Illinois in deep doo-doo--Ohio will follow

Sad news from "home" (haven't lived there since 1957, but old habits. . . ) The state is in even worse shape financially than what is generally known. And now Ohio can get in line since Issue 2 failed. "Nursing homes like Pinecrest [which I support with donations] will not be vouchered for July Medicaid billings until December--payment will follow some time after that." As the federal government heaps mandates on the states which are required to balance their budgets, we'll see more of this. The town lost its schools forcing a merger some time in the 90s--teachers unions were useless to stop it. A union strike in the 70s killed the town's main industry. Government and the unions, arm and arm, into the sunset.

You could tax every wealthy person out of existence, take every penny they had, and you wouldn't be able to solve America's addiction to debt. You know in your own life you have to cut spending and not put more on the charge card. Why is it so difficult for men and women who have achieved the pinnacle of success, fame and wealth, to figure this out?

The American Dream

is not a house, or a nicer car, a dream job, the perfect family or a college degree. The phrase comes from this--and it isn't all that old:

James Truslow Adams, a one time investmen banker who lived on his wealth to become a writer, wrote in his 1931 book Epic of America “but there has been also the American dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.”

We've definitely moved away from the idea "according to his ability or achievement, And that was true in 1931 also, as we moved deeper into FDR's socialism and on to "according to his demands and visions of entitlement." Wikipedia says Adams was heavily influenced by Marxism, so maybe it's come full circle.

Five women

I like Hermann Cain, but I think his candidacy is toast. There's just no way Conservatives can jump all over Bill Clinton and his bimbo eruptions, defending the women who accused him of assault and rape, and then claim it doesn't matter with Cain and that the women are plants or unreliable. Both Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh today sounded absolutely stupid on this issue and I think they were offensive to all women. Both have been all over the rape and assault stories emerging from the various Occupy sites. Sauce. Goose. Gander.

Yes, Ted Kennedy had more accusations, and one woman ended up dead; and Bill Clinton couldn't keep his pants zipped, and John Edwards would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for a yellow rag--it certainly wasn't the regular media pursuing the story. But they were Democrats. 'Nough said?

It's Brussels Sprouts week--bleh!

That's what my World's Healthy foods newsletter said. I don't like Brussels sprouts--but I do like their cousins, other cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, kale, cauliflower and cabbage. Eating more vegetables--all types and colors--can help with weight control.

A recent issue of Lancet says:

"In this report, we used a simulation model to project the probable health and economic consequences in the next two decades from a continued rise in obesity in two ageing populations—the USA and the UK. These trends project 65 million more obese adults in the USA and 11 million more obese adults in the UK by 2030, consequently accruing an additional 6—8·5 million cases of diabetes, 5·7—7·3 million cases of heart disease and stroke, 492 000—669 000 additional cases of cancer, and 26—55 million quality-adjusted life years forgone for USA and UK combined. The combined medical costs associated with treatment of these preventable diseases are estimated to increase by $48—66 billion/year in the USA and by £1·9—2 billion/year in the UK by 2030."

Health and economic burden of the projected obesity trends in the USA and the UK : The Lancet

Two books, two adoption stories

Today our book club will be discussing "In a heartbeat," the story of the Tuohy family and their adoption of Michael Oher, a black teen-ager. The very successful movie, "The blind side," told the story of how they came to meet Michael and fold him into their loving family, assisting him to become a high school and college graduate and a successful NFL player.

It is an inspiring story--although I disagree with some of the basic points--like "how little it takes to help fill the desperate wants" of the poor and unfortunate, or the subtext that Michael would not have succeeded in life without them and the boost they provided.

At the same time I was reading "Prairie Tale" by Melissa Gilbert, of Little House TV fame. She was adopted when less than a day old and grew up in a family of glitz, glitter and glam, passionately loved, treasured by parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, managers, co-stars, and given every opportunity our culture could bestow on a child. She was no Laura Ingalls Wilder! At a very young age she had multiple "families" from the various TV and movie crews in which she lived an alternate fantasy. Unlike Michael Oher, she became extremely promiscuous, an alcoholic, obsessing about her origins, resentful of her parents and fame, and a woman without any moral compass or spiritual/religious guidelines. Even after multiple affairs, body and facial surgery to look more glamorous, and a life of fame and enormous wealth, she needed a therapist to help her feel "whole," and considering that this year she is getting a divorce from her second husband whom she acknowledges as the love of her life in the book, she's still on a journey.

'Glee' has a harmful and inaccurate adoption story line

Unfortunately, some teens believe what they see on TV--actually, many adults do too. You don't get a "do-over" with an adoption. There might be problems with laws, lawyers, and birth parents or adoptive parents changing their minds later, but you don't get to yank the baby back from the "real parents," the ones who have legally adopted her.

State laws vary, but most don't allow a birth mother to change her mind after she has signed adoption papers, according to a 2006 study by the non-profit Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. States with a revocation period often limit it to 30 days or fewer.

"For adopted children, the show raises the fear that they may be taken away from their adopted families," says Austin's petition, posted on Change.org, a website promoting petitions and social action. "And for young women facing unplanned pregnancies, many of whom are in Glee's target demographic, the show gives the inaccurate impression that adoption is a temporary solution, not a permanent one."

Fox's 'Glee' has 'harmful' adoption story, petition says - USATODAY.com
There's already enough misinformation out there about babies and single moms. Young mothers of the Glee demographic need to know that the baby will be an adult many years longer than the cutsy first two years.

The comments in this article are telling. The range from "grow up--it's a TV show" to disbelieving that anyone could take the show seriously. Boy, are they clueless!

Obama bundler pays no taxes

George Kaiser is one of the richest men in the world--maybe $9 billion. If Obama took all his wealth, he still couldn't pull off the jobs bill. But Kaiser hasn't paid taxes in years--as in zip, nada, zilch-- and he was one of Obama's "bundlers" during the last campaign. Probably donating heavily for the next one too. He's a huge donor to philanthropic causes, keep in mind. I suspect his efforts go much further than the same amount sent to Washington. He was also an investor in Solyndra, which may have been payback for his campaign efforts. His tax offsets to income are completely legal--set up for the wealthiest by our bi-partisan Congresses over the years. But keep in mind, his wealth is in oil and gas, and he's still backing the gov't investments in "green" energy. The government (aka our tax money) doesn't need to be involved in any way--there are plenty of deep pockets like Kaiser to fund the research and development.

Solyndra | George Kaiser | Obama's Solyndra case follows Blago's pattern | The Daily Caller

George Kaiser's $10 Billion Bet - Forbes

Obama's failed jobs plan is being blamed on Republicans

President Barack Obama likes to claim Republicans are holding up his "jobs plan" (aka campaign for a 2nd term, or Stimulus, Jr.), but the Democrat controlled Senate is holding up the House jobs plan, a common-sense, bipartisan jobs bill known as "Plan for America’s Job Creators."

Government doesn't create jobs--businesses do. Americans do. This plan was unveiled over 6 months ago, and the President has ignored it, and the Senate won't pass it. Instead, they've launched more class warfare (fits well with how they are doing in other countries) by claiming if we just taxed the richest 1% more, we could put people back to work. This Job Creators plan involves fixing the tax code and reducing regulatory burdens. It suggests new trade agreements and new markets for American products. It promotes domestic production of energy and paying down our debt. What does the president offer? More campaigning, more blaming and more spending. The President continues to campaign, knowing his plan won't pass (not even his own party likes it) and can't work, just so he can blame Republicans. For bi-partisan efforts to restore the economy, look to the plans put out by the Republicans, not a failed President and Senate.

Great trip to Greensburg PA, 35 miles east of Pittsburgh to the Westmoreland Museum of American Art to see this wonderful show, The Tides of Provincetown. Next it will be in Wichita, KS, then back to the east coast. It is worth a drive to see it. This art colony was started in 1899 and the show is examples through the years.

I'd never heard of Greensburg (about 3.5 hours from Columbus), and on the map it looked like small town, but it isn't--at least not for people like me who grew up in towns under 3,000. About 16,000 says the 2000 census (when will new figures start appearing? They had all that stimulus money.) There's a nice video on the town website--click and you can see many of the sights of Main Street where we walked to find a place to have lunch. Many huge, lovely churches, and it's the county seat, and that building is quite grand, too. We saw lots of reviving businesses in the downtown area.

What's in your frig today?

Food prices are going up and up, but food is still a good buy. You don't need a farmer's market to eat well, although that's wonderful in the summer.

What's in your refrigerator today in fresh fruits and vegetables? Here's my list.

Sweet potatoes, 2 varieties white and orange (yams)
onion white (cut and wrapped for storage),
broccoli
cauliflower
3 kinds of sweet bell peppers, red, yellow, green
carrots
baby spinach
turnip greens
head lettuce
celery

apples
cranberries
Tomatoes
orange juice
tomato juice
apple cider
dried prunes

In the freezer I have corn, beans and peas.

Potatoes, dried things that don't need refrigeration like raisins, are in the cupboard, not the frig, and bananas are on the counter top.

But I read every label. I try to buy only from the USA or Canada. I like to keep white grapes on hand, but haven't found the right label lately. Occasionally Philippines and Costa Rica, which I'm hoping come under some sort of scrutiny through their political relationship with the USA. Yesterday, the peppers sign said "Canadian grown" but at least one batch had Mexico labels.

What's up with HIV testing?

The gains in our life expectancy in the United States have primarily been in the area of public health, not miracle technology, end of life nursing care, pharmaceuticals or screening for disease. Malaria and polio and small pox didn't become footnotes in our history books because people were given choices. When my sister Carol got polio in 1949, the poster quarantining us and warning the whole town went up immediately--even in a rural community.

So I'm wondering why men entering the prison system, who've had most of their rights taken away, have the right to say NO to being tested for HIV. Male to male/men having sex with men (MSM) is still the #1 method of transmission of HIV/AIDS followed by IV drug use. Although MSM represent 2% of the population, they account for 64% of all new infections (including 3% among MSM who are injection drug users [IDUs]). In prison, sex is how you get and return favors. Even men who aren't gay have sex with men in prison, plus rape and sexual assault makes the younger, weaker and disabled men very vulnerable. There is actually a law passed during the Bush years that addresses the seriousness of rape and assault in prisons. However, counting noses for sexual assault will not provide treatment for a disease that can now be controlled with anti-retroviral drugs.

Today I was reading about a program for HIV screening of male inmates in the state of Washington, 2006-2010. When the program was opt-in (inmates offered the test during incoming medical evaluation and they needed to agree to it), there were fewer diagnoses of HIV than when prisoners were offered opt-out (during evaluation they were told the testing was standard but they could refuse it). Opting out brought in about double the new diagnoses. The numbers of new diagnoses using either opt-in or opt-out was not huge--but what baffles me is why they were given a choice, since in other STDs, testing seems to be a part of the screening without prisoner choice. Also, these are NEW diagnoses--some carriers were already know to the health authorities since they were not new to the system.

Since a higher proporation of prison inmates are minorities, and a higher proportion of minority men have HIV/AIDS, this option to be tested has a greater impact on the minority population in general, since most of the incarcerated will evenually leave prison and go home to their families--untreated and undiagnosed, and probably not reporting they were assaulted in prison.

Of those diagnosed with new cases (not the total group), 42% who had newly diagnosed HIV identified themselves as heterosexual and 21% reported sex with men, and 32% reported IV drug use. Many young people today do not remember the severity of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s before the new drug treatments--and combine that with the generally lack of foresight among the young, and I believe you have a toxic brew that could be made less dangerous if the prison systems required HIV testing with no opt-in, opt-out, or crying about violation of rights by some do-gooders who can't look beyond next year to see what will happen down the road.

Raj Nair is from Columbus

Glenn Beck and Raj Nair (not sure of his title on the show) were discussing Glenn's recent visit to Ohio and last year's visit to Wilmington, and Raj mentioned he is from Columbus and likes Schmidt's Restaurant. We do too! It was our "date night" location for many years.

You can ask Raj questions at Raj@gbtv.com



Here is Raj with hair and also here. And jumping into Mirror Lake before the Michigan game in 2008.

Standards--for dems and dose

Sex scandals or even wiffs of them, don't bring down Democrats--Bill Clinton a serial woman abuser and skirt chaser, Barney Frank's lover who learned some government secrets before dumping him, Jesse Jackson's love child, John Edward's affair that his staff and wife knew about while he was campaigning. But they do cause a problem for Republicans--mainly because they don't have the protection of the media. Let a gay representative text a page, or a woman staffer feel threatened in the presence of a black man, and Oh My. You might as well erase the name from the ballot and send the staff home.

Which I suppose will bump Newt to the top--everyone knows his scandals, plus he's had his other marriages annulled and is a "good Catholic" now instead of a bad Baptist.

Do you still own a "record player?"

We still own a turn table/record player--it's in my husband's office and soon we might start playing the old Christmas records. At the library I saw a 1981 Time Life album of the Statler Brothers for 50 cents, still sealed, so I bought it.

Side One: Flowers On The Wall/You Can't Have Your Kate And Edith Too/Ruthless/Bed Of Roses/Do You Remember These? Side Two: Class Of '57/I'll Go To My Grave Loving You/Who Am I To Say?/Do You Know You Are My Sunshine? Really like that Class of '57 written by the two who actually are brothers, Harold and Don Reid. The group's name comes from a box of tissues in their hotel room when they were starting out.

Sautéed Vegetables with Cashews

This looked awfully good when it came via e-mail from The World's Healthiest Foods. The vegetables are several types of peppers, onions and snow peas cooked in a little chicken broth tossed with cashews and a little home made dressing. Love that sort of stuff for lunch. But. When I looked up the nutritional values I found this: 372.28 calories per serving, of which 266.17 calories are from fat. The culprit seems to be the cashews--1 oz. of cashews is 156 calories, of which 112 are from fat. And I don't know about you, but I've NEVER eaten just one ounce of cashews--I'd be better off not to have them in the house where I'd pass the pantry and reach for a handful about 3 p.m. when I get the munchies.

I looked up red, green and yellow peppers, and sliced up you’d have about 25 calories, then grill in olive oil add another 40, the grilled onions for another 35; snow peas about 40. So it looks like if you removed the cashews, you still have a delicious vegetable dish, very colorful, with few fat calories. I'd probably skip the dressing too, because it disguises the flavor of the vegetables.

November is National Blog Posting Month

You'll see a banner on the right below my Facebook badge "NaBloPoMo" or National Blog Posting Month. Apparently, there are bloggers out there who can't force themselves to post every day so there are contests and prizes to encourage this! Wow! And they need prompts for something to say. Unbelievable! This has never been my problem--I usually post several times a day here, although I do fall behind in the other eleven.

A notice about debt

This is a public service announcement for any Occupiers, or people who call themselves the 99%-ers, or those earning the new Girl Scout badge for good credit. If you believe ads like this that promise "rewards," or "deals," or "savings," or "earnings," or "shopping made easy," or "20% off," or "cash back," please know that they are asking you to spend money and go into debt. Debt has to be paid back, sometimes with interest, sometimes after the item wears out! You are making the 1% richer if you don't realize that "save" actually means "spend." Don't say you weren't warned or that you didn't know, and go whining to the banks or the President that life is unfair.

He's the best horse in the race, but I don't have to like it

The College Board and News Corp. sponsored a forum on education with four GOP presidential candidates last week . . .

Michele Bachmann (local control), Rick Santorum (moral values) and Herman Cain (business principles) stuck mainly to their talking points, but Mr. Gingrich kept the crowd of 1,000 or so engaged and entertained with a wide-ranging tutorial on everything from the failures of "L.A. Unified" to Jeb Bush's Florida "virtual school." The session was a reminder of Mr. Gingrich's knowledge of government and rhetorical skills, which were overwhelmed by his early campaign missteps.

Political Diary - WSJ.com

Health, abortion issues split Obama administration and Catholic groups

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops organization, in line with the church’s teachings, has refused to refer trafficking victims (sex slavery) for contraceptives or abortion. The American Civil Liberties Union sued, and HHS officials said they made a policy decision (ignoring the review board recommendations) to award the grants to agencies that would refer women for those services.

The bishops conference is threatening legal action and accusing the administration of anti-Catholic bias, which HHS officials deny. . .

Under HHS policies, career officials usually oversee grant competitions, and priority consideration is given to the review board’s judgment. The policies do not prohibit political appointees from getting involved. “I think it’s a sad ma­nipu­la­tion of a process to promote a pro-abortion agenda,” said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the conference. She has written on the organization’s blog that the decision reflects an HHS philosophy of “ABC (Anybody But Catholics)’’. "

Health, abortion issues split Obama administration and Catholic groups - The Washington Post

NYPD Union Warns of Lawsuits Against ‘Occupy’ Supporters

Looks to me that patience is wearing thin, according to this story in the Wall Street Journal today. Twenty police officers have been injured policing these cry babies, and apparently those within the encampment aren't reporting things like assaults and rapes for fear of bringing bad publicity on the group (reported in The Blaze). Haven't women learned anything from making the coffee and providing the sex during so many revolutionary movements?

"Ed Mullins, president of the New York Police Department’s Sergeant’s Benevolent Association, said Thursday that if one of his sergeants is assaulted while policing the protests, his union would file civil lawsuits seeking monetary damages against individual protesters as well as any groups whose support has sustained the demonstrations in lower Manhattan. Any civil suit would be in addition to criminal charges faced by those protesters involved.

“What I’d like to make clear is people can protest, that’s their right, it’s done every day of the week (in New York City),” Mullins said. “But if a sergeant gets injured we are going to hold you accountable.”

Mullins specified that it wasn’t just a warning to the protesters. “We’re going to hold those who allow this to fester accountable too,” he said.

He said the list of those potentially liable could include people providing financial support, food and other supplies to the protesters, the city itself and even Brookfield Properties, owner of Zuccotti Park, where protesters have camped since Sept. 17

So far, Mullins said, more than 20 officers have received injuries while policing the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. He said in many instances the protesters have “intentionally and maliciously” instigated violent confrontations with police."

NYPD Union Warns of Lawsuits Against ‘Occupy’ Supporters - Metropolis - WSJ

The pro-communist, anti-capitalist, Jew-hating roots of Occupy Wall Street

Interesting collection of anti-semitic immigrants, billionaires, non-profits, and U.S. media all getting a foot in the door. I never liked our home-grown hate terrorists like David Duke, or the skin-heads but when they turn out to be ungrateful, rich immigrants whose countrymen were killed by the thousands by the Communists, like George Soros and Kalle Lasn, then I get testy. I remember feeling that way when I was a student at the University of Illinois and we had well-heeled, snooty foreign students who were perfectly happy to have their government paying their way for a foreign education, but looked down on Illinois' African American students (aka Negroes in those days). To me they were worse than our home-grown racists.

Adbusters is one of the big and early promoters of Occupy Wall Street.

Adbusters Media Foundation, which publishes Adbusters, was founded in 1989 by two radicals, Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz. Lasn, the intellectual driving force behind the magazine, was born in Estonia in 1942. He spent his childhood in a German refugee camp and in Australia. In the 1960s, he founded a market research company in Toyko, and in 1970, moved to Vancouver. For 20 years, he produced documentaries for PBS and Canada’s National Film Board.

But then, somewhere along the line he developed an intense hatred of the American consumer economy and became an anti-capitalist revolutionary. The magazine has fostered the development of an international anti-consumerist movement.

As a Christian who grew up in the anabaptist tradition, I'm well aware that worshipping material wealth is a sin. But so is attempting to destroy the livelihood of a billion people. And Lasn certainly isn't campaigning against capitalism for his spiritual health.

The technology of candy corn

The ingenuity, quality control and passion for making candy corn just amazes me. It's a big seller at Halloween time.



HT Neo-Neocon

Today's new word--acidulous

Sure it has the word "acid" in it, but is that what it means? Yes. Sometimes that's a fooler. But it does mean "bitter, sour in taste," with the synonyms, acerbic, biting, piquant, pungent, sharp, tart, vinegarish, and vinegary. I saw it in a book notice in Books and Culture in this context,

In this week's podcast, Stan Guthrie and I discuss Janet Malcolm's Iphigenia in Forest Hills, an acidulous account of a sensational murder trial.

What's Your Kid Getting From College?

Most college debt amounts to that of buying a new Prius--about $28,000--says this author in today's WSJ, but it's the wrong question. What are they getting in exchange for their (your) money?

"At WhatWillTheyLearn.com, students can click onto ACTA's recent survey of more than 1,000 American four-year institutions—and find out how their colleges and universities rate. Two findings jump out. First, the more costly the college, the less likely it will require a demanding core curriculum. Second, public institutions generally do better here than private ones—and historically black colleges such as Morehouse and service academies such as West Point amount to what ACTA calls "hidden gems."

McGurn: What's Your Kid Getting From College? - WSJ.com

But whatever the Occupiers are protesting (and many have absolutely no idea), it's misplaced. It's not the banks' fault their parents and teachers let them slide; that they spent more time on gaming or gaming the system or shooting the breeze at the union than they did hitting the books; that they choose a major without ever checking out the facts about the job opportunities. The ability to communicate either orally or in writing or both is still critical, unless the student plans to live at home in mom's basement and sell internet ads--and for that he doesn't need a $250,000 Harvard education.

Is Obama campaigning Like It's 1936?

Yes, and like FDR, he'll drag this out to achieve his political ends--more government in our lives.

FDR needed more revenue to support his big-government schemes. More importantly, he needed a villain to explain why, given the passage of his New Deal legislation, government spending and regulations, the economy was still struggling.

So he proposed raising taxes on the rich, which he dubbed a “Wealth Tax.” As he explained to Congress in June 1935, “Our revenue laws have operated in many ways to the unfair advantage of the few, and they have done little to prevent the unjust concentration of wealth and economic power. … Social unrest and a deepening sense of unfairness are dangers to our national life which we must minimize by rigorous methods.” President Obama couldn’t have said it better himself.

Obama: Campaigning Like It's 1936 - Forbes

Did the muffins really cost $16 a piece?

Apparently not. A review of costs of workshops, conferences and meetings sponsored by the Department of Justice issued a correction of its September audit in October, 2011. It just didn't give the revised figure for a muffin.

However, the DOJ did spend about $73 million to host conferences during FY 2009, which is $25.5 million (53 percent) more than what was reported spent on conferences in FY 2008. One of them I looked at (actually it was several) was for Native American nations for sex offender training and was held in a plush Palm Springs Resort. Although that's much cheaper than the multi-million dollar one held in Turkey about drugs.

The audit I was reading found that one DOJ event in Los Angeles, California, featured a 2-entrée lunch for 120 attendees that cost $53 per person. In another instance, a DOJ component spent $60,000 on a reception that featured chef-carved roast beef and turkey, a penne pasta station, and platters of Swedish meatballs at a cost of nearly $5 per meatball.

You eat very well at DOJ events.

"AUDIT OF DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE CONFERENCE PLANNING AND FOOD AND BEVERAGE COSTS" Rev. October 2011, U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, Audit Division, Audit Report 11-43

Do you like cooked cabbage?

I really like cooked cabbage, but I could do without the ginger and vinegar; still useful information about cutting it. Very nutritious and low in calories. Steaming it is better than microwaving because "two minutes of microwaving destroys the same amount of myrosinase enzymes as seven minutes of steaming, and you need those myrosinase enzymes to help convert cabbage's glucosinolates into cancer-preventive compounds." After I grill it in a pan, I put the lid on and turn off the heat--I call that "steaming."

"A recent study showed that a 100 gram (about 3 ounces) serving of raw red cabbage delivers 196.5 milligrams of polyphenols, of which 28.3 milligrams are anthocyanins. Green cabbages yielded much less per 100 grams: 45 milligrams of polyphenols including 0.01 milligram of anthocyanins. The vitamin C equivalent, a measure of antioxidant capacity, of red cabbage is also six to eight times higher than that of green cabbage. Red cabbage is one of the most nutritious and best tasting vegetables around and a great addition to your Healthiest Way of Eating."
WHFoods: Cabbage

Today's new word--tranche

as in tranches of money. (see USAToday article of previous blog).

Tranche
A part of an issue. A tranche sometimes refers to a single issue of a security released at different times. For example, a company may announce that is intends to issue $10,000,000 in bonds in two tranches of $5,000,000. Tranches are important to collateralized mortgage obligations, which are backed by pools of mortgages. These mortgages are arranged in tranches that mature at different times, for instance in 10 years, 15 years, and 30 years.

U.S. tracks 'millions' of dollars stolen by Iraqi officials

Seems to be some money missing and not trackable. Wouldn't you think that the brightest minds in the Bush administration and the Obama administration would have at least one person who knew how to do this?

Overall, Bowen said, he has found indications that huge amounts of money were stolen in Iraq. Asked how much, he said it is "impossible to say, but I know just from talking to Iraqis and just my travels to Iraq — I've been there 30 times. What I've learned is that hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars of development fund for Iraq money was stolen by senior Iraqi officials for their own personal gain."

The Inspector General's mandate does not include looking at the tens of billions that were sent from the New York Fed to the Baghdad government after the Coalition Provisional Authority went out of existence in 2004.

U.S. tracks 'millions' of dollars stolen by Iraqi officials – USATODAY.com

Lawrence Welk Halloween Show

The Lawrence Welk Show reruns are mostly new for me since I didn't watch it when it was current (I think it was going even when I was in high school because I do remember the Lennon Sisters were popular, but my parents didn't have TV). Here in Columbus it's on WOSU, and I've seen it on the PBS stations in Toledo also. Some great old songs, and Welk always included contemporary songs, too, which now are also old songs. On the close-ups you can see that in those days not as many TV stars had their teeth capped and straightened. Guy and Ralna I've learned from a Google search, are now divorced, so apparently, he did stop loving her. They really were a great duet.



Lennon Sisters from 1956

And every time I see an entire orchestra in orange or aqua suits, I do wonder how they did that.

“We Are All Scott Olsen.” Agreed!

I don't want to see anyone get hurt at the Occupier demonstrations, but you could almost see and hear them salivating for a martyr. And they found one, and he's a 2-fer, a U.S. Iraq War Veteran. It would have been better if he had been a minority, or a transvestite, but you can't have it all, even in Occupy Town. However, if you watched the video, I'd say the police, who are quite accustomed to Oakland periodically rioting about something, were quite restrained.

As you would expect, his background has been checked (and his website quickly taken down). According to Big Government dot com, he revealed his colors and is "Anti-military, anti-Israel, anti-semitic and pro-drugs." It's the drugs thing that may have gotten him his discharge and caused his anger at the military. Don't know. More will come out I'm sure, but he is definitely the face of the movement.

» #Occupy Says: “We Are All Scott Olsen.” Agreed! - Big Government

The Norway Maple

In the beginning God. . . made dioxobilane

"Bernhard Kräutler and colleagues at the University of Innsbruck, in Austria, have discovered a new chlorophyll decomposition product in autumn leaves of the Norway maples. The new structure hints at a decomposition pathway dissimilar to that observed in other deciduous trees. "Essential pieces of the puzzle of this biological phenomenon have been solved only within the last two decades," explains Kräutler but he and his colleagues found none of the typical breakdown products in yellow-green or yellow Norway maple leaves. The main product was a dioxobilane, which looks more like a chlorophyll breakdown product from barley leaves or even bile pigments formed by heme breakdown." The Alchemist, The ChemWeb Newsletter

I'm not fooled by Obama’s bite-size initiatives, are you?

"Almost every day this week, Obama rolled out a program aimed at some troubled sector of the economy: mortgage relief for homeowners Monday, tax credits to spur job growth for veterans Tuesday, college loan relief for students Wednesday, regulatory and information shortcuts for small businesses Friday.

The plan-a-day strategy is an approach designed to portray Obama as decisive as the White House complains about Congress’s failure to pass his jobs bill. Senior administration aides said they expected the effort to continue as long as Congress balks at his proposals."

The student loan relief should save the debtor between $4 and $8 a month. The Mortgage relief didn't work the first time around, and combined with the huge mortgages involved, it's a sop for the wealthy. And what small business wants more regulations to strangle them in exchange for hiring a worker taken from another firm?

Obama’s bite-size initiatives reminiscent of Clinton reelection - The Washington Post

Vitamin A supplements for preventing mortality, illness, and blindness in children aged under 5

According to the World Health Organization, more than 10 million children die each year, almost all in low-income countries or poor areas of middle-income countries, most from one of a short list of causes: diarrhea, pneumonia, measles, malaria, HIV/AIDS, and the underlying cause of undernutrition for deaths among children younger than 5 years. Poverty is always given as the culprit, but I say it's the dysfunctional governments in those countries, many with leaders who have great wealth contributed by gullible western governments who've accepted promises the millions in aid payments will be used for roads, schools or clean water. Clean water and nutritional supplementation could solve a lot on this list. DDT could take care of malaria until a vaccine is found. A stable government could also help with the HIV/AIDS problem if millions of men stayed home rather than travel for work.

WHO estimates, for example, among children living in the 42 countries with 90% of child deaths, a group of effective nutrition interventions including breastfeeding, complementary feeding, vitamin A, and zinc supplementation could save about 2·4 million children each year (25% of total deaths). Effective and integrated case management of childhood infections (diarrhea and dysentery, pneumonia, malaria, and neonatal sepsis) could save 3·2 million children each year (33% of total deaths). Breastfeeding is on the list, I assume, because it's dangerous to use formula when you don't have safe water.

I wish I could say I don't understand why black and brown children in developing countries are still being used like lab rats for vitamin studies by westerners when we've known for nearly 100 years the importance of Vitamin A, and how to supplement food with it since the 1930s. This particular data report published in the British Medical Journal which looked at 43 studies says using placebo trials is unethical because of the high mortality rate for the children who didn't get the supplements.

But the mortality figures don't even begin to factor the blindness and other illnesses. American children have been eating vitamin fortified foods since the 30s and 40s, plus mothers have been getting prenatal vitamins at least since I was pregnant 50 years ago, and maybe longer, and children have been receiving vitamin tablets for over 50 years, so why not just give the African or Asian children a multivitamin tablet high in vitamin A and save the cost of the study? Well, there it is. People make a living doing these studies. Research centers publish results in journals which need advertising revenue. Pharmaceutical companies need reasons to provide the testing material. Meanwhile, a lot of children die or are damaged the rest of their lives for want of a tablet that costs pennies a day.

Vitamin A supplements for preventing mortality, illness, and blindness in children aged under 5: systematic review and meta-analysis -- Mayo-Wilson et al. 343 -- bmj.com

How many child deaths can we prevent this year?

Now Occupiers can get down to living without comforts provided by industry and corporations

After 6 weeks of lovely fall weather, it's time for reality, for the Occupiers of [your city]. Yes, unseasonable cold weather has arrived in both Denver (although their weather is always a bit dicey) and the northeast. Police have confiscated some generators in NYC as a safety hazard, and some people in Denver have been hospitalized for hypothermia, and now they can enjoy all the advantages of a modern society provided by the many they villify, in a hospital.

Of course, that won't stop them in Oakland where protests are a cottage industry and the populace is well prepared.

Ohio Watercolor Society show at the Church at Mill Run

Ohio Watercolor Society will be holding a unique raffle fundraiser at the Church at Mill Run, Hilliard, Ohio, starting October 27, with the raffle drawing November 20, 2011. Here's the way the raffle works.

OWS members are donating framed original watercolors to the raffle. So far 28 paintings have been donated.

Tickets for the raffle are being sold for $100 each (the church does not sell them, btw).

The number of tickets sold will be equal to the number of paintings donated. Everyone who buys a ticket will get a framed original watercolor.

All of the paintings will be on exhibit at the Church at Mill Run from October 27 - November 20. There will be a reception with light refreshments from 4pm - 6pm on Sunday, November 20th. The drawing for paintings will begin at 5:00pm

When your name is drawn you can take your choice of any painting still on the wall.

This is a great opportunity to own an original watercolor by some of the state's best watercolorists. Attached is a flyer with a form and instructions for purchasing a raffle ticket if you's like top participate.

Speaking of architects

Our exercise leader, Christine, has challenged the class to count calories track the food we eat for one week. My husband is a little new at this. He was shocked to learn that although 1/2 cup of chicken, a cup of tossed salad, and 1/2 cup of cooked carrots, was only 315 calories, the one Klondike bar he had for dessert was about 450. Just didn't seem fair. Tell me about it.

The internet makes this tracking much easier than in the past.

Architects have no jobs without the wealthy--but some don't know that

Was just reading through a rant by a young architect/partner about how today's Occupiers are in a class with the poor of the French Revolution, or the northern Irish, or the riots of Arab Spring and other oppressed masses. So I viewed his firm's portfolio. Seems they do quite well with the rich and powerful and well connected. He seems to have a problem distinguishing between dictators/kings and private individuals. Even so, he'd be out of work if the Occupiers have their way--plus they'd be redistributing the wealth of his firm.

In the French Revolution people were in the streets with pitchforks and axe handles because that is the only way they could arm themselves. Today we have electronic pitchforks and a powerful surge of connectedness that Fox News and all the right wing Reaganomic spouters will not be able to shout down. One never knows exactly what triggers a movement such as this, as the freedom from Arab Spring could have been the genesis in the same way that the American Civil Rights movement helped birth uprisings in Northern Ireland back in the 60's. Like it or not we are a globally interconnected world and this appears to be the dawning of the Noosphere as predicted long ago by Teilhard de charadin. You can bet that this is all being blocked on Chinese monitors, but even oppresssive regimes like that that we are beholden too will eventually fall, as this is much larger and moving on. I encourage architects to join the fun. Just imagine the tarring and feathering of bankers and their ilk and how it could lead to a more egalitarian society. So yes, join the fun of it all and be inventive with your slogans and costumes

A Columbus man began a project in June to raise funds for a neighborhood clean-up ($1,500). He found out that it would cost $1,660 for permits and fees. Doesn't have his ducks in a row yet. So how did all these Occupy groups get their permits and approvals so quickly? In a lot of cities, they didn't, even though Tea Parties were charged and even had to get insurance. The leftists who organized these were hoping for the violence that erupted in Oakland, and the arrests in other cities. And the more violence (which the young architect thought would be fun to see), the more over-time for police.

Richmond Tea Party Sues City: Charge #Occupy Protesters Or Refund $10,000 For Rallies at Plaza

Why charge patriots $10,000 for permits, portable toilets, police presence and emergency personnel for three rallies held at the same plaza where the Occupy Richmond squatters set up their camp? The group also had to purchase a $1 million insurance policy.

Richmond Tea Party Sues City: Charge #Occupy Protesters Or Refund $10,000 For Rallies at Plaza | The Gateway Pundit

“When we were applying for our permits, did the city say, ‘Oh never mind, we’re children of the 60s, we believe in the First Amendment’? No, they didn’t tell us that,” she said. “We’re almost being punished for following the law. We do have a problem when others are protesting in the same exact park and they don’t have to follow the same rules.”

Calls and emails made by CBS Washington to “Occupy Richmond” officials and Jones’ office seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Tea Party to Mayor: Make ‘Occupy Richmond’ Pay Up « CBS Washington

In each of those cities where the Occupy Forces have not paid for permits and extra police and toilets, but other groups have, they should be required to pay.

The same thing happened in Boston.

Occupy Boston Gets Free City Services The Tea Party Paid For » American Glob

Ask a librarian

The site meter at my blog shows the question that sent the searcher to my site. I was amused by this one, "if i defalted on student loans 20 years ago how does obama's plan help me"

Figures.

Those Demonstrators in the Park

"The Occupy Wall Street misfits are actually in the minority even along Zuccotti Park, where my agents found them outnumbered by tourists and police. The same is true in Washington, D.C.'s McPherson Square. Yet you need not take my word for it. Consider the polling done by Douglas Schoen, a pollster who served President Bill Clinton and is doubtless still a loyal Democrat. He polled the Zuccotti Park patriots and found "the movement doesn't represent unemployed America and is not ideologically diverse. Rather, it comprises an unrepresentative segment of the electorate that believes in radical redistribution of the wealth, civil disobedience, and, in some instances, violence." As for Americans in general, they are not so high on the folks in the park. A USA Today/Gallup poll taken between October 15 and 16 found 22 percent approved of the movement's goals, 15 percent disapproved, and 63 percent said they did not know enough about the movement to make a judgment.

That does not sound like the Occupiers are making a lot of headway with the average American. But they are making headway with Liberal Democrats." And he goes on the name names.

The American Spectator : Those Demonstrators in the Park

Apparently night vision goggles have allowed police to determine that very few "occupiers" are spending the night in their tents. Also, in New York, the kitchen crew of Zuccotti Park have rebelled and no longer want to feed the homeless--so they are switching to brown rice and something else organic. I suppose they figure the street people can get better fare somewhere else.

Occupy Wall Street kitchen slowdown targets squatters - NYPOST.com

Yams and sweet potatoes--like OWS and the Tea Party

Our Monday exercise class instructor challenged the class to track calories for one week, so I've been reading labels and checking the internet. I'm a bit bored with the usual fare of peas, beans and corn, so today at Giant Eagle I looked at sweet potatoes--or thought I did. I actually almost picked up a yam, which isn't even close in nutritional value to a sweet potato. The two aren't even related. Yam has 3% vit. A; sweet potato has 770%. Yam is inflammatory; sweet potato is highly anti-inflammatory.

Sweet potato
770% vit. A
65% vit. C.
180 Calories
Highly anti-inflammatory
This food is low in Sodium, and very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin B6 and Potassium, and a very good source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Manganese.

Yam
3% vit. A
27% vit. C
158 calories
Moderately inflammatory
This food is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Potassium and Manganese

Sweet potatoes: Popular in the American South, these yellow or orange tubers are elongated with ends that taper to a point and are of two dominant types. The paler-skinned sweet potato has a thin, light yellow skin with pale yellow flesh which is not sweet and has a dry, crumbly texture similar to a white baking potato. The darker-skinned variety (which is most often called "yam" in error) has a thicker, dark orange to reddish skin with a vivid orange, sweet flesh and a moist texture.

The true yam: is the tuber of a tropical vine (Dioscorea batatas) and is not even distantly related to the sweet potato. The word yam comes from African words njam, nyami, or djambi, meaning "to eat," and was first recorded in America in 1676.

The yam tuber has a brown or black skin which resembles the bark of a tree and off-white, purple or red flesh, depending on the variety. They are at home growing in tropical climates, primarily in South America, Africa, and the Caribbean. Yams are generally sweeter than a sweet potato.

So, from now on, I'm buying only sweet potatoes--better nutrition and highly anti-inflammatory.

For lunch I'm having sweet potato sticks, with some fresh spinach. Not sure it will exactly this in appearance, but all the nutritional stuff should be there.

The Entitlement Trap by Richard and Linda Eyre

Glenn Beck interviewed the author of this book tonight, as well as Tony Evans, a black pastor from Dallas who has a program called Adopt a School.

Book Review: The Entitlement Trap by Richard and Linda Eyre » mommablogsalot.com

The tax payers are picking up the tab for the remainders

President Obama reported between $1 million to $5 million in royalties in 2010 for “Dreams from My Father,” and between $100,001 and $1 million for “The Audacity of Hope,” and now the State Department has spent $70,000 buying up probably what's left of Dreams. I've seen them in used book sections for about $2.00. According to a State Department rep, it's just SOP. “We also provide key library collections with books about the United States,” Noel Clay, the spokesman, told The Times. Analysis of his books--style, word choice, etc. and his lack of previous experience writing, have left some doubt as to whether he's actually the author.

It's not the money--this is pennies in government waste of tax dollars. It's the appearance of narcissism and impropriety.

State Dept. spends $70K on Obama books - Washington Times

Brian and Norma chatting on an airplane

This is fiction of course, based on a circulating e-mail and my recent experience with an atheist spammer.

An atheist (St. Brian the Godless) was seated next to a little girl (Norma) on an airplane and he turned to her and said, "Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."

The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, "What would you want to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know," said the atheist. "How about why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?" as he smiled smugly.

"OK," she said. "Those could be interesting topics, but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff, grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?"

The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea."

To which the little girl replies, "Well then, -- do you really feel qualified to discuss why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death, when you don't know shit?"

And then she went back to reading her book reporting him to his ISP for spamming and stalking her.

Forwarded from Rick and Kate

The lemon joke

Sally Mullihan of Coral Springs, Florida decided to take one of the jobs that Americans are not willing to do. The woman applying for a job in a Florida lemon grove seemed to be far too qualified.

She had a liberal arts degree from the University of Michigan and had worked as a social worker and school teacher.

The foreman frowned and said, "I have to ask you, have you had any actual experience in picking lemons?"

"Well, as a matter of fact, I have! I've been divorced three times, owned 2 Chryslers and I voted for Obama."

Forwarded e-mail from Bill Kientz

Protestors ‘Will Come For You, Drag You Into The Streets

Geraldo Rivera ridiculed Glenn Beck on O'Reilly a few nights ago--called him paranoid and delusional because he warned us about the potential violence in the occupy movement. But here's a video of the left agreeing with him--"Take a banker out by the tower and string him up on the town square." Where are all the alarmed Democrats who thought Sarah Palin shouldn't use the word "target" in her campaign. Glenn has had these Soros/Tide Foundation/Union supported movement pegged from the beginning. Why not just believe their words, argues Glenn. They've told us what their intentions are. Yes, why don't you?

Glenn Beck: Protestors ‘Will Come For You, Drag You Into The Streets, And Kill You’ | Mediaite

Clinton on Qaddafi: "We came, we saw, he died"

Army privates who were assigned to guard prisoners were roundly criticized for "torturing" men by requiring them to don women's underwear (sexually humilited I believe was the term) taking their photos and listening to loud music, along with the Commander in Chief, for Abu Graib for their bad behavior. How much then should we expect from an Ivy League graduate, a lawyer, a former first lady of Arkansas, former first lady of our country, and the Secretary of State. She jokes about the death of Qaddafi? My how standards change for Democrats when it's their administration.

Clinton on Qaddafi: "We came, we saw, he died" - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

Tides Foundation Grantee Was Founded by Convicted Terrorist

Keep an eye on the "Velvet Revolution," which is attempting to undermine our military and links to Van Jones, Obama's former green czar.

Tides Foundation Grantee Was Founded by Convicted Terrorist - Big Journalism

Bill Maher with Van Jones About our "Occupy Wall Street" | www.StopTheChamber.com

The New American

Obama’s ‘Green Czar’ Van Jones: ‘Green Jobs’ Goal is ‘Complete Revolution’ Away From ‘Gray Capitalism’ [update 6: 9/11 Truther and The Nancy Pelosi Connection]

This is odd--faculty already get a break on their kids' tuition

Dear Medical Center Faculty:

If you have a child who is applying to The Ohio State University College of Medicine this year, we would like to know about it.

While we do not guarantee acceptance into the program, we would like to be notified that your child is applying so that we may be sure that their application receives the appropriate attention. Your child's application will be subjected to the same rigorous review process of any other applicant.

If you have a son or daughter who has applied to the College of Medicine, please contact us by email . . .

Failed Democrat Politician Sues Critics for the truth

This needs to be watched! An Ohio congressman Steve Driehaus loses his job (representing his district) after one term, and he blames the group that publicized his voting record? And an Obama appointed judge instead of laughing him out of court, is letting the suit go forward.

"During the 2010 elections the Susan B. Anthony List engaged in a campaign to identify and call out a group of allegedly anti-abortion-rights members of Congress who provided the margin that allowed President Barack Obama's reform of the nation's healthcare system to get through the U.S. House of Representatives. The Susan B. Anthony List said their vote in favor of the law, which did not include any pro-life protections, amounted to a betrayal of their pro-life principles. . .

The accompanying executive order the president signed regarding abortion was designed to provide political cover to a group of House Democrats whom he needed to win. It was no substitute for the so-called "Stupak Amendment" that would have written pro life protections into the healthcare bill but was defeated on the House floor. . .

U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black is the former president and director of the Planned Parenthood Association of Cincinnati. As seeming conflicts of interest go this one is a real humdinger."

Failed Democrat Pol Sues Critics Over Election Loss - Peter Roff (usnews.com)

Everybody's Getting Drunk at the Holiday Party

She thinks it's the economy. It's always been pathological Ms. Casserly. I remember attending an office party 51 years ago in Indianapolis, where the host (a VP I think) had wet himself long before we got there--probably started around 3 p.m. I'll never forget what an embarrassment he was to his wife, family and company, greeting people with urine streaming into his shoes and socks trying to kiss the ladies. Out of control drinkers don't need an excuse. If it's not the economy, then it's something else.

Everybody's Getting Drunk at the Holiday Party - And Not Because It's Fun - Forbes

Rightwords... Prudent Conservatism

Check out this blog by a retired engineer--he's good.

The cries for free everything [at the Occupy sites], and down with capitalism, are so old they smell of the musty basements and ratty holes in the wall where all manner of dusty propaganda pamphlets have been stored for over 50 or more years waiting for the time to come out once again. One can almost hear Gus Hall exhorting his followers to man the streets. Or so the new generation of radicals must believe that do not realize their ancient, collectivist, anti-capitalist ideas have been thoroughly discredited, stuffed and flushed every time they have arisen in America, and will again if called for in jig time.

Rightwords... Prudent Conservatism

Slow to the gate--Ohio State students

Being a university town (Ohio State has about 50,000 students on one campus) I thought our students would be louder and rowdier about the Occupy thing, and then did finally hear that yesterday they were going to march from the campus to the state house.

Then today I read a notice about a lecture on medical disparities in the conference theater in the spiffy new $100 million union named for U.S. Bank, so I looked that up. U.S. Bank has $1.1 billion in deposits in central Ohio in 46 branches, and in exchange for the bank’s $1.05 million donation, the Minneapolis-based bank signed on for a 25-year naming rights deal to the 2,500-square-foot conference theater in the Ohio Union. Think of all the classroom buildings, theaters, playing fields, streets, parking lots, auditoriums, museums and schools that will need to give back money, if the Occupy whiners are successful in completely demonizing the banks. After all, it wouldn't be fair for some schools and cities to have the funds and not others.

Or, what if students just said NO to credit cards and used only checks or cash for their campus expenses? They could probably save even more if they said NO to beer and pizza!!!

Democrats and the Teachers' unions--Illinois

Although this story is from the Rockford Register Star in Illinois, it's business as usual for teachers' unions. Most teachers are Republicans, but they are forced to contributed to Democratic causes, candidates and scams through their unions. In Ohio, you can't teach if you don't pay union dues, although there's no compulsory membership. They just want your money. To stop these abuses so that school boards can negotiate what's best for the children, not the union officials, vote YES on ISSUE 2.

Two lobbyists with no teaching experience will be allowed to count past years as union employees toward state teacher pensions after substitute teaching for only one day in 2007, according to a published report today.

The Illinois Federation of Teachers' political director, Steven Preckwinkle, and another union lobbyist, David Piccioli, took advantage of legislation allowing union officials to get into the teacher pension fund and count previous years as union workers after quickly obtaining teaching certificates and conducting classroom work before the legislation was signed into law in 2007, according to a Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV investigation published today.

According to the report, Preckwinkle, 59, could collect $2.8 million by the time he's 78. Piccioli, 61, could receive around $1.1 million by age 78.

Illinois lobbyists qualify for pensions after 1 day subbing - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

He wants to see less of me

After my physical, my doctor nicely told me he'd like to see less of me--meaning I need to lose some weight. Our exercise class is going to keep track of calories for one week. I don't like to commit to long term (except marriage), but for one week I can do. I found a nice Daily Food Diary on the internet, and photocopied it. A number of them required saving and unzipping, and those never seems to work for me. This one just opened, and I printed it.

Is Granny Headed to the Ice Floe?

"Just because CLASS has been dismissed, however, doesn’t mean the threat has gone away. In fact, in a very real sense, Medicaid itself is a stealth CLASS program. Technically, seniors can qualify for government provision under Medicaid only if they impoverish themselves by “spending down” their assets. However, an entire cottage industry of lawyers is now helping seniors protect their assets and still get Medicaid long-term care coverage. Long-term care is the fastest growing expense in the Medicaid program. As 78 million baby boomers reach the age of 65 at a rate of 10,000 per day, expect them to take full advantage of the legal opportunities to obtain Medicaid benefits at taxpayer expense."

Is Granny Headed to the Ice Floe? | John Goodman's Health Policy Blog | NCPA.org

Monday Memories--Posting bond to get married in early 19th century in Tennessee

Charles A. Sherrill, Tenn. State Library & Archives; has furnished the following information on this subject according to his understanding of the material he has read at the TNGenWEb Project.

"The groom had to assure the State that he was able to be legally married (was not already married to someone else, under age, or ineligible because of close blood relationship, etc.)

This assurance was given in the form of a bond for a certain amount of money. The friend or relative signed as the groom's security on the bond, commonly known as becoming a bondsman.

If indeed the groom had been sued for violating the marriage contract, the bondsman would have had to pay any legal damages if the groom defaulted.
No money actually changed hands at the time the bond was issued. This bonding procedure was used across Tennessee and in other southern states in the 19th century.

It's a good thing no money actually changed hands--I doubt that James or John (Polly's brother) could have come up with $1250.

Mary "Polly" Gresham Corbett died in 1884 at age 96. Two of her brothers married two of James' sisters, Martha and Polly. As near as I can tell from the records handed down, James Corbett and his siblings were 2nd generation Americans, and their father, an Irish immigrant, fought in the Revolutionary War, and received a pension. Although in the 19th century they all lived in Tennessee, originally they lived in North Carolina, the western part of which became eastern Tennessee.

There's still time to volunteer for the final harvest

The Community Garden at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church on the south side of the Mill Run campus has harvested almost 7,000 pounds of produce, and has some more harvesting to do. The food goes to Lutheran Social Services, Hilliard Summer Free Lunch program, Hilltop Lutheran and the Mid-Ohio Food bank. Tomatoes, greens, zucchini, squah, turnips onions, peas, beans, kohlrabi, cucumbers, peppers and garlic. UALC is in the NW suburban area of Columbus, Ohio.

UALC will be contributing $150,000 for a new church (North American Lutheran Church synod) plant on the east side of Columbus.

New discipleship group starts October 24

Event: "Faith of our Fathers" Discipleship Group

Description: Education, worship and discussion based on materials surrounding the Christian heritage of the USA

Start Date: Oct 24, 2011

Weekly: Monday Evenings through December

Room: 2031/32 or 3002/04, but look on lobby sign room could change without notice

Event Starts: 7:00 pm, Event Ends: 8:30 pm

Location: UALC, The Church at Mill Run - 3500 Mill Run Drive, Hilliard, OH

The spectacle on Wall Street

"From one perspective, this spectacle [Occupy Wall Street] of febrile mental paralysis is simply sad: The New York Times, The New Yorker: they’ve always listed left, but not always looney left. What a falling off there’s been!" . . .

"The 53 percent who actually work and pay income taxes represent a large slice of the putative 99-percent the children downtown are skirling about. Not many of those taxpayers, I reckon, are amused by the congeries of anti-American, anti-capitalistic nonsense that is emanating from Zuccotti Park. And it is worth noting that the anxious carnival spirit that has been coursing through the park has a tenuous hold on the proceedings. Already, widespread theft has instilled a certain grumbling wariness into the populace. It’s hard fighting against the evils of private property when some unfranchised redistributionist collars your laptop or makes off with your wallet."

Roger Kimball

Why I'll never be a fashionista

Kate Bosworth as seen at The Adorned Precedent. Everything I have that looks like this has been stuffed in the back of the rag bag for years. I've seen 2 years olds with better fashion sense. But I'm a librarian. What do we know about fashion?

The Organizers vs. the Organized in Zuccotti Park

You can laugh at the OWS group, but really, they sound so . . .I don't know. . . human and flawed, just like the rest of us. And it's the reason the "commons" idea didn't work in 3rd grade when the teacher assigned you to working groups, and why it didn't work in the 70s with the feminist communes, and why it's not working in Zuccotti park. When self-interest is allowed, the whole group advances. When you pretend everything is fair and equal and start taking money to be sure it will be, all hell breaks lose.

The drummers claim that the finance working group even levied a percussion tax of sorts, taking up to half of the $150-300 a day that the drum circle was receiving in tips. “Now they have over $500,000 from all sorts of places,” said Engelerdt. “We’re like, what’s going on here? They’re like the banks we’re protesting."

All belongings and money in the park are supposed to be held in common, but property rights reared their capitalistic head when facilitators went to clean up the park, which was looking more like a shantytown than usual after several days of wind and rain. The local community board was due to send in an inspector, so the facilitators and cleaners started moving tarps, bags, and personal belongings into a big pile in order to clean the park.

The Organizers vs. the Organized in Zuccotti Park -- Daily Intel

Should Americans Support the Tea Party or Occupy Wall Street? @PolicyMic | Tom Palmer

The Tea Party has a coherent message: Stop the bailouts, stop the cronyism, and stop swindling today’s voters with empty promises and sinking future generations under mountains of debt…

What caused the crisis, the indebtedness, the unemployment, the stagnation? The culprits are state agencies and enterprises, including our Federal Reserve…

The Occupiers have the wrong address. The subprime crisis was designed in Washington, not New York…

Should Americans Support the Tea Party or Occupy Wall Street? @PolicyMic | Tom Palmer

But Occupiers want to blame the Jews--so it has to be Wall Street Bankers.

Occupiers and blaming the Jews

"For almost 200 years, blaming the world's economic woes on the Rothschilds, Wall Street, or Jewish bankers has been "the socialism of fools" - and the mother's milk of demagogues, from Hitler to Henry Ford to the bloggers who insist Goldman Sachs' Zionist high command engineered the financial collapse. If the occupiers want mainstream credibility, they must distance themselves from the crackpots and hate-mongers who seem to think the detested "1 percent" is synonymous with Jews.

Second, while the tea partyers place themselves in a tradition of American protest dating to the Founding Fathers, the occupiers ought to take a more critical look at their own identification with the Arab Spring. Six months ago, who didn't applaud the young Egyptians using social media to topple a geriatric dictatorship? But now, who isn't having sobering second thoughts?"

Occupiers must face the fringe - Philly.com

Seriously out of practice

We're having guests for dinner this evening--small group from church, small menu--soup and salad. I'm so out of practice. Maybe we need to join one of those non-gourmet dinner clubs. These days I mostly stove-top grill or microwave leftovers. The oven might be turned on once a week. Desserts are too tempting, so if we need one, I buy it. It's a good reason to clean the house.

Scratch days are long gone here

A fall treat--Dairymens Eggnog

"Pumpkin pie spice eggnog" is back in the dairy case. Boy! Is that good in coffee! I usually cut it with some milk, but it's still delicious.

Dairymens is a Cleveland company with quite a history. I buy it at Marc's, but don't recall seeing it anywhere else.

Project 21 Black Conservatives

Just in case you thought Herman Cain was lone voice speaking as a black conservative.

Project 21 is an initiative of The National Center for Public Policy Research to promote the views of African-Americans whose entrepreneurial spirit, dedication to family and commitment to individual responsibility has not traditionally been echoed by the nation's civil rights establishment. Maybe you need a speaker?

Project 21 Black Conservatives

Canada ranks No. 1 in “Best Countries for Business”

"Canada ranks No. 1 in our [Forbes] annual look at the Best Countries for Business. While the U.S. is paralyzed by fears of a double-dip recession and Europe struggles with sovereign debt issues, Canada’s economy has held up better than most. The $1.6 trillion economy is the ninth biggest in the world and grew 3.1% last year. It is expected to expand 2.4% in 2011, according to the Royal Bank of Canada. . .

What hurts the U.S. is its heavy tax burden. This year it surpassed Japan to have the highest corporate tax rate among developed countries. The U.S. also gets dinged for a poor showing on monetary freedom as measured by the Heritage Foundation. Heritage gauges price stability and price controls and the U.S. ranks No. 50 out of 134 countries."

The Best Countries For Business - Forbes

Instead of liberal celebs threatening to relocate to Canada, maybe we'll see American entrepreneurs go there. It's closer than China, safer than Mexico. For starting a new business, the U.S. ranks #13 (New Zealand is #1).

RMIT--The Richest Man in Town

The total wealth of America's RMITs (some are women) is $355 billion.

• These 100 people employ more than 91% of Americans.

• All of the fortunes are self-made.

• Only one of them is a professional manager as opposed to a company founder.

• Less than 10% of them have taken their company public.

• Eighty-one percent of RMITs are doing business in their hometown.


Who Are the Richest People in Town? - BusinessWeek

To paraphrase an anarchist--Benjamin Tucker*

This blog is written to suit Norma, not its readers. She hopes that what suits her will suit them; but, if not, it will make no difference. No reader, subscriber, or body of subscribers, will be allowed to govern her course, dictate her policy, prescribe her methods, or choose her topics. Collecting My Thoughts is published for the very definite purpose of advocating certain ideas, such as faith in Jesus Christ, the free market, conservatism, education, recent medical and technological break-throughs, pro-family issues like not killing the unborn, family memories, and public policy; no claim will be admitted, on any pretext of freedom of speech, to waste its limited space or Norma's time in hindering the attainment of that object. Norma is not afraid of discussion, or even an argument, and shall do what she can to make room for short, serious, and well-considered objection to her views, but intolerance of Christians, Christiphobia, church bashing, blasphemy, name calling, bullying, and long boring essays on atheism should be posted on the reader's own blog. Also, since Norma in an earlier career translated Soviet medical material heavily laced with Marxism, she probably knows more than the reader about the joys of attaining socialist goals, so don't bother cluttering with that clap-trap either. As a former humanist, a career public employee (although not a union member), a librarian and a 40 year registered Democrat, there are few arguments from the other side or from the basement archives Norma hasn't heard.

*Tucker wrote a journal called Liberty in the 19th c.

Uncertainty holds back economic recovery

Politicians, policy experts and business leaders gathered in September to try to make sense of the economy and what the government is doing about it. I noticed this panel and the burden our non-elected appointees and czars are imposing on the economy. Small businesses, particularly, can't keep up with the rules, or even hire the staff to wade through them to be in compliance, so why hire or expand, even if you have the money or credit? We were discussing the business climate with a retired friend last night who has passed his firm on to his sons (who divided it), and they no longer have permanent workers, everything is contracted. The complexity of running a small business is overwhelming them. This is why stiffer regulations are supported by some very large firms--puts the competition out of business.

"The next panel “The Uncertain Environment and what it Means for American Business” was led by Bob Norton, chief income tax officer for Vertex Inc. Panelists included David A. Heywood, vice president, tax and general counsel, Lockheed Martin Corp.; Hal S. Jones, senior vice president and CFO, The Washington Post Co.; Michael Kenny, CFO, Panduit Corp.; and Cathy Santoro, vice president, finance and assistant treasurer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Norton listed areas that are replete with uncertainty on many fronts. Among them: global economy, geo-political sea changes, technology revolution, security (cyber and other) and regulation. He also provided statistics to reinforce reasons why businesses are facing uncertainty. For example, federal agencies issued 3,573 final rules in 2010, while Congress enacted 217 bills into law. The result of this, he added, is that ”significant law-making power is being delegated more and more to unelected bureaucrats;” the number of pages in the Federal Register last year topped 81,405; and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires 11 new federal agencies tasked with creating 235 rulemaking provisions – 100 rules by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alone.

Jones said that two-thirds of The Washington Post Co.’s revenue comes from education and training, and that this year more than 400 pages of new regulations have been issued related to education. Dealing with so many new rules has caused the company to hold back on hiring, marketing, planning or expanding. The company is willing to comply with the rules, he said, but not knowing what they are is causing the business to stay on hold.

Kenny expressed concern about tax reform and stated he favors business tax reform – not corporate tax reform. (With more than 90 percent of U.S. businesses operating as pass-through private companies, thus taxed at the individual rate, just doing corporate tax reform won’t help these private companies.) He also noted concern for companies that are not large enough to stay abreast of the constant flurry of new rules and laws, not a issue for his company, but a real challenge for untold others."

FEI

Does Obama get the credit for killing Qaddafi?

Ilya Somin: Ilya Somin's response to 'Credit due Obama for Qadhafi death?' - The Arena | POLITICO.COM

President Obama deserves credit for facilitating the overthrow of a brutal dictator at little immediate cost to the United States. Republican critics were wrong to claim that this result could only be achieved with a much larger commitment of U.S. forces.

On the other hand, it is far from clear whether the new regime in Libya will be any better than the old. The new Libyan government includes many different groups, including an influential radical Islamist faction..... If radical Islamists do take over Libya, the result could well be a regime that is just as oppressive as Gadhafi’s and much more hostile to American interests.

The United States may also pay a price for violating our 2003 agreement with Libya, under which Gadhafi agreed to stop supporting terrorism and give up his nuclear program in exchange for the US and Britain implicitly committing themselves to not seeking his overthrow....

Obviously, Gadhafi deserved to be overthrown. He certainly had no “right” to tyrannize over the people of Libya. But, after seeing what happened to him, other dictatorships such as Iran may be less willing to sign similar deals....

Finally, by going to war without congressional authorization, the president violated both the Constitution and the 1973 War Powers Act. Then-Senator Barack Obama got it right back in 2007, when he wrote that “[t]he president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.”

So stay tuned for the unintended consequences.

Update: LA Times--not real pleased and pointing out it's not going to help him much with his friends or enemies. This year, he has sent U.S. troops into action on land or in the skies of seven countries on two continents. More serious, in my opinion, is his encouragement of "Arab Spring" which is bring out of the wooodwork a whole new batch of bad guys.

What’s on the I-pods of the Occupiers?

Take the Money and Run; Eat the rich; Let’s go crazy; Shakedown; All I need is a miracle; Tax man; Been caught stealing; Money for nothing; Money’s too tight to mention; Smooth operator; Money changes everything; Little lies; Burning down the house; Money, money; Material girl; 9 to 5; Gold digger; Putting on the Ritz; Free money; The pretender;

Actually, I used to be very fond of Jimmy O'Bama

Friday family photo

This was her after breakfast nap. The click on the phone awoke her, so she shifted positions to her before lunch nap. She got up long enough to investigate what I was fixing for lunch, and now she's in her after lunch curl position. She wasn't really reading the book; but you probably knew that. She prefers fiction. She's a calico, a rescue from Cat Welfare in Columbus. Her name, however, is from a horse catalog. Horses have much nicer names than cats.

Note to a successful California architect supporting "Occupy"

You're a little late to the gate realizing how dependent architects are on the wealthy of this country, and also, I might add, the federal government. I'm not sure it's ever been that different--yesterday we toured the home and gardens of F.A. Seiberling, Stan Hywet, in Akron, OH. 65,000 sq. ft, 23 bathrooms, and preserved to be the absolute latest in everything, ala 1915. There were 3,000 separate blueprints and drawings. A special railroad spur to bring in building materials and workers. We were told the landscape architect walked the 3,000 acres (now only 70) for a year just to site it properly. It boggles the mind to think of the thousands and thousands of jobs he created globally in the rubber industry, as well as right there in Akron. And in those days there was no income tax deducation for "doing good"--he just did it. And after the recession following WWI in the 1920s, he went bankrupt from a bad business decision, and started all over at age 62. His next company wasn't as successful as Goodyear, but it did become 7th in the nation in rubber.

There are some good, sincere people wandering around the Occupy movement--I've visited (on the web) about 15 cities/states from Nova Scotia to Missoula to West something Missouri. For the most part, they know nothing about the laws, codes, zoning and tax structure of the business world; they are completely ignorant on the taxes paid or percentage the wealthy contribute to the government or the economy or their own lives; they've taken out student loans for degrees like social work or English that can never be a ROI ($250,000 at Columbia) and racked up huge debts for living expenses; they want "fair" but can't say why Tiger should be paid more than his caddy, Oprah more than the camerman who may work even harder; they are clueless about how dependent they are on the successful, smart, risk takers like Steve Jobs who dropped out of college. They have more greed, envy and lust for material goods than any wealthy person I've ever met.

I'm disappointed you're going down this rabbit hole filled with swampy socialist dreams, when the upper 10%--probably even the upper 20% have created work space for you in their lives. Which from your web page and blog looks a whole lot spiffier than our life.

Road Trip

Hope to have some good photos to post when I get back, but it is very gray and rainy. Conestoga is a great group which supports the Ohio Historical Society. Ohio is part of the original expansion of the colonies, the old Northwest Territory. The NW Ordinance set the bar very high--no slavery, the importance of education and religion, setting up elections, etc. There are so many interesting historical sites in Ohio, that it would not be possible to visit them all--but we'll make a stab at it.