Thursday, January 13, 2011

To my dear friend and Christian brother

Dear friend of many years,

I'm going to have to take a Christian brother to task here [e-mail about shifting blame to the wrong people for the Tucson murders]. All politicians are vilified. No more so now than during John Adams' day or Andrew Jackson's. That's not the point. Obama snarled back and made unpatriotic remarks about his country and the people he has sworn to protect and lead. That's where the gag order should have begun--with his mouth and angry words. He should have been above that. So his being such a hypocrite about "we" is not at all calming the waters now.

The left has been attacking Sarah Palin since they found out she allowed her Down Syndrome baby to live. I'd only seen one or two news items about her before she became McCain's running mate, and that's the first really ugly thing I saw posted on leftist blogs and Democrat web sites. "What was she thinking? Doesn't she know what a burden this child will be to society? She's so irresponsible." About 90% of women screened and told the baby has Down's choose to abort. Are "we", a so-called Christian nation, supposed to be proud of that? Are Democrats--who claim to want only the best for the weakest in society? And hatred for her has only grown--a Christian who didn't kill her child! Then they started in on how dumb and inexperienced she was--governor of our largest state compared to a one term Senator who voted present a lot. Much of that is just plain misogyny (hatred of women).

Friend, our president believes in, and he was the only member of Congress to support, late term abortion. This means, in case you're not up on how this is done, the child is turned so the head comes out last, and as she exits the birth canal, or the abdomen if a Cesarean, she's stabbed in the head and the brain destroyed while the head is still in the so-called "mother" so it can be called an abortion and not infanticide. Are you proud of this president and his party for believing this should be legal? And even though embryonic stem cell experimentation was made completely unnecessary by new developments during the Bush years, he still released new money (our tax money) so researchers could use more embryos for research (it was never illegal--just received limited government funding). Not a single medical advancement has ever been found through this ghoulish procedure, but it was the very first thing he did in January 2009.

The rumor about the $250 million for the India trip was from a source in India and was first printed in their newspapers, not ours, from one of their government sources. Then it was picked up here, and never denied by any WH source--it was only ridiculed. Maybe it was only $20 million. It doesn't really matter, a President needs to be safe, but what does matter is that during a time of extreme economic hardship for the average American, he has spent more on leisure, vacations, state dinners, etc. than any WH in recent history. He behaves like a medieval potentate.

Is there propaganda and misinformation on all sides--yes, especially the part about where he was born, which is just silly because if an American woman has a baby in Asia, or Africa, or the middle of the ocean, the baby is still an American citizen. But the birthers are no more silly than the truthers--the guys who claim Bush planned 9/11, and some of those were part of Obama's staff.

No one made money on TARP (2008 under Bush), and no one knows to this day why Paulson (Bush's Treasurer) thought everything was going to collapse. And ARRA? It hasn't even all been spent and was frittered away on various projects, like sidewalks on my street and road repairs in my suburb, that went primarily to unions who supported Obama. So of course, we're always going to be told it was successful, just like the lies we were told about Roosevelt and the Great Depression. He kept it going for a decade with his crazy economic schemes, yet somehow we were taught in school that he was some sort of savior because he put men to work building parks like the White Pines (which had been used as a park by the locals for years) or painting murals in the Post Office in Mt. Morris. Without TARP, and without ARRA, we probably could have recovered 6 months ago from this current recession, brought on by the government messing with banking and the housing market.

As an observant Christian, you well know that we Americans have become consumers and extremely materialistic. We love our entertainment--movies, football, golf--we love to redecorate our houses, buy new cars, and take trips. A 10% unemployment rate is a big wake up call--it's even scared some of the gen-x folks. Even as the stock market recovers it will be awhile before people trust enough to invest in small business or hire new workers. Our public service retirement funds (and that would be me) and social security (my husband) are way over extended and unsustainable, because no one thought ahead to how this would be paid for. No one said stop. Government health care was crammed down our throats before Congress read the bill and before Medicare and Medicaid were cleaned up.

And now? A Congresswoman is shot by a crazy man who thought 6 was 18 and had caused problems in his community for years--and no one stopped him. The Democrats in government and media are saying some how conservatives should stop talking about making cut backs, repealing Obamacare, being more responsible, and running the country with a smaller government. How they got to that conclusion from a bloody super market parking lot in Tucson, only a Democrat could tell you.

Include me "out," please

Dear President Obama,

Yes, "We can do better" is a good message for you, Mr. President, at Tucson last night. I've been aghast by your undignified, unpresidential, Chicago knee-capping remarks to over half the American public who don't support your programs, or who are even mildly critical. George W. Bush was vilified for everything from his speech, to his ears, to 9/11 response, to two wars, to spending too much on social programs yet somehow he managed to stay above the fray and not insult us. Your disparaging remarks abroad about the USA haven't pleased anyone but our enemies and your far left, angry supporters. You, Pelosi and Reid, yes, YOU can do better (you could even read bills before voting/signing them), especially now that the people have spoken at the polls. But please leave the rest of us out of this tragedy committed by one misguided person, voluntary, by choice, who was obsessed by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a man who was known to the local police as a problem, was disturbing his college classes, and grieving his bewildered parents who couldn't control him.

In 1963, I was also thrown into that plural pronoun WE when Lee Harvey Oswald shot President Kennedy. Oh, how the press and the politicians moaned and wept over what we as a nation had become--and then they toned it down when they found out he wasn't a right wing fanatic as they first said, but a confirmed Communist. I think I also got included in that WE when John Lennon was shot by a demented man obsessed with him. Every time there's violence at the end of a gun, I get thrown into the bag with all the crazies, most of whom are either demented or leftists, and I really don't appreciate it.

This was a terrible tragedy for the families involved; a terrible blow for Tucson. It is not about a national anything--not the national conscience, not our spirit, not even about being a "kinder gentler" nation, as the first President Bush liked to remind us. Political rhetoric had nothing to do with this incident, and could be addressed at another, calmer, less distorted news cycle, a media that for the most part, got everything wrong by taking their lead from Sheriff Dupnik who opined when he should have been doing an investigation into his own failures in law enforcement.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Manchester College School of Pharmacy

Congratulations to Manchester College in North Manchester, Indiana, where I attended one year, as did both my sisters, and many of my friends and relatives (Church of the Brethren affiliated)
which has received a $35 million grant from Lilly to endow a School of Pharmacy. It's the largest in the college's history.

Manchester College School of Pharmacy

PND - News - Lilly Endowment Awards $35 Million to Manchester College for School of Pharmacy

U.S. Chamber of Commerce President: Regulatory 'tsunami' threatens economy, supports Obamacare repeal | Washington Examiner

"Threaten" "explosion" etc. Tsk. Tsk. Will James Clyburn (D-SC) label this hate speech? Vitriol?

"We must rein in excessive regulations and reform the regulatory process.

At the federal level alone, regulations already fill 150,000 pages of fine-print text and cost Americans $1.7 trillion a year. Many of these rules are necessary and business strongly supports them.

Yet in recent years, we have seen an unprecedented explosion of new regulatory activity. Furthermore, the administration is likely to turn increasingly to the regulatory agencies now that getting legislation out of Congress could be more difficult.

The resulting regulatory tsunami poses, in our view, the single biggest challenge to jobs, our global competitiveness, and the future of American enterprise."


U.S. Chamber of Commerce President: Regulatory 'tsunami' threatens economy, supports Obamacare repeal | Washington Examiner

Congressman James Clyburn wants to stifle free speech

Maybe Clyburn could start his free speech clean up with Hip Hop and Rap music.

TJMS: Congressman James Clyburn Discusses AZ Shooting And The Role Of Fiery Political Rhetoric In Today's Political Climate | Roland S. Martin Blog

Margaret Whiting, Clear-Voiced Singer, Is Dead at 86 - NYTimes.com



Margaret Whiting, Clear-Voiced Singer, Is Dead at 86 - NYTimes.com

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

If a Democrat judge had been killed

and a Republican Congresswoman wounded, what would the focus have been by the press? Oh, Palin, Rush, and Glenn still would have been blamed for the judge's death, but the drama would have shifted away from the wounded Congresswoman. As it is, his name is hardly mentioned.

The New York Times and the President urged caution in making judgements before we had all the facts in the shooting by committed Muslim Nidal Malik Hasan 14 months ago at Ft. Hood who had many ties to Islamic radicals. But have they urged caution in blaming Sara Palin in the shooting of Rep Giffords who was shot by an erratic, unstable at any speed, trouble maker known to the police? Of course not. Now there are calls from outraged Democrats for controls on speech without a shred of evidence that politics influenced the shooter at all. Will those limits include violence on TV, in movies, and in rap music? How about late term abortion? Can we stop that violence? Will the N-word and dissing women finally be banned from hip-hop? Will Facebook take down Bill Maher's "Seeing Palin kill that moose,a creature with a far higher I Q, inspired hate for her beyond what even I thought I was capable of." Sounds pretty vitriolic to me.

And Sheriff Clarence Dupnik who was the first public figure to blame conservatives, is continuing to spout off and place the blame somewhere other than Loughner and his home county.

And for once, Jon Stewart made sense.

“I wouldn’t blame our political rhetoric [for Tucson] any more than I would blame heavy metal music for [the 1999 shootings in] Columbine,” he said. “Boy, would it be nice to draw a straight line of causation from this horror to something tangible, because then we could convince ourselves that if we just stop this, the horrors will end. But . . . you cannot outsmart crazy. Crazy always seems to find a way; it always has.”

NY Cops Arrest Male Model in Castration Killing of Portuguese Journalist

Do you suppose this qualifies as a hate crime against a homosexual? A gay model castrates and bludgeons his older male lover. Or does being gay disqualify him for hate crimes?

Update: NY Cops Arrest Male Model in Castration Killing of Portuguese Journalist | The Blaze

Bumper stickers work

Coming back from the coffee shop I was behind an older van with a 1580 Catholic Radio bumper sticker, so I changed channels. The signal is better in my car than in the house. Most of the programming is pretty good--I click off when someone starts talking about the importance of praying to Mary or the saints. But in many areas, most Christians have more in the common than they are willing to admit. For the last two years, with a stronger signal, it reaches about 1.75 million listeners (assuming they turn it on, of course.).

Access Board to Set Standards for Medical Equipment under the Health Care Reform Act

All my husband's announcements for continuing education come to my e-mail, and increasingly most are actually offered on-line. The ways manufacturers find to be either "green" or "sustainable" are just amazing. As are the health and safety reguations. In looking through them I noticed one for ADA compliant workshops for a product to assist the blind (little raised bumps on walkways). As I was browsing through the product literature I came across the "Access Board" website for the federal government. The Obamacare (PPACA) is almost full employment for industries that supply anything medical, from workshops to lighting to equipment to computer records, and they will successfully put the small medical offices out of business and force patients into group practices and then push them to government health care when those also get regulated out of business. Imagine the cost for a one or two doctor clinic for just this one requirement while they are still paying off their college loans and the mortgages on the equipment purchased last year:

"The "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" authorizes the Access Board to develop new access standards for medical diagnostic equipment including examination tables and chairs, weight scales, x-ray machines and other radiological equipment, and mammography equipment. Access to such equipment has been problematic under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)."

Access Board to Set Standards for Medical Equipment under the Health Care Reform Act

Monday, January 10, 2011

The charlatans' response to Tucson tragedy - OrlandoSentinel.com

George Will can usually nail it:
    "Last year, New York Times columnist Charles Blow explained that "the optics must be irritating" to conservatives: Barack Obama is black, Nancy Pelosi is female, Rep. Barney Frank is gay, Rep. Anthony Weiner (an unimportant Democrat, listed to serve Blow's purposes) is Jewish. "It's enough," Blow said, "to make a good old boy go crazy." The Times, which after the Tucson shooting said "many on the right" are guilty of "demonizing" people and of exploiting "arguments of division," apparently was comfortable with Blow's insinuation that conservatives are misogynistic, homophobic, racist anti-Semites.


The charlatans' response to Tucson tragedy - OrlandoSentinel.com

Food pyramid: USDA sued by doctors' group that wants vegetarian alternative

God forbid the "group" do some research and fund raising, and publish and distribute their own pyramid!
    "The lawsuit charges that the federal government should address the worsening epidemics of obesity and diet-related diseases by withdrawing the MyPyramid diagram and adopt the Power Plate food diagram and dietary guidelines."
I'm shocked, just shocked, that this well educated group has never seen a fat vegetarian. I have.

Food pyramid: USDA sued by doctors' group that wants vegetarian alternative - OrlandoSentinel.com

It's like opposing teams seeing the same call differently

Keep it up!! Negative all the way around. This whole blog site is devoted to negative. That really solves our problems doesn't it? Gun sites.targetd reps,24/7 over and over lists of things wrong with Obama and his programs. What do you folks expect. All talking heads need to tone it down and negative blogs need to exam their posts as well. But I must say in defense of MSNBC I have actually heard Keith O. say" I apologize for----" Never gonna heard that Rush, Glen or Sean. it was my worst fear that it would come to this-but not surprized.Just very sad for us all.What ever happened to our mental health programs,have we cut that funding so badly we can helth the sick ones before they buy into all this hate,doesn't anyone read the signs anymore or do we just plain not care about people anymore.

The most negative, anti-American President in my lifetime lives and speaks from the White House, the above writer voted for him, fell for that hope and change, and supports his deficit spending, and yet she calls my blog negative? That's pathetic, and that's watching the game thinking only the other team is doing wrong things.

But let's see if I can come up with something positive. I thought the November elections were very positive--I rejoiced that the conservatives finally got some stiffening in their spines instead of spaghetti. I'm antipating the rescinding of Obamacare. I'm looking forward to seeing if Kasich can do a better job than Strickland, although it's going to be tough since so many powers have been taken away from the state by the federal government. Our church is out of debt and going to finally get serious about the Great Commission. I got some new books for Christmas that I love. I saw two "help wanted" signs last week--one was Wendy's and one was Panera's, but that means more people are going out for lunch and supper, which is a good sign there are people bold enough to ignore the President and dig in and start something. We got together with friends Friday night and Sunday--all nice, conservative, non-violent tea party types, although no one is a member that I know of.

There, is that positive enough for you, dearie?

A brief word for the sheriff of Pima County

"Free speech doesn't turn people crazy. Debate doesn't turn people crazy. Stop making excuses for these criminals as to why they did what they did. Why not instead of crying about "vitriol" you go find the accomplice to this murder?" John Galt for President

Bye-Bye PCs and Laptops

Not for me, unless they stop making them. I hate those itsy bitsy keyboards and bumping into people who are reading the news and social networking as they walk.

"While personal computers are not going to disappear altogether, the trend lines are clear. Gartner, the market research company, predicts that by 2013 the number of smart phones will surpass PCs, 1.82 billion to 1.78 billion. And that's not counting the tablets. Gene Munster, an analyst with the global investment bank Piper Jaffray, estimates that Apple iPad sales were 14.5 million for 2010, with another million tablets sold by competitors. Sarah Rotman Epps at Forrester Research predicts that 82 million Americans will be using tablets by 2015.

Access to the Internet—a key indicator of consumer behavior—by mobile devices also is on a strong uptick. According to a report by the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project, 59% of Americans accessed the Internet on their phones last year, up from 25% the previous year. The Chinese government recently reported that nearly 300 million Chinese residents now access the Internet via mobile phones. Comcast announced on Wednesday that it would deliver cable television to the iPad and similar Android tablets later this year."

Malone and Hayes: Bye-Bye PCs and Laptops - WSJ.com

The Progressive “climate of hate:” An illustrated primer, 2000-2010

Michelle Malkin has a great walk down memory lane with the progressive web art work and text, like aiming a rifle at Sarah Palin's daughter, a chimp defecating on McCain's head, kill Bush t-shirts. What? No memories of the President going after conservatives? Ridiculing Special Olympics? Throwing his grandmother under the bus? Advocating for partial birth abortion? I'd say those are hateful too. I'd say the iconic Mao t-shirts being sold on the internet liberal sites doesn't show much respect for the millions of Chinese he murdered, would you?

Michelle Malkin » The progressive “climate of hate:” An illustrated primer, 2000-2010

Vitriol and hate speech in Tuscon

Sheriff Dupnik continues to make himself out to be a fool and a political patsy, if he wasn't one to start with. He owes over half the country an apology. And he owes the families of the victims an apology for politicizing their tragedy. He owes the entire country his resignation. As a Democrat (and I assume an elected sheriff) he continues to blame, well, the dark side of politics--talk radio (code for Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and Fox--but not Huffington Post, Moveon.org, Daily Kos, Media Matters, etc.). You can be sure he isn't talking about his own party, or those to the left of it.

Today Glenn Beck played recordings of the "hate speech" from the left. Was it hate speech to play it? It's very, very specific. It's about rising up, creating a revolution, about piting poor against rich, and we all know the names and faces--Rev. Wright (Obama's racist former pastor), Frances Fox Piven (Communist, racist, sexist, university professor), Van Jones the WH green jobs czar (who has moved over to a cozy, protected think tank). Did Dupnik, or any mainstream media reporter or website ever suggest that they were causing problems? What about Cornell West (has called Obama a racist)? Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (has called the Boston police department racist but kept his TV show on NPR)? Jesse Jackson (during campaign 2008 said he'd like to castrate Obama--could just be jealousy)? Father Phleger (hysterical religious bigot from Chicago)? Do the anti-Israel people ever take responsibility for the death of Jews or Palestinians? Don't think so. No. It's only the other side.

Review & Outlook: Murder in Tuscon - WSJ.com

Arizona sheriff slams media ‘vitriol’ - On Media - POLITICO.com

But the media has a long list of miscalls and speculation on this terrorism stuff. Recent violent shooters the press got wrong from the get-go:
    Amy Bishop (unhappy about tenure decision). James Lee (Discovery Channel shooter, Al Gore fan). Seung-Hui Cho (the Va Tech shooter). Steven Kazmierczak (grad student in social work from NIU). Joseph Stack (software engineer mad at the IRS who played in a band). Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (Columbine murderers of school children). Major Nidal Malik Hasan (Army psychiatrist who shot 30 at Ft. Hood)
We all know this is a political campaign for "net neutrality," and the Democrats never waste a crisis to move their agenda forward.

Private school diversity

Today I was browsing the web page of a private elementary/high school that costs about $30,000 a year and features the diversity of its students in its promotional material and websites as a selling point. It reports that it does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, national or ethnic origin, disability, or sexual orientation, and that 41% of its school population are "people of color." That's odd, the latest census reports that about 75% of the U.S. population is white, so how could this school not be selecting students on the basis of race? I'm not sure that the Columbus City Schools have that high a percentage of "diversity." There are lots of ways to recruit students, maybe they should be sending more mailings to white parents? Also, I wonder how many learning disabled children attend this school, or do they limit disabilities to those who can keep a very high grade point? Do they accept children who will not go on to college, but who will earn good livings servicing the automobiles of their graduates, or saving them when their home catches fire, or defend them at our borders? Just wondering about that word "diversity."

Sunday, January 09, 2011

People have limited memories, or they mislearned history

I actually subscribe to a terrorist watch website called START. Do you know when the most terrorism threats were and from whom? 1970. Not Muslims.  Not Tea Party. But radical leftists protesting the Vietnam War. The chart is just dramatic. Those people who were doing the threatening, burning buildings, marching, posturing and even killing (while lengthening the war giving aid to the enemy), then went on to become college professors and government advisers or politicians, and one, Bill Ayers, became a professor of education at the University of Illinois, Chicago.  He and his wife, also a domestic terrorist, lived in Obama's neighborhood, and supported his candidacy.

Yet what is the drivel I'm hearing on TV about the Arizona shooting which had zip to do with politics and everything to do with a crazy, deranged young man?  "We need to tone down the rhetoric."  Yes, Ms. Giffords had been receiving threats--many from the far left who believed she wasn't a very good Pelosi/Obama follower.  I'm appalled at the misinformed media attacks on Palin and the Tea Party.  Never in the history of this country has there been a quieter more peaceful grass roots movement than the Tea Party.  What has infuriated the left is that this sort of peaceful, legal ballot box revolution was successful.  Ms. Palin is fiesty and outspoken, and she's nobody's patsy.  But to blame her, even indirectly, for the actions of one deranged person, is absurd.

It's time for the main stream media to tone down its speculations, innuendo, and hyperventilating, and go to the START webpage and take a look at the terrorism chart.

The media hasn't learned from Lee Harvey Oswald the killer of President Kennedy, Seung-Hui Cho, the Va Tech shooter, Amy Bishop, the angry professor and Steven Kazmierczak, the grad student. None of these people were right wing nut cakes, but at least three were deeply mentally disturbed, and one was a Communist.

Saturday, January 08, 2011

Arizona sheriff opines

I'm watching the interview with Clarence Dupnik, Pima County, Arizona sheriff and I am shocked that although he claims to know nothing about the deranged shooter of a Congresswoman and a judge and 18 others, he seems to believe the cause is vitriol, prejudice and bigotry on radio and TV. Hmmm. Since people never see themselves in those accusations, I guess that's code for Rush and Glenn, but not for all the TV shows and movies that depict politicians and police and military as criminals at best, or the personification of evil at worst. Apparently, his calling the Arizona immigration law racist isn't considered vitriol. Think of all the Law and Order type shows where the theme is a corrupt judge or politician, or a religious person, or a respected member of the professional community. Are we to think that this genre that brings in millions of dollars has no effect on unstable people? The sheriff would seem to be in favor of limiting free speech because some unstable person might hear. This sheriff keeps saying in response to questions, "I'm not at liberty to talk about it," and if so, I wish he'd keep his hyper-opinions about "vitriol" to himself until he has some evidence. It could be this shooter-idiot is a fan of Katie Couric and Jon Stewart and hates Sarah Palin! He was rejected for military service--maybe the sheriff should look into that as his reason for hate.

House Republicans Push Bill to Shut Down White House 'Czars'

The word Caesar means dictator or autocrat. In German it is Kaiser; in Russian it is Czar. In plain Amercan English it means we're losing our representative form of government to appointees.

How many appointed czars are there in the Obama Administration, a trickle that started with Nixon and is now a raging river? These czars are appointees who set regulations that affect everything we do from energy to food to communication, yet never have to be vetted by Congress and can't be recalled by the people through the ballot box.

"Steve Scalise's [R-AL] office estimates that 39 officials in the Obama administration fall under this description. The bill would order Congress to cut off all funding for them and the offices they control. Presumably, the president could afterward try to reinstate them by seeking Senate confirmation."

House Republicans Push Bill to Shut Down White House 'Czars' - FoxNews.com

I'm guessing many wouldn't make it past Senate confirmation, particularly Holdren, Sunstein, Lloyd and Jennings. Here's a recent list published by Fox News.

AIDS Czar: Jeffrey Crowley

Auto Recovery Czar: Ed Montgomery

Border Czar: Alan Bersin

California Water Czar: David J. Hayes

Central Region Czar: Dennis Ross

Climate Czar: Todd Stern

Domestic Violence Czar: Lynn Rosenthal

Drug Czar: Gil Kerlikowske

Energy and Environment Czar: Carol Browner

Faith-Based Czar: Joshua DuBois

Federal Communications Commission's Diversity Czar: Mark Lloyd

Government Performance Czar: Jeffrey Zients

Great Lakes Czar: Cameron Davis

Guantanamo Closure Czar: Daniel Fried

Health Czar: Nancy-Ann DeParle

Information Czar: Vivek Kundra

Intellectual Property Czar: Victoria Espinel

Intelligence Czar: James Clapper

Manufacturing Czar/Car Czar: Ron Bloom

Mideast Peace Czar: George Mitchell

Oil Spill Escrow Fund Czar: Kenneth Feinberg

Regulatory Czar: Cass Sunstein

Safe Schools Czar: Kevin Jennings

Science Czar: John Holdren

Stimulus Accountability Czar: Earl Devaney

Sudan Czar: J. Scott Gration

TARP Czar: Herb Allison

Technology Czar: Aneesh Chopra

Terrorism Czar: John Brennan

Urban Affairs Czar: Adolfo Carrion Jr.

War Czar: Douglas Lute

Weapons Czar: Ashton Carter

WMD Policy Czar: Gary Samore

9/11 Health Czar: John Howard

Cyber Czar: Howard Schmidt

Oil Spill Czar: Ray Mabus

Economic Czar: Paul Volcker (Volcker is expected to leave the Economic Recovery Advisory Board)

Ethics Czar: Norm Eisen (Eisen was appointed last year to be U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic)

Afghanistan Czar: Richard Holbrooke (Holbrooke, who served as Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, died Dec. 13)

Ex-Huffpo CEO Betsy Morgan on What Drew Her to Glenn Beck - Jeff Bercovici - Mixed Media - Forbes

Maybe in some jobs you can just jump over your values and beliefs, switch from Arianna Huffington to Glenn Beck, because you see the growth potential and the challenge, but I couldn't. Even back when I was a Democrat I remember I wouldn't apply for the Women's Studies position because I didn't want to buy pro-abortion materials for the library. That's second hand evil, but Ms. Morgan apparently sees no conflict between liberal and libertarian.
    "I think what’s really interesting to me about this audience and this brand, and it’s very different, obviously, than the one Arianna and I built, but it’s a very substantial community, and it’s a community that interacts with each other and is social. And that community exists because of Glenn and what he’s on on radio, on TV, in print. He’s built an amazing multimedia empire in a short amount of time. What’s intriguing to me from a business perspective is bringing that community together online" says Morgan in the Forbes interview.
Nope, wouldn't work for me. Huff and Puff has done a lot of harm, and she was a big part of that. Maybe a heart/mind transplant?

Ex-Huffpo CEO Betsy Morgan on What Drew Her to Glenn Beck - Jeff Bercovici - Mixed Media - Forbes

Friday, January 07, 2011

Why it's called Climate Change

The alarmists changed from "global warming" to "climate change" because the climate has always been changing and therefore, everything is due to climate change, right? This year the hurricanes and cyclones didn't cooperate, but it's probably due to climate change.

"2010 is in the books: Global Tropical Cyclone Accumulated Cyclone Energy [ACE] remains lowest in at least three decades, and expected to decrease even further… For the calendar year 2010, a total of 46 tropical cyclones of tropical storm force developed in the Northern Hemisphere, the fewest since 1977. Of those 46, 26 attained hurricane strength (> 64 knots) and 13 became major hurricanes (> 96 knots).

Even with the expected active 2010 North Atlantic hurricane season, which accounts on average for about 1/5 of global annual hurricane output, the rest of the global tropics has been historically quiet. For the calendar-year 2010, there were 66-tropical cyclones globally, the fewest in the reliable record (since at least 1970) The Western North Pacific in 2010 had 8-Typhoons, the fewest in at least 65-years of records. Closer to the US mainland, the Eastern North Pacific off the coast of Mexico out to Hawaii uncorked a grand total of 8 tropical storms of which 3 became hurricanes, the fewest number of hurricanes since at least 1970.

Global, Northern Hemisphere, and Southern Hemisphere Tropical Cyclone Accumulated Energy (ACE) remain at decades-low levels." Link.

A simple plan with great benefits

A Columbus school teacher told me that his school has gone to separate lunch hours for boys and girls. "Wow," I said, "What's next? Uniforms?" "I wish," he said.

He says the discipline problems and fights have gone way down. I'm not surprised, but I don't blame the guys, I blame the girls (I be one, you know).

My epiphany was a little late in coming. About 10 years ago we were waiting for our food at the Old Bag of Nails a pub in Tremont Center, our Friday night date spot before we shifted to the Rusty Bucket in the Lane Avenue Center. There was a non-stop noisy table next to us. Much screeching, whooping and screaming--about 6-8 30-something adult women, and two guys younger. It was probably an after work get-together to celebrate something. The 2 guys left for a few moments, either to smoke or to get away from the incessant chattering magpies. The minute they were out of earshot the women settled down. They began quietly discussing things important to them--children, husbands, boyfriends, hopes, dreams--whatever, it was all in hushed tones. Girl talk, not performing for the guys.

I'm all in favor of genderizing the lunch hours in high schools. With separate classes for boys and girls, the girls would do much better, and finally, some of the boys would begin to shine.

Thursday, January 06, 2011

Retracted autism study an 'elaborate fraud,' BMJ

The man who brought back measles.

Retracted autism study an 'elaborate fraud,' British journal finds - CNN.com

"An investigation published by the British medical journal BMJ concludes the study's author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, misrepresented or altered the medical histories of all 12 of the patients whose cases formed the basis of the 1998 study -- and that there was "no doubt" Wakefield was responsible."

And like the global warming hoax folks who were found out earlier in the year, he's whining that he's been misrepresented in the press. Restarting measles is pretty serious too, as well as panicking millions of families.

But only 12 patients? That's an awfully small study.

Deacquisitioning

Librarians who buy materials for libraries are doing the task called "acquisition." When they decide to get rid of that which they previously bought, stored and used, it's called "deacquisition," (aka deselection or weeding). There are guidelines, and the suggestion is to begin with 200-300 items.

So that's what we're doing to get ready for the new storage in the garage. I told my husband this was backward--and I've weeded many a collection. First you weed, then you decide how much shelving you need. If you move it, it will stay.

I've found a number of usable but useless things--like dirty canvas book bags. Absolutely nothing wrong with them but they can't be cleaned. A under the bed storage box (cardboard) still in the wrapper--possibly 20 years old--most people use plastic now. A piece of carpet in case something awful ever happened to the bedroom and we needed just that size.

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Tinicum unsurprised by airport decision but still may fight it

Our tax dollars have been going to improve the homes in Tinicum to make them more sound proof with new windows, doors, AC, and electric upgrades, and now that same government wants to buy 72 of them and knock them down to make room for airport expansion to the tune of $5.2 billion. I think eminent domain laws have completely gotten out of control. The law suit by the city of Tinicum is also paid for with tax dollars, maybe not mine, but it's wasteful considering it's unnecessary.

Tinicum unsurprised by airport decision but still may fight it | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/05/2011

Why would you want more of a failed system?

According to JAMA, "the frail elderly in the United States receive services that are fragmented, incomplete, inefficient, and ineffective." All of these people are using Medicare, or Medicaid, or both (known as dual eligibles). That's 21% of the Medicare population. If our government is doing such a lousy job with this population group which can't speak for itself, why do we want Obamacare, which is working toward a single payer, universal system for every citizen?

Jam it through before the Republicans see it--Obama signs $1.4 billion food safety bill

"The Food Safety Modernization Act, is estimated to require $1.4 billion in new funds over five years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That cost was causing some Republicans, emboldened by GOP gains in November and increased public concern over deficit spending, to question whether the investment is worth the cost." The Packer

Usually I don't use a wiki to look for stats, but this one of foodborne illnesses will have to do because I seem to only be getting 1999 stats. For a country that won't raise the legal driving age which could save thousands of lives a year both of teen agers and their passengers, parents and siblings riding in the car, it seems like a lot of money for hospitalizations from food poisoning and almost no deaths. The CDC claims our food supply is 99.999% safe. Many people die from hospitalizations alone so I think it's a toss up, based on my food poisoning experience of several years ago (food purchased in Europe, but hospitalized in Columbus). This law doesn't cover meat, eggs or poultry and will just add reams of regulation and headaches for producers and raise the cost of our food. Will they add that to the $1.4 Billion? Probably not. And support from the industry? Well, why not? Like most government regulation, it knocks out the competition.

“While it’s a great re-election tool to terrify people into thinking that the food they’re eating is unsafe and unsanitary, and if not for the wonderful nanny-state politicians we’d be getting sick after every meal, the system we have is doing a darn good job,” Rep. Jack Kingston.

Obama signs bill boosting food inspections, oversight and allowing mandatory recalls - latimes.com

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

'Saving' the Housing Market - Thomas Sowell

"We hear all sorts of sad stories about people whose homes are "under water" or who are facing foreclosure. But why should our attention be arbitrarily focused on these particular people, rather than on the many other people who would benefit from being able to buy those same houses, if the prices came down? The government is artificially keeping the prices up with subsidies and with pressures on lenders to accommodate the current occupants. . .

Rescuing particular people at the expense of other people-- whether the others are taxpayers, savers or prospective home buyers-- produces votes. It also produces dependency on government, which is good for politicians, but bad for society."

'Saving' the Housing Market - Opinion - PatriotPost.US

Privatize the Welfare State

This article was published about 5 years ago during the boom years of Bush. Nothing much has changed except the dollars--there would be more now even though nearly $13 billion was being spent for Administration for Children and Families alone, the HHS agency highlighted in the opening paragraph. Before Obama's big spending, there was Bush.

Even though Head Start has never in 40+ years shown any lasting improvement in gains in math or motivation to learn among low income and deprived children.

Even though states and municipalities pile more billions on top of the federal dollars.

Even though non-profits and private foundations also fund or support similar welfare type programs that are failing with federal tax dollars.

But if there is hope, if there are models of success and change, you'll find them in the private sector.

Article | Privatize the Welfare State

However, in 2010, Mrs. Obama's Let's Move program through ACF is going to finance grocery stores close to where poor people live. Nice idea, however, if those stores were viable, don't you think Kroger or Marc's would be there in a minute? American businessmen aren't stupid. And if a Wal-Mart tries to move in, you can expect violent protests from the greenies.

My plan of providing van service to near by supermarkets is much cheaper and more effective.

A cemetery where your tax dollars are buried

Have you ever visited Cyber Cemetery in Texas? What an amazing place. It's where old government reports go to be forgotten and die.

There are some very interesting reports buried alive in this cemetery. And we paid for them. There's probably no greater waste of time and money than being appointed to a government task force. Before I realized that the report had to have been completed according to its charge or law, I looked for Obamacare (zero) and then tried Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (zero). There is a Citizens' Health Care Working Group Final Recommendations dated 2006 commissioned in 2005. Could be a blue print for the overblown, bloated Obamacare 2,300 page bill that no one in Congress read but passed in March 2010.

The 2001 Social Security Commission, a big issue for President Bush, has many buried reports in this cemetery. The 9/11 attacks sort of bumped that off the domestic agenda.

Then after browsing by date, I saw that there was only one report completed in 2009. Considering the number of programs, regulations, and committee reports railroaded through the Obama Administration I thought that a bit light, but perhaps the librarians are behind in their cataloging. Need some ARRA money, maybe.

That final report was the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act and because none of the links did anything but loop and lie, I went into the WaPo archives which announced it's final report. It seems that 60,500 (approximate number) men are raped in prison each year, some on very short mild sentences and very young, but who are so traumatized they don't report it. Happens in the homosexual community too, but again, most male on male rapes are not reported.

So it appears that something else needs to come out of the closet, gay violence. For every gay man who is harrassed, teased, or taunted as reported in the media, there must be hundreds who are physically and sexually assaulted by other gays with no consequences and no publicity.

Monday, January 03, 2011

It's going around--a joke about depression

This has been making the rounds at least since August, but I just got it today from Bill.

WHY I AM DEPRESSED......

Over five thousand years ago, Moses said to the children of Israel, "Pick up your shovels, mount your asses and camels, and I will lead you to the Promised Land."

Nearly 75 years ago (when Welfare was introduced) Roosevelt said, "Lay down your shovels, sit on your asses, and light up a Camel, this is the Promised Land."

Now Obama has stolen your shovel, taxed your asses, raised the price of Camels, and mortgaged the Promised Land!

I was so depressed last night thinking about Health Care Plans, the economy, the wars, lost jobs, savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc. . . I called Lifeline.

Got a call center in Pakistan. I told them I was suicidal.

They got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck.

Addressing the authors of Addressing food insecurity

This is the letter I wrote to the authors of "Addressing Food Insecurity; Freedom from Want, Freedom From Fear," JAMA, Dec. 1, 2010, Vol 304, No. 21, pp. 2405-06. They press all the hot buttons--a reference to FDR, the vision of hungry children, statistics pulled from the air, and citing the American Dietetic Association, and the United Nations declaration of human rights, but not the real causes of hunger.


Dr. Samuel Bitton, MD
Cohen Children's Medical Center of NY

Dr. Jesse Roth, MD
Feinstein Institute for Medical Research

of The North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in New Hyde Park and Manhasset, New York

Dear Doctors Bitton and Roth:

"Food insecurity" is a buzz word I wish the government hadn't developed (2006) to expand the definition of hunger to include reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet or a disrupted eating pattern. Also, your launch paragraph's reference to FDR who lengthened the Great Depression with numerous social programs (now being imitated by President Obama in a variety of take-overs, stimulus packages and bail-outs), is telling. His "freedom from fear" has expanded to Americans fearing the expansion of our government with little hope of being freed from that fear.

But let's address hunger. The number one cause for poverty and hunger among children is their unmarried mother who hasn't completed her education before having babies. Or you could put the responsibility on men instead of women--lack of the biological father in the home--serial boyfriends and sugar daddies don't count, nor does Uncle Sam as a step-father. Keep in mind, this term was developed during the boom economy when the USDA was running out of truly hungry people! Now with government extended unemployment, there are people in food lines who never expected to be there. Then if we look at other causes of low income which could result in "reduced quality, variety and desirability" of the diet, you'll see that the graph for income pretty closely overlays the graph for IQ. Unless you plan to physically remove all children from households where the parents range below a certain IQ level, I think you'll need to rethink your plan to have doctors screen for the "negative health consequences" of nutritionally poor choices.

We could save billions of USDA dollars a year with a simple accessible van service (staffed by the people we remove from USDA SNAP positions) to drive people without transportation to a super market. We don't need elaborate systems of farmers' markets brought into the inner city, or even more school feeding programs. Many people of limited means simply can't get to a well stocked grocery to buy basic goods--10 lbs of potatoes, peppers, green beans, a gallon or two of milk, bread, flour, sugar, fruit juice, eggs, etc. Have you ever tried lugging home a gallon of milk on a bus? I know my plan would cause a lot of unemployment in the USDA funded programs both government and non-profit who live on ever-expanding government grants, but maybe they could go back to college and become doctors.


Food insecurity--a buzz word for government waste

The December 1, 2010 JAMA has a commentary by two MDs on "Addressing food insecurity; freedom from want, freedom from fear," beginning with an appeal of the four freedoms of Franklin Roosevelt (4 term president who extended the Great Depression and took us into WWII). The four freedoms were made famous by Norman Rockwell's paintings for Saturday Evening Post in 1943. The authors, with no citation and apparently very young, claim that the number of underfed Americans, aka "food insecurity," is on the increase.* Let's set aside for a moment that term, which is so squishy it might as well be a pool of quicksand. Two of the four freedoms, freedom from hunger and freedom from fear, if they haven't been achieved through the market, will never be achieved under our present hyper-regulated economy.

First, "hunger" must continue in order to support a massive government bureaucracy that was created at the end of WWII to maintain prices for farmers who had geared up to support the war effort. Before that, hunger was very much a local problem handled at the town and county level or by charitable organizations. Second, FDR's interference in the economy in the 1930s, beginning with extending some of Hoover's social policies, made the Great Depression worse. It's bizarre that Bernanke and Obama and their economic clutch of advisors think more of a bad thing is better, and they are just continuing a failed solution that didn't work then, and won't work now. Third, we'll hardly get rid of fear because over half of the American public fears the encroaching, nanny state government, most specifically losing their representation in Congress to either an over-bearing law making Supreme Court, or an overarching Presidency who just appoints whoevery he wants without confirmation or election to put in place a wide variety of regulations affecting the environment, the economy, the education system, the health-care system, or social behavior. Now that is REAL FEAR! It's much more substantial than lack of calories or fresh fruits and vegetables.

I have some Great Depression balanced and nutritious ideas for today's "food insecure."  First, eat at home; second, learn some basic cook skills.

Red beans and rice

navy beans cooked all day with a soup bone

Macaroni and cheese

Scalloped potatoes

Cooked oatmeal with raisins

Bread pudding

Water instead of soft drinks

A mess of greens--collard, turnip, kale, etc. as a side dish

**This term was introduced in 2006 by the USDA to indicate reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet, or disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake. No hunger is necessary for this term to apply.

Sunday, January 02, 2011

What Muslims in Britain are saying about killing Christians in Egypt

At least 21 people attending a Christian Mass were killed and 79 injured when a bomb exploded outside an Alexandria church in the first hour of the New Year, Egyptian officials said.

The blast struck Coptic worshipers as they exited the Qidiseen, or saints, church just after a New Year's Eve Mass in the eastern section of Alexandria, the ancient city along Egypt's Mediterranean coast. LA Times

This ain't pretty, folks. Hold your nose. Link.

copts are a disgusting people who worship a skinny anonymous jew nailed to a cross

May Allah guide all those whom we have failed to convert the last 1400 years or have them all kill each other for us or make the Muslims do it with valid excuse ameen, and may Allah protect the weak amongst the muslims.

Christmas and Western Civilization -- what it really means

Christmas does a lot for the non-Christian, too, and it's not just a boost to the economy or lovely art and music.

"The celebration of Christmas has been a powerful teacher of the dignity of the human person. For Christians, Christmas is the feast of the Incarnation—the celebration of the moment when God became a man in order to live among men. It shows that God thought of human beings as worthy of being saved, and that he sought to save them by taking on humanity in a perfected form, thus opening the way to their own perfection. Christian belief in the Incarnation is thus inseparable from belief in the objective, and even transcendent, value of the human race as a whole, and of each human person as an individual.

Belief in the Incarnation further implies a certain egalitarianism that has also been important to Western Civilization. According to Christian teaching, all are sinners, and none can claim to be fundamentally superior to others in this important respect. Conversely, and more positively, God wanted to save all people, of all ranks, from their sins and to open the way to a lofty destiny for them all. Thus the Christian understanding of the Incarnation has been important in fostering the West’s sense that, whatever social order may require in terms of hierarchy and rank, there is an irreducible moral equality of all human beings: all are owed a certain respect, even the lowliest among us."

Christmas and Western Civilization « Public Discourse

Basic Economics--Thomas Sowell

No charts, graphs, and just plain English. New revised edition. How is wealth created? (Hint: not by government). The housing bust began the current melt down. Politicians created this by interferring and changing the rules (more home ownership, more affordable housing). Stimulus and bailouts in both the Bush and Obama administrations created boondoggles and didn't help the economy. Lending went down when money was given to banks. GM bailout? Bernanke's QE-2 (printing money)? What was he thinking? Bush tax cuts extension are an acknowledgement by Obama that his policies have failed--that cuts are superior to handing out money for stimulating the economy. All spending begins in the House--Clinton had a Republican Congress, so he can't take any credit for that era's tax policy or deficit reduction. 17% of GDP to health care. Americans chose much of that spending, so how can the government say it's wrong for us to have less waiting time, nicer hospitals, and more available drugs? We pay more and get more says Sowell--it's that simple. People buy what they want. If you're a Swede and you want more or better or faster, you can leave the country to get it, but you won't get it there. About 50% of our health care is already socialized--Medicare, Medicaid, S-CHIP--is this a good system or is there corruption and graft that could be reduced?

Watch the interview with Thomas Sowell.

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Toxic reusable bags

My primary concern about all these "reusable bags" was they all bear the "Made in China" tag, and I thought it really strange with all the hullabalu about the environment why the greenies thought China's coal fired factories were so much cleaner than ours. It didn't occur to me that they might have toxic material, but why not after toxic paint on toys and toxic ingredients in pet food? A true greenie would sew her own from cotton grown in the USA. Plus these things can get really scummy after a few uses especially if the meat or dairy leaks.

Shoppers shrug off fears about toxic reusable bags | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment

Global warming causes blizzards theory of book sales

"In the two months, in just two months President Bush's “Decision Points” memoir has sold almost as many copies as President Clinton’s “My Life” sold in two years." What has happened she asks Alex Pareene, of Salone.

Unfortunately, Norah O'Donnell of MSNBC is interviewing an idiot who apparently doesn't realize that Amazon and B&N were selling books online in 2004. And he apparently can't grasp that President Obama has made the patriotic Bush look extremely good for Americans hungering for a few crumbs of approval.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/01/01/msnbc-bushs-book-popular-because-he-was-so-hated#ixzz19oCgF5xC

Happy New Year 1884


This is the cover of my grandmother's scrapbook--and I'm guessing the date, 1884, was fairly close to the time she started it. I've often wondered if the Studebaker Brothers were distributing some advertising material in preparation for buying up the Mt. Morris College Buildings. The following account is from the Brethren Encyclopedia, 1983.

"By 1883, Mount Morris [College] had entered a very difficult period. Leadership of the college was crippled by [President] Stein's sudden departure and [D.L.]Miller's lack of academic training. The college also faced a financial crisis, one which was so critical that negotiations were begun for the sale of the property to the Studebaker wagon manufacturing company. However, this move created concern and anger among students and the citizens of the town, resulting in the boards search for a president and another financial commitment to assure the college's future. J.G. Royer, superintendent of schools at Monticello, Indiana and founder of the Burnett's Creek Normal School, came to Mount Morris, invested heavily of his own funds in the college, and accepted the presidency of the institution. He served for the next twenty years as president of Mount Morris College and placed it on a firm foundation."

Mt. Morris the town (college closed in 1932) needs such a financial angel to rescue it today.

Friday, December 31, 2010

Is it you or is it WalMart?

Twenty two million Americans have diabetes. Logan Co. WV has the highest rate of type 2 diabetes in the country and their WalMart sells more snack cakes than any WalMart in the World! Whose responsibility is it to consume fewer snack cakes for this at risk population group? The people purchasing and eating or the WalMart stocking and selling?

If you are a liberal (why are you reading this blog) you probably change the question to something about should WalMart be allowed to shut down Mom and Pop stores, or does WalMart cover its part time employees with insurance. If you're a conservative, you just say, it's the individual's responsibility to control her diet.

But to complicate this even further, worldwide 330 million people have diabetes, and most don't live anywhere near a WalMart. So whose fault is that?

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Shopping when she had no money

I was at Macy's today to exchange a gift. Because I needed to try on the dress after the clerk determined the price, I lost my place in line. When I came back I was behind a woman with 8-10 garments--sweaters, tops and whatever you call the long thingy you wear over leggings. Her total came to about $100, which I would say was a great deal considering the quantity she bought. "I don't think I've ever bought that much at one time," I commented to her. She laughed. "You should see what I buy when I have money!" She gave me her card--she was a real estate agent. Wish I could see what she was going to take out of her closet.

JAMA seeking articles on terrorism

According to today's Wall St. Journal, Islamic terrorists have been engaged in their annual tradition of blowing up Christian churches. "An attack by a radical Muslim sect on two churches in northern Nigeria killed six people on Christmas Eve. On the Philippines' Jolo Island, home to al Qaeda-linked terrorists, a chapel bombing during Christmas Mass injured 11." You'll remember last year's wealthy, educated Christmas bomber from Nigeria who came close to blowing up Detroit and was on the terror watch-list. Somali terrorists are threatening Barack Obama if he doesn't embrace Islam, so I'm sure scenes of his Christmas worship in Hawaii will not make them happy. Athens and Denmark are under attack by Islamic extremists.

JAMA is going to specifically include terrorism in its special theme issue on violence due August 11, 2011 for the 10 year anniversary of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2010. Since they are encouraging any article on the health effects of terrorism as well as any topic related to violence, war, civil conflict, and human rights abuses, I sure we'll have a mixed bag of anti-American, anti-free market articles, most supported by our tax dollars through government health grants.

Terrorist attacks, according to JAMA, target civilians and that has mental health effects on the community. However, remember that any such focus has political implications since one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, as in Turks and Armenians, Serbs and Albanians, the Catholic and Protestant Irish and Russians and Chechens. So perhaps a narrower focus on what's on our mind at this time in our history--Islamic terrorism--might be appropriate?

Henninger: Popes, Atheists and Freedom - WSJ.com

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/wealthy-quiet-unassuming-the-christmas-day-bomb-suspect-1851090.html

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/12/28/radical-nigerian-muslim-group-claims-terror-attacks/

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/27/somali-islamist-insurgents-threaten-attack-627018837/

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,737115,00.html

Inalienable moral and legal right to life comes before health

Eli Y. Adashi, MD, MS
Brown University
272 George St.
Providence RI 02906

Re: The right to health as the unheralded narrative of Health Care Reform, JAMA, December 15, 2010, p. 2639

Dear Dr. Adashi,

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

I suppose you could stretch "Life" to include health care, but then you'd first need "life," and have to include the "right to life" as one of those rights too, and until you do, all the UN global health care standards, government regulations, and universal reforms fall flat. Once a baby is chopped up or burned alive and dropped into the trash, all the health standards in all the acts, panels, conferences and world organizations won't make a bit of difference.

Norma Bruce
Faculty Emeritus
The Ohio State University

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Twenty years later has anything changed?

In 1990 I attended a pre-conference meeting for a White House Conference on Libraries, and I wrote in my notes (and I was a liberal then):
    ". . .libraries will be killed off too if they don't put the brakes on seeing themselves as the social change agent for the nation, believing: they can correct what the churches did wrong; they can teach what the schools didn't; they can prevent what the social workers missed; and stop what the government couldn't. . . Librarians will do more good in the long run if they leave Mapplethorp to the cultural arts commissions and instead see to it that a child can check out material on photography to become the best photographer she can be."
Right now because their man is in the White House, maybe librarians have lowered their expectations and will let politicians handle these things?

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

More unintended consequences caused by Congress

Last night's Glenn Beck program was a rerun of some features he's done on American history and the treatment of minorities and aliens, primarily by Democrats. Woodrow Wilson and the reinstatement of segregation in government employment and the military, aka, Jim Crow; Andrew Jackson and the forceable relocation of American Indians; FDR and the internment of Japanese, German and Italian Americans in camps.

And I just came across a little known problem dealing with minorities and Democrats during the FDR years that I'd never heard of: The Tydings–McDuffie Act of 1934, named for two Democrats in Congress, Maryland Senator Millard E. Tydings and Alabama Representative John McDuffie. It provided for the drafting and guidelines of a Constitution for a 10-year "transitional period" which became the government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines before the granting of Philippine independence, during which the US would maintain military forces in the Philippines.

Furthermore, during this period the American President was granted the power to call into military service all military forces of the Philippine government. The act permitted the maintenance of US naval bases, within this region, for two years after independence.

The act reclassified all Filipinos that were living in the United States as aliens for the purposes of immigration to America. Filipinos were no longer allowed to work legally in the US, and a quota of 50 immigrants per year was established."

Sounds to me like the Filipinos lost much more than they gained on this one, particularly if they were already living and working in the U.S. or the Territory of Hawaii, and needed to send money home to their families.

The Honolulu Record

is/was a Communist newspaper published in Hawaii. Frank Davis, President Obama's mentor and friend of his grandparents, wrote for this paper because he was a Communist. However, tracking down links to the archives is a bit iffy--they seem to be "broken." But I did finally get one to work--the archives at the University Of Hawaii, Center for Labor Education & Research.

I thought Communists, at least the CPUSA, had tired of hiding and were now out in the open, after first removing any mention of themselves from current history books--published since the mid-90s, at least. This description of the Honolulu Record is an example of a cleaned up summary of a political system that managed to murder about 70,000,000 people in the 20th century, and the first to go are often their own party comrades with whom they squabble, put on trial, then shoot or send to a gulag.
    "In 1948, Koji Ariyoshi, a social activist, published a labor focused newspaper called the Honolulu Record. Founded on social change, Koji wanted to present another view on local and world issues, especially issues that affected the working class people of Hawaii."
For another "view" all Ariyoshi would have needed was an account of some 1930s purge trials in the USSR looking for someone to blame for their economy.

Monday, December 27, 2010

The House of the People

"This will be the fight of 2011: the unelected central planning “experts” of the Obama Administration versus the newly elected House of Representatives and state and local governments. The people are not powerless. Congress still has the power of the purse and can withhold funding for implementing Obamacare or writing global warming regulations. There is also the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to review and overrule regulations issued by government agencies. State and local governments can also thwart the federal administrative state by asserting their rights whenever possible. We can return power from Washington back to the people. Saying good-bye to the 111th Congress is a great first step." Morning Bell

Not sure the newbie Republicans are strong enough to lasso and hog-tie the Obama goons, but we'll see. It's worth a try.

Third world children are America's lab rats

Parul Christian, DrPH
Center for Human Nutrition
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
615 N. Wolfe St
Room W2041
Baltimore, MD 21205

Dear Dr. Christian,

Today I read the account of your research done on Nepalese children in the Dec 22/29, 2010 issue of JAMA.

My first pregnancy was in 1961 and I received prenatal vitamins containing iron, and I believe the need for folic acid has been known and added to prenatal vitamins since before 1990. For some years it has been known that the relationship between zinc and iron is iffy, with the benefits of each perhaps cancelling the other.

Why is it ethical to experiment on third world children when we already know the benefits of prenatal supplements, and have known for 50 years or more? The control group will remain behind the supplement group for the rest of their lives. Just looking through other studies on the interaction of zinc and iron, I see Bloomberg is supporting research on poor children in other countries. So was that the real point of this research, to show that zinc is not useful as a supplement?

Norma Bruce
Faculty Emeritus
The Ohio State University

Parul Christian, Dr. P.H., of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and colleagues conducted a study to assess intellectual and motor functioning in a group of 676 children, aged 7 to 9 years in June 2007-April 2009, who had been born to women in 4 of 5 groups of a community-based, randomized controlled trial of prenatal micronutrient supplementation conducted between 1999 and 2001 in rural Nepal. Study children were also in the placebo group of a subsequent preschool iron and zinc supplementation trial. Women whose children were followed up had been randomly assigned to receive daily iron/folic acid, iron/folic acid/zinc, or multiple micronutrients containing these plus 11 other micronutrients, all with vitamin A, vs. a control group of vitamin A alone from early pregnancy through 3 months postpartum. These children did not receive additional micronutrient supplementation other than biannual vitamin A supplementation. Through various tests, intellectual (including memory and reasoning), executive (such as processing speed) and motor function (such as manual dexterity and balance) were assessed.

The researchers found that maternal prenatal supplementation with iron and folic acid was positively associated with general intellectual ability, some aspects of executive function, and motor function, including fine motor control, in offspring in a rural area where iron deficiency is prevalent. In general, the differences in test scores between the other intervention groups and controls were not statistically significant.
http://pubs.ama-assn.org/media/2010j/1221.dtl#3

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Dear Mom and Dad, December 22, 1980

1980 has not been one of my healthier years. I went to the doctor today and had chest x-rays and blood tests. My chest is clear, viral bronchitis, he says, and gave me an antibiotic to keep it from becoming pneumonia. I get my glasses in a week, and that will be a relief. If life begins at 40, I'm in trouble.

We received your Christmas packages safely, and they've been put under the tree, to be felt, shaken and poked by two eager kids. We've been reading the nice Advent book and calendar Joanne gave us at breakfast.

We went to a tree farm this year and cut our tree. I wouldn't say it is quite like the TV commercials, but it was fun. There was a roaring fire at the barn, and lots of jolly people around.

We've had a few holiday get togethers. A neighbor had an open house, and the art league had a pot luck dinner, and the AIA had a reception (but I was sick) and the office party is tomorrow, but I may not be able to go. It will be a lovely affair--dinner at the hotel in the Ohio Village, a 19th century reconstructed village which is a nice tourist attraction. They have carolers in costume and everything is deorated like the last century.

Sure wish my mommy was here to make me tapioca pudding.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Blogging break for Christmas


I'm never busy (by other people's standards) but I do get distracted by the computer's presence, so I'm taking a break. In addition, I'm gob-smacked by what's going on in Washington right now. I'm not a birther, but I'm beginning to believe our President is an alien, not from Africa but from outer space. A being no one, not the left and certainly not the right, knows how to deal with. This tax bill is by far the worst piece of legislation since Obamacare, and Republicans even with the help of the Tea Party, just can't stop this steamroller of debt and deception. And either his critics on the left are too dumb to catch on, or they are in on it for the media's benefit and are laughing at the Tea Party which has been defeated before the battle even started in Congress. In either case, I just don't even want to blog about it, so better I just enjoy the time of real peace, which is Jesus, not party, not politics, and not nation.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Donald Hall, poet laureate of the U.S. 2006

During 2000, I carried a small 3/5 notebook in my purse, making notes on everything from recipes, to grocery lists (ground chuck was $.99--really?), to things to take to Illinois when I visited my Dad, book reviews, and an item about an 1820 brick house for sale with 8 fireplaces and 41 acres for $263,000 (it was either near Pitsburg, OH, or New Pittsburgh, OH or Pittsburgh, PA--can't tell).

And flipping through the notebook I see I recorded a poem that really resonated with me, published in the Atlantic, April 2000, by Donald Hall. This was 5 years before he was selected as Poet Laureate for 2006--I could spot a winner.

"You think that their
dying is the worst
thing that could happen.

Then they stay dead."


His wife, Jane Kenyon, also a poet, had died of leukemia, and this was within a series called Distressed Haiku.

To hear Hall read his own works.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Tip for the holiday parties

Talk half as much as you listen.  If you drink, talk 1/5 as much as you listen.


I found this quotation in a 2000 notebook I kept in my purse.  I gave no attribution.

Addressing Christmas Cards 1974


At least I think that's what I was doing--red envelopes  Look at that lime green and yellow vinyl wall paper!  I think 1974 was the year because that's when I got the "serf" haircut.  I can spot at least 3 things posted next to my desk from my friend Lynne.  Her mother was an artist and used to whip out adorable cards.  See the cabinet and shelves behind me?  Originally, that unpainted pine unit held children's toys; then all my office stuff; now it's in the basement holding light bulbs, vacuum cleaner bags, tools, nails, screws, and general junk.  The desk I'm still using--that might have been the reason for the photo (a polaroid) to show off the desk. Looks like the desk lamp was from the children's nursery. The shelves above my head are still with us somewhere in the basement.

About 365 Less Things--a blog for decluttering



We declutter about every 4 years. This method wouldn't work for me (I already have 12 blogs, so I don't need another one), but I think she has interesting ideas. I found her looking for the value of a small toy plastic toaster with cardboard toast, which I unwrapped while going through a box in the basement, which contained my old toys. Also found a tiny doll house 5" x 7.5".

About 365 Less Things

My husband the architect thinks you design the storage first, then declutter. No, you always use the storage you have. Better to purge first.

Marriage and income gap inseparably linked--Joseph Perkins

And that was the headline of the opinion page in the Jan. 26, 2000 Dixon (IL) Telegraph. I had saved the paper because it announced my mother's death on January 24. Today I was cleaning out a sack of old calendars and found it.

I'm not familiar with the work of Joseph Perkins (hated by Democrats for leaving their plantation), a black columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune (at that time). I don't think any person who's seen the research doubts the relationship between wealth and marriage, or crime and a father in the home. Perkins points to a "new study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute which said that "the gap between rich and poor was significantly greater in the late 1990s than during the 1980s." Don't they always say that with a moving clock? At that time our country was in the longest period of economic expansion with the economy generating more than 20 million new jobs and $2 trillion in additional economic output since WWII, but the "rich have gotten richer, while the poor have remained in place."

Perkins says it doesn't have to do with tax policy or Republicans or spending on anti-poverty programs. "The reality is that the single biggest determinant of a family's upward or downward mobility is whether the family is headed by a married couple. . . Only one out of 20 married couple families are poor. He goes on to point out that single parent families have grown during the past three decades (1970s through 1990s).
    The problem of the poor is not the availability of jobs, for the economy has generated so many new jobs during the past decade that anyone who can't find a job just doesn't want to work. And the problem isn't taxes because most poor folks don't pay taxes, and many actually receive checks from the government in the form of the earned income-tax credit. No, to close the income distribution gap, the next president will have to have the courage to say that the path to upward mobility for the nation's least-well-off begins at the marriage altar."
And here it is 11 years later, we don't have a 3.5% unemployment rate, and still our leaders think the solutions are rehabing houses, more stimulus money, and jobs programs. But women need to keep their legs closed and men need to keep their pants zipped, and they need to finish school and get married before they start a family.

Perkins apparently left his post in 2005, I found him as a columnist more recently at Examiner.com, but his e-mail bounced.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Liberals Leave The Reservation

The Republicans and conservative media got around to reading the bill, and Mike Gonzalez of the Heritage Foundation says it is indeed bad [as Krauthammer said the first day], "The tax cut deal, we now know, has been so freighted with liberal special interest tax giveaways that true conservatives cannot support it in good faith.

The blame for this state of affairs will be on the left. Tax rates will go up on all Americans on Jan. 1, hitting a country beset with 10 percent unemployment and a stagnant economy. It’s baffling that, two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the left has held fast to its belief that penalizing success will somehow incentivize hard work and produce wealth."

Personally, I think Obama is chuckling and rubbing his hands with glee. His far left base is too dumb to even understand what he did. And so are the Republicans. He's made the Republicans stumble and look silly on their campaign promises before they even get to take over.

Morning Bell: Liberals Leave The Reservation | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.

Monday Memories--a visit from Lynne and Genie


Friends from Illinois came to visit on Labor Day Week-end 1972 and "Aunty Lynne" brought two handmade Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls (which I still have) for our children. We had a dinner party, according to the newspaper article, attended the Upper Arlington Art Show, an ice cream social, a band concert and the fireworks at Northam Park. Our friends had also visited in May that year and we toured German Village where we ate dinner at Schmidts, attended a Couples Circle group of First Community where we heard a presentation by the church choir director, and attended church on Sunday at First Community Church.

These little bits of history all arrived in the mail this afternoon. I think I have copies somewhere, but these are really good memories. I'm glad Lynne saved them.

Mark Madoff’--was he as dumb as a rock or in on the crime?

How was all this going on and he knew nothing? And how must he have felt that the man he trusted and loved screwed over everyone including his family. Dad got off easy--he'll be taken care of the rest of his limited life span in prison. Not so his sons and their families. How would he ever get a job? Still, it's awfully cowardly to leave his mother, brother, wife and children to face the public wrath.

Mark Madoff’s Suicide | Sense on Cents

If it hurts to fail, just keep doing the same thing until it feels good

In February 2008 when the economy was tanking, President Bush gave us a $152 billion stimulus. The President and his economic advisors believed that if you put money in the hands of the people, we'd spend it.

"In the past seven years, the system has absorbed shocks: recession, corporate scandals, terror attacks, global war; yet the genius of our system is that it can absorb such shocks and emerge even stronger," he said. "In a dynamic market economy, our economy will prosper and it will continue to be the marvel of the world." [He was wrong, but isn't it refreshing to see the words of a President who believes in us.]

If anything we went out and made purchases in 2008 we might have made in 2009 or 2010, making Obama's recession even worse, just like the cash for clunkers, or cash for drywall did in 2009.

By February 2008 people were starting to be cautious. So then Obama decided that the Bush stimulus wasn't big enough and he wanted even more. Was going to be for infrastructure, he said. Here a sidewalk (in Upper Arlington), there a bridge (to no where). Now that plan has really been a disaster and he makes Bush look like a piker, because very little even got to the hands of the American private sector--most went to save the unions and create more government jobs. Now he wants still another stimulus, aka extension of unemployment benefits another year, even though this will be the third beyond the usual 26 weeks people used to get and the others haven't stimulated the economy either. So how many stimuli do the economists want to try before they admit defeat?

Bush stimulus signed

The Progress Report: Obama's Stimulus Package

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Charlie Gilmour, son of Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour, arrested in London student protests

If anyone should be able to afford tuition hikes, it should be this druggie, who when he woke up, claimed to be sorry. Yes, that's what they all say.

Charlie Gilmour, son of Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour, arrested in London student protests

Don't we wish!



Company Waivers to Affordable Care Act

As of late October, "thirty or so companies and organizations, from the fast food giant McDonald's (115,000) to Maverick County (1), have applied for and received waivers excluding them from the current healthcare legislation/requirements. These entities will not be required to adhere to the minimum annual benefit level which is included in low-cost health plans. These plans are primarily often used to cover part-time or low-wage employees, and will affect over a million people nationwide." There are probably many more now added to this list.

Company Waivers to Affordable Care Act

If it truly is "affordable care" and what we had wasn't, why the need for waivers?

Update: "more waivers to one provision of the new federal health reform law, doubling the number in just the last three weeks to a new total of 222. One of the more recognizable business names included on the newly-expanded list of waivers issued by the feds is that of Waffle House, which received a waiver on November 23 for health coverage that covers 3,947 enrollees. Another familiar name was that of Universal Orlando, which runs a variety of very popular resorts in the Orlando, Florida area. Universal was given a waiver for plans that cover 668 workers."

Conservatives for Patients' Rights

Thinking about snowy Minnesota

They are really socked in, aren't they? The roof of the Metrodome caved in! And it's snowing here in Columbus, too, and we're not good with snow. We'll be socked in the rest of the day, and I'm guessing the children's choir concert will be cancelled this afternoon, plus school tomorrow. Time to get out the Douglas County Record for some old fashioned, small town news. I've never been to Douglas County, MN but reading that paper sure brings memories of back home in Illinois 50 years ago--deer hunter ethics award; piano recital photo from the Baptist church; Republicans having a Christmas party (and even calling it that); all kinds of photos of the 4-H members' awards; and would you believe it, a 2 for 1 special at the Pit Stop Restaurant during NASCAR races! You can't find better snowy day reading than a small town newspaper. Last January, Pastor Borchardt of the Millersville Trinity Lutheran Church said, "When it hits 30 below I promise I will turn on the furnace."

Swedish security police: Violence was 'an act of terrorism' - CNN.com

It's small comfort, I know, but apparently the Swedes who can't define rape because of Feminism messing with their national intelligence (brain, not spying), can still determine terrorism and link it to Islamic Jihad.

Swedish security police: Violence was 'an act of terrorism' - CNN.com

Anna Ardin, Julian Assange Rape Accuser, May Have Ceased Pursuing Claims

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Jon Stewart agrees with Glenn Beck--finally

This is really funny, even if he is a little late to the party.

Maybe it's someone's birth certificate?

Julian Assange has made a threat. He says he has a secret. If any harm comes to him personally, or if WikiLeaks is somehow wiped off the Web, there will be consequences. "It's locked up so tight that even sophisticated military computers can't crack it open. Assange has said that if he or WikiLeaks croaks, the key gets sent out as well, and the whole world gets to see the great big secret inside. Unless that happens, though, what's in that file is anybody's guess -- and the mystery is what makes it such a powerful life insurance policy." Technology News

If you wait long enough


everything comes back in style. But I'd probably have to take out the crinoline in the 1960 dress.

The Pigford President: Obama Signs Black Farmers Settlement

In Pigford I settlement the USDA said we had some 18,000 black farmers, and made payments to 14,500 for some loan discrimination. (The original investigation turned up a possible 205 problem loans.) Then in Pigford II they somehow found 97,000 black farmers who claimed discrimination, but not a single government employee has been investigated or fired? Remember that under Bush people went to jail for misspeaking about Valerie Plame's job assignment, but billions during a recession and no one loses his job?

And the Commander in Thief said, these billions (reparations under any other name . . . ) are "the principles of fairness and equality and opportunity."

This was all brought up by then-Senator Obama in 2007, who in a hanging chad moment, decided surely 80,000 black farmers must have missed the deadline for filing, and in probably the only significant act of his senate years, decided to reopen the case.

» The Pigford President: Obama Signs Black Farmers Settlement - Big Government

Pigford: Racism Against Black Farmers or Government Fraud? | The Stir

Weigel : A Black Farmer Against Pigford

CRS: The Pigford Case

Me & Mrs. Sherrod — And The $1.25 Billion Pigford II Black Farmers’ Settlement - Big Journalism

Faux finishes--are they gone yet?

I don't know when faux finishes became popular, but I know the guy decorators of our place were here before 1990. Most of the faux is gone now except for one tiny room. We discovered sanding down a faux comb glaze was virtually impossible and spread dust throughout the house, so we ended up just painting over it and having an odd texture show through the new paint.

The walls used to be the color of the blue carpeting, with a comb glaze.

According to the WSJ, the new color for 2011 is sort of a hot pink; the color for 2010 was turquoise. Not sure what khaki and peanut are, but that and this very pale gold will be with us for awhile.

Democrats help Chinese firm chase stimulus dollars

Although this is no big surprise, it is a bit of a shock that MSNBC is reporting it. Apparently, this doesn't count as "shipping US jobs overseas." We're just giving the Chinese the entire country, not just the jobs.
    "Top Democratic fundraisers and lobbyists with links to the White House are behind a proposed wind farm in Texas that stands to get $450 million in stimulus money, even though a Chinese company would operate the farm and its turbines would be built in China.

    The farm’s backers also have close ties with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who, at the height of his hard-fought re-election bid this fall, helped blunt congressional criticism over stimulus dollars possibly going to create jobs in China by endorsing a proposal by the Chinese company to build a factory in his home state. Although his campaign received thousands of dollars in donations from the wind farm’s backers and Reid stood on stage with them at a campaign event they hosted, his office declined to answer any questions about the wind farm’s organizers or their plans for Nevada."

It looks like one American had the decency to hang his head.

The Chinese still get to use coal and petroleum, while these same Democrats stop our energy souces in the Gulf, California, Texas, the Appalachian states like southern Ohio, our life blood, and Alaska. What a piece of work!

Dems help Chinese firm chase stimulus - Business - Going Green - msnbc.com