234 Blogging terms

Samizdat in Russian means self-published and before the fall of the Soviet Union, it was an important outlet for literature, usually not approved by the government. Blogs are self-publishing and come in many sizes and shapes. A blog called Samizdata has a long list of blog terms, with a site to the original use, just like the Oxford Dictionary would do:

clog blog--a Dutch blog

froglog--francophone blog

idiotarian--advocate of irrational and subjective values--usually a socialist, but could be paleo-libertarian or paleo-conservative

kittyblogger--one who blogs about cats or other mundane topics

progblog--left wing blog

The list is long, but fun to read. This isn't the only blogging glossary on the net, but it is well organized with cites and quotes.

Samizdata.net self describes itself as:"The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.

We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, libertarians, extropians, futurists, 'Porcupines', Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.

You can use their glossary to look up some of the self-describing terms.

233 Dean's lasting influence on the Democrats

Although Howard Dean has withdrawn from the race, an editorial in the Wall Street on February 19 notes that his influence on the other candidates has been huge. He erased all the moderate gains the Democrats had made under Bill Clinton and has pulled the party further to the left.

“On the war on terror, he has almost single-handedly pulled his party to the antiwar left. As he often said on the stump, his main competitors all voted for the Iraq war. But as Mr. Dean climbed in the polls by denouncing the war, he made opposition to it a party litmus test. Senators John Kerry and John Edwards, who had voted for the war in late 2002, opposed the $87 billion to finish the job a year later. The candidates who stayed honorably hawkish--Dick Gephardt and Joe Lieberman--went down to defeat.

Mr. Dean was the first candidate to call for repealing all of the Bush tax cuts. Soon every Democrat was for raising taxes in some substantial way. Senators Edwards and Kerry now assail the Patriot Act they voted for, again following Mr. Dean. They also attack the education reform they voted for, in another Dean echo. Imitation is the sincerest form of politics.”

Two days ago, I heard one commentator say that if all the Dean supporters threw their support to Edwards, they would defeat Kerry. I don’t see such a move afoot at this time, do you?

However, Scrappleface had an interesting comment for Democrats to consider: "When you look at the two top vote getters -- Kerry and Edwards -- the question becomes 'who would you rather look at for the next eight months, or eight years?'" said an unnamed Democrat strategist. "On the issues, the candidates are mirror images of each other. But the more voters take a good look at John Kerry, the better John Edwards appears."

Victor Davis Hanson, as always cool and calm and incredibly in touch with history, commented on Feb. 20 :

“There were a number of legitimate areas of debate for the fall campaign — deficits, unfunded security measures at home, moral scrutiny over postwar contracts, more help for Afghanistan, greater control of domestic entitlements, unworkable immigration proposals, and the like. But instead of statesmanship from the opposition, we got slander about Mr. Bush's National Guard service, misrepresentations about intelligence failures that had hampered both previous administrations and the present congress, preference for an unsupportable European position over our own, and stupidity about what to do in Iraq.

232 Tomeboy responds to Fairly Traded article, #230

Your story re: Fair Trade Terms and Labels raises some very interesting issues. I've learned, though I am not a scientist, that much of the rhetoric about "eco-friendly/organic food" is simply not based on any scientific data.

Labels are another huge issue with food. The label "organic" can still be used if pesticide/herbicide was used in its production. Confusion is also used deliberately to mislead consumers, a recent case being a dairy farmer in Maine that produces "hormone free milk". Of course this is untrue, all milk has hormones. I believe in the "organics" right to market their products, however I am concerned that scare tactics are now a part of their marketing strategy.

The comment I had with your piece was the conditions of workers regarding organic farming. Organic farming requires much more labor intensive than traditional farming with pesticides/herbicides. Many organic farms have seen their market share grow, and have expanded operations and land because of organics lower yield. Of course, more labor is needed which usually comes in the variety of migrants with very poor pay. Many are illegal aliens to boot. There we have the conundrum of what truly is a socially responsible food product.

IMHO, it's ironic that genetically modified foods may serve as the best way to protect the environment and lives. Less tillage, less chemical, better yield, less land used, less fossil fuel guzzling tractors, etc... And contrary to what our European cousins may say, there is no scientific evidence that gmo foods are dangerous to consume. Nor are they an environmental hazard as well compared to traditional farming methods. Americans have been eating gmo's for 7 years.

Regards
tomeboy

You can check out his other thoughts and writings at his webpage: http://webpages.charter.net/tomeboy/t1.html

231 The wealthiest presidents

I heard on the radio yesterday, and I think the source was Forbes, but I'll have to check on that, if John F. Kerry becomes President of the United States, he will be one of the five wealthiest men ever to hold the office--in fact, he'd be third. George Washington was the wealthiest (adjusted for inflation). Counting Kerry, the other four are . . . Democrats. Found it.

230 Fair Trade Terms and Labels

On December 3, 2003, #118 I wrote about my home congregation in Illinois serving "fairly traded coffee" during the Sunday social time and for church events. I'd read about it in the church newsletter.

The Wall Street Journal February 17 had a chart about food labels for socially conscious buyers. As it turns out, "fairly traded" doesn't mean much at all, and is the weakest of the seven terms. "Sustainable" is another term that has no specific guarantee, and is quite general. The most specific term seems to be "fair trade certified" and it means that it complies with some environmental standards and that there are guaranteed prices for the workers.

"Rainforest Alliance Certified" is a licensed term of a non-profit dedicated to protecting biodiversity--but nothing about protecting the worker. "Certified sustainable" is a term used by various non-profits, and may indicate that a whole community benefits.

"Local" is an unofficial term and could mean a product is made or grown near-by, but that could be 15 miles or 1,000 miles. "Slow food snail" is a guide to indicate that traditional food practices are used, but that doesn't mean the employees benefit.

Obviously, terms like "family farm" and "sustainable" and "fair trade" have customer appeal for the socially conscious. Unfortunately, they just don't mean much. Get ahold of the chart and watch for the more specific terms if the environment, worker's conditions and pay, and bio-diversity matter to you.

229 Eugene McCarthy and the election of 2004

"Does history repeat itself? Yes—sort of. Our Book of the Week is Eugene McCarthy: The Rise and Fall of Postwar American Liberalism, by Dominic Sandbrook (Knopf). Reviewer Jeremy Lott finds some surprising parallels to the 2004 presidential campaign—and some notable twists as well."

"If liberalism is simply a political movement, joined at the hip to the Democratic Party, the ironists have a point. But if it is a broader political and sociological phenomenon, then LBJ dropping out of the race and Humphrey losing narrowly to Nixon hardly mattered. Once in office, Nixon gave the country affirmative action, a bender of an inflationary monetary policy, wage and price controls, and a fondness for new government initiatives that wouldn't be rivaled again until the second Bush administration."

In other words, the reviewer is saying liberalism has prevailed regardless of which party has been in the presidency. Full review at Books and Culture.

228 ABK--Anybody but Kerry?

“There are, clear across the country, people who sincerely cannot stand the policies or the personality of the president. When they say "ABB" (Anybody but Bush) they say it as if they really mean it. But there are limits, and Mr. Dean managed to find them in only a few weeks of cocky, half-baked and spendthrift posturing. This is not a time when the United States can afford even to flirt with the idea of an insecure narcissist and vain windbag as president. It's good to know that many liberals and leftists recognize that fact and act upon it, even when it costs them something.” Christopher Hitchens, Feb. 11, 2004.

I think it a bit early to say Dean is down and out, or that Edwards is done, however, it’s not too early to raise serious concerns about John Kerry. He flip flops his way through Senate votes and now there is another intern story. This man let down his fellow soldiers ala Jane Fonda, and there are still veterans groups who haven’t forgiven her. According to VietNam Veterans Against John Kerry:

“Soon after Kerry, as a Navy Lieutenant (junior grade) commanding a Swift boat in Vietnam, was awarded the Silver Star, he used an obscure Navy regulation to leave Vietnam and his crew before completing his tour of duty. After returning home, he quit the Navy early and changed the color of his politics to become a leader of VietNam Veterans Against the War. Kerry wasted no time organizing opposition in the United States against the efforts of his former buddies still ducking communist bullets back in Vietnam.”

In their ABB attitude, Democrats are doing all they can to denigrate Bush’s war time service even though in 1992 they (including Kerry) said all that should be behind us (because of Clinton’s exemption and leaving the country). The media bought into the story and repeated it, but now the detractors have been completely discredited including the retired general who is apparently in the early stages of Alzheimer's and isn't remembering much of anything correctly. The other is a left wing wacko who has been writing anti-Bush stories long before he came up with this one.

Bush has co-opted so many of the favorite domestic issues that Democrats usually count on like education, immigration and environment, which leaves only the war--and that is winding down with the possibility of a representative government in Iraq.

Ralph Nadar gave the 2000 election to Bush, and Ross Perot gave the 1992 election to Clinton. Will disaffected Republicans who dislike Bush’s wild spending on bigger and more intrusive government sit this one out, thus handing it to the Democrats?

227 You might be addicted to genealogy if. . .

I saw the following on RootsWeb Review and got a chuckle. Actually, I am related to Blythe Danner, who is a descendant of my Danner ancestors. I’m not sure I have MORE photos of dead relatives than living ones, but I have a lot--and a lot of people I can’t positively identify. Keeping track of the Wengers is a huge problem, but fortunately someone else is doing that, has it on the web and also sells it on a CD and book.

You might be addicted to genealogy if:

--You can't drive past a graveyard without wondering if you have any ancestors buried there.

--You introduce your granddaughter as your descendant.

--You can recite your lineage back 10 generations, but can't remember your nephew's name.

--You have more photographs of dead people than living ones.

--You watch the movie/TV credits roll by to see if any of the surnames are ones you are researching.

[Permission to reprint articles from RootsWeb Review is granted unless specifically stated otherwise, provided: (1) the reprint is used for non-commercial, educational purposes; and (2) the following notice appears at the end of the article: Previously published in RootsWeb Review: Vol. 7, No. 6, 11 February 2004.]

226 Let's play hide the reference

The NY Times is reporting that "Texas, generally considered the leading death penalty state, actually sentences a smaller percentage of people convicted of murder to death than the national average, according to a new study. It found that the conventional view failed to take into account the large number of murders in Texas."

Librarians who want to send patrons to "the study" will need to find Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, vol.1,no.1, and the authors are Theodore Eisenberg, John Blume and Martin Wells. Still, it would be nice if newspaper articles made citations easier to find, rather than parsing them out into different paragraphs. I can dream, can't I?

225 Same sex households

According to the census 2000, 1.6% of all households are same sex couples, 4.5% are unmarried opposite sex couple households, 25.8% of households are one-person, and 52.8% of households are married couples. There's a smattering of households of blood relatives, not married, and a few "other." I'm a little puzzled that there is such a noisy clamor for gays to marry, if they apparently aren't even living together now supporting each other with joint bank accounts, joint mortgages and wills designating each other beneficiaries, unless there just aren't very many gay and lesbian couples. And how many of those 1.6% even want to marry? Has anyone polled the group to see who is fine with the status quo? Has there been a count of those who enjoy the lack of ties and responsibilities, who don't want to share their wealth, who want to move on when life gets dull?

224 Fire Destroys School in my Home Town

"A fire that gutted David L. Rahn Elementary School has left staff and students without a building but with intentions to resume classes next week.

Clouds of brown and black smoke billowed from the school for most of Thursday, engulfing the town of about 3,000 people. More than a dozen fire departments, some from as far away as Rockton, Lena and Dixon, worked in freezing conditions to battle the blaze, which was still burning 12 hours after the first alarm." Story in Rockford Starand Photos and story WTVO

E-mail flew around the country as alumni heard almost as soon as town residents what happened. One wrote: "The call went out to almost 50 communities for help, and they showed up. Tanker after tanker bringing in water. If you can believe this, there is hardly any water at that end of town. A huge school and church at that end and no water. They were filling up at Kable Printing and then bringing the water to the school where it was dumped into a swimming pool-like container. The smoke and flames were unbelievable. They just did a million plus renovation and up to code repairs last year. All 300 kids got out, no coats, book bags, some lost shoes in the snow. The Red Cross and Salvation Army are at the church and donations are being accepted. One family had six children in the school, and they lost everything."

Another said: "So thankful no lives were lost. But simply can not imagine how no one smelled smoke or was alerted that something was terribly wrong. I am so sad for so many people but have my own fond memories of teaching at that beautiful school. It still seems like a dream and hard to believe.

I didn't attend school in this facility built in the late 1960s, in fact, I'd never been inside. The teacher/principal for whom it was named was one of my 7th-8th grade teachers.

The building I attended as a freshman in high school burned in 1992 and was destroyed, although it wasn't being used then as a school. On Easter Sunday 1931, the town college had a disastrous fire when my parents were freshmen, and it closed in 1932. In 1912, the college had experienced another terrible fire in "Old Sandstone," but that time had rebuilt.

Since the 1960s, many children have passed through that school, so perhaps O.D. Buck who wrote a poem in 1912 [Memories of Old Sandstone, 1912] about that fire won't mind if I mention a verse or two:

Old home of scores of sturdy sons,
Farewell, thy work is o'er.
We who have dwelt within thy walls,
Thy parting do deplore,

Thy mission thou hast nobly filled,
Thy influence--who can tell?
Oh, that thou of us could say,
"My children have done well."

223 Man sentenced for killing a fetus

Today’s Columbus Dispatch reported “[a Columbus man] was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his part in the premature birth and subsequent death of a girl.” Aggravated murder charges were reduced to felonious assault and involuntary manslaughter according to the report. He struck a seven months pregnant woman with a pipe when she intervened to stop a fight between him and her husband.

It still seems odd--no bizarre--that in a clinic with a licensed doctor causing the interruption of the child’s life support system in the mother, the little girl’s death would have been legal and no one would have been charged anything, except for an invoice for services.

The couple’s first child, a son, had died of SIDS the year before.

222 Clues on when children can enjoy theater

I saw an article about this topic in the paper about a week ago. It put me to thinking--is it really so hard to prepare children to enjoy theater? I’ve never been a huge fan of live theater, but only because of 1) the price, and 2) I fall asleep soon after the lights are dimmed. But I was exposed to "live theater" as a child, and have many happy memories of it.

When I was in elementary school, grades 1-12 were in one building. We little ones watched as the upper classmen from the high school roamed the halls to pass classes. We would be literally awe struck. They looked so fashionable, busy and important. So you can imagine our excitement when it was time for the junior or senior play and the entire school went to the auditorium for “previews.” We would whisper the names of the lofty seniors we could recognize in their stage make-up and costuming. They were like movie stars to us and we were their giggling fan club. Even in the previews, I became completely caught up in the story.

We were also encouraged to be performers. There was a musical put on, in the Spring I think, which included all the schools that our roving band director taught in. I can still remember bits and snatches of amazing (in my mind) performances as I sat in the audience--too young to be included (I think 4th grade and up were in these productions). But one year I was a Dutch girl dancer and my partner was a boy in 7th or 8th grade. My mother made the costume including cardboard “wooden shoes.”

After I changed schools, one of my classmates in 7th grade wrote plays, and our teacher was benign enough to allow the class to perform them. I recall that attending the class plays in high school was an important community event. I was in the junior class play, “Time out for Ginger,” and played the sensible mother with gray hair.

Churches also had children’s plays, something I’ve missed at our current church which has wonderful productions FOR children, but the children are the audience. We had wonderful little plays with lines to recite and usually the pastor’s wife was the director and producer, and maybe she wrote them too.

At home to amuse ourselves, we’d get out the Bible drama books from my mother’s childhood and try to put on plays on rainy days. These were never very successful, but they did fill the time by dragging out sheets for costumes and blankets to create a stage. My friends and I would also create potato puppets and costumes and make up stories for them to perform--although I’m not sure who the audience would have been--perhaps Mother, or my younger brother.

This week our local high school is performing “Annie Get your Gun.” For the parents and little children in the audience, I know it will be great fun. And especially if they know or recognize someone in the cast.

221 New poem

Today is writing class and I haven't done the assignment, although I blogged about it two weeks ago. The teacher is very sweet and non-directive, but I don't think it is what she had in mind. However, I did write two poems this week, and I haven't done any poetry for some time. This one is based on a mistake. I collect premier issues of magazines and bought three on January 8, but forgot to look at them. While cleaning my office, I found the sack, and since I'd rather read than clean, I started to look at them. The sales slip floated to the floor and the verso from a distance looked like a poem. I then not only stopped cleaning, but I stopped reading, and sat down and wrote the following poem.

New and unread books and unopened music--a poem
by Norma J. Bruce
Feb. 8, 2004

A slip of white paper
floated from the sack
as I was cleaning my office.
With my no-line trifocals
it seemed a poem at my feet
so I lifted it to my eyes.

Full refund issued
for new and unread
books and unopened music
within 30 days
with a receipt from
any Barnes & Noble store.

Store credit issued
for new and unread
books and unopened music
after 30 days
or without a sales receipt.
Credit issued at lowest sale price.

We gladly accept returns
of new and unread
books and unopened music
from bn.com with a bn.com receipt
for store credit
at the bn.com price.

Why am I cleaning
when new and unread
books and unopened music
are sitting for 30 days
and have no sales receipt.
I must go read!

220 The value of a college education--in dollars

What is a college education (BA or BS) really worth in dollars? This site says the average college graduate will earn about $600,000 over and above what the average high school graduate will earn.

I thought I would die of a broken heart when BOTH my children decided not to go to college--actually, refused is a better word. I was the third generation in my family to go to college--and I was on the faculty at a fine university. OK, I thought. A few years in the market place and they'll come around. Didn't happen. So we spent the college money on a summer cottage--no kidding--and eventually they'll reap the benefits of that since it has appreciated from $53,000 in 1988 to about $200,000 according to our latest tax assessment.

But here's the what if. . . Say we had invested $20,000 (the cost in the mid-80s of a state university education) in the stock market for 45 years, until their retirement age. Would they have that $600,000 to cushion their golden years? No, they'd have $1,604,000 using the conservative figure that over time, stock investments level out at about 10% a year, even factoring in the wild ride of the 90s.

Both of our adult children earn an income of the average college graduate or slightly more. They love their jobs and feel fulfilled and satisfied. The one who liked school the least and did the poorest, has actually completed two college level courses and done extremely well--but that accomplishment didn't inspire further interest in education. The other assists with continuing education in teaching people with 10-12 years more formal education and 6 figure incomes and will be off to San Antonio today for such a workshop.

Go figure. A mother who was wrong and admits it!

219 Hanson on WMD

In Victor Davis Hanson’s Feb. 6 article he notes,

“Whether we like it or not, the precedent that the United Sates might act decisively against regimes that were both suspected of pursuing WMD acquisition and doing nothing to allay those fears, has had a powerful prophylactic effect in the neighborhood. Only in this Orwellian election year, would candidates for the presidency decry that the war had nothing to do with the dilemma of WMDs — even as Libya, Iran, and Pakistan by their very actions apparently disagreed.”

And if you don’t agree with him on that one, you’ll probably not quibble too much with his final paragraph about where the news coverage emphasis is,

“The real outrage is instead that at a time of one of most important developments of the last half-century, when this country is waging a war to the death against radical Islamic fascism and attempting to bring democracy to an autocratic wasteland, we hear instead daily about some mythical rogue CIA agent who supposedly faked evidence, Martha Stewart's courtroom shoes, Michael Jackson's purported perversion, and Scott Peterson's most recent alibi. Amazing.”

I don’t know why he left out Janet Jackson--balance, maybe.

218 Unemployment

In January 1995 the unemployment rate was 5.7. In January 2004 the unemployment rate is 5.6. How does “jobs” become the big issue of the election unless someone lies? The Bush Hating websites are typing themselves in fiscal knots to leave the good news to the very last paragraph.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Check out the current and historical statistics yourself.

If you hate Bush, you’ll find nothing good here--you’ll point out the people who have stopped looking or the lack of “new” jobs. People have always dropped out of the job search, that’s not new. And if you are out of work, unemployment is 100%, not 5.6 or down from December.

217 Maurice Clarett has taken over our news

Columbus, Ohio is a football crazy town--or rather Buckeye crazy. So the Maurice Clarett story has even pushed Janet Jackson's breast off the local news radar. I have no opinions one way or the other since I don't follow sports, but Easterblogg for Feb. 6 has some good things to say:

Judges don't order airlines to allow 19-year-olds at the controls, even though age and experience rules clearly place restraints on the bargaining power of 19-year-old aspiring pilots. But then--judges fly on planes, so they don't want them to crash. Federal judge Shira Scheindlin, who yesterday ordered the NFL draft open to anyone regardless of age, knows that if the NFL crashes that won't affect her.

He continues with an explanation of how the quality of play in the NBA has fallen since it began admitting teen-agers, kids who won't listen to coaches and don't know the fundamentals. NFL will appeal, of course. Greg goes on to describe the Maurice we've all come to know here in Columbus.

As for Maurice Clarett himself--if you were an NFL coach, would you draft this jerk? He hasn't played in more than a year. He's a me-first head-case who spends all his time demanding special privileges; now he's surrounded by a retinue of assorted hucksters demanding that they be paid off; at Ohio State they wanted him to leave because Clarett's selfishness had such a corrosive effect on team chemistry. Now, lots of kids fresh from high school are me-first and immature, and gradually grow out of it.

Sure, Greg, but usually Mama can keep them in line. Poor Maurice seems to have a mom who is part of the problem.

216 Girl with the Pearl Earring

I've been keeping a list of movies in my notebook that look worth seeing--when they come to the $1.00 theater ($.50 on Thursday, I think). However, the list is getting so long I realized I would miss some of them because quality doesn't always get to the second run theaters.

My list and rating number (out of 4) by the Columbus Dispatch includes: Calendar girls (3), Mona Lisa Smile (3), Cold Mountain (3.5), Something's Gotta Give (3), Lord of the Rings:final (4); Master and Commander (3.5), Big Fish (3); Win a date with Tad Hamilton (3), and Girl with the Pearl Earring (4).

After painting workshop yesterday, Elaine and I decided to do lunch and shell out $6, the outrageous matinee ticket price, to see "Girl with the Pearl Earring." It truly is a lovely movie, and quite appropriate as a follow-up to art class (sometimes we go to a local art show).

The movie is based on the book by Tracy Chevalier and the first chapter is at her website. I'm glad I looked at it because it fills in a few details I missed in the film--such as the servant girl Griete's artistic talent from the first minutes (or pages) of the story. It seems now I'll have to read the book to see what else was missed.

215 Out talked O'Reilly

Thursday evening I briefly caught the Kurt Russell/Bill O'Reilly interview on The Factor on Fox. Russell is a Libertarian. His resemblance in facial features and mannerisms to O'Reilly is uncanny. Put Russell's hair on O'Reilly and you'll see what I mean. This interview does not appear on the web site, so there is no link to show you. Russell is doing interviews to talk up his new movie about the 1980 U.S. hockey win at the Olympics.

Also, phrase for phrase, Russell talked O'Reilly into a corner, and you don't often see that. For some reason, when he would say, "Bill, you're wrong," O'Reilly seemed to back down--maybe it was the mirror factor instead of the fear factor.