more recent. I don't think it started that way, because originally it was positive and liberal, in the classic sense of the word. The far left has stolen that movement and its good heart and spirit.

Since the 1950s the American poor and working class have become the most upwardly mobile and culturally comfortable of any in the world. For some reason, that made the "progressives" mad. They lost their base when their goals were being met and that transformed them into mean, angry scoundrels and turning to "victimhood" instead of righteousness. When Wal-Mart began suppying Americans workers with similar consumer goods the rich had always enjoyed, the progressives blamed Wal-Mart instead of themselves that the successful chain stocked so many "Made in China" goods! Progressives never wanted the poor to have what they had.

If you don't believe me, just look at what they--progressives in both parties--are doing to regain their base--they are making people in the lower quintiles less free and less wealthy with less access to the "good life." Since the women's movement and the envirnmental movement took off in the 1970s, the only way to get ahead if you were at the bottom was to move up the quintile graph. I know that sounds obvious, but think about it. The women's movement advocated killing off their offspring (and safety net) in the name of privacy and personal choice, and environmentalists through over regulation have been forcing American companies to close down or move, first to the south, and then out of the country, leaving their manufacturing base in service or retail jobs, or dependent on government benefits.

And still they call for more "progress." They will march Americans right to the progressive poor house.

Roger Ebert--still cooking

When I was at the University of Illinois, Robert Ebert was writing for the Daily Illini. We knew then he would go on to something big. Years later I read his columns occasionally, and although I wasn't a big movie fan, I watched him many times when his show was "Siskel and Ebert," thumbs up, thumbs down, movie reviews. His final show was this August (with other co-hosts). I had no idea his cancer had resulted in the loss of his jaw and ability to eat or speak:

"The thing is, he doesn’t eat and he doesn’t talk. Or rather, he can’t eat and he can’t talk. He hasn’t for four years, ever since cancer took his lower jaw, and three attempts to rebuild his face and his voice failed."

He communicates with notes, gestures, smiles, and his wife and is now a blogger and food writer.** He still loves to cook and has a cookbook coming out this month based entirely on meals to be made in a rice cooker. The title is “The Pot and How to Use It: The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker” (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $14.99).

Roger Ebert on Food - Still Cooking - NYTimes.com

**"While Ebert has lost his ability to speak to multiple surgeries, he also revealed on the [Oprah] show a revolutionary technology that has synthesized his own voice from past show recordings, and allows him to type what he wants to say into a computer, and have it come out in his own voice, rather than a robotic or mechanical voice." From Thyroid About.com

Michael Douglas cancer discovered late

This article says his British wife, Zeta-Jones is furious that his throat cancer was stage 4 before discovered. Well, he's probably been using the British national health system, she married a guy twice her age, and they both smoked until recently. That sounds like some cause and affect to me. Wife #1 probably would have decided something was wrong and hauled him off to a specialist.

No word on where he's getting treatment, but I'm betting it's somewhere in the United States.

The Third Great Awakening

After watching live streaming of Restoring Honor by Glenn Beck last Saturday, it occurred to me I might be watching the start of the 3rd Great Awakening in the United States. Then tonight he's been showing excerpts from the Friday night event Divine Destiny show at the Kennedy Center and interviewing 3 religious leaders. The rabbi also mentioned it. Yes, I think it is a third great awakening.

G.O.P.’s Wall St. Support is growing

Wall Street usually favors the Democrats, lavishing contributions on Democratic candidates and causes. What? you say. Well, look. If they can use government regulations to take out the competition, it's just the cost of doing business. Did you really think Obamacare was about healthier citizens? It isn't. It's about business--the insurance business. But when the Obama team took over, I think Wall Street began to realize their folly. These guys aren't just liberals. They are statists. Can't donate if you can't do business at all because you don't own it. So the money is shifting to Republicans. That should be interesting, because the Tea Party folks are asking Republicans to be responsible Americans too. Who knew?

Paul Singer’s Largess Reflects G.O.P.’s Wall St. Support - NYTimes.com

Maybe big government doesn't know best?

Maybe the USDA and HHS, which revise their guidelines every 5 years, don’t have all the answers?

“. . . ever since the first set of federal guidelines appeared in 1980, Americans heard that they had to reduce their intake of saturated fat by cutting back on meat and dairy products and replacing them with carbohydrates. Americans dutifully complied. Since then, obesity has increased sharply, and the progress that the country has made against heart disease has largely come from medical breakthroughs like statin drugs, which lower cholesterol, and more effective medications to control blood pressure.”

Egg on their faces

Union members will gather on October 2 to protest Beck

October 2 is an important date in union history. Obviously, the rally organizers chose October 2 [hyperbole alert and snark, in case you missed the liberal uproar over August 28] to rub it in the faces and threaten anyone who would protest a president.

Remember the Clinton Lewinsky affair? Some people didn't think it was seemly. "The October 2, 1998 attack occurred as [the Adams siblings] marched with a sign calling Bill Clinton a “liar, pervert, national shame.”

Two Teamsters snuck up behind him and ripped the sign out of his hand. When he and his sister turned around to retrieve it, they were encircled by a mob of Teamsters led by (then) Local 115 officer and IBT Vice President, John Morris. Mr. Morris rammed a fedora over Mr. Adams’ face, blinding him to the onslaught of Teamsters who proceeded to jump and pummel both Adamses.

Mr. Adams suffered head injuries (including a mild concussion), lacerations, bruising, and a herniated (neck) disc. He was treated at an area hospital. Ms. Adams, who tried to protect her brother, was bruised but not seriously injured. The attack was captured on videotape by local news stations and broadcast nationally at a time when (then) Mayor Ed Rendell was trying to attract both the 2000 Democratic and Republican National Conventions to the “City of Brotherly Love.”

Of course, it's also Ghandi's birthday and the anniversary of President Wilson's stroke. But sifting through historical dates, and given that union members from SEIU to NEA as well as Daily Kos readers will be called out to attend by their leaders, I'd go with the Clinton protest.

Maybe they'll bend over . . . and clean up their own trash?

The More the Merrier?

If you think you'll find a more accepting congregation when you leave your church because of the gay marriage/gay pastor controversies (it's in all churches, but our church is leaving ELCA), look what's coming down the pike. My oldest clipping in my file for the ELCA vote, which came up year after year and was voted down until last year, is 1988. So, although you think polygamy or polyandry or man-boy love or blessing your relationship with your pet who is "just like family" is far out, it really isn't. It won't stop. Biblical revision never does. And if you don't accept what God says about marriage of one man and one woman, why would you object to three men, or two men and a woman, or a man with 10 wives? If gender doesn't matter, why does number? Isn't it just about love, respect, and government benefits?

The American Spectator : The More the Merrier?

Speaking of obsessions, what's wrong with Kathleen Parker and WaPo?

Wow. Libs are running scared. Who knew they'd get so spooked by a little preaching and hand holding and praying on the Mall last week. I read Kathleen Parker's piece on Glenn Beck.* I have no idea what her point was--something about it being an AA meeting--but it doesn't sound like she's ever been to an Al-Anon or AA meeting. Liberal twaddle--attack the messenger, ignore the words. Here's what other readers wrote (the link was broken when I tried to leave a comment, so these came from reader's page:

bryan37, "I'm no fan of Beck, but this is nothing more than an ad hominem attack. It really borders on being a little sick. Does Parker ever have anything insightful to write? I just never see it" [I wondered the same thing.]

Chippewa said, "I've lost count of how many articles and columns the WAPO has run over the past two weeks, almost unanimously bashing Beck. The onslaught continues today. It's become the WAPO's surge. If he's such an idiot, why pay so much attention to him? Could it be because he's viewed as a threat to the Chosen One? Can't have that now, can we???"

Jack 83 wrote: The post missed the boat on this one. It was obviously a wonderful experience for the people who enjoy Glenn and his ideas about things. It seemed to me the event was a nice bit of America that people are longing for instead of all the hate. Nice Event/Clueless story.

MomDuke5 said: Your mockery of the program and pointing your finger at a man who has succeeded indicates to me if you had to do it you would fail. So what if you can compare his success with a program that has brought many people out of the despair and darkness of alcohol. Three cheers for him and his desire to show America if I can do it so can you! Faith of all kinds is all around you and your faith can set you free. Your reference to Mother Superior as Sarah Palin strikes a mean, nasty, anti Catholic view. I've been to Catholic schools and the Mother Superior did not wear makeup or stand before thousands spouting political views. She was a kind and gentle woman and your metaphors are disgusting as is your column.

And of course, Kathleen has those wonderfully articulate lefties like Bethg1841 who agree with her who have Beck filtered, and don't realize the only KKK member in Congress in recent years was a Democrat: "beck is an idiot as are all of his followers. They are all vile traitors and unpatriotic. I have never heard or seen traitors like this fool and the bunch of lunatics who take him seriously. He is religious too as are these teabagheads. They are as religious as the slavers and segregationists and KKK members. Just as hateful as those fools. It's a pity there is not a normal adult among these idiots who have awakened just as that moron w got through with ruining this country. Why don't all of you teabagheads go fight your wars in Iraq and Afganistan. Traitors you."

Yes, Bethg adequately represents the level (low) of understanding of issues and history by WaPo's readers.

*I think Parker is supposed to be the token conservative at WaPo. Coulda fooled me.

Olasky on Parker "The sultans of snoot"

Beck's 'Obsession' with Black Liberation Theology is Thoroughly Justified

About 35 years ago I read James Cone's book on black liberation theology. I didn't find it too alarming, but I can't remember if I was a Christian then or just a humanist liberal. Liberation theology (the Latin American Catholic variety) has definitely had an impact on modern day Christianity--may even be part of the reason memberships are dropping so drastically. It's a tough sell to call that the gospel. And I don't think I agree with the left that Glenn Beck has an obsession with black liberation theology. He's simply calling it out for the looksee it deserves. It is marxism dressed up for Sunday morning and some gospel singing.

Kyle Anne Shiver writes: "Writing on "Faith," in The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama went to great lengths to explain that his own "conversion" was enabled not by orthodox Christian awakening, but by the explicitly political nature of the Black Liberation Theology preached by Jeremiah Wright, Jr. And the thrust of Obama's entire chapter on faith in his own book was to show how his own liberation theology should not frighten secular progressives because it bore little to no resemblance to the religion of those Bible Belt "bitter clingers." And as observant Americans know well, Barack Obama was so ardent a follower of Jeremiah Wright's brand of Christianity that he named his book after a Wright sermon, The Audacity of Hope. While it is true that Barack Obama never (that I know of) used the explicit words "Black Liberation Theology" in his speeches or his books, everything about his claims to faith in his writing, his speeches, and his current actions as president is filled with the tenets of this fringe system of beliefs.

And what was that "hope" to which Wright referred? It was not the hope of individual salvation, which is the bedrock of orthodox Christian belief. No, Wright's hope, the same hope where Barack Obama found his "conversion," was in "collective redemption" through a political, material redistribution of power and wealth from the "white oppressors" to the "black oppressed." Quite contrary to Mr. Rutten's assertion that no "evidence" ties Barack Obama to liberation theology, Obama himself has used the phrase "collective redemption" regularly."

So is that your "hope" for America? Are you so loaded with power and wealth that you want the government to redistribute it in the name of Obama's belief in "collective redemption?"

American Thinker: Beck's 'Obsession' with Black Liberation Theology Thoroughly Justified

Anti-Beck rally on the Mall in October

Labor union leaders and government workers will gather on the Mall in Washington DC to exercise their freedom of speech and movement to protest Glenn Beck. Will they be able to raise up 500,000 people? With those marching orders, they should be able to get 1.5 million. Beck is just a radio clown. Will they fund their own travel and housing and food? Will they clean up the trash, or leave it like they did for the inauguration of 2009?

Here's what one reader of American Spectator thinks:

The buses from Vegas will be there, filled with SEIU members that voted for Obama, but are now out of work because Obama made it verboten for large corporations with high corporate salaries to convention there.

Other buses will come from Michigan filled with UAW people, who have no work because they priced themselves out of the car market, helping Toyota & Honda catch up to GM.

Louisiana will send buses of ACORN people who are out of work because their contemporaries were willing to help set up El Salvadoran underage prostitution rings.

New York will send buses of ex-N.Y. Times workers who are out of jobs because people don't choose to read their slant on the news anymore.

California will send buses of NEA members who are out of work because their illegal students' parents don't pay state taxes, and the state is on the verge of fiscal collapse...

In other words, it will be an accurate cross-section of Real True-Blue Americans, who fortunately now have enough time to export their excellent agenda to the rest of our great country!

And if you are a union member, this is where your dues are going . . . to fund a copy-cat rally by the playground bullies. It would cost you more, but the Tides Foundation is also picking up the tab.

Ft. Hood is named for John Bell Hood, the worst general in our history

Today I was reviewing the various shooting and stabbing tragedies of the past year or two (all the perps were liberals/progressives or immigrants not conservative tea party types about which our media continues to warn us). The crazy lady professor who murdered her colleagues over a promotion incident; the guy who shot up a recruiting office; the Pakistani Times Square bomber; the blonde blue-eyed stabber of the NY cabbie who had served with a Christian peace and justice group, etc. So that took me to the Fort Hood shootings by a Muslim doctor who murdered 13. Then I thought, "Surely they didn't name a military facility after the worse general of the Civil War, did they?" Yup.

I'm obviously no expert on the Civil War, but last week was "Civil War Week" at Lakeside, Ohio, and I attended two presentations by Mel Maurer of Cleveland who spoke on the Battle of Franklin. And yes, Ft. Hood is named for the guy who would have lost the war for the South, if it hadn't already been lost. Is that why we have a military base named for him?

"John Bell Hood destroyed the Army of Tennessee. After bleeding it dry fighting the Yankees around Atlanta- attacking a foe that was superior in numbers and entrenched, he marched away from the main threat to the South- General Sherman's Army of the Tennesse. He then launched an ill-considered offensive into central Tennesse. When his army failed to destroy the Yankees at Spring Hill, in true political general fashion, he blamed his troops.

He then decided to attack the Yankees at Franklin. Again, they were entenched. With only one battery of artillery in support, he ordered a frontal assault. Good soldiers they were, the men of the Army of Tennessee advanced, and almost took the town, thanks to their courage and Yankee blundering. But the Yanks soon stopped the advance and slaughtered the Rebs. A Union battery commander remembered two sounds- the discharge of cannister and a split second later, the sound of bones breaking.

The Yanks retreated to Nashville. Although his troops were tired, hungry, and outnumbered ( though he didn't know it at the time), Hood laid siege to the city. When Union General Thomas attacked, the Confederate lines were too thin to stop the assault. The Army of Tennessee broke and many were killed or captured covering the retreat.

As they retreated to Alabama, many of the Rebel soldiers had no shoes. It was winter, and the temperature was about 10 degrees F. I don't have a lot of sympathy for the rebellion, but I feel for those guys. Barefoot in that weather is a horror.

When Hood got back to Alabama, there were about 6,500 effectives in his army. They numbered over 20,000 when the offensive began. Once again he blamed his soldiers for the failed offensive." Armchair General

General Hood had one useless arm, and an amputated leg from war injuries. He was either very brave or very crazy; he had to be tied in his saddle. He was probably out of his mind with pain and high on pain drugs. But his record in battle is still shameful, and he led many Americans to their death.

NOTE: The above excerpted piece is NOT from Maurer but from "Armchair General," a site on the internet.

And still Obama wants to raise taxes!

Higher taxes hurt everyone. It particularly hurts the little guy. But that's what FDR did too during the Great Depression of the 1930s-1940s. His little tax increments, like on entertainment or candy, hurt the poorest the most. Now Obama wants to kill investment. Folks, the richest can always go elsewhere with their money--like India or Europe whose economies are growing much faster than ours as they pull back from socialism.

Obama has no intention of turning the economy around. Many panelists on these TV talk shows, cable or broadcast, right and/or left, just don't get it. They keep making hopeful suggestions. But his plan is working--more people than ever are dependent on the federal government.

More than 50 million Americans are on Medicaid, the federal-state program aimed principally at the poor, a survey of state data by USA Today shows. That’s up at least 17% since the recession began in December 2007.

The program has grown even before the new health care law adds about 16 million people, beginning in 2014. That has strained doctors. Private physicians are already indicating that they’re at their limit, says Dan Hawkins of the National Association of Community Health Centers.

In other areas:

◦More than 40 million people get food stamps, an increase of nearly 50 percent during the economic downturn, according to government data through May; the program has grown steadily for three years.

◦Close to 10 million receive unemployment insurance (nearly four times the number from 2007); benefits have been extended by Congress eight times beyond the basic 26-week program, enabling the long-term unemployed to get up to 99 weeks of benefits; caseloads peaked at nearly 12 million in January.

◦More than 4.4 million people are on welfare, an 18 percent increase during the recession.

As caseloads for all the programs have soared, so have costs, says USA Today:

◦The federal price tag for Medicaid has jumped 36 percent in two years, to $273 billion.

◦Jobless benefits have soared from $43 billion to $160 billion.

◦The food stamps program has risen 80 percent, to $70 billion.

◦Welfare is up 24 percent, to $22 billion.

Stats from Texas Insider which apparently (not clear) got them from USAToday.

You don't have to have a degree in economics to see that in a free, market economy, government programs slow down recovery. It adds costs to hiring and expansion, it competes with private employers and industries, and encourages people to stay home and wait til something better comes along, thus extending the slow down. The blueprint for government expansion while depressing the economy was laid out during FDR's reign. Obama's right on the plan.

3 hostages safe, gunman shot, killed at Discovery

Now here's a REAL environmentalist wacko--he thought children were parasites on the planet, and that Discovery Channel was making money on "green" programs. He was Al Gore to the 10th power. Most environmentalists deep down think humans are marginal in the global scheme of things, at least compared to something on the endangered species list, but fortunately, few are as whacked out as James J. Lee. He was probably insane. But if he'd been on the other side--a right winger--the media would be having a field day smearing tea party participants, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and you and me. In fact, since it happened a few days after Beck's Restoring Honor in a DC suburb, they'd probably blame him rather than Lee.

3 hostages safe, gunman shot, killed at Discovery - wtop.com