779 Medved on Theocons

In an interview with The American Enterprise, film critic Michael Medved explains his change from left wing radical to right wing conservative. He says he is not a "neocon," but a "theocon."

TAE: How do you define theocon?

MEDVED: As a conservative whose outlook has largely been shaped by religious commitment. One of the things that most irreligious or nonreligious Americans don't recognize sufficiently is that a huge theme of American religiosity, both Christian and Jewish, is that the individual goes through a rebirth, a recommitment, a return. That kind of transforming religious experience is usually associated with a more conservative political outlook.

The President of the United States would be a prominent example of what we're talking about. I think that the clear basis for President Bush being more conservative than his father, and vastly more conservative than his grandfather Prescott Bush, is his extremely vital personal religious faith, which he says had a transforming impact on his life.

This is one of many things that the secularists don't get--the President's "I once was lost, but now I'm found. I once was blind, but now I see." This is the core story of American Christianity, the story of being born again, of having a new life, of coming home, of the prodigal son.

In other words, one of the things they'd throw at President Bush is that he was a frat boy, he drank too much, he was a playboy. Well, yes--he says so. And he
went through a change. And part of what I'm hoping to do in my book is to talk about the fact that we have a parallel tradition on the Jewish side of things. Resh Lakish was a former thief and a lowlife who became one of the great rabbis of the Talmud. An amazing number of scholars and figures in the Torah are people who are converts to Judaism, who had no religious commitment at all, who turned their lives around."

Medved knew both John Kerry and Hillary Rodham at Yale. He didn't like Kerry then, but did like Mrs. Clinton.

"MEDVED: I thought at the time that Kerry was simply too pompous to go as far as he has. Usually politicians who are successful are people with some kind of spontaneous likeability. I had close contact with John Kerry, and his likeability factor is nonexistent.

I think Hillary will be more of a challenge in 2008 than a lot of conservatives think. She's really worked hard in the Senate. She's definitely moved to the center. And her voting record on military things is now conservative. If she's able to allow her native niceness to come out, she will be a formidable candidate."

In another article with a one page list of Indicators, TAE outlines what it continues to call the Bush mandate:

Bush's share of the vote was larger than the fraction won by any Democrat in 36 years, beginning with Hubert Humphrey in 1968; Bush increased his percentage of the vote in 45 out of 50 states; Bush in 2000 had more votes than Clinton in 1996, and his second term total was 3 times the jump Clinton achieved between 92 and 96; Bush is the first President since 1924 to start a second term with House and Senate majorities; 48 percent of women voted for Bush compared to 43 percent in 2000; and for the first time in modern history, as many voting Americans fundamentally identified themselves as Republicans as Democrats. Check it out here.

778 Canada geese, go home

Blog Driver's Waltz is one of the best looking blogs among my links--well designed and tasteful. And I'm betting it is really interesting too, if only I understood what he's talking about, but most of the time I don't. Today I noticed a tiny book cover over to the right for "Souvenir of Canada 2." Viewed through my trifocals, the book cover looked like a photo of a Canada Goose dropping its load, but upon enlargement, it is actually two fused geese moving in opposite directions, just like some things Canadian. I peeked inside (Amazon lets you do that) and it looks like a really interesting book. This is Douglas Coupland's second book about why Canada is really cool.

It's not about scooping poop, which we have to do around here, every place there is a small pond--like the little park next to our church. I don't know how often the staff has to flush the sidewalks or clean the treads on the shoes of the pre-schoolers, but I'm guessing it is often. As I drove home yesterday, I'd say conservatively, 1,000 geese were nibbling, skating on the frozen pond, chatting up their buddies and wandering into traffic. I sometimes see joggers and walkers in that area, but they'd need to be constantly looking down. I have a sneaky feeling these geese have never even visited Windsor.

This website is devoted to calming fears about tons of poop in our parks.

This one says we don't have enough data.

When I was a veterinary librarian at Ohio State, I did get questions about fecal count in bird feces and avian diseases. One time I got a phone call from a chef in New York City who wanted to bake blackbirds in a pie for a contest. This is not a joke. Librarians hear the strangest things.

777 Jumping into the deep end

When I started blogging in October 2003, I waited until the seventh entry before I wrote about quintiles, retirement and baby boomers. BrainDrain has jumped right in, posting about social security and his ideas for rescuing it, immediately after his "testing, testing 1-2-3" post. I think it is the right mix of opinion, fact, chat and hyperbole--so we'll look forward to more good blogging from another Midwesterner.

776 Gallant and Goofus

Remember the cartoon panel in Highlights for Children of the two boys, one well mannered and ethical, and the other clueless about behavior and attitude? Garry C. Myers III, the CEO of Highlights, was the child model for Gallant. His grandparents Garry Cleveland Myers and Caroline Clark Myers founded Highlights in 1946. Garry III's obituary was in the local paper yesterday. He died January 26.

The parents of young "Gallant" were killed in a plane crash and he and his siblings were raised by an aunt and uncle in Texas. The Columbus Dispatch reports "He graduated from U.S. Army Language School in Monterey, California, and served as a Spanish language specialist in Panama. He received a bachelor's degree in International Affairs at George Washington University in 1972 and then earned a M.B.A. in marketing from the University of Michigan. In 1971 at age 24 and while still in the Army, Myers was elected to the board of directors of Highlights for Children, Inc. He joined Highlights in 1975 as a management information analyst. In 1978, he became vice president of mail sales and promotion and in 1980 was named president of the Highlights corporation. Myers had been chief executive officer since 1981." Many service and volunteer organizations are listed.

I Googled "Gallant and Goofus" and discovered they have been used in sermons, TV show scripts and particularly punditry appearing in both red and blue state blogs.

Highlights Foundation has workshops for children's writers.

775 Big hair and leg warmers

Cattiva over at Does this mean I'm a grown-up enumerates the fashions of the 80s that are making a comeback. Kinda funny--my daughter's era. I think I've just packed away a few of my 80s things recently, so the reruns of the fashions have missed my notice (probably I was still wearing the 70s in the 80s). My very favorite 80s fashion was the huge shoulder pads and the wash and wear perms that needed a scrunch or two when wet (I had several).

I have a favorite blue sweater from 1980 or 1981 that just won't give up. It's a cotton knit, crew collar, long sleeve in sort of a Microsoft blue--that band of color at the bottom of my computer screen in Internet Explorer. Comfortable in summer or winter. This sweater hasn't pilled, shrunk or stretched in 25 years. I throw it in the washer, toss it in the dryer. It refuses to die or even fade. I wore it Tuesday with a white shirt and khaki slacks.

1985 in review.

774 That was close!

It wasn't exactly a New Year's resolution, but I haven't had a Fritos corn chip or a potato chip since January 1. Occasionally, the desire for something crunchy and salty rolls over me, so I pulled into a CVS parking lot on the way home from my women's group at church this morning. It was slushy and slippery and I finally found a spot that was clear, turned off the engine, and put my hand on the door, preparing to run into the store. Then Jane's face came to mind. She's in my Saturday morning group. She's about 28 and gave up a two pack a day cigarette habit on April 4, 2004. She says she loved smoking. She reached for a cig when rolling out of bed in the morning. She quit cold turkey. No nicotine gum. No patch. No substitution with snacks (didn't gain any weight). She looks (and smells) great.

So, I turned the engine back on and drove home. Thanks, Jane.

773 Delicious Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is a comfort food. I think it was developed by our grandmothers (well, not yours since you are younger) to use up stale or spoiling ingredients in the days before refrigeration. And so it came to pass, that on Monday January 24 I had a bag of stale sandwich buns, about 2 cups of milk well past the "do not sell after" date, and 5 eggs that had hung around like late night guests who don't know when to leave. So I decided I had the perfect set up for bread pudding.

In an odd coincidence, Monday was also the 5 year anniversary of my mother's death. During the grieving time I had written a very long story about my search for the perfect bread pudding recipe--something that tasted like hers. I wrote about going through her little wooden recipe box, one of the treasures I was able to take home after the funeral, and my delight at finding all sorts of names and tastes I'd forgotten. I recorded my testing of various recipes and taking them to pot luck dinners, all in the search for taste and texture (and my mom) that I remembered. I'm a little fuzzy on the details since I haven't looked at the essay for some time, but I don't think I found it. She probably made hers just by throwing a few things together and didn't use a recipe.

Five years later, I'm strong enough to accept a substitute, so the one I did make got rave reviews from my husband, and I thought it was delicious too--fine for breakfast, lunch or dinner (the dish was 13 x 9, so we had A LOT for just 2 people).

6 eggs, well beaten (I used 5--doesn't seem to matter)
1 cup sugar (I used Splenda)
2 cups light cream (I used 2% milk)
1 stick of butter (I actually had that on hand because I didn't make the Christmas cookies)
1 Tablespoon of vanilla (I think I reduced that a bit--sounds like a lot)
1 large French or egg bread, broken into pieces (I used 3 very large, stale sandwich buns)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup crushed pineapple
1 cup raisins, soaked and drained
(The recipe called for 1 jar of Bing cherries, drained, as optional. I had none and don't think this extra fruit is needed)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 x 13 baking pan or large ceramic baking dish.

Beat eggs with the sugar, cream, melted butter, and vanilla; pour this mexture over the bread cubes. Stir until bread is moistened. Sprinkle cinnamon over mixture; add pineapple and raisins.

Press mixture into the pan. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, or until the pudding is set. Serve hot. Serve additional cream to pour over the pudding.

Serves 12--or 2 if you're lucky.

I almost never mix the way the instructions read. I tore up the bread and put it in the baking dish and then poured the liquid over it, and dabbed on the fruit, sprinkled the cinnamon on top. Really, with these "make do" ingredients, for a dish our mothers and grandmothers threw together from left overs, it doesn't matter much. I served it with Cool Whip Free.

772 Now that's a reader

Because of who I am and the people I hang out with, I know a lot of readers. Steve and his wife have us all beat. When they married back in the 80s they challenged each other to read a book a week. He kept up with her for 7 or 8 years, and then when she turned 52, he suggested she double the number to 104, and she did! I'd be surprised if I've read 52 books since the mid-80s. Probably have, but skimming or browsing is more like it. I've certainly checked out that many a year.

Yesterday I checked out Got Game; How the Gamer Generation is Reshaping Business Forever by Beck and Wade (Harvard Business School Press, 2004) and Bleachers by John Grisham (Doubleday, 2003). I'm trying to finish up So Many Enemies, So Little Time; an American Woman in All the Wrong Places by Elinor Burkett (HarperCollins, 2004), which I think is overdue (they don't charge old people fines, so I get sloppy). In the morning I've been reading Amazing Grace; 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories Daily Devotions (Kregel, 1990). That would easily get me to 52 books a year if I'd finish them. But if I read Steve's blog correctly, he and his wife actually read the entire book! What a concept.

771 Ted Kennedy is not fat

But he got to his current size because he is full of gas, hot air, and himself. He is pompous beyond belief. His latest remarks as Iraqis bravely go to the polls, are inexcusable, dangerous and life threatening--not to his career, unfortunately, but to their lives.

770 Rebuilding America street by street

For 34 years we lived in a lovely, hip roof, colonial style home on a beautiful, tree lined street in a pleasant, upscale suburb. Ours was the last street developed before World War II put a stop to home building due to shortages of materials. Just one street north of us where home building started in the later 1940s, the homes were a different style and materials. Of course, by the time we purchased 2338, it didn't meet the standards of the times, either ours or the city's, so it seemed that for 34 years we were adding closets, building walls, replacing light fixtures, upgrading plumbing, putting on triple track windows, installing a new water heater and furnace, new wiring, appliances, kitchen cabinets, adding a family room, an art studio and a free standing garage, laying a brick patio, building and replacing a variety of privacy fences and finally wrapping the house in vinyl that looked like board siding. Don't believe the stories you read about this or that improvement adding %% of value to your home. That only applies if you sell within 5 or 6 years. We stayed too long and ended up redoing a number of our 1970s projects in the 1990s. Yes, a home is a good investment, but if we had banked all the remodeling projects and just let the home appreciate with the neighborhood, we would have been way ahead.

But we were pikers compared to many of our neighbors. In the late 90s, our new young neighbors with 3 little children purchased the huge half million dollar home (reduced) next door, and because it looked like such a bargain to them (they moved from California), for the next two years they provided full employment for a variety of carpenters, decorators, landscapers, and painters. The previous owners had also continuously been revising, adding on, covering up, and redecorating. Truly, for five days a week, for over thirty years, the prettiest street in town looked like a used truck and van parking lot.

Now we own a condo in one of the prettiest complexes in our city. There isn't a day that goes by that we aren't happy to be here and enjoy the lovely view from the living room windows. But occasionally, these units too go up for sale--we're the fourth owner of ours since 1990. One on the north side sold last summer and the new owners have been meticulously redecorating for 5 months. The previous owner had redone it about eight years ago, and it was quite lovely when we did a walk through after her death. Every day negotiating that side of our drive was a challenge--trucks and vans were everywhere, day after day.

Now the largest one on the south side has sold. Yesterday morning I counted the trucks and vans parked on the street and around that unit--there were eight. But after 5 p.m. and on week-ends--it is still a pretty place to live.

769 The oldest ism

The same URL kept appearing on a search of my blog, 4 or 5 times within a few minutes, so finally out of curiosity I clicked on it. It turns out my blog about Answer.com appeared on a Yahoo finance message board: "Even old people like GRU." (stock symbol for GuruNet which developed Answer.net) Maybe I should change that photo?

768 Looking for answers?

If you use Answers.com when you need a simple definition and not 50 blog entries or ads about real estate and restaurants, you'll be pleasantly surprised. Based on the comment at my previous entry, I searched "Malaysia."

"Ma·lay·sia (mə-lā'zhə, -shə) [little speaker icon for pronunciation here]
A country of southeast Asia consisting of the southern Malay Peninsula and the northern part of the island of Borneo. Malays probably moved into the penisula c. 2000 B.C., eventually reaching northern Borneo and displacing the indigenous Dayaks. Europeans arrived in the 16th century. By the 20th century Great Britain had established protectorates throughout the lower peninsula, which later formed the Union (1946) and then the Federation (1948) of Malaya. Gaining independence in 1957, it joined with Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak to become the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. Singapore gained independence separately in 1965. Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the largest city. Population: 23,000,000."

Instead of getting just a Wikipedia entry, you get a for-real source, like American Heritage Dictionary, 4th ed., and a map of the region. But it does use Wikipedia when regular sources don't work--like looking up Robert A. Taft, the Governor of Ohio. Wikipedia found him under Bob Taft; Answers.com found his grandfather, Robert A. Taft.

There is also a tool you can add to your own site which allows "one-click." Hold down the ALT key and click on any word, and you will immediately have the resources of answers.com.

I love it. Although I was counting the 4 steps to the bookshelf for the dictionary and thesaurus as exercise.

767 Don't be cruel

This is "No Name Calling Week" in middle schools. Maddie Dog has gotten around this by comparing Barbara Boxer's resume to Dr. Rice's. No contest. Although Boxer didn't call her mammy or Aunt Jemima or the n-word, she implied all those words at the recent hearings for confirmation of Secretary of State.

Today on Glenn Beck (radio show), he was making fun of a survey (by a blue stater) that concluded red states were dumb. (Apparently calling over half the electorate dumb is not name calling.) Ft. Wayne and Corpus Cristi came in as #1 and #2 dumbest cities in the U.S. So, as a put on, he invited callers from those cities to answer questions. It was either radio's biggest put-on, or there really are some dumb people in those cities. A woman from Corpus Cristi, who selected the category of Oscars, answered Hugh Heffner when Glenn asked what movie about a famous eccentric was nominated. She also said, in the category of "secretaries weak," that the Secretary of Defense was Dr. Rice. Glenn was so hysterical, maybe it wasn't a put up job.

766 Medved on Hollywood and The Passion

". . .The sloppy, dishonest, brain-dead habit of equating "The Passion of the Christ" with "f-9-11" reveals more about Hollywood's bias and blindness than any aspect of the major awards the two films won't receive." Michael Medved in WSJ 1-27-05. On his website, The Passion is beating out the other offerings as most "overlooked." Medved suggests a number of points in his WSJ article to consider about Gibson's movie released last Ash Wednesday.

1) Timeless religious message that takes the New Testament literally.
2) Earned $370 Million in domestic box office receipts.
3) Sold equally well in red states and blue states, unifying the mass audience like the movies of the 40s and 50s.
4) No political endorsements or activism.
5) Had no affect on church attendance.
6) United Christians of all faiths and cultures.
7) Will live on as a timeless classic continuing to draw audiences for years.
8) Snubbing it for awards has displeased the movie going public.

At his website where Medved's article in USAToday is posted, he adds to that list

9) Hollywood wasn't afraid of religion (fake) when it awarded Last Temptation of Christ which only grossed $8 million and offended most Christians.
10) Top award nominations this year are going to suicide, abortion and anti-American themes.

He closes the WSJ article with: ""The Passion" clearly dwarfs such skillful but slight works as "Sideways" or "Finding Neverland" (both nominated for Best Picture) in terms of thematic and historical significance. Members of the entertainment elite may confuse faith and politics--viewing religiosity as suspect and subjective, while embracing left-wing ideology as a form of Ultimate Truth--but the mass audience now and in the future will reliably recognize the difference."

In 1993 Medved published a book called Hollywood vs. America which had chapters on "The Attack on Religion," "The Addiction to Violence," "Promoting Promiscuity," "The Infatuation with Foul Language," "Kids Know Best," "Motivations for Madness," among others. Nothing has changed, apparently. Instead of Hollywood being at fault then, it was the ticket buyers voting with their dollars. Now we've changed our vote, but Hollywood has disenfranchised us.

Meanwhile, Christianity Today has found religious themes in unexpected places with its list of Ten Most Redeeming Films of 2004. Hat tip to Sherry.

765 Reading the help wanted ads

Four or five people in my prayer job jar are looking for work. Some want more pay. Some less stress. Some will take anything if it is a "living wage." So I skim the advertised jobs occasionally and read the career column in the Wall Street Journal. Sometimes I think their ads are a test for comprehension and following instructions.

1) Raymond James advertises a drug free workplace. It doesn't mention tobacco, but I know some firms are now turning down smokers because of insurance costs.
2) If you don't include ad number and job title, Johnson Controls won't even look at your application. Their web site says they have worked on the Pentagon, the Eiffel Tower, the Kremlin and the Sydney Opera House, so I suppose following instructions is key.
3) A DOE position at the NBL is a CH-SES-05-01 and must be applied for on-line.
4) Whoever applies for Chancellor at the University of Denver will need to watch out for the following verbs: lead; increase; improve; build; elevate; extend; and cultivate. Sounds like Jesus' job description.
5) Pilgrim's Pride may be the "2nd largest poultry producer in the U.S. and Mexico" and the 1st in Puerto Rico, but you will be working in "beautiful east Texas."
6) Apply to MorningStar on line, but only if you have a "healthy dose of skepticism."
7) There's a golf course for sale in SC--recently renovated. I'll bet there's a bankruptcy story in there somewhere.
8) While looking, you can feed the poor and homeless by donating your yacht.

764 Hoping the elections will fail

It's bad enough that we have Americans who cast aspersions on our own elections, who register dead people to vote in Chicago and Seattle, and try to disenfranchise minorities by saying they are too dumb to figure out voting machines or ballots and therefore we need recounts. But now they try to mess up the Iraqi elections too! Oh, probably not the same people, but the same attitudes, rumors and lies.

Sunday the world will watch as millions of Arabs go to the polls (I realize that not everyone in Iraq is an Arab or a Muslim, but the majority are). Arabs in non-democratic countries will be watching on their government TV what they don't have--a free election. I get absolutely misty eyed watching the stories of ex-pat Iraqis in the USA driving 8 hours to register, and then repeating the same trip this week to vote. They and the candidates and the poll workers risking their lives have set before us a very high standard (especially those of you who didn't even bother to vote in November--you know who you are).

Belmont Club in a 3-part series on the Iraq election has little good to say about the naysayers, letting one dig his own hole for a foundation for his "shrine of half-forgotten causes":

"Whatever the War on Terror is, it is a duel to the death. A glance at Juan Cole's website -- which is a reliable thermometer of Leftist temper -- is a case in point. It should be the website of a respectable academic but it's a shrine to half-forgotten causes and a casket of exorcisms against half-apprehended devils. To illustrate the right of peaceful assembly he has a photo of flag-draped military caskets being shipped home. To illustrate the the 8th Amendment he has an Abu Ghraib photo. Noonan worries about religion. So do I, coming upon a room of stubbed out and smoked ideas. As for the elections, Cole says they are a joke, and it is doubtful if any poll would persuade him otherwise."

763 Krispy Kreme can't match Spudnut

First it was our waistlines, then their market. It wasn't just the low carb fad (now fading). Krispy Kreme diluted its "specialness" by opening too many stores and selling doughnuts in 20,000 supermarkets. I heard on the radio this morning they've hired a restructuring agent to replace Scott Livengood at $760 an hour and all the doughnuts he can eat!

I rarely eat a donut today--maybe a donut hole or two with coffee between services at church. The church switched from Krispy Kreme to donut holes after the Visual Arts Ministry told them they were easier to eat while browsing our shows.

No modern donut can match up to those of the "Spudnut" shop in Urbana at the University of Illinois when I was in college. I believe they were made with potato flour. You could sit at the counter and watch the crew dump the dough into the hot oil and dip them into the icing. In those days I could eat six or seven at a sitting and hardly burp. My initiation into this delicacy was on my first visit to the campus when I rode the bus from northern Indiana to attend an ROTC ball there. I think I took back a sackful for my floormates of Oakwood Hall at Manchester, but ate all the goodies along the way (it was a long bus ride).

When I Googled "Spud Nut" I discovered many other folks lost in memories of their delicious taste and texture, usually reminiscing about a college town, Urbana IL, Lawrence KS, Richmond IN, Madison WI. I also found a doughnut discussion board, where the hopeful restauranteur was looking for Spud Nuts: ". . . are there any SPUDNUT franchises? I haven't had a Spudnut doughnut for nerly 50 yra. I remember making a special trip after church on sundays to the Spudnut shop in Lawrence, Ks. It folded and I haven't seen any since. K-K's aren't anything special."

And there is a Spudnut Shop in Washington that also serves sandwiches, but I don't know if the name comes from the stores of the 1950s and 1960s. An obituary of a former owner of a Spud Nut Shop also turned up. Spud Nuts. R.I.P.

762 Batteries aren't cheap

And cheap ones are really expensive. I read an article in the WSJ that reported on the battery wars. According to this writer, Duracell alkaline will last 4 times longer than any brand labelled, "super heavy duty." "Heavy duty" technology was state of the art 50 years ago, but Duracell's cooper top is 27% more powerful than it was in 2000. It's a real pain to change batteries--I've obviously been going for cheap rather than thrifty.

761 Don't blame June Cleaver

“If modern mothers ever had an enemy, it is June Cleaver. Perhaps more than anyone else in history, June created in us the idea that the good mother spends her day happily meeting the needs of her family. She cooks a hearty breakfast, keeps a tidy house, and welcomes her weary charges home each afternoon with a plate of warm cookies and a tender smile. We never see June complain or wish for a more fulfilling role. We never see her sigh when she finally gets a minute to sit down only to be interrupted by yet another request from the Beav. She certainly never asks Ward to watch the boys for a night because she wants to go out for some "mommy time." June is the superhuman mother who sets us all up for disappointment.” Carla Barnhill, on the “real desperate housewives.”

June Cleaver? Oh please! I’m probably old enough to be Barnhill’s mother. I never watched Leave it to Beaver until this year when I came across it on a channel that reruns old TV shows, and in the episodes I‘ve watched, June hardly appears at all. But I did all the above--until you get to the sentence about not complaining or not going out. I went to a lot of evening meetings and even did my grocery shopping at night because I didn’t like hauling the kids around on errands and I rarely hired babysitters. It was my mother (1912-2000), 10 years older than Barbara Billingsley the actrees who played June, who fits that paragraph.

June Cleaver is being set up a “straw woman.“ I’m not exactly a “modern” mother by this author‘s definition. (I should be a grandmother by age, training and talent.) Many of my peer mothers had gone back to work, at least part time, by the mid-1970s, so many of today’s mothers actually did have employed mothers, or mothers who were returning to graduate school, as models.

A little over 30 years ago I was in a women’s Bible study at First Community Church called “Harried Housewives,” whose members ranged in age from about 30-50. But by the time we gathered for a third anniversary, most of us were in the workplace. One of the women in Barnhill’s story sounds just like the reason we housewives had gathered back in the 70s: "I got blindsided by the responsibility, the emotional ties, the worry, the exhaustion, the discipline issues, and the day-to-day care of children. The reality for me is that motherhood is very draining and tiring and humbling. On a regular basis I feel like a failure as a mom. My walk with the Lord has suffered since I became a mom. Spending time with God feels like another obligation—just one more person wanting something from me."

If Carla Barnhill is correct, the modern women’s movement (then in its infancy), has done absolutely nothing for mothers. Increasingly more casual and relaxed lifestyles have done little for women. Technology certainly hasn’t saved them any time, just made them slaves to beeps and downloading. More how-to-books, exercise classes, and workshops on feelings and empowerment really don’t do much in the long run to rescue women. Much of the article is anecdotal whining, and she’s incredulous that gardening or sewing could be substitutes for board meetings and coffee breaks. But she eventually gets to the conclusion that happy stay-at-homes are there because no one forced them to be and their church encourages them to use their talents, which is the theme of her book, The Myth of the Perfect Mother: Rethinking the Spirituality of Women (Baker, 2004).

760 Women writers for the Wall Street Journal

As usual, I was skimming the stories in the Wall Street today for interesting idiomatic expressions, checking the articles written by men, who use lots of gambling, sports and agricultural idioms, against those written by women, who use almost no idioms. This results in the male written articles being much more lively and readable, less dense, and more padded.

But then I noticed an unusual number of articles by women. I'll have to go the to library to check (can't browse a newspaper on-line because you need to have an idea what you are looking for), but I'm wondering if Monday is "Ladies Day" at the Wall Street Journal. Maybe the guys take long week-ends and don't want to meet the deadlines for the Monday edition?

You rarely see a woman's name in section A, but today Section B and C had: Brooks Barnes, Ellen Byron, Lynn Cowan, Agnes Crane (2), Ann Davis, Alessandra Gallone, Leah McGrath Goodman, Laura Johannes, Miriam Jordan (2), Kathryn Kranhold, Melissa Marr, Katie Martin, Sarah McBride, Ann Marie Squeo, Shayne Stoyko, Suzanne Vronica, and Ann Zimmerman. [It is possible that Lynn and Shayne are men, and I skipped the non-euro names since I can't identify gender].

Section R, however, was the motherlode (pardon the pun). The entire supplement on how businesses benefit from benefits was written and edited by women. The lead article was by Ellen Schultz who summarizes 10 ways companies benefit from benefits plans. The rest of the articles in the supplement were written by Vanessa Fuhrman, Joann Lublin, Kris Maher, Sara Munoz, Karen Richarson, Sarah Rubenstein and Jennifer Saranov. The illustrator was male.

I checked Ellen Schultz in Google and she has won awards for her reporting on this topic: joined the Wall Street Journal in 1990; covered personal finance, mutual funds, medical insurance and benefits; named a special writer in April 1995 and a news editor in June 2001. Worked for Fortune magazine from 1987 to 1990.

Miriam Jordan who had 2 articles in today's edition frequently writes on gender and minority issues for WSJ, according to a Google search--female infanticide in India, agricultural workers in California, career women following globe trotting husbands, and Nestle marketing infant formula to American Hispanics are examples of her topics.

Agnes Crane, who also had 2 articles, writes often for the investment and marketing section and also writes for the Dow Jones Newswires, and thus her name pops up regularly in other investment newsletters.

I'll update this when I look at a few more Mondays.