1118 Where are they now?

Over at LISNews, Brian says he is shocked "by the decrease in education and funding to support school libraries." Not me. I'm shocked that conservatives continue to support the administration's thowing money at education when there is no evidence that this is the problem! Bush has spent far more on education than Clinton did. Even the NCLB was essentially demanding that schools live up to the standards and goals they had set instead of ignoring the poorest and the weakest.

Last week Milton Friedman in the WSJ pondered the dropping SATs since 1970. He mentioned several dates, but didn't seem to connect a lot of dots: 1965 NEA converted from a professional association to a trade union; 1983 "A Nation at Risk" was published spawning even more government attempts to fix education; defeating voucher system in California in 1993 and 2000. Friedman never mentions the changes in the lives of women during this period.

Let's go back to the early 1970s. Abortion becomes legal and the feminist movement really builds up steam. Possibly the brightest and best were aborted--I mean over 30 million Americans who were the spawn of young college bound and career women just disappeared. (Poor and minority women didn't really get on that bandwagon right away. They still believed that children were their future, not a glass ceiling job.) We'll never know what their contributions could have been or how they might have influenced the scores and results of school testing. Then when their putative mothers did have families, many of those later-in-life children were put in the care of less capable women during their important formative years.

I don't think there's enough federal money in Washington to fix the mess of the last 30 years, much of it created by women.

1999
2001
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2004

1117 Just don't call him late for lunch

Howard Dean is quite successful at getting himself and the DNC into the news--like the ignored toddler who will take any attention he can get, even negative, just to get noticed. David Freddoso over at NRO uses Dean's pearls to turn a nice phrase:

". . . now I don’t think it’s spin anymore. Howard Dean is just totally nuts.”

"[he] calls Republicans “evil,” “corrupt” and “brain-dead” “liars” who “never made an honest living in their lives” and “are not nice people.”. . . But Dean assures us, “We’re not going to stoop to the kind of divisiveness that the Republicans are doing.” Quite a relief!"

"There is much legitimate debate over what makes for a good party chairman, but one criterion that nearly everyone can agree on is that he should not be his party’s greatest liability."

"When Dean starts speaking, even Barney Frank gets nervous and starts looking for the door."

"Dean will have to do the same thing [as the RNC with $30.1 million] with only $7.4 million and a foot wedged tightly in his mouth."

". . .the good doctor has worked with such zeal alienating voters and contributors that Republicans can only sit back and enjoy."

Don't get too smug guys. This looks too easy.

Update, June 12, LA Times: "Recycling old saws about the GOP being the party of the rich ignores the fact that one of the reasons the Democrats have been faring so poorly in recent elections is that they've lost the white working-class vote. If Dean spent his time pointing to inequitable tax policies that punish the middle class and reward the rich, or dwelling on the costs of restricting stem cell research, that would be one thing. Instead, he is indulging in outdated caricatures of Republican voters. So far, Dean has done a good job of pulling the party together — the Republican Party."

1116 The Columbus Rose Festival

When we moved here 38 years ago, we went around to see all the local sights and sites--Old Man's Cave, German Village, Park of Roses, and some of the state parks. But then regular life set in and I think I'd only been back to Whetstone Park where the Festival of Roses is held a few times to watch my kids play soccer.

This week-end is the 19th Annual Festival of Roses at the Park of Roses, which was established in the early 1950s, in the Clintonville area of Columbus. Although it was a little overcast and drizzled a few times, it was a perfect morning for Bev and me to browse the lovely rose gardens and many floral memorials. There are 11,000 rose bushes and 350 varieties of roses. There were numerous vendors of community action groups, local restaurants, artists and clubs in tents along the brick sidewalks. The Festival is today and tomorrow, but the roses will continue to be on view. The two day event is free and draws 25,000 visitors. We spent about two hours oooing and aaahing, bought a sandwich and drink from a vendor which we ate under a tree on a picnic bench, and then Bev drove me through some of her favorite neighborhoods in Clintonville.

One of my favorite rose bushes was next to the guys in the Dixieland Band where we stopped to chat (I like a good trombone). I noticed the plaque said, "Forth of July." I asked Bev if she thought it was misspelled or if it meant "forth" in another meaning "out in view" or "out of." We meant to ask a guide, but forgot. The Dispatch gallery of photos of the roses lists a "Fourth of July" variegated that looks just like the one we admired, however.


Fourth of July

1115 Basic Black is Back

Oh goody. Basic black is back for fall. I can whip out that black number I bought in 2001 with the sparkly bodice. I think I've only worn it three times. I've never had the reason or opoortunity to buy the feminine, colorful frocks popular the past few years.

There are color czars or forecasters that decide all this for us--popular colors don't just happen. In home decorating, what we used to call "avocado green" is now "wasabi green." But black is black--I don't know if they've found a way to rename it. Widow's weeds black. Coal miner black. Horsefly black. Tar baby black. I mean, black is black, right? About every 3 or 4 years, the fashion people proclaim that the little black dress is back. I'm ready for them this year--now I just need an invitation.

I do like the swingy, floral and colorful skirts cut on the bias or a circle I see the young women wearing, topped with dressy t-shirts and short jackets and high heels. They brush the knee, show off the legs, move gracefully, and they are so feminine. And so 2004 apparently.

1114 Second hand porn

The Lion's Den, a local (chain?) "adult" porn store has a large print ad for "turn your stash into cash" in the newspaper. Yes, you can get cash for all those gently used and abused magazines and DVDs. What a disgusting way to use perfectly good trees and energy resources.

I wonder how the obituaries of porn industry CEOs read? Do they write their own or leave it up to a family member to fill it with euphemisms? Do they die without a verb?

1113 Beyond concrete and plastic

Have you ever seen someone putting out such effort that you wanted to stop and shake her hand or give him an award ribbon? Yesterday I saw two such people.

1) A Chinese immigrant (and I'm sure this was her ethnicity and status) who works in the shopping center at Jasonway and Bethel in Columbus was carrying water across the parking lot to water a garden she had built on the narrow grassy strip between the parking lot and road. The soil was mounded up inside planks and she'd probably purchased and brought it there, and the little plot was about 6' x 6'. I don't know if it is a vegetable garden or a flower garden because the plants are only about 6 inches high and I was traveling about 35 mph. I'm guessing she carries water to it every morning before starting work (I saw her about 7:30 a.m.), or takes it there during her break.

2) While passing through Delaware, Oh I saw a man laboriously walking behind his wheelchair through a grassy field--about the size of a football field, only not as well groomed. He was moving each leg with great effort. If you've ever tried to wheel a bicycle through grass, you get the idea how difficult this was for him. I've seen disabled people push their wheelchairs on sidewalks or in malls for exercise, but never in a bumpy field of weeds. Whether his car was at one end or the other, he'd have to make the trip across and back.

1112 Friday Feast 51

Appetizer
Name one thing that made you sad this week.
We had a phone call Saturday from the wife of a good friend. I've never met her, but she was going through her husband's files calling people who didn't know about his unexpected and sudden death. He lived with us about 33 years ago and really livened up our household.

Soup
What was the last object (not person) you took a picture of?
In May I took photos of our flowering magnolia "bush" which is really taller than our house. It was truly magnificent, but the photos didn't do it justice.

Salad
Who do you talk to when you need help in making a decision?
My friend Nancy keeps up on fashion trends and good buys for the home--she reads a lot and those are topics I don't pay much attention to. But for technology I check with our daughter--not gamer-generation stuff, but things like cell phones, answering machines and DVD players. For spiritual advice, we see a pastor/friend we've known for 30 years.

Main Course
If you were a weather event, what would you be, and why?
I would most likely be a partly-sunny, or partly-cloudy forecast. This makes me perfect for living in the midwest--Illinois, Indiana and Ohio--where we only have about 40% of the days in full sunshine.

Dessert
Suggest a website that you think your readers would enjoy visiting.
I visit a number of sites every day or once a week--like Belmont Club, Captain's Quarters, City Journal, First Things, and most of the Ladies I list on my links.

Friday Feast is located here.

1111 A teacher reflects on the last day of school

Brian, a middle school teacher, writes An Audience of One . Yesterday he reflected on the last day of school.

“This year is in the books now. I won't forget it for a variety of reasons. I had a successful professional year, not letting all of my inner turmoil affect my work to any great degree. I gained the respect of my colleagues. I worked with a lot of children and grew to love them. I formed good relationships with scores of parents. My principal approved of the work I did. All of that is something that gives me a very good feeling. I'm proud of what I accomplished professionally this year. I always am. I must be a lucky man to have always loved my job every year of my professional life. I've crossed paths with hundreds of teachers and many thousands of children. They've taught me many things and enriched my life. I keep saying it so much that I sound like a broken record--I wish it was transferrable to the other areas of my life. . .

I started so long ago with a head still full of hair and idealism pulsing through my veins. I wanted to make a difference in the lives of kids. I wanted to notice them like I craved to be noticed as a shy, soft-spoken, child. I knew I'd never get rich, but I've been enriched in ways that matter a helluva lot more than that green stuff people obsess about. I won't be counting my money on my deathbed. I'll be counting my memories. If I had it to do all over again, I'd do it in a New York minute.”

I haven't read enough of his blog to know what the inner turmoil is all about, but I'm glad he feels good about his life's purpose. I loved my career as an academic librarian, and although I was mentioned in a few prefaces and acknowledgements in theses, there will be no life time impact on others like a good teacher in the early years has, or a college professor who is a mentor for careers to come. I had a few teachers like Brian--his students are very lucky.

1110 The Methodists are Coming!

We're off to the lake to prep the cottage for the Methodists--Ohio East and Ohio West. We only rent two weeks of the summer and the United Methodists conferences in Ohio have their annual meeting there. I've never been there during those weeks, but I've heard the place swarms and bustles, the restaurants are packed, and the shops do the majority of their business in two weeks (sounds like Christmas season, doesn't it?).

So, I put all our personal items away and remove the food from the kitchen cabinets. It shouldn't be such a big deal but think about removing all your personal toiletries and clothes and food stocks from your home and storing them someplace, and you'll see the problem. In the last few years, the back seat of my van has doubled as a storage closet.

We're having a hot spell here (90s, humid) and there will probably be summer storms. We'll slip down to the Lake for a few minutes, maybe with an ice-cream cone, to catch the breeze.

1109 The Cheerful Oncologist

Considering my own experience with oncologists (my daughter's thyroid cancer), "cheerful" is not the adjective that comes to mind. However, when I was working I always enjoyed reading the poetry and essays published by doctors in the medical journals (usually the last page). Many are beautiful writers. The Cheerful Oncologist really has some thought provoking posts. I liked this thought in "Tell me that you'll wait for me."

"All of us have a one-way ticket out of here. As we drift off to sleep tonight, let us give thanks for the opportunity to serve those who are ahead of us in line, as we ask those behind us to do the same when our flight number is called."

1108 Medical Marijuana

This is not a topic on which I am even minimally informed, but I'll weigh in anyway. I've never understood why conservatives are against using marijuana to releave suffering and pain, especially considering the devastating side effects of some prescribed pain meds. And please don't tell me it's because pharmaceutical companies (owned by eeeeviiiil Republicans) don't want the competition from something cheap and natural. We hear that about every vaccine and miracle drug that comes down the pike--what would happen to this particular health care bureaucracy if a disease were really cured. I worked in a medical library for over 14 years and constantly browsed the serials, and let me assure you there are plenty of diseases re-emerging (just check out this month's CDC's Emerging Infectious Diseases on my links) or today's article in WSJ about the increase in drug resistant TB. The real danger is the left killing off incentive to invest in R & D and the health care industry.

However, medical marijuana doesn't have the poisoning side effects or even the addictive powers of many of the chemical potions we've created in the lab. I have a relative who's had two major surgeries (different body parts) in the last 3 years, and both times had to take special treatments to get her off the pain killer addictions even though she was extremely careful.

More disturbing to conservatives should be the Supreme Court seeing this as the commerce clause and striking it down for that reason.

"Writing for the court majority, Justice John Paul Stevens said the case was "troubling" because of users' claims that they needed marijuana to alleviate physical pain and suffering. But he concluded that the court had no choice but to uphold Congress's "firmly established" power to regulate "purely local activities . . . that have a substantial effect on interstate commerce." " WaPo article June 7

Makes you wonder what the Supremes were smoking while coming up with this.

1107 Party Hardy

Staying up late, partying and eating poorly can all increase those dark circles under your eyes. But so can gravity, heredity, skin color and the natural aging process which decreases the fat pads under your eyes. (I'd love to have a fat transfer from my thighs to my eyes.)

Now there is some hope for your dark circles and spider veins with Vitamin K cream. I'm kind of wondering how this works, because I know you're not supposed to eat food high in Vitamin K when you take a blood thinner like Coumadin. Those foods are liver, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and green leafy vegetables (e.g., spinach, Swiss chard, coriander, collards, cabbage). It must decrease the little blood vessels breaking up. So if you eat more greens, could you skip the cream? This one costs $27 for 2.5 oz.

1106 Left or Right?

I can't tell if this t-shirt supports the left or right. I thought the left loved Che. Does this mean they love our vice president, too?

1105 Medical malpractice?

Even the pro-abortion folks have to be turned off with the pain these babies suffered before their lives were snuffed out by their teen-age parents.

"A 19-year-old accused of causing his teenage girlfriend to miscarry two fetuses by stepping on her stomach was convicted Monday of two counts of murder."

His girlfriend, 17, who asked him to do it so she could abort her babies, was not charged. Apparently, her participation was just legal "choice," but his was murder. Story here.

"Erica Basoria, 17, acknowledged asking Flores to help end her pregnancy; she could not be prosecuted because of her legal right to abortion. The defence contended that Basoria punched herself while Flores was stepping on her, making it impossible to tell who caused the miscarriage."

At most, he was practicing medicine without a license, or having kinky sex outside of the red light district, or having sex with a minor, but murder? The guy in Utah who murdered his pregnant wife and buried her in a garbage dump wasn't sentenced for killing the baby--and he only got 6 years.

I hope you pro-abortion folks are pleased with the slime pit filled with human blood and flesh at the end of the slippery slope.

1104 A hopeful look at Iraq's future

Michael Yon's site has wonderful photographs of Dohuk and a peek into what we can hope will be the kind of future for all Iraqis.

"Approaching Dohuk, a short drive north of Mosul, brings to mind the countryside in Italy. The war is over in Dohuk. After suffering perhaps a half century of fighting, the people have finally gotten the peace they wanted long ago. With the old Iraqi government vanquished, Dohuk is thriving. In fact, this Iraqi city appears to be doing at least as well as--perhaps remarkably better than--many comparably-sized towns in Italy. A visit to this place affords more than a break from the rugged routine of war; it also provides a postcard of a possible future for all of Iraq."

Continue reading

1103 Hurricane Season, 2005

I haven't forgotten the storms of last year, and Floridians certainly haven't. Ivan devastated and flooded parts of Ohio, and PA and W VA were also a mess. However, Doyle comments on a squabble between the government sponsored weather agencies and the private companies that repackage that information using our tax funded NWS. I'm not so sure we need NPR or gov't sponsored children's programming for TV, but I'd really feel more secure if we not privatize the bad weather.

1102 There’s a new term in town--Exempt Media

It’s probably been invented by Captain Ed, because most blogs link back to him eventually when using the term “exempt media.” I think it means the mainstream media or MSM. What exactly they are exempt from (standards? good writing? handsome incomes? ethics? supervision?) I’m not sure. I did find a tax code that refers to exempt media, but that was about restaurant menu boards which for tax purposes were not to be considered in the same class as newspapers, TV, graphic advertising, etc. I suppose it is possible that the term derived from the suggestion that the MSM really weren’t communicating at all. Both the “define:” function in Google and the Wikipedia told me there was nothing on this term. But here are some results from my search:

“The Exempt Media is dying for one reason. They abandoned journalism in order to advance the Gramscian Marxist agenda. Nobody believes their claims of impartiality any more. The only effect of their impartiality pose is that they refrain from serving up the kind of "blue meat" that Kos, Atrios and Willis regurgitate on a daily basis.” Buzz Machine

Jack Shafer pens an interesting look at the similarities and differences between blogs and the Exempt Media, and postulates that parity may be coming between the two. In his opinion, the Schiavo memo shows that both sides can get stories equally incorrect, and that both sides should have the latitude to do so -- as long as corrections are published in a quick manner: Captain’s Quarters

First it was MSM, then it became CM (Corporate Media), courtesy of CJR Daily (Thank you ... thank you very much ... but please hold the applause until the waiters clear the tables of the rock-hard dinner rolls ...) And now it's EM (Exempt Media), courtesy of Captain Ed? Exempt from what, exactly? Apparently not criticism, thank God. CJR Daily

1101 Self Control

Occasionally something during the sermon strikes home--and it may not at all be what the pastor intended. Our pastors were finishing up a sermon series on Fruits of the Spirit, and Self-Control was the final topic (10 services, various pastors). Sylvia and I attended the 8:30 at Lytham (Pastor Jeff) and the 10:00 at Mill Run (Pastor Dave), and although technically we are one church, the sermons and locations of the buildings were miles apart. Jeff commented almost in passing that when he asks parishoners what areas of their lives are out of control they usually respond either eating or finances.

The Christian church is not growing in Europe or the United States (which makes one wonder about the hysteria on the left about evangelicalism). Christians are suffering from the same secular and cultural problems like gambling, habit and substance addictions and divorce as any other group. However, the church is growing by leaps and bounds in South America, Africa and China. The faith grows amongst the poorest of the poor in part because Christianity often elevates the level of living where ever it sprouts, especially if it is persecuted (which may be why we should thank the hot-headed lefties in this country). But I can't imagine anyone in a thriving third world church saying that eating too much or spending too much was the primary concern of their Christian witness. In fact, I can't imagine that young American Christians like my parents in the 1930s would have even thought that.

1100 Throwing bad money after worse

Usually you say throwing "good money after bad" to mean wasting more money than you already have in hopes of recovering a loss, but I don't think Harvard's President can win at all at this "woman problem" because the team he's on, the liberals, have created it. Now he has created a $50 million flush fund (I started to type "slush" but slipped, and think I like this one better) for gender diversity when Harvard has already spent millions beating the bushes looking for qualified women and minorities.

"Even Harvard’s bottomless resources cannot buy a miracle, however. So instead of a magician, the university has brought forth the next best thing: a report on “diversity” that, like all such products, possesses the power of shutting down every critical faculty in seemingly intelligent people. For connoisseurs of diversity claptrap, Harvard’s just released “Report of the Task Force on Women Faculty” is a thing of beauty, a peerless example of the destruction of higher learning by identity politics. Because the report will undoubtedly serve as the template for future diversity scams in colleges across the country, it’s worth studying." City Journal's Heather MacDonald. McDonald outlines the plan: 1) Collective amnesia; 2) a new bureaucracy; 3) subdivide the Big zero into little zeros; and 4) rechristen all the diversity words.

I don't really care how Harvard chooses to waste its private alumni funds, but you just know this will slop over eventually into the federally funded grants for science and research and state supported schools (i.e. you and I will end up paying for this folly). Less qualified candidates are going to receive research grants, tenured faculty positions, and appointments on university committees just because he let slip in public what most people, even women, believe. Men and women are different. Not unequal, but different. This means down the road, a woman will receive a worse education or carry an untreated disease because Lawrence Summers blabbed the truth.

I'm already feeling more safe, listened to, and valued, aren't you?

Full report of the Task Force here.

Week-end Activities

My friend Sylvia is staying with us this week-end. We met when we were about 6 years old, attended the same church, elementary and secondary schools, camp and college (Manchester). Also she has relatives, the DeWalls, who are from Forreston, where I used to live. So nice to have a friend who shares your own history! Despite the time zone difference, she was up early to go out for coffee with me. I made a lame attempt at showing her the campus of Ohio State University, but everything was so torn up and there were so many new buildings (and it had been awhile since I was on the Oval), I don't think I did it justice. Taking the "short cut" to get home, we ended up in traffic thick and deep at what appeared to be a high school track and field event being held on campus and a graduation ceremony.

Also she was game to go to the art festival, an annual June event here in Columbus. I started to wilt after about two hours in the almost 90 degree heat. This event draws artists from all over the country. Sylvia is a musician so we stopped at a booth where the artist made small wooden stringed instruments played with a bow and he provided a demonstration. To my untrained ear they sounded a bit like a harpsicord. Another booth had hand made harps with beautiful inlaid celtic designs, but it also provided lovely CDs by the co-artist.

We visited the booth of Stephen Sebastian a North Carolina artist whose work we had purchased about 16 years ago, although his technique and style had changed so much I wasn't sure it was the same guy and was about to move on. He hollared out, yes it's me and said you have to keep changing to stay fresh. After 15 minutes in the shade and a lemonade, we were making the last lap back to the car and we stopped at the booth of Gary Curtis. We were so charmed by his watercolors of light reflecting on simple objects of glass, ceramic, metal, and fabric, that we purchased a print of one titled, "Communion." We recognized his work immediately because he has appeared in American Artist and Artist's Magazine.

There are three things you shouldn't bring to art festivals: 1) babies, who are miserable in the heat and frying their delicate skin in the sun; 2) dogs of any breed no matter how well behaved--I've yet to meet a dog who appreciated art shows and crowds; 3) your credit card. Just kidding about that last one.

After a brief nap, we went out for dinner at The Rusty Bucket, then headed to Sylvia's Columbus relatives who were celebrating the graduation of a daughter from Dublin Scioto High School. Tomorrow we'll attend church at both the Mill Run and Lytham Road campuses of UALC and see two more art shows.