254 More on Martha

Mark Styen writes:
"Martha may, indeed, be a bitch, though she's always been rather droll and charming to me (I once baked her a cranberry pecan pie with lattice crust). But, even if she were as mean as she's painted, even if (as the government of Nova Scotia might argue) her use of fruitcake is hurtful to the domestically feeble, I'll take her and her entrepreneurial energy over some deadbeat regulators any day. Martha, it seems, will be going to jail for telling a lie. Not in court, not under oath, not perjury, but merely when the Feds came round to see her about a possible crime. They couldn't prove she'd committed a crime, so they nailed her for lying while chit-chatting to them about the non-crime. And for that they're prepared to destroy her company.

It's true that it's an offence to lie to the Feds. But, as my New Hampshire neighbours Tom and Scott, currently in my basement stretching out a little light carpentry job to the end of the winter, are the first to point out, the Feds lied to the public about Waco and Ruby Ridge (another bloodbath) for years. If the Feds can lie to the people, why can't the people lie to the Feds? Lumping Martha Stewart in with Enron and Worldcom is the most pathetic overreaching on the part of the authorities: unlike the other "corporate scandals", Martha's business isn't a flop or a fraud; it made a hugely successful contribution to the economy until a bunch of government bureaucrats decided to target it for demolition."

253 Innovation and outsourcing

In Thomas L. Friedman's column today in the Columbus Dispatch (here for the on-line version) he explains, through the eyes of an Indian woman, why outsourcing jobs is typical of America's innovative spirit. These are the characteristics that have made America great, he concludes:

extreme freedom of thought

emphasis on independent thinking

steady immigration of new minds

risk-taking culture with no stigma attached to trying and failing

financial markets and venture capital system that is unrivaled at taking new ideas and making new products.

Bangalore, he writes, has a lot of engineering schools, but the local government is corrupt, half the city has no sidewalks, there are constant black-outs, the rivers are choked with pollution, the public schools are dysfunctional, the street beggars constantly cause a traffic grid-lock, and the infrastructure is falling apart.

Mindless protectionism will end all that, he says. Yet, everytime I hear the media tell one more whiney story about jobs being exported, that seems to be what they are promoting--let's build a big fence around our borders and protect our unions and our manufacturing and computer jobs.

252 Mona Lisa Smile

There are a number of movies on my “I’d like to see” list: Calendar Girls, In America, Something’s Gotta Give, Master and Commander, Big Fish, Win a date with Tad Hamilton, and Lost in Translation. Recently I’ve seen Girl with the Pearl Earring with a friend from art class, and last Thursday at the dollar theater, my husband and I enjoyed Mona Lisa Smile, now available on DVD. Not exactly Oscar quality, nor a gripping story, but enjoyable.

Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) is the new art history teacher at Wellesley, which is depicted as a very conservative college, for the 1953-54 school year. Katherine’s first class reveals highly motivated, intelligent young women way ahead of her prepared material. The story is more or less narrated by Betty (Kirsten Dunst), sort of a leader of the rest of the girls, who is about to be married in mid-year. She writes for the school paper, blows the whistle on the school nurse for supplying birth control, and later has it in for Katherine who’s not sympathetic with her missing so many classes. Betty is controlled by her mother’s ambitions for her, and believes Katherine is interfering in the life of another student Joan (Julia Stiles) by encouraging her to go to law school.

Men don’t fare well in this story--Katherine's (Julia) love interest turns out to be a guy who lies about his WWII service, and her old boyfriend sort of took her for granted. Betty’s new husband is unfaithful, and Katherine’s landlady/friend, played by Marcia Gay Harden, was apparently dumped during the war and lives in an alcoholic fantasy world of an "old maid."

Having lived through the 50s, I thought it a bit heavy handed with the “conservative” imagery, but it was after all, 50 years ago. Viewed through the lens of the current era when young women live with boyfriends they don’t plan to marry, live in dorms with men, and rack up $40,000 in debt before leaving college, I suppose the 50s do look somewhat ossified and girdled.

I asked a friend who was in college in the early 50s what she thought of the movie, and did it represent her experience at a private, exclusive Midwestern college. She wrote:

“I enjoyed Mona Lisa Smile. I surely did not go to an elite Eastern School, and as in most artistic works the motif seems somewhat exaggerated. Anyone doing any research whatsoever would not have come to [my college] in 1951 hoping to find a husband. The Korean War was on and it was the last year that the school did not have an ROTC unit. Therefore, guys who came were subject to the draft unless otherwise ineligible. I heard years later from a college administrator that as of July 1 that year they had 7 men enrolled. They obviously trolled the waters before Sept. Social life for the majority of women was almost non-existent. The town was dry and women were not allowed to have cars. The guys all migrated to a nearby town to drink beer on Friday night. There was almost no student union activity and you could not get out of town to a movie. I am sure that is why so many of my friends transferred after the sophomore year. I knew of only one gal who married and stayed in school. I would rather have died than tell my folks I wanted to get married. As for goals after graduation they were the usual education or "something" indefinable. We did not have elementary ed courses. One of my professors said casually during my second year, "You are going to graduate school aren't you?'' The thought had never occurred to me up to that point.”

251 Perceptions and the media

“Since the president's tax cut was fully implemented last May the unemployment rate has dropped rapidly from 6.3 percent to 5.6 percent today. Everyone knows this. It's one of the fastest declines in unemployment in decades. The problem is, this is a presidential-election year. Hence, improving economic statistics will not be accepted by the mainstream media no matter what those statistics say.” National Review Online

I noticed a snapshot statistic in USAToday that graphed “satisfaction,” and was quite surprised to see that 34% of Americans are fairly satisfied, and 57% are very satisfied, meaning 91% are fairly or very satisfied. But this isn’t what we hear, read or gossip about because who would turn on the news or buy a magazine that shouted, “Americans are satisfied and happy, but believe everyone else is in trouble.” I suppose one of the components of feeling good is believing someone else is worse off. But just like the mythical Jones family, “someone else” isn’t out there either.

250 The Modern Witch Trial

Both the feminist left and the good old boy right white guys club hate Martha. She's been found guilty, but had she been a lower profile male, more likeable, or hadn't shown the guys up at their own game, she'd have had a slap on the wrist. Had she been a female CEO embezzling or misusing funds at a leftist foundation, the feminist pundits would have been all over this case. But because she focuses on the "happy homemaker" and making homes and gardens more lovely, they don't really give a hoot.

"While those suspected crimes [of other CEOs] resulted in some of the largest bankruptcies and investor losses in history, it was Ms. Stewart's trial in a downtown Manhattan courtroom, focused on a stock sale that netted her about $45,000, that grabbed much of the spotlight." NYT

So for $45,000 (and even that is questionable) the trial costs investors and they have lost many millions more--sort of an Enron in reverse where the government grabs the goodies instead of the CEO.

249 Spin Sisters

I haven't read "Spin Sisters; How the women of the media sell unhappiness and liberalism to the women of America," but the title seems to tell all. I keep a few Family Circles and Women's Day up at the Lake house, and occasionally glance at a cover at the grocery store. The theme of the magazines are usually

beat stress

kill germs

walk off 20 pounds

have great sex

and disease of the month.

Myrna Blyth was the editor of Ladies Home Journal, which many years ago was one of the finest magazines available (my grandmother began subscribing when she was 12 years old), and I still have a few copies from the 1890s. It had fallen on hard times and Blyth managed to nudge it in the right direction, according to Independent Women's Forum. She retired two years ago, so no one can touch her now, and she's spilling the beans.

She says the media is run by the elite who came of age in the 60s and 70s and never questioned that "bigger, better government is the answer to many personal problems." According to the Wall Street Journal, it is well researched, and she read two years worth of nine women's magazines.

In the real world, writes Ms. Blythe, women are not concerned about abortion rights, they favor the death penalty, they supported the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq, and they are more likely to vote than men.

Newsweek, Ms. and NYT of course don't like this book and point out that she herself participated in all the tricks she reports on.

248 I love Martha

I wrote this story a few years ago, and it is still one of my favorites. I really like Martha Stewart and her products and believe if she weren't such a successful woman, there would be no trial.

* * *

My daughter called from aisle 4 of the super market--about a mile from here.

"What's a 'cornichon'?" she whispered.

"A what?" I shouted, "Spell it."

"C-O-R-N-I-C-H-O-N-S," she hissed, "I think it must be type of pepper and I'm standing here in spices and can't find it."

Carrying the phone to the kitchen bookshelf I looked through a few cook-books. No cornichons. I walked into my study to look at my encyclopedia of cooking, no cornichons.

"Did you spell this correctly?" thinking of all the times she creatively spelled.

"Well, I think so."

"How much does the recipe call for?"

"A Tablespoon."

"Hmmn, doesn't sound like pepper," thinking of all the times she creatively "substituted," when learning to cook.

"Can't you ask a store employee?"

"Have you ever tried to find someone in this store? Get real," she whooped.

"What is this for?"

"Deviled eggs."

"Hang up so I can use the modem and I'll check the Internet," wondering what's wrong with my mustard and mayo Deviled Eggs that she needs to reinvent a tradition and add cornichons--a Tablespoon even. Her faith in me shaken, she reluctantly agreed to wait while I matched my PC against her cell-phone. The first 10 on the Google search seem to be in French. This isn't looking good. We're in Cl'mbus O-hi-o for Pete's Sake. Finally, a definition.

Crisp tart pickles made from tiny gherkin cukes. I call her right back.

"It's a pickle. A tiny pickle. You are in the wrong aisle."

"A pickle," she screams. "I'm going to kill Martha Stewart."

247 Core Knowledge in Spanish

"Para los alumnos del tercer grado, al igual que en los años anteriores, la experiencia inicial del arte debe provenir de realizar actividades: dibujar, pintar, cortar y pegar y trabajar con arcilla u otros materiales. Acá sugerimos unas cuantas actividades, pero se pueden desarrollar muchas más para complementar el descubrmiento que hará su niño de la imagen y la luz, de la forma y el color."

I’m always looking for ways to improve my Spanish--an learn something new, too. I’ve started listening to 1550 AM from Delaware, Ohio which is central Ohio’s only Spanish language station, although I did find an all-Spanish program on 1580 AM the other night.

Now I’ve discovered Core Knowledge website for schools promoting consistent, graded curricula for children that build on core knowledge in literature, art, math and sciences. There are many, many links to materials and programs and essays supporting the concept of teaching children this way (most in English, but some in Spanish).

246 A Writer in her own Right

It was probably not a pleasant experience, but Rose Wilder Lane, a successful writer was outshone by her own mother of "Little House" fame whose work she selflessly edited. She was also very political, going from very liberal to what sounds like a libertarian in today's political scene, and considering the era she lived through, much makes sense today. Some of her writing is available on line at the WPA's Federal Writers' Project.

"The Federal Writers' Project materials in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division are part of a larger collection titled The U.S. Work Progress Administration Federal Writers' Project and Historical Records Survey. The holdings from Federal Writers' Project span the years 1889-1942 and cover a wide range of topics and subprojects. Altogether, the Federal Writers' holdings number approximately 300,000 items and consist of correspondence, memoranda, field reports, notes, graphs, charts, preliminary and corrected drafts of essays, oral testimony, folklore, miscellaneous administrative and miscellaneous other material."

In a WPA autobiography included in the above collection, Rose Wilder Lane, daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote in 1938-39:

“Politically, I cast my first vote -- on a sample ballot -- for Cleveland, at the age of three. I was an ardent if uncomprehending Populist; I saw America ruined forever when the soulless corporations in 1896, defeated Bryan and Free Silver.

I was a Christian Socialist with Debs, and distributed untold numbers of the Appeal to Reason. From 1914 to 1920 -- when I first went to Europe -- I was a pacifist; innocently, if criminally, I thought war stupid, cruel, wasteful and unnecessary. I voted for Wilson because he kept us out of it.

In 1917 I became a convinced, though not practicing Communist. In Russia, for some reason, I wasn't and I said so, but my understanding of Bolshevism made everything pleasant when the Cheka arrested me a few times.

I am now a fundamentalist American; give me time and I will tell you why individualism, laissez faire and the slightly restrained anarchy of capitalism offer the best opportunities for the development of the human spirit. Also I will tell you why the relative freedom of human spirit is better -- and more productive, even in material ways -- than the communist, Fascist, or any other rigidity organized for material ends.”
( Federal Writers' Project 1936-1940, http://memory.loc.gov/wpa/15100107.html)

245 A Senior Sandwich

I'm a senior sandwich. On the one hand, I'm involved in a homebound ministry through my church, which will include both nursing home and hospice visits, and visits to those who will be getting better and returning to health. I could be visiting church members old enough to be my parent. I am also signed up for the Senior Partners Program at The Ohio State University Health Sciences Center and might be meeting with a medical student young enough to be my grandchild.

This program pairs a medical student with senior adults around the community for four years, tracking any changes in health status that may occur, and I hope building a friendship and level of communication that will help the medical student when he/she is dealing with an aging population. We will meet about every 4-8 weeks throughout the academic year for 2-3 hours each time. Specific objectives will be set for each meeting, perhaps a medical history (mine, not his). OSU Lantern story here.

If you live in the Columbus area and are interested in this program, you can call 614-293-7914 and they'll send you a packet of information. If you are in another large metropolitan area that has a medical school, there are programs like this throughout the country. ABC evening news covered such a story a few weeks ago.

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

academe, libraries 10, 26, 29, 38, 54, 67, 70, 75, 134, 213, 226
art and artists 54, 66, 102,126,148
blogging 1, 32, 46, 56, 234, 240
books and journals 2, 29, 31, 47, 51, 53, 57, 74, 90, 93,104, 110, 115, 117, 119,149, 152, 155, 158, 166,170
campaign 2004 228, 229, 231, 233, 239,
condo living 40, 42
culture 31, 41, 139,140
economy, finances 7, 13, 33, 43, 61, 96, 101, 111,127, 132,163, 218, 220, 230, 232, 235, 242
education 110, 224
entertainment 72, 90, 109,123,129, 139, 215, 216, 222
faith and values 14, 30, 31, 32, 37, 46, 50, 63, 62, 68, 69, 87, 94,118, 127,130, 132,131,138, 141,145,152, 166, 168, [created new blog Church of the Acronym] 223
family 2, 4, 6, 21, 24, 28, 34, 36, 39, 55, 59, 67, 79, 80, 82, 86, 89, 98, 122, 128, 143,151, 156,160,165,169, 213, 220, 242
fashion 21, 55
food, recipes, eating out 3, 8, 10, 11, 25, 35, 36, 42, 56, 59, 105,108,137,161
friends 9, 10, 21, 50, 54, 92,102,168
genealogy 19, 20, 24, 44, 67, 71, 73,106, 209, 222, 227,
health 23, 25, 36, 39, 48, 53, 61, 60, 81, 83, 88,128,133,146,156, 160
history 85, 224
Illinois 44, 54, 63, 67, 224
Internet, Usenet, computers 26, 32, 33, 37, 62, 211, 212,
language 117,124,125
media 210, 217
nature 31, 42, 58, 57
observations, misc. 5, 12, 15, 49, 52, 113, 114,120, 121,136 154,162, 241
Ohio 20, 40, 97,107
pets 27, 39, 56, 92, 122
poetry 14, 22, 44, 55, 63, 80, 153, 221,
politics 9, 43, 70, 76, 78, 87, 99, 103, 116, 132, 135, 147,150,159, 213, 215, 225, 236, 237
science 2, 16, 29
sports 217
technology 96,142,
war 100,119, 143,144, 147, 219
women 20, 23, 44, 63, 238
writing 19, 62, 65, 67, 95,157,164

244 Get Fuzzy

This is one of the funniest cat cartoons I've ever seen.

243 Speeding and fatal crashes

Last week a "snapshot" in the USAToday showed that speeding is a factor in 30% of all fatal crashes. Of those crashes, 70% are men, and 30% are women. In the 16-34 age group, 315 tickets are issued per 10,000 drivers, in the 35-54 age group, 153 per 10,000, and for 55+ (my age group), only 37 per 10,000. A reader calls it a "me-first" attitude, and I agree. I see people zipping around on the freeway only to get to the light at the same time I do, but having endangered the lives of others.

And some parents aren't the smartest when it comes to putting temptation in the path of their youngsters. While going to my car last Wednesday morning, I noticed there was a very new, red BMW convertible parked next to my van. As I unlocked the van, I saw two teen-age girls get in the convertible and head for school. I know. I know. MYOB.

242 Waiting, waiting

We have an offer out on a house. We're waiting, waiting. Positive there will be a counter-offer. Then more waiting. Excitement is building.

Update: It is ours. We offered. She counter-offered. We countered her counter-offer. She accepted our counter-counter offer.

241 Where did it go? A question for these years.

"What ever happened to the passion we all had to improve ourselves, live up to our potential, leave a mark on the world?" Crossing to safety by Wallace Stegner

240 Voting Rights and Copyright blogs

When I was employed as a librarian, copyright law was always terribly confusing. Putting things on "closed reserve" was always a big issue--were we violating the law? I know I attended many workshops over the years on this topic.

Among my links I have an Ohio State law professor, Edward Lee, who seems to write frequently on this topic but is young enough to care about computer gaming and downloading music (I don't). On his website he has posted his most recent journal article (120 pages) on The Public's Domain: The Evolution of Legal Restraints on the Government's Power to Control Public Access Through Secrecy or Intellectual Property also an important issue for librarians.

Now he has convinced a colleague, Dan Tokaji, to blog in his specialty area of voting rights, especially as it is affected by technology. Equal Vote. After the controversy of hanging chads in 2000, I don't see electronic voting solving much--with no paper trail, but this blog will be enlightening. Are there computers that can't be hacked, compromised or that won't melt down when you need them most? Today's entry is on The Impact of the Holt Bill on Disability Access.

239 Ire and angst

“Much of the speech was forward-looking. It sought to position Mr. Bush as optimistic and steady in the face of serious challenges to the country and relentless attacks by Democrats who, he said, have failed to say how they would deal with the challenges the United States faces at home and abroad.”

That’s about the only accurate paragraph in the New York Times reportage of President Bush’s speech at a Monday night fundraiser. The reporter, who apparently didn’t hear the same speech the rest did, called it an “attack,” “an assault,” “mocking,” “biting” and an “indirect slap” when he said he wouldn’t “outsource” the military. I can even overlook “it sought to position Mr. Bush” rather than simply saying, “President Bush was optimistic and steady. . .”

What the reporter called “mocking” was a very gentle poke at Kerry done with a twinkle in his eye. He didn’t scream like an Al Gore imitating Howard Dean or whine with a sigh like a John Kerry. And he got a good laugh. George Bush is hardly a spell binding speaker, so a little levity makes it easier to listen.

The reporter, Richard Stevenson, did not editorialize, analyze or exaggerate Kerry’s speech against Bush on the same day which he inserted into the coverage of Bush‘s speech. No, he chose instead the word “said” three times. “In an appearance in New York, the Massachusetts Democrat said he had Mr. Bush "on the run" even before Democrats settled for certain on their nominee. He said the president had failed on the economy, had pursued a "reckless" foreign policy and was practicing "crony capitalism and crony government." . . .In a statement issued after Mr. Bush's speech, Mr. Kerry said: "George Bush's credibility is running out with the American people. They want change in America and I'm running because I am determined to bring that change and put America back on track." "

It’s pointless to remind readers again about the NYT partisan position, but I do wish in general reporting this early in the campaign, its columnists would make a bit more effort to control their ire and angst.

238 Keep your friends

The Columbus Dispatch columnist Mike Harden featured a touching and inspiring story yesterday (Feb. 24) about Georgia Griffith, a woman who was born blind, developed all her hearing talents to become a degreed musician, and then lost her hearing at age 38. My grandmother was blind and I know that in her 80s as she began losing her hearing, she believed being deaf was a greater handicap than being blind because it interferred with communication.

Georgia is so busy at her computer helping others and making friends, she hardly has time to sleep. Many years ago she became a proof reader of Braille music for the Library of Congress. Later she was hired by Compuserv to develop a handicapped users' database and to facilitate Internet forums. She routinely trades e-mail with 200 friends world wide.

About the ubiquitous spam she says: You'll never guess what they want me to do now!" About friendship she says: "If I was given the opportunity to exchange my friends for the gift of sight, I would keep my friends."

The free link to this article is through the Sacramento Bee.

237 I don't, I won't

A few days back I blogged at 225 that perhaps not all gays were thinking marriage is what they would do, and in the Feb. 20 issue of San Francisco Chronicle SFGate.com, I read:

""Marriage is not something that I feel I need to have for my relationship to be spiritually or emotionally complete," said Rebecca Rolfe, 42, deputy executive director at the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Center. "Essentially, I've been a longtime feminist and lesbian and have grown up having a lot of criticism of the institution of marriage. I've not necessarily seen it as a institution that benefits women or people in relationships."

Others were more pragmatic about the decision to opt out, citing the rather ominous words at the top of the marriage license application: "By entering into marriage, you may lose some or all of the rights, protections and benefits you enjoy as a domestic partner."

236 Washington's Farewell Address

It is a tradition to read Washington's Farewell Address in the Senate Chamber, and in 2004 Senator John Breaux of Louisiana delivered the address. After the reading, Senator Breaux signed his name in the Washington Farewell Address Book. [This was all stated in the future tense at the government website, so I'm assuming it took place.]

It is a long address--35 pages in pdf text--because it was printed and published in newspapers, and not read aloud. There were no political parties then, but sectional interests were a big concern. Washington noted the following as important to political vitality and strength:

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.

The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule indeed extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?

Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.

WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS 19th September 1796

235 Jobs aren't the only things going overseas

The New York Times Sunday reported on how the jobs we’re shipping overseas are changing long held traditions. [In India] . . . caste, religion and other age-old Indian social divisions are being shaken. Empowered by an ample paycheck, often from big American companies like American Express and America Online, some Indian workers are living lavishly on credit cards, and their open-mindedness is breaking conventions about dating.” Full story here.

Young women in their 20s are not living with their parents, they are moving to the city and renting apartments, are working nights so that they can connect with their American customers thus becoming cut off from their own peer group, are not wearing traditional clothing, are drinking alcohol, wearing make-up and creating a role reversal by sending home money for their parents, who aren’t earning as much as their children.

They are becoming more materialistic, and settling for live-in relationships rather than marriage. “Many of these young Indians deal with car insurance but may never own a car; book hotel suites that cost nearly as much as their annual pay; and chat about pretzels, snow and baseball, which they have never tasted, seen or experienced.”