1561 Not yet, but maybe someday

Viet D. Dinh, suggests Vietpundit. I would say it's pretty remarkable he's made it this far.

1560 More comments on the Chronicle Librarian article

Paul provides some real horror stories about some instructors in his library school education. Wow. Wasn't that way when I went to college--I think the professors kept their politics to themselves. We talked about really old fashioned concepts like books, serials, history of information and the future of computers and how to make information accessible. I think the most dramatic thing I remember is discussing "In cold blood" by Truman Capote. Seems a little tame now. Must have been the blue jeans. No instructor--or even students--wore jeans to class in grad school. Raises the standards if you need to look nice to keep your job.

Paul recalls, "The head of the program, since departed, gave a seminar on the Robert Maplethorpe pictures that caused so much controversy due to their explicit depictions and federal funding. We got to see the famous photo of a naked Maplethorpe with a bullwhip stuck in his anus. She also showed us a photo by Mapplethorpe's protege which showed a four-year-old girl sitting down, raising her dress to reveal her vagina (no panties). She had, as our Director said, an "impish grin that revealed her hidden sexuality." Me and the woman sitting to my right were horrified, but we seemed to be the only ones. But, as David Durant points out, many often choose not to speak out in order to fit in."

1559 Little quiz time

You Are A: Lamb!

Peaceful and gentle, lambs have been used in religious imagery for millennia. Lambs are baby sheep, an animal tended by shephards since the dawn of history. As a lamb, you tend to stay together in a flock and graze on grassy land. Lambs don't mind being led and tend not to go off on their own.

You were almost a: Duckling or a Chipmunk
You are least like a: Monkey or a PuppyWhat Cute Animal Are You?

I saw this at Jenna's site.

1558 Why women?

"Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) affects approximately 2 million people in the United States. RA is prevalent across all ethnic groups, and can occur at any age, although most cases are seen in adults between ages 30 and 60 years. Women comprise 75% of all cases.[1] The disease accounts for more than 9 million physician visits and 250,000 hospitalizations annually, presenting a huge economic burden on society.[1] RA is a chronic, progressive autoimmune inflammatory disease of unknown etiology that attacks the synovial tissue leading to irreversible joint damage, chronic pain, stiffness, and functional impairment.[2] Most patients with RA develop permanent bone erosions and joint space narrowing and with time, many are disabled and may require joint replacement surgery. RA can reduce the average life expectancy by about a decade.[3]" From www.medscape.com. The sooner it is diagnosed, the more successful the treatment, but there is no cure.

"Autoimmune diseases run the gamut from mild to disabling and potentially life threatening. Nearly all affect women at far greater rates than men. The question before the scientific community is "why?" We have come a long way in the diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune disease. But more work is needed, especially in the areas of discovering the causes and developing more effective treatments and prevention strategies." from AARDA page

My daughter has Hashimoto's Disease, an autoimmune disease with a female to male ratio of 50:1. This disease destroys the thyroid. Do you suppose it is unreasonable to wonder if this was reversed--75% of RA cases were male--we'd have more answers? More funding? Just a thought.

1557 The Democrats may be socialists

but the Republicans are liars, opines Professor Chaos, who attended a party and didn't like what he heard.

1556 Telenovelas on Time Warner

So I was a few months late discovering our Spanish language channel. I was out of town all summer. I'm having a blast watching what I think are the telenovelas, or maybe they are just Latin soaps. Yesterday there was the most incredible cat fight between two women, with screaming, hair flying, eyes popping, slapping, kicking, and one helpless older guy watching and another peeking from behind a door snickering. The fashions, hair-dos, sets, story lines, family fueds, automobiles and other toys are way beyond your usual (yawn) suds stories. Even the commercials are less objectionable when you don't know what they are saying. I'd supply some links, but I haven't been able to catch the titles.

1555 Why Paula dumped me

She says it was this post that unlinked me from her blogroll. I have my doubts. She's got thicker skin than that. I'm old enough to be her mother and am from northern Illinois where she's from--maybe she's got issues? I've been reading her stuff since pre-blog days. She's a Romance writer--not sure if she's published, but I know someday she'll be rich and famous. Of course, I've never read a romance novel, so how would I know? But she loves what she does and that's part of it. Maybe luck? Possibly. Right time, right place? Follows guidelines? Probably. Most likely after the kids are out of the nest and she has plenty of time to concentrate.

Many writer-wannabes back in the 90s thought the internet would launch their writing careers. I think it eats up their energy and writing juices. The really good ones eventually get published, along with some really awful ones if the Half Price Book Store shelves are telling the truth. Since I have no idea what Paula's real name is, I may never know if I pass up her best seller in the bookstore.

1554 Ready to stay home for awhile

After a week in Florida in February, a week in Illinois in April, July and August at Lakeside interrupted by five days in Oklahoma and Arkansas for a Frank Lloyd Wright - Fay Jones architectural tour, and a September Danube River cruise in Germany and Austria to be followed by another week in Illinois, I'm ready to stay home for awhile. My husband's had even more travel with two trips to California to be with his dying father and then his funeral in March and May. That's why this poem written by my girlfriend Lynne (since highschool) which arrived yesterday in the mail, means so much.

It's grand to go on holiday
and break the set routine.
It's nice to get away, you say
and have a change of scene.
It's tonic, so they say,
to see and to explore
The exciting world outside your door.

But then comes the moment--
you have had enough!

Then it's home you long for
Your own small, cozy kingdom
Where you know just where you are.
Oh, it's good to get back home
and breathe your native air,
And settle in your very own
familiar easy chair.

Thanks, Lynne, my thoughts exactly.

1554 How to clean your iPod and Nano

See what I told you? I don't have a niche. This guy explains, with photos, how to clean your iPod with Brasso, and he gets 45 comments. I think I know what an iPod is, but have no idea about nanos. I thought that was Mork and Mindy talk. Oh, that was nanu. I saw Todd's blog at the Make.blog which I saw at Lethal Librarian, who belly dances.

Update: See how the bloggers are getting the jump on the news writers? Today's paper had an article about the Apple iPod and Nano--it gets good marks for features like holding 1,000 songs (who in the world needs that?), pictures of album covers, photos, podcasts and audiobooks. But bad marks for scratching!

1553 Library Juice runs dry

Not sure that you would care--I don’t really. Library Juice is a radical left wing librarian's on-line serial, whose writer/editor smugly proclaimed to be above the blogging fray. I don’t link to him although I do link to liberal blogs about librarianship (the majority of librarians are liberals, but many can stay on topic, promote the profession and do an excellent job in their blogs). Jack Stephens has a note about this at Conservator, referring to Lethal Librarian and reports that while proclaiming to support freedom of information, Library Juice also published 7 different issues in support of Fidel Castro, old Mr. Fuzzy Bear himself.

I hope Mr. Litwin can find himself (he's going to start blogging). He seems to violate everything our profession used to stand for, and now that the profession is struggling to stay afloat, maybe he's jumping the [librarian]ship.

Blake, at LISNews.com also commented on Library Juice. "Rory was a big part of LISNews for years, and if I remember right, one of his big problems with LISNews is how I let everyone have a say. I don't subscribe to that theory in any way. However much I may want to start firewalling people that annoy me, I'll just never do it. I'll never avoid conversations I don't want to have by silencing everyone. It's easy to figure out who is a delusional nut job and who is interesting and informative, and I read people based on the reputation they've made for themselves. I don't think it does any of us any good if I silence them. I welcome constructive criticism, and I also welcome people I disagree with into my world."

1552 The value of a college education

My post on this topic about 18 months ago really raised some hackles. You just don't gore this sacred cow! However, this week I noticed in our local paper that a young man I watched grow up (sat in front of us in church on Sunday) who is about three years younger than my son, had been hired by the local school board as treasurer--for $108,000 a year. Obviously, some areas of education pay much better than others--especially if you are not directly involved in educating!

1551 The blog roll

Paula cut me loose; Mr. Cloud says I'm hanging by a thread because of my politics. Twyla gave up blogging. Lori doesn't have a blog roll. Other bloggers who linked to me have just disappeared, with no explanation. Moved on, gone on vacation, on hiatis, died, divorced, whatever.

I'm coming up on the second anniversary of blogging--October 2003 I started. If I'd been smart or if I'd wanted fab stats, I would have never admitted to being a retired librarian, and I would have used my daughter's photo (she's gorgeous). I would have used lots of sexually loaded language, like certain popular sites, and found a niche like knitting dog hair, or buying shoes. The internet may be the new communication/information medium, but no one wants to hang out with senior citizens. Not even other seniors. I've taught about 10 over-55 year olds how to blog, and none have kept up. They posted about 2 or 3 then went back to golf, or publishing books, or drinking coffee. Even my best friend won't read blogs, and my sister and brother rarely check in. Murray, who has an opinion on everything and is a good writer, seems to have lost his password; Eric is quiet, thoughtful and philosphical, but must have writer's block.

The number of Americans who say they read blogs jumped 58% in 2004, to 32,000,000 people, according to Pew. And there are supposed to be 18,000,000 blogs, which means I should get at least 2 regulars. Those who follow the trends say "pungent entries" bring people back. "Pungent" means being sharp, incisive, and to the point--even irritating, from the Latin words meaning fist or fight. Hmmm. Paula and Mr. Cloud find me irritating, but it doesn't seem to work with them.

Update: Just checked on Eric. He's got his third entry. Oh, praise the Lord!

1550 Our new Spanish cable station

We've recently had a Spanish language channel added to our regular selection, 99 on our local Time-Warner. I've been watching/listening (TV is actually behind me in my office) and have noticed again, that all Latinas on TV news, commercials and soap operas look like Jennifer Lopez's sister. The men however, come in all shapes, sizes and ethnicities. The men can be much more Indian looking, or northern European looking, they can be round or thin, short or tall, and it doesn't seem to hurt their careers. The women, however, seem to need a certain look. And a lot of cleavage.

1549 Finally, my question is answered

Michael Brown, in his testimony about Katrina, has answered my question, "What part of this is Bush's fault?" Dems just had vague, political-based criticism. Mushy, weak verbs. Hate that. I never heard specifics. Brown had one, although he didn't say Bush, you know where this buck stops.

He testified that FEMA has been starved and broken being stuck in Homeland Security. Interestingly, Democrats had had the same criticism about three weeks ago--until someone reminded them that the huge umbrella agency was their off-spring (Lieberman) and not Bush's idea (I think he initially rejected it). Then they sort of muffled that and spewed their hatred for Bush. Then Brown said the federal agencies who should have responded to FEMA's requests didn't, and he specifically pointed to the Department of Defense. Well now, if you can't blame the President for his people not working together, who else is there? This inter-agency squabbling and turf protection sounds just like the CIA/FBI communication break downs in pre-9/11. I think it is like a mold that grows on big government. Bush's solution, which is to grow the federal government even bigger and moldier, sounds like he isn't listening. Crony or not, Brown has a valid point.

Even so, the Democrats acted like spoiled children by boycotting the hearings--listening is difficult for them as we saw during the Roberts hearings.

1548 Why he blogs

David Durrant, a librarian on my list of links, says he feels better about his conservative views now that he is blogging. Librarianship is a left wing "politicized atmosphere of groupthink and intolerance echo chamber." His op ed appears in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

"The open politicization of the ALA [American Library Association] has also trampled on the association's commitment to intellectual freedom and diversity of opinion. The ALA's Social Responsibilities Round Table, for example, has become the exclusive plaything of radical leftists, and they have made it abundantly clear that those holding differing viewpoints are not welcome. For instance, conservative posts to the SRRT e-mail list are treated with open hostility.

The ALA's annual conferences have become akin to MoveOn.org meetings, where Bush bashing and liberal groupthink are the order of the day. At the association's June 2003 convention, in Toronto, the lineup of speakers included Ralph Nader, U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, Naomi Klein, and Gloria Steinem. That was merely a warm-up, however, for the blatantly political event that was the 2004 convention in Orlando, Fla."

None of this will surprise librarians, but I'm guessing the other academics won't care. (For those of you outside the university/college milieu, The Chronicle is a cross between the Bible and the New York Times and is read by most.) Although they may be surprised to see that as a group, librarians are much further to the left than professors.

1546 The Red Cross money pit

The Los Angeles times has an editorial questioning the 70% of all the relief money for the hurricanes that the Red Cross has received.

"This skewed giving to Red Cross would be justified if the organization had to pay the cost of the 300,000 people it has sheltered. But FEMA and the affected states are reimbursing the Red Cross under preexisting contracts for emergency shelter and other disaster services. The existence of these contracts is no secret to anyone but the American public. The Red Cross carefully says it functions only by the grace of the American people — but "people" includes government, national and local. What we've now come to expect from a major disaster is a Red Cross media blitz."

"The Red Cross expects to raise more than $2 billion before Hurricane Katrina-related giving subsides. If it takes care of 300,000 people, that's $7,000 per victim. I doubt each victim under Red Cross care will see more than a doughnut, an interview with a social worker and a short-term voucher for a cheap motel, with a few miscellaneous items such as clothes and cooking pots thrown in.

The Red Cross' 3 million unpaid volunteers, 156,000 of whom it says are deployed in Hurricane Katrina, are salt-of-the-Earth Americans. But asking where all the privately collected money will go and how much Red Cross is billing FEMA and the affected states is a legitimate question — even if posed by the president of a small relief agency."

My donations haven't gone to the Red Cross, but if yours have, you may want to read the entire article and do your own research on where your money will do the most good.

1545 Speaking of Germany

"Josef Goebbels would have been happy with much of the mainstream media in the past few weeks since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Goebbels, for those of you too young to know, was Hitler's propaganda minister. He is credited with creating the concept of The Big Lie. The idea was that if you tell a lie big enough often enough, people will believe it.

The big lie of the Hurricane Katrina story is that it reveals deep and hateful racism in America, that blacks were treated worse than other people because they were black, and that this shows the hypocrisy of this supposedly egalitarian nation."

But here's the truth. Most of the horrible things we were told by our cable news networks about murder, mayhem, looting and rape, just didn't happen. Their reports kept FEMA teams out of the area. When body recovery teams from the military entered the evacuation facilities in NOLA they expected to find many bodies based on the news coverage. They found six. Gosh, five people died in Texas from using a generator improperly during Rita! The murder rate apparently slowed during the storm's aftermath. Reporters were not inside those facilities, remember. They were outside on the freeways and had no way to check the rumors. Fox News to its credit, is now correcting that image with interviews of people who are or were on the scene. I don't think they've admitted complicity in creating an anti-America news story, however. I have no idea how CNN is handling their missteps.

In addition, according to Ben Stein in this article quoted above, the blacks were victims not of racism, but geography, a terrible storm, and mass confusion. The people who came to their aid were white churches and black churches working together. People all over the country have opened their homes and businesses to these people.

So who are these racists trying to stir up hatred among us? Well, so far, they've all been liberals and Bush-bashers. It's their plantation mentality.

More on the media's role in distorting the news about the storm

Rep. Peter King (NY) on MSNBC Chris Matthews show, Hardball, Sept. 26

PK: I'm not talking about distorting the damage [of the hurricane]. I'm talking about distorting President Bush's role. Somehow, this was almost entirely blamed on him. That was a certain impression given by the media from the very first moment, when the levees broke. And you had Andrea Mitchell on talking about how that was because President Bush didn't put enough money into the water projects in Louisiana, or the levee control projects, when it turns out that he put more money in, in his first five years, than Bill Clinton did in his last five years. And no state gets more money in the country than Louisiana does. And use that as an example, and then go right through.

There was much more focus put on what President Bush was supposedly not doing, when the fact is it was the mayor who didn't provide the trucks, the buses to evacuate the people, sent the people to the Superdome without adequate food or water. And then also, there's the governor. The governor of Louisiana, and I was down there last week, she said every report that was done before this, said that a storm of this magnitude would kill 20,000 people. The fact is, so far there's less than 800. Every death is tragic, but why isn't your story less than 4% of those who were supposed to have been killed were not killed, because of the efforts of the federal government? The Coast Guard, remember, is part of Homeland Security. They were in the very first day rescuing thousands and thousands of people. That's just an example of the distortion. It's continuing today, the way you're questioning the contracts, assuming something is wrong when the president is fully following the law."

Lots of mp.3 clips well worth listening to.

"PK: [The President] was relying on what everyone, including Page 1 of the New York Times said, which was that New Orleans had ducked the storm. It wasn't until Tuesday that we realized how bad the situation was. And by then, the president had no way of knowing that the New Orleans Police and Fire Departments were going to disappear, that the governor wasn't going to adequately use the National Guard, and that the mayor had not put sufficient water and food into the Superdome. It takes a good 36 to 48 hours to move troops, the amount that were necessary, to provide relief in the Superdome."

And here's the best part.

PK to CM: "Just because the president doesn't watch you on television, it doesn't mean he's not doing his job. You know, Franklin Roosevelt wasn't hired to listen to radio accounts of D-Day. You're hired to do the job, and the president can do his job without having to listen to Chris Matthews or Andrea Mitchell or Tim Russert, or any of the others. He is doing his job."

1544 Am I the only one

who gains weight because I like to eat? I've gained 15 pounds this year and I'm not troubled, I don't blame my parents, and it's no one's fault but mine. And blogging, of course, which is very broadening. And that is PJ and Paula's fault.

Isn't this a stupid thesis?

"Mostly, fat people are fat because they're troubled, and if they lose weight, they become troubled slim people, and then they just start overeating again, and become fat people who are even more troubled than they were before." New book called Hunger.

1543 My biggest mistake

was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional," [Michael] Brown told a special congressional panel set up by House Republican leaders to investigate the catastrophe.

"I very strongly personally regret that I was unable to persuade Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin to sit down, get over their differences, and work together. I just couldn't pull that off."

At last. A breath of fresh air. I suppose since he's been made the scapegoat he doesn't have to mince words. I hope the party doesn't make him take it all back. He looks good with that backbone.

Naturally William Jefferson, the LA congressman who tied up rescue helicopters and trucks checking his house and removing items, was outraged.


Clueless Congressman

1542 Does USAToday hate black people?

If today's cover story had appeared at an RNC or administration web site, all hell would break loose. I don't think the paper's writers deliberately put a negative spin on blacks waiting at an evacuation center, but it couldn't sound worse if that had been the intention.

First, the photos. Five photos of people waiting--all evacuees, all had had jobs and homes in New Orleans. The only white person in the five photos is shown looking for jobs in the want ads of a newspaper while eleven African American women and men sit in the background staring into space.

Second, the human interest stories. One evacuee, Wayne Scardino (who I assume is white from his surname), had a successful lawn care business before Katrina destroyed his house and business, and he was planning to relocate to another city and take advantage of small business loans from the government to get started again. He had taken the initiative and responded to a flier posted at the center. The other stories, mostly about unmarried couples with children, reported how they'd refused offers from churches and relatives to relocate to different states. One woman had refused to move to a trailer. They are waiting for FEMA to "do something" and the woman whose rented duplex had been destroyed complained about the lack of privacy at the center, but said, "We could do better," than taking those other housing options. One black man who had been employed in a hotel chain is reported as saying, "It's like a vacation," and he is satisfied to just wait for the government to do something.

Also, this article quoted some Louisiana officials saying some unsavory things (to this tax payer's ear), like Blanco wants FEMA to put people up in hotels rather than trailers. So that's apparently why only 99 trailers for evacuees have been set up in LA, but 2,325 trailers have already been occupied in Mississippi and Alabama. Do you suppose FEMA will be blamed for this "slow response" to housing needs in LA?

Also, according to Kim Hunter Reed, the state policy and planning director, who is quoted in the article, New Orleans had a severe housing shortage before Katrina! There are two things that cause housing shortages: rent control and new construction red tape, including environmental hoops to jump through to get permits. Government interference in the market causes housing shortages. It happened after WWII, and continues in cities like New York which have rent control. I don't mind helping people when they are down, but New Orleans was by any reasonable woman's standard a mess before Katrina.