538 Mrs. Bush's Winning Cookie Recipe

Family Circle featured the favorite cookie recipes of Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Kerry. Mrs. Bush's Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookie won with 67% of the vote. Here's the recipe. As soon as I lose 10 pounds, I'll try it. My husband would eat one, leaving me with 95.

Makes: about 8 dozen cookies. Bake: at 350° for 12 to 15 minutes.

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups light-brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 cups quick oats (not old-fashioned)
2 cups chopped walnuts
1 1/2 packages (8 ounces each) chocolate chunks (3 cups)
2 cups coarsely chopped dried sour cherries


1. Heat oven to 350°.
2. With electric mixer, cream butter and both sugars.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time, then beat in vanilla.
4. Add flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and oats; slowly beat until blended.
5. Stir in walnuts, chocolate and cherries.
6. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.
7. Bake at 350° for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown.

The cookie poll has been accurate for the last four elections, according to the Bush Cheney site, which posted this recipe. However, you'll still need to get out and vote.

537 The Lesbian Candidate

After I've just told you what a great profession library science is, I'm going to report that reference librarians actually get questions like this:

Is it Dick Cheney that is the lesbian presidential candidate?" Reported by Matthew, who gave up a nursing career to become a librarian and is probably wondering why.

Both Edwards and Kerry brought up Cheney's lesbian daughter during the debates, one of the cheapest, most obnoxious political tricks I've ever heard of. They were trying to frighten their wild-eyed, right wing strawmen who may have been in a closet for the past six months and could then be deterred from showing up at the polls due to their fear of homosexuality. And then Mrs. Edwards, who up to this time (Thursday) had seemed like a rational, nice person, tried to psychoanalyze Mrs. Cheney because she was upset the Democrats were using her child for political gain.

What sort of hatred is it that makes a man, no two men, use an opponent's daughter for a poster child for the speaker's own bigotry? As another blogger pointed out, Bush didn't bring up that Kerry, a Roman Catholic, had had his first marriage annulled, making his own daughters, . . . what, quasi-illegitimate due to their parents' failures?

This is really rock bottom slim and sludge, folks.

Update: James Taranto at OpinionJournal Best of the Web comments, Oct. 15:

John Kerry's gratuitous mention during Wednesday's debate of Dick Cheney's gay daughter has become the most talked about moment of the debate, and it looks as though it's backfiring on the Kedwards campaign. True, most gay activists seem untroubled by Kedwards' gay-baiting, apparently on the (no doubt accurate) theory that a Kerry administration would be far friendlier to their policy agenda than the Bush administration is. And it's anyone's guess whether the publicity for Cheney's daughter will suppress turnout among conservative Republicans or lead conservative Democrats to remain in the fold.

Update: Jean Vennochi, Boston Globe, Oct. 19:

There is no way to prove it, but I agree with conservatives who argue there was nothing accidental about Kerry's reference to "Dick Cheney's daughter, who is a lesbian" during the last debate. It followed an earlier mention by his running mate, John Edwards. Whether the intent was to discourage evangelicals who oppose homosexuality from turning out in large numbers for Bush or to remind voters in general of GOP hypocrisy on the topic, two mentions of Mary Cheney are not political accidents. They are political calculations. . .

Go ahead, liberals, start howling: What is worse, you say, refusing to admit you were wrong to invade Iraq or refusing to admit you were wrong to invade the Cheney family's privacy? On the merits, of course, Bush's refusal to admit wrongdoing in war is much more serious. But the merits don't always prevail, in court or politics. Like it or not, Kerry's willingness to use Mary Cheney in a political forum and unwillingness to apologize for doing so gives less-than-committed Kerry voters time -- two weeks -- for second thoughts.

536 Just A Few Best Sellers

Just A Few Best sellers
from the Wall Street Journal
October 15, 2004

It’s “Good to great” and then
“Who moved my cheese?”
“Discover your strength,”
“Da Vinci Code,” please.

Harvey McKay and
Carolyn Kepcher
Arthur Agatston and
Sharon Lecter.

Rosabeth Kanter
R. Kiyosaki
Liz Tucillo and
Jean Sherman Chatzky.

Michael F. Moore loves
Ms. Kitty Kelley
Lemony Snicket
John O’Neill Corsi.

Malcolm Gladwell,
Staff of the Daily Show;
Stephen Lundin and
Bob Dylan you know.

Maeve Benchy, Jim
Collins Harry Paul ;
Sophie Kinsella,
Tom Roth Phil McGraw .

“How full is your bucket,”
“We got fired,”
So many new books
Read ‘til you’re tired.

535 Whose turn to clean the bathroom?

Yesterday I was reading a summary of one of the left-wing Bush bashing books, this one about his dangerous, evangelical religion, and decided to look up the publisher, Pluto Press, which was an arm of South End Press. Although I was not surprised by the mission statement of South End, I got a chuckle out of the “cleaner in the bathroom” story. It just sounds so. . .so. . .70s. And it was, of course. After the Vietnam war protests died out (until this year), the founders decided to go into publishing. They are still around, finding readership for their blather, but are probably getting smarter about the bottom line.

". . .we started with a clear mission statement. We knew what our purpose and principles were and why. It was on paper for future collective members to see, it was on the copyright page or the back page of the books we published. No matter what the financial situation was, no matter what the internal problems were, our goal was to get those political books out. The book publishing decisions were informed by what we thought would be a contribution to analyzing U.S. institutions, to the left broadly defined, to what we referred to then as “totalist” politics (recognizing the important of race, gender, and class), and to visions and strategies for radical social change."

". . .we were committed to our principles but flexible about tactics. For example, in the beginning everyone had to be part of every decision made, including what cleaner to use in the bathrooms and the font size of each book. Later, we delegated decision making and autonomy within work areas, mostly by instituting a yearly summer policy-making retreat."

I remember those policy making retreats from work and church. If you ever want to create grass roots support for your own ideas, you gather people together for a retreat, serve them nice box-lunches, and have them come to your conclusions and plans in small groups.

534 What Librarians do today

If you’d like an exciting career battling technological advancement, choose “library and information science.” I truly loved being a librarian, but technology and our devotion to it is one of the reasons I retired early (and my own thrifty behavior of putting 15% aside for TIAA-CREF all my working years). So here’s a brief compilation of what a day looks like for a librarian:

Krafty Librarian writes:
“. . .the systems librarian and I are working on our server and various problems. I replaced the tape drive Friday and we were able to do back ups for the weekend then all of a sudden on Monday it failed. What was the point of me replacing our broken tape drive when they sent us crappy refurbished one that would work better as a paper weight?”

Shoe frets:
“I am putting Mozilla on them as soon as I get a chance, and taking off IE. There will be no choice. I don’t want a lawsuit because some doofus a million miles away stole a patron’s credit card number. Besides, Firefox and Mozilla are better browsers anyhoo. And the kids love the tabbed browsing. Oh, how I wish I could get a Linux system running. It would ease my fears some. It would ease my fears a lot.”

Tangognat worries:
“Am I missing something, or did some of the search functionality vanish from the redesigned American Memory site? I thought there used to be a way to search by limiting your search by medium. So if you only wanted to search and retrieve photos or audio files you could do that. Now that option seems to hidden, under the option to browse specific collections. If I browse Books and other printed works, I’m then given the option to run a search limited to those formats. I was really confused, probably just because I expect very different things from the labels “browse” and “search". .

Family Man Librarian speaks for all: ". . .librarians are not that great at marketing themselves. By marketing, I don't mean shameless self-promotion. Instead, I'm talking about making clear to their institutions how integral and vital their role and the role of libraries is to their success and to society in general, especially in this digital age. Over and over and over again, I am reminded of how persistently overlooked and underrepresented libraries and library issues are in the general scheme of things in my local environment. It's incredible, especially given the facts...like huge (and growing) library website statistics, huge (and growing) use of online resources, huge influx of people in the library. . ."

And these youngsters don’t even comment on the 10 or so meetings a week or the parts of your job that gradually get outsourced to state, regional or national consortia and committees. Still, it’s a great life. Some libraries even have books.

533 Only two states left

If this registration chart is correct, the only states left where you can still register to vote are Connecticut (14) and California (15). Millions have disenfranchised themselves already through sloth, apathy and carelessness. Their places in the voting booth will be taken on November 2 by those who vote more than once (no ID required), and those who are dead and have sent stand-ins.

Then their freedom of speech has been hijacked too, not by terrorists, but by their own inaction, because if I hear any complaining about the president in the next four years, I've got a roll of duct tape I'd like to use. . .

532 If you‘re going nowhere, any road will get you there

"If someone argues that the purpose of studying mathematics is to build self-esteem, and proposes a study method that produces confident students who cannot do long division, then making the counter argument that the study method is a failure will fall on deaf ears. This is, of course, because the study method is in fact a rousing success. It produces exactly what its proponents want. It makes little sense to argue about the means, when you have completely different views about the ends."

This is actually the opening paragraph of an essay on modern architecture--postmodernism--written by Paul Mansour at Scourge of Modernism, a blog about architecture, in May 2003. (It may have been his last.)

But it recalls for me a letter in the Wall Street Journal today about what is wrong with progressive education (which apparently is not unlike modern architecture in content) written by Edwin Thompson. He writes that

Progressive education equals
whole-language
whole-math
anti-conceptual constructivism
multiculturalism
moral relativism
all of which thwart
cognitive development
and creates
followers not leaders
collectivists not individualists
pragmatists not goal oriented individuals and
numerous diagnoses of learning disabilities.

His letter is followed by one written by Bruce Bruxton, a Headmaster at a private day school. He says that all the education reforms, top down, that have occurred in the last 50 years or so have amounted to a massive failure, matched only by the failure of Marx and Lenin.

531 Bush and Kerry in Ohio--again, and again

I may be the only Ohioan who hasn’t seen President Bush or Senator Kerry. Illini Girl referred me to this article last Friday at NRO, by Kevin Holtsberry.

“If there was any question about Ohio's status as the battleground state among battleground states, the past week has put it to rest. The candidates, their surrogates, and even independent celebrities have been barnstorming Ohio. And of course last night Ohio was center stage for the vice-presidential debate in Cleveland. It appears Ohio will continue to see the presidential campaign up close and personal for the next 30 days.”

We’ve even had those intellectual giants, the Dixie Chicks, in town to tell us how to vote, and blasts from the past for aging boomers, John Couger (as he used to be known when my son was buying “records“) and Bruce Springsteen.

There was a woman sitting across from me this morning at Panera’s wearing a Bush-Cheney ‘04 t-shirt and sweat pants. She was having a very animated conversation with another woman wearing a faded pink t-shirt with no message and Capri pants. What a grasp of the campaign and issues she had! Knew all the economic figures, foreign policy, education measures, etc. Much more than all three Dixie Chicks combined.

530 Ig Nobel Prize

"The Ig Nobel award for medicine—one of the prizes given annually to scientists who have produced unusual research—was given this year to a team of researchers who had found that cities in which radio stations played a higher than average amount of country music had higher than average suicide rates. . . Daisuke Inoue of Hyugo, Japan who invented the karaoke machine, received this year's peace award for "providing an entirely new way for people to learn to tolerate each other." "

BMJ, 329:817 Oct. 9, 2004,

529 Why I am a Lutheran, by Daniel Preus

From this Book
“I am a Lutheran for the same reason I am a Christian. It is not by choice but by grace. The teachings of the Lutheran Church place Jesus at the center because the teachings of the Scriptures place Jesus at the center. No other confession demonstrates such fidelity to the truths of God's Word. No other confession so glorifies Christ by placing Him at the center of all it confesses and teaches. Being a Lutheran is truly all about Jesus.”

Sounded good, so first I did a library search. Public Library.

“Why I am. . .”
a Catholic
a Muslim
a Reform Jew
an abortion doctor
not a Christian
still a Catholic.

OK. Let’s try OSU Libraries (probably 4,000,000 volumes) and OhioLink--that’s about 60 other libraries throughout Ohio, including seminaries and church related colleges, two of them Lutheran.

“Why I am. . . “
a Christian Scientist
a Communist
a conservative
a danger to the public
a democrat
a Jew
a painter
a poet
a reform Jew
antifur
great
not a Buddhist
not a Christian
not a feminist
not a Muslim
not a nudist
not a woman
not an environmentalist
only a demi-vegetarian
still a Christian
still an Anglican.

528 Bike or walk? Will it help? Reviewers are doubtful

Who knows? Rosabelle finds reader who suggests plain English for research.

527 Another top library job goes to non-librarian

The 2003-2004 GSLIS newsletter arrived last week and I’m just now getting a look. The new Dean of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, John Unsworth, is featured. He is a specialist in humanities computing, not library science. He also became a tenured English professor without publishing a book. Here’s the notice of his appointment from the Champaign-Urbana, Illinois newspaper:

“John Unsworth may not be a librarian, but many at the University of Illinois think he is the perfect leader for their top-ranked library school.

Unsworth is an English professor who specializes in 20th century fiction, has an interest in the cultural aspects of publishing, and is director of an institute supporting computer-based humanities research.” News-Gazette, March 26, 2003

So I’m listening to him this morning on RealOne give a presentation at a March 2004 Library Colloquium. Although he says in his “Letter from the Dean” that his mission is to underline the “and” in the school’s name--planning to hire two faculty in the traditional library areas of cataloging/classification and youth services--I suspect that eventually libraries may just become an extension, in heart if not in deed, of the computer/technology departments of our various institutions.

I also noticed, what has slipped by me before, that U of I GSLIS refers to its Master’s degree as MS, rather than MLS, even for those of my era. In my bio and resume, I’ve always written, MLS. So I pulled my diploma off the shelf, and sure enough, it clearly says, Master of Science. Not a word about which graduate school. No mention of “library.” Truly, I’d never really looked that closely.

Still, I think it would only be wise for Dean Unsworth take the equivalent of those "core" courses that used to be required before you could officially take the graduate level courses. They were used both as preparation and to weed out the faint of heart.

526 How do you fix a broken zipper?

It all began on a Thursday in 1982 and ended on a Saturday in 2004. That’s a long time for a pair of khaki slacks to survive homemaking, career, travels, weight changes and fashion trends. I found them in a small “dress shop” in Kenny Center (it disappeared years ago along with dresses) that carried over-stocks and out-of-season sportswear. The zipper broke sometime during last Saturday’s yard sale when the metal clasp jumped the track of the nylon treads. Out of season--yes, indeed, twenty two years out.

The children were not only out-growing their clothes that year, but becoming very conscious of fashion faux pas and fads. So I probably really debated about the extravagance of buying something for myself. Straight leg slacks and jeans with a natural waist and small front pleats were all the rage. My hip hugger flares were definitely out of style, so they were off to the “missionary barrel.”

My daughter calls the 80s our “beige years.” I was driving a 1977 beige Buick, and our second car was a lighter beige Fiesta. We were living in a beige house, with beige walls and carpet. So why not beige slacks to complete the ensemble? I was a Democrat and Ronald Reagan was President. The children both entered high school that year, 9th and 10th grade as the school system changed from a three year to a four year high school.

That was most likely the year our son started smoking--it was allowed in school in those days, and it was a way for a lowly Freshman to hang out and be accepted by the upper classmen. Thank you, UA Board of Education, for a habit he still can’t kick.

I’d need to check a resume to see if and where I was working--but I think I was clerking at Pickwick Discount Books on Lane Avenue to see if I really wanted to open a book store. I didn’t, I discovered. Being a librarian was far easier, and less physically demanding. I couldn’t figure out the cash register, or the ordering system and I learned that the truck drivers delivered those heavy cartons of books only to the front door and dumped them. We employees had to carry them to the basement. We had to accept the pornographic magazines along with the regular consumer titles (we hid them in the basement until it was time for returns).

I do remember the day my daughter called me at the bookstore (I had ridden my bike to work and she had the beige Buick) and said, “Mom, don’t worry, I’ve cleaned up all the blood, but we need to go to the ER.” Her brother had forgotten his key and in an attempt to crawl through a window, he had broken it and sliced his wrist on jagged glass.

So maybe I bought myself those slacks as a reward. I didn’t know in 1982 the worst was yet to come with the teen years, but we all survived and so did the slacks. The khakis traveled to library conferences in Boston, Missouri, and Texas; went on summer vacations at Lake Erie and northern Illinois. Last year they rode Amtrak to California and back, and this year they traveled by bus to Buffalo and Canada.

There’s probably a few good years of wear left; they are hardly broken in. Anyone know how to fix a zipper?


Leaving california 

525 The third place pie

My apple pie received third place out of forty-five entries in the contest at the Fall Festival. I've had two pieces, and actually think it isn't as good as some I've made. The prize is a week of sailing lessons. Can you sense my excitement? Hmmm. I don't even own a swim suit. I don't put my toe in the water. I love to look, but not touch big bodies of water. I'm hoping I can exchange it for a car pass for 2005.

The program, the first ever for a fall evening at Hoover, was the Air National Guard Band of the Great Lakes, the "triple nickel," the 555th Air Force Band. They did a wonderful job--had several smaller ensembles, like a jazz band, a flute sextet, a winds group, a popular music group that did a wonderful rendition of "I can only imagine," and "American Soldier," and then a full concert band that provided the ever popular Armed Forces Medley when all the veterans in the audience stand up and I cry.

524 The Librarian's Job

Robert Dodsley was an 18th century publisher who "discovered" Samuel Johnson. But first he tried his hand at being a Footman, then a poet. He wrote a poem called "Servitude" about his life as a servant. Using his poem as a model, I wrote about being a librarian. When I wrote this, the Veterinary Medicine Library was located in Sisson Hall (torn down in 2001), located across the river from the main campus and Library, and was furnished with its original equipment made by prisoners. You'll see references to these things in the poem.

Servitude, a la Dodsley ( Robert Dodsley, 18th cent. British publisher and poet)
By Norma J. Bruce(1)

If it be worth your while to know
A true librarian's business woe,
I'll try to tell in easy rhyme,
How I, in C'lumbus, spend my time.
As soon as laziness will let me,
I rise from bed, and down I set me,
To read journals my head above
Which (by the bye) is what I love.
This done; with expeditious care
To dress myself I straight prepare,
I clean my teeth and black my lashes
Powder my nose, and put on glasses.
Take off to McDonald's, a cup of Joe,
the paper, and I'm ready, set to Go.

I with uniformity and care
Open the library and prepare
10 keys and 3 wrenches releasing gloom
In book drop, hall doors, and cluttered back room.
Chairs are arranged; orange, black, yellow and red--
Built by prisoners now probably dead. (2)
I leap from copier to terminal to phone
To answer quick questions before I roam
Across the river where colleagues wait
In meetings that run 'til dinner plate;
Disputes maintained without digression,
With ready wit, and fine expression.
And seem to understand no more
Than what was said the week before.

To Sisson Hall on Reeboked feet
The trip across I then repeat (3)
To teach a class on BVD
(You'll be sorry, just don't ask me)
I hear, and note incredible phrases,
"Who was Art Nouveau" amazes,
Or, "I'm looking for a book,
Please just tell me where to look".
Whilst I at keyboard begin to pour
Out reports, booklists, and guides galore,
SilverPlatter from my hand,
MESH advice from where I stand.
Then with book trucks piled high and creaking
It's into the stacks, for night is creeping.

1. Written while Head, Veterinary Medicine Library, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
2. Built by Prison Industries of Ohio Penitentiary.
3. Sisson Hall was named for Septimus Sisson, whose personal library was the foundation of the Veterinary Medicine Library. It was separated from the main Ohio State campus by the Olentangy River.

523 John Edwards on the Iraq War

John Edwards on Iraq, September 19, 2002, (remember he saw all the same intelligence reports that the President saw):

“Here's what I believe the resolution should say. First and foremost, it should clearly endorse the use of all necessary means to eliminate the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

Second, the resolution should call for an effort to rally the international community under a U.N. Security Council mandate. The president's speech last week was an important first step, and his belated diplomatic efforts have already borne fruit. At the same time, we must not tie our own hands by requiring Security Council action. Congress should authorize the United States to act with whatever allies will join us if the Security Council is prevented from supporting action to enforce the more than 16 resolutions against Iraq.

Third, Congress should demand that the administration take real steps to win the peace. The only chance for Iraq to become a democratic, tolerant state -- and a model for the Arab world -- will be through sustained American involvement. We will need to help provide security inside Iraq after Hussein is gone, work with the various Iraqi opposition groups, reassure Iraq's neighbors about its future stability and support the Iraqi people as they rebuild their lives. Congress also should consider authorizing funds now to support such efforts, rather than waiting for events to force us to act with emergency spending.”

Look at that! “We will need to help provide security inside Iraq after Hussein is gone, work with the various Iraqi opposition groups, . . Etc. From Roger Simon blog. Glenn Beck on Wednesday was impersonating Edwards, "Fiiavvve Points," but there seems to be only three here. The photos on Beck's web site of the Star Wars connection to the compaign are awesome.

521 Ten things to do before the election

The Sojourner's Magazine has a commentary on "10 things to do before the election," in the October 2004 issue (selected articles on-line).

Number 2 is: "Register to vote. One out of four people of voting age weren’t registered to vote in 2000. For information on how to register, visit a public library or contact the Federal Election Commission (www. fec.gov). If you are already registered, get five other people to register."

I was reading an editorial in the Ogle County Life (Illinois) about the excuses people give for not voting, "Most will stay home on election day". My own son has never voted--he will be 36! How will I get five other people to register, if I can't even persuade him? I've even handed him the form that I picked up at church. All he had to do was fill it out and mail it. How hard is that?

How hard is it to think about young American men and women dying so people in Afghanistan and Iraq can vote?

520 Kanye West's Jesus Walks with Me

Bunnie Diehl's blog parses the words of Kanye West's Jesus Walks With Me, a popular Christian rap number. She says, "Not your, how do we say, traditional Christian song, Kanye discusses strippers, coke and drug dealers in his ode to the Savior. Profanities, too." This one I've actually heard--and like.

Making peace with the culture is the unending song of Christian music. My grandparents thought "Old rugged cross" (waltz music) and "Onward Christian Soldiers" (they were Anabaptists) were not fit for the hymnal.

519 Boys are fragile

About 125 boys are conceived for every 100 girls, and by birth there are about 106 males to 100 females, at least in the United States, and that figure differs by ethnic group, with black males being more fragile than white males. Because boys are more susceptible to childhood diseases and are more likely to be involved in accidents or violence, the ratio is about even by the teen years. Into adulthood, women steadily outpace the men in longevity. So, apparently, men needed that head start at conception. A new study in Italy shows that there is a premium time of the year for the conception of males--apparently the cooler months. There is also some concern that the birth ratio is changing with fewer boys being born, but no one knows why.

In many developing countries like India and China, boys are valued more than girls, and now with sex selection possible before birth, more girls than boys are being aborted. By the age of marriage, this is creating terrible social problems, with not enough women available. This doesn't improve choices for women--it makes them more susceptible to kidnapping, rape and violence.

518 Just a bagel and cream cheese

Two young 30-something married women (big rings, left hand) sat down near me at the coffee shop Wednesday morning. I watched them slice their bagels, open the plastic containers of cream cheese, spread the nutritious calcium and protein onto the wheat product and open bottles of fruit juice. Not bad nutrition--although more calories than two donuts.

They were eating, not dying, unless you think negatively that we are all using up our time here on earth. Terri Schiavo is a young married woman who uses a tube for her nutrition and fluids. She can't experience the texture and flavor of dairy and wheat products, but she can get the same nutrition. Terri is eating; not dying.

To withhold a feeding tube from a dying person may be an act of kindness because you aren't prolonging the death process. To withhold nutrition from someone who isn't dying is cruel, and a painful murder. Terri's husband wants to legally murder her by pulling out the tube.

If the husbands of the women I saw at Panera's came into the shop and grabbed away their food and locked them in a closet for 10 days, I suppose they might die. The husbands would go to jail, I hope. And what would those of us sitting around enjoying our coffee and bagels do?