#103 Rand Beers and national security

Can a man who until March worked for Bush and since July is working for a man who wants his job, say his former boss is doing anything right without damaging his current boss?

“Rand Beers, most recently special assistant to President Bush and
senior director for combating terrorism at the National Security
Council, will discuss "The War on Terrorism: Are We Safer Today?"
He is now national and homeland security issue coordinator for the
John Kerry for President campaign. Beers will discuss Afghanistan,
Iraq, weapons-of-mass-destruction terrorism, the United Nations, the
United States approach to the Islamic world, and homeland security and
civil liberties. The talk is at noon Monday (11/24) in 120 Mershon
Center and is part of the center's National Security Speaker Series.” [OSUToday, Nov. 21]

In a July article in the Washington Post, Beers is quoted as saying, “"Counterterrorism is like a team sport. The game is deadly. There has to be offense and defense," Beers said. "The Bush administration is primarily offense, and not into teamwork. . .The difficult, long-term issues both at home and abroad have been avoided, neglected or shortchanged and generally underfunded."

If I were a Democrat, I think I’d probably be looking at Kerry. However, it’s unlikely Kerry can beat out Dean, but this job is a good way for Beers to get his message out.

#102 Inspired by tzungtzu, Chinese dumplings

Dora Hsiung, my college roommate, has an exhibit at a theater lobby in Harvard Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge, MA. There's a review of her show and the play "Snow in June" by Charles Mee inspired by a 13th century Chinese drama at the theater website. If you are in the area, stop in.

#101 The big lie

My Kroger grocery receipt for 11/21/03 says I saved $9.61, and that my total Kroger Plus Card savings to date is $659.22. It’s a lie, of course. First of all, when I occasionally drop in there to shop (where I used to shop often), I use a friend’s card. So she’s the one with the $659.22 “savings.” Second, the prices on everything in the store have been jacked up to cover the cost of the data mining for this phony savings plan.

In our community, Giant Eagle, Big Bear and Kroger all offer loyalty cards--Big Bear and Giant Eagle are struggling and will probably go out of business. Behemoth Wal-Marts will be moving in, although none close enough for me to shop there. I can save a lot more by going to a Meijer or a Wal-Mart that sells groceries. I can get much better service and more interesting choices by going to my non-chain, neighborhood grocery, Huffman’s Market, which also doesn’t ask me to show a plastic card linked to my personal information.

Anecdotal and survey evidence indicates you’ll pay 25-70% more by using loyalty card stores. I realize I’m spitting into the wind here--it is virtually impossible to convince an American consumer that businesses that give away their products don’t succeed. I used to be a loyal Kroger shopper. I occasionally return to “my” store (carries the kitty litter brand I need) and have watched everything in the store go up in price to cover the cost of the program.

These plastic card loyalty plans are just newer forms of sweepstakes, green stamps and coupons that were ubiquitous in the 60s through the 80s. Just as coupons were sized to the dollar bill, these are sized to look like credit cards, updating the consumer scam with the times. The first coupon was a wooden nickel around 1900. But that wooden nickel couldn’t track you--loyalty cards can.

I have no idea if CASPIAN is just another front for some anti-business protest group, but they are against loyalty cards and the invasion of privacy they represent. Nor do I think John Ashcroft has time to worry about what brand of toilet paper I like. I am so sick of being asked to carry around a bunch of cards for footwear, office supplies, airlines, pharmacies and any other commodity, I’m about ready to take to the streets with a placard.

#100 Career track protestors

If you check on the Volokh Conspiracy, a group of lawyers who blog together (see link on the right hand side), you’ll find an entry about how few people turned out for the Bush protests in London. The writer said, “The crowd is a little bigger than the crowd two days ago, who were protesting the ban on feeding the pigeons, but certainly smaller than the crowd last month, who were protesting tuition hikes at universities.” A look at the stop the war web site clearly shows the same Communist and Socialist groups who were protesting 35 years ago, with a few newer Muslim groups thrown in. And they aren’t shy--big red star.

The Cincinnati Post editorial said, "Rather than damage British Prime Minister Tony Blair's shaky public approval rating, the Bush visit might actually improve it."

Frederick Forsythe in the British Guardian reminded us, “The British left 70 years ago opposed mobilization against Hitler and worshipped the other genocide, Joseph Stalin. It marched for Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Krushchev, Brezhnev and Andropov. It has slobbered over Ceausescu and Mugabe. It has demonstrated against everything and everyone American for a century. Broadly speaking, it hates your country (U.S.A.) first and mine second.”

#99 Desperately using Susan

Susan Sarandon on the cover of Heifer International catalog? And other actors on the inside? The organization was organized by Dan West in 1942, and supported by a pacifist denomination, Church of the Brethren. For a $50 gift you can give a heifer worth $500 to a family in need. But having a collection of Hollywood actors, most active in far-left, anti-administration activities doesn’t provide any prestige or credibility for its reputation, as far as I can see. I have supported this organization in the past, but no more. If you’re interested in both peace and relief services, try the Mennonite Central Committee.

#96 Where was your money during the slump?

Which companies are Web smart? Do you know what your investments were doing during the slump? The bust is over--according to BusinessWeek Online (and just about every other source). The 50 companies featured in this article are not necessarily tech companies, but those that know how to use the web to their advantage, like Stop and Shop, Krispy Kreme, and Wal-Mart.

“The Web Smart 50 profiles the most innovative projects within corporations. The trends that cut across industries are distilled into six categories, from collaboration and customer service to management. It makes for a diverse crew of companies, with plenty of surprises. Dell Inc. you would expect. But Whirlpool Corp. and the FBI? They offer innovations of their own.” With links to stories about the companies.

#95 Poor writing

The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article on poor academic writing in the (free) Oct. 24 edition. It is so poorly written and so difficult to wade through, I’m wondering if it is a parody.

#94 What you believed at age 13

“Adults essentially carry out the beliefs they embraced when they were young,” he explained (George Barna). “The reason why Christians are so similar in their attitudes, values and lifestyles to non-Christians is that they were not sufficiently challenged to think and behave differently – radically differently, based on core spiritual perspectives – when they were children. Simply getting people to go to church regularly is not the key to becoming a mature Christian. Spiritual transformation requires a more extensive investment in one’s ability to interpret all life situations in spiritual terms.” Read the rest of Barna’s report here.

He points out that upon comparing data from a national survey of 13-year-olds with an identical survey among adults, the belief profile related to a dozen central spiritual principles was identical between the two groups. Those beliefs included perceptions of the nature of God, the existence of Satan, the reliability of the Bible, perceptions regarding the after-life, the holiness of Jesus Christ, the means of gaining God’s favor, and the influence of spiritual forces in a person’s life.

So at least statistically, what you believed at age 13, you will believe when you die. Scary isn’t it? This is not true in my case. I grew up in a liberal Protestant denomination and knew nothing about sin or grace or the deity and saving work of Jesus. However, I don’t doubt that in a survey of large numbers it would be accurate. I’ll have to reevaluate my opinion of the value of various children’s ministries. Having the church form the attitudes and beliefs rather than the family doesn’t seem to be Biblical, but I’m willing to take another look.

And I still may be correct about the time, effort and money that go into children’s programming. In an earlier report, Barna stated that “For most teenagers who have spent years attending church activities their faith is not integrated into who they are and how they live. Most of the young people who claim they developed an understanding of the Bible that enables them to make decisions based on biblical principles show no evidence of using that understanding in relation to the core beliefs and lifestyle choices that we studied.”

#93 Civil War ties

My great aunt Ada’s father was born in 1862. I think that is quite remarkable. It seems like more of a tie to the past than just having an old photograph or photocopy of a Civil War enlistment. So maybe I’m a sucker for ties that stretch back.

One night back in 1989 or 1990 I was awake and watching Charlie Rose’s middle of the night interview with Alan Gurganus. Between the two of them, it sounded as though “Oldest Living Confederate Widow” would be a really great story. So I put it on my list and received it as a birthday gift. I don’t think I made it through even one chapter. It was dull and unbelievable--the voice just wasn’t that of a woman. It gathered dust on my bookshelves for years, and when we moved to the condo, I think I donated it to the library book sale.

When they came out with the TV movie version in 1994, I tried sitting through it and fell asleep. Really boring. Four hours seemed like four months. Now I read a review in Nov. 17 USAToday that Ellen Burstyn is bored in a one woman play based on this novel. Even this talented actress can’t breathe any life into it, and the reviewer noted that, “at one point during the performance, the person seated behind me gave a soft moan and slumped forward heavily. . . I turned around, worried for a moment. Luckily, she had only fallen asleep.”

#92 The house mouse, pest not pet

I was quite surprised last week on our first really cold day to see a mouse scurry into the garage when I pushed the door opener. We see a lot of chipmunks around here, but I’m sure this was a mouse. Mice can get through a 1/4” opening, so he was probably just interrupted on his usual route and didn‘t need to have me open the door.

It made me think of the pet mouse I had in first grade. For some reason I took her to school in a matchbox. My friend “Tommy,” who is now a well-known professor of philosophy at a large Midwestern university, asked if he could hold her. I carefully opened the box and looked at those terrified little eyes. I handed my cute little pet to Tommy, who then squeezed her, and poof, my little mousie was gone.

Mice can jump up to 12 inches from the floor and down eight feet to the floor. The house mouse is the second most adaptable animal on the planet, with man being the first. They are native to Central Asia and arrived here with the European immigrants. They eat a lot and damage even more with their contamination of food stuffs. One mouse can have 5 to 10 litters a year (its life span). One mouse, up to 60 babies a year. If each of those 60 has 60 babies, and they each. . .and that was 1946. . .

So, I guess Tommy did the world a favor.

#91 Index to themes, topics, passing thoughts, and ideas, updated

academe, libraries 10, 26, 29, 38, 54,67, 70, 75
art and artists 54, 66
blogging 1, 32, 46, 56
books and journals 2, 29, 31, 47, 51, 53, 57, 74, 90
condo living 40, 42
culture 31, 41
economy, finances 7, 13, 33, 43, 61
entertainment 72, 90
faith and values 14, 30, 31, 32, 37, 46, 50, 63, 62, 68, 69, 87
family 2, 4, 6, 21, 24, 28, 34, 36, 39, 55, 59, 67, 79, 80, 82, 86, 89
fashion 21, 55
food, recipes, eating out 3, 8, 10, 11, 25, 35, 36, 42, 56, 59
friends 9, 10, 21, 50, 54
genealogy 19, 20, 24, 44, 67, 71, 73
health 23, 25, 36, 39, 48, 53, 61, 60, 81, 83, 88
history 85
Illinois 44, 54, 63, 67
Internet, Usenet, computers 26, 32, 33, 37, 62
nature 31, 42, 58, 57
observations, misc. 5, 12, 15, 49, 52,
Ohio 20, 40
pets 27, 39, 56
poetry 14, 22, 44, 55, 63, 80
politics 9, 43, 70, 76, 78, 87
science 2, 16, 29
women 20, 23, 44, 63
writing 19, 62, 65, 67

#90 A movie worth seeing?

I don’t see many first run movies, and thus rarely look at what is available as promotion on the internet. But today I did look at the official site of Master and Commander; the Far Side of the World, starring Russell Crowe. The movie is based on the Patrick O’Brian series of twenty Aubrey/Maturin novels covering 1801 to 1815 which has a cult level following. Russell Crow plays Captain Jack Aubrey and Paul Bettany is the doctor, Stephen Maturin.

If the movie is as impressive as the site, it should be well worth the money. Music, video clips, a voyage you can start at any point on the map, background on the film, and links to other sites. The website is also available in Spanish, French, German, Chinese and Japanese. I read through the diary in Spanish (with a dictionary) just for practice, although the video clips of episodes were in English. If you’ve loved the book(s), usually the film version is a disappointment. Here’s what the author of the POB web page says about the film.

“Having waited ten years for the mills of Hollywood to grind out a cinematic interpretation of the novels I've spent so much time reading and listening to, I was anxious that the experience just not be too awful. As it turns out, it was a true delight; what Russell Crowe, Peter Weir and friends have done is an amazing accomplishment. They have grafted another branch on the evolutionary tree of the Aubrey-Maturin novels. The analogy is like chimps and human beings - they are different branches from the same ancestor, but we are not direct descendants of chimps, nor are we exact copies. The film is good, very good, but it is not the books brought to life, nor is it a logical progression of the series. It is two hours and twenty minutes of damned fine film, using the characters, settings and ideas created by Patrick O'Brian but molded by Peter Weir into something that stands on its own.” Tony Townsend.

To a real swell guy

There's a nice article on yearbooks and Darilee Bednar, a woman bookstore owner who collects them here. I look to my right and see on my office shelves our little collection of yearbooks, four Arsenal Cannon from my husband's high school, four Mounder from my high school, one from Manchester College which I attended one year, The Aurora, two Illio from the University of Illinois which we both attended, three Life from Mt. Morris College, where my parents, grandparents and uncles attended, as well as the parents of many of my friends, a First Fifty Years 1912-1962, for my husband's high school published in the mid-1990s, and a War Record of the people from my home town from Alberts to Zumdahl who served in WWII, with single page biographies and photos, published in 1947. Yearbooks are a treasure, and I'm glad to learn that someone is making a special effort to preserve them.

On Father's Day this year we had dinner at our son's home. I brought along my husband's high school yearbooks to read to the children what his friends had said about him 46 years ago. We got the giggles reading how many times someone wrote "to a really swell guy," or "hellava swell guy," or "real swell fellow," or "it has been swell knowing you." In my school, we translated "swell" as "dill" and "dilly."

#88 Inspiring

Losing weight isn't rocket science--it's eat less, move more. No success story ever differs from that--even gastric by-pass. In this morning's paper was the account of Chelsea Carter, a reporter who lost 105 lbs. over a year's time, and the change in her health level. She started at 268, but as she went along, she described what she was losing: 10 lb sack of potatoes; a toddler; a fourth grader, and finally a Hollywood actress. See her story.

I stepped on the scale this morning and realized I only need to lose my birth weight to be more comfortable and have more energy. Believe me, I was a very BIG baby.

#87 How do they get away with it?

Yesterday my jaw dropped as I watched Ted Kennedy call President Bush’s nominees for judgeships, three women and a man, “Neanderthals.” Then Susan Estrich, a liberal law professor from California who regularly appears on Fox News, said not once but twice, the second time with a sneer, that Bush had only selected African American Janice Rogers Brown because she was black. Affirmative action at its worst, I believe is the phrase she followed with. If I had only heard it reported, I would thought it was “spin,” but I watched them both saying it on screen. Can you imagine if Republicans had said something even remotely similar? Maybe it only matters if they say it on ESPN.

Note: I tried to find a link to Susan Estrich's comment, but could not, since she apparently isn't important enough to make the various pundity columns. However, Google did ask me: Do you mean "Susan Estrich judges Foxy Brown?"

#86 Wrapping Christmas presents early

Throughout the year I've been stashing various children's items away to pack this time of year for Samaritan's Purse, Operation Christmas Child. When I see an out of season pair of pants or t-shirt on sale, I buy it, or school supplies when there are sales in August. This year I purchased clear plastic shoe boxes for $1 each when they were on sale at K-Mart. It is getting hard to find a decent shoe box, and I think these will be more useful to the family. But I'm short on a few items--like hard candy and toys, so I'll make a last minute trip to the store before I start wrapping.

I've always thought our church's newest location looked a little like a warehouse--post modern, bulging sides and angles. But this week-end it will really look like a warehouse because it is a drop off location for the shoe boxes packed by hundreds of churches in this area. When I see the narthex and fellowship hall fill up with thousands of boxes, all lovingly packed and prayed over, it just takes my breath away.

Last year I went to a presentation by the organization for the reps of the various churches in our area who gather these decorated shoe boxes. The woman who spoke was very interesting--from West Virginia and I'd guess she wasn't over 35 but had lost a lot of her teeth. She travels all over the World with the Samaritan's Purse organization and has been to Africa and Kosovo. She was a very effective speaker, truly "anointed" although we don't use that term in the Lutheran church.

She told a story about being offered a place to sleep in Kosovo where the family had a 6 x 6 carton to live in. She looked at the space and figured they planned to sit outside if she took up for floor space.

Then she told us that back in W. VA. she has a trailer worth about $12,000, and she had been too embarrassed to offer her place when there were funerals. (She says there are no hotels around, so when someone dies the members of the church put up the visiting family). But after seeing how generous these people were who had nothing, she now invites people to stay with her. The last time she said she had 21 people sleeping on the floor.

Someone asked about the fact that the boxes vary so in size and content. She said that comparing the size or contents is an "American" thing and the children she sees never do that, in fact, they will try to share their candy with the volunteers.

#85 The death of conspiracies

We stopped by Bill and Sandy’s apartment after church. The TV was on, as it was in almost every home in America that day in late November 1963. When we thought we couldn’t be more shocked, grieved or terrorized, Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald as we watched.

The anniversary of that terrible time is coming and cable Court TV will be showing 9-10 p.m. est, Wednesday , November 19, on its “Forensic Files” program “The JFK Assassination: Investigation Reopened.” Apparently, new sophisticated technology shows it happened pretty much the way we watched it unfold in 1963. No conspiracy. The truth is usually less interesting than fiction, even if it is stranger, despite the conventional wisdom and old wives (in Hollywood) tales.

Each day we seem to hear or read of more conspiracy theories about 9-11. Anything as simple as one demented lone gunman or a small bunch of hell-bent martyrs flying airplanes into high profile buildings really disturbs our sense of safety and complacency. We’d much rather fall for the big plot idea, possibly huge forces manipulating an evil U.S. government, or Israel working behind the scenes.

On November 23 we will meet for church and gather here for a family dinner to celebrate the November birthdays of our children, for whom this is all ancient, and much abused history.

#84 A message from Indian Christians

Poverty is a socio-economic phenomenon which defies any precise definition; its concept and content varies from country to country depending upon what the particular society accepts as a reasonably good living standard for its people. Thus, in California, U.S.A, it would not be surprising if a family owning less than two cars may be dubbed as poor. But in India, poverty manifests in its starkest form: as a visual of semi-starved, ill-clad, deprived millions of countrymen, thousands of them dying everyday from malnutrition, ill health, lack of basic amenities; this is a picture which is both appalling and agonising from any standards of human existence. Read the rest of this excellent paper and the letters of response here.

#83 High tech, high fat, low common sense

The push from the Health Information Management folks to make everything electronic in order to insure the privacy requirements of the new HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996 (August 21), Public Law 104-191, which amended the Internal Revenue Service Code of 1986) would be a bit more believable if I hadn’t been in doctors’ offices since HIPAA’s implementation in April.

The new rules require 1) standardization of electronic patient health, administrative and financial data, 2) unique health identifiers for individuals, employers, health plans and health care providers and 3) security standards protecting the confidentiality and integrity of "individually identifiable health information," past, present or future.” A full employment law for the computer folks since these systems have to be continuously upgraded.

We, the patients, have signed innumerable forms saying we’ve been informed. They’ve changed the cubicles at check-in for the waiting rooms, and built fancy stalls to separate us at the pharmacies. Our surname is no longer called out in the waiting room--too bad if your name is Bob or Bill. No more sign in sheets--you might see who arrived at 8:15. But you can’t regulate common sense apparently.

This week I was left alone after a high-tech test in a room with really fancy information equipment, the kind AHIMA wants all medical facilities to have. Up on the computer screen was a list of names, birth dates and ID numbers in the section of the alphabet for my name--records in this database were linked to the records for my testing--and everyone else’s. The password to the equipment used for my test was on a yellow-sticky on the front of the machine. Oh yes, and scattered on the counter were packaged hypodermic needles and an open package of sealed vials (didn’t recognize the medication, but someone else might).

Last spring I was in this same new, state-of-the art facility sitting by myself in one cubicle, with information about the last patient still on the screen. When paper files were being used, I don’t recall ever seeing someone else’s file.

I also noticed that the staff working directly with patients in the back rooms where testing is done, were walking around the halls eating snacks out of open bags. When it was my turn, I was ushered into another area where the technician had her breakfast coffee and muffin on her desk. On my way out, I noticed a lovely staff lounge, with sink, microwave and seating, but why use it when you can eat all day long at your desk while manipulating carefully shielded patient data?

#82 An add on thought

In Blog 79 I wrote about the Mom vs. Mom show done by Dr. Phil. I missed this excellent article in the New York Times Magazine. It is not on-line but is summarized and critiqued here.