1644 Kennedy on Chappaquiddick

The 100 top speeches ranked by American Rhetoric lists Ted Kennedy's appeal to the people of Massachusetts as one of the top 100 speeches of the 20th century. Then he is listed also for his 1980 DNC speech, Truth and Tolerance speech, and Eulogy for his brother; his brother John, the president, is only list for six! I find it hard to believe that Ted Kennedy is that great a rhetorician--especially that the excuses he made about Chappaquiddick ranks as a great speech--or even believable. Shirley Chisholm and Barbara Jordan, whom I considered two of the most outstanding speakers in my lifetime, only made the list once (Chisholm) and twice (Jordan).

1643 Democrats on family values

Now where do you suppose the liberals are going on this one? Hmmmmm? Came in my mail today. They're trying to tell us that Americans have already rejected the traditional one man one woman marriage as a base for the family.

“America is changing profoundly. In the 1950s, 80 percent of all Americans lived in a home where the head of household was married. Now, that number stands at 52 percent. The number of young people growing up in single-parent households has jumped from 10 percent in the boomer generation to the current figure of 26 percent.” GQR Research.

So if you see a survey by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, you know who they work for.

1642 More about the golf course

Two days ago I blogged about the golf course repairs. I was particularly interested in what looked like bandages to me. Today the chief groundskeeper stopped by my table at the coffee shop and told me what is going on. That white mattress looking thing is called a sandtrapper and is made of a fiberglass type material. The sand will be placed on top but it will remain underneath the sand. A new type of sand produced in Chardin, Ohio will be used. The cost of the renovation is $3.5 million he said, but we tax payers aren't footing the bill, he told me. There is an endowment supported by an alumni gift (Phipps) that provides the funding, and the fees from the current players maintains the course. Jack Nicklaus is the designer of the renovation. This press release uses a lower figure, but then it is 1.5 years old.

1641 Big clue they were in deep do-do

“It was also at that time that I realized that the size of the crowd [at the Superdome] was a big concern at the EOC. Terry Ebbert, the city’s Homeland Security Director, made an announcement in the EOC that struck me. He asked the maintenance staff to gather up all of the toilet paper in city hall and any other commodities they could find and immediately take them over to the Superdome. I specifically note this because it told me that supplies at the dome might be a serious issue.” Testimony of Marty J. Bahamonde

Testimony from today’s Senate Committee on Katrina. This was found at Sabrina Pacifici’s blog--and it looks like an excellent site to bookmark for this kind of legal stuff. Left leaning but useful.

1640 Myths about gun control

John Stossel wanted to know why gun control laws weren't reducing crime, so he asked an expert--a criminal. Interesting stuff. Noticed at Billoblog.

1639 Women, do you do this?

Do you expect everyone else to adjust to your schedule so you can work, or do community service or golf and be a mommy too? My husband is on jury duty this week. It's an important case--murder. They could have finished up today. All the evidence has been heard and the jury is in deliberation and the alternates have been dismissed. One morning one of the women was late arriving--problem with the kids--so they had to wait. Today, one of the women announced she'd have to leave at 3:30 because she had to pick up her kids. So the entire jury has to go back tomorrow, when they could've finished up today. This is disrespectful of everyone involved--the victim, the victim's family, the defendant, the State of Ohio and the other jurors. If she does this on jury duty, I'm betting she does this in meetings at work. I was on a jury two years ago, and I thought a couple of the jurors were as dumb as a box of rocks, but no one was disrespectful of the process.

And one woman brought along her portable TV so she wouldn't miss her soaps on her lunch hour. Another brought in a huge brief case of work from the office, but of course, was never able to open it. I think it's called a "look at me I'm important" bag.

In the 70s and 80s I cobbled together work schedules so I could be home when my children were, and took the corresponding pay and promotion cuts. My mantra is, you can have it all, but not all at the same time. During all those years I got one call for jury duty and asked to be excused because the kids were more important than my civic duty which if you are a registered voter will come around again. And again. Don't run that poor working mother by me--these women were professionals. If you think this is harsh, you haven't heard me on daddies who leave their families for a new sweetie.

1638 Mouse Dirt

Yuk. When I was a little girl our family moved to Forreston, IL into a house that was on the edge of town near the open farm country. It still had an outhouse, and there was no modern kitchen. This must have been quite a challenge for my mother who had grown up in a home that had all the modern conveniences long before the rest of the country became accustomed to electrified homes and indoor plumbing. There really wasn't a true housing shortage after World War II, despite what you read in the history books. It was government regulations and rent control that caused a shortage by removing less desirable homes from the housing market. After all, we had the same number of people and housing units in 1946 that we had in 1941. If a house should have been off the market, it was ours. Mother rolled up her sleeves and remodeled it and when Dad sold it in 1947, it had a nice kitchen and a bathroom. We drove past that house in 1999--still looks much the same and is well kept.



However, when the weather turned chilly in the fall, the little critters came in the house to get warm, and when you'd open the bottom drawer of the stove or a kitchen cabinet, there were the little trails of mouse droppings, and a furry gray thing would scamper across the floor and we children would all shriek and run out of the room. Except my brother. I don't think he shrieked, because little boys like to chase, grab and poke frightened little animals.

Yesterday my computer mouse was getting really balky. It wouldn't maneuver fine movements, like removing the glare from my glasses in photographs. So I unplugged it and took off the ball cap. With a toothpick I started carefully removing the "mouse dirt" and it was just all over the place. Now it is smooth rolling.

1637 They wouldn't listen to me

It was common knowledge 10 years ago that the professional schools at Ohio State (veterinary medicine, law, pharmacy, medicine) were becoming quite lopsided and feminized. At a veterinary faculty meeting I raised the question why we couldn't start recruiting men for some balance, since being a librarian I knew what happens when a profession becomes dominated by women--salaries and prestige and power go down. No one wanted to address the problem. Sadly, they knew they couldn't and keep their jobs, but after the meeting several male faculty told me they agreed with me.

Now today's USAToday has a story on the gender gap in higher education. I hate to say "I told you so," but I told you so.

1636 Adult children living at home

Recently I received an e-mail from Tina, one of my closest childhood friends. Her parents moved when we were 16, but the few times we've been together over the years, it's not hard to catch up. But she mentioned a 25 year old grand daughter. I about fell out of my chair. I remember her daughter (mother of the grand child) as a darling toddler, and she's engraved on my memory that way.

Say what you will about people marrying young, but it usually got them out of the house. Yesterday's WSJ had an article about the growing number of adult children returning to live with their parents after college, career mishapes, and marriage failures. I've been hearing that for 20 years, at least, but perhaps it is always a fresh story if you're not aware of "boomerang kids."

I visited my great aunt last week and met for the first time her youngest son (my first cousin once removed). She is a widow and he is single and about 50 years old, so this makes a wonderful housing arrangement for them both. He has a nice home, and she has someone to keep the yard and house in good repair and is able to stay in her own home without fear.

But it sounds like a bad idea for the 25-40 years olds. What do you tell the potential date about who might answer the phone? Or where you live? Do all their friends live this way so they think it is cool?

The author had some suggestions on how to deal with the returning descendants, and I've added my score for reality. 1) Talk about your own struggles as a young person. 4 whoops of laughter. How many kids want to hear about the "old days" when you didn't own a car, had only one black and white TV and a coin operated wringer washer in the basement of the apartment building? 2) Draw up a plan. 3 whoops. Been there done that. No one over 16 wants a parent to devise a plan or budget, no matter how much sense it makes. It always screams, "Here's what you need to do. . ." However, I do this anyway because I write such great plans. 3) Treat them like adults--charge rent, assign cleaning responsibilities, cooking, etc. 2 whoops. If you're charging her rent, she has a right to keep 3 week old pizza scraps and dirty undies all over her room, doesn't she? 4) Financial help-- arrange loans to wean them away from you. This one makes some sense. Pay the deposit on the apartment; make a car payment if necessary, but do something to get them standing on their own two feet and out from under yours.

Our children never returned home as adults--in fact, they left too young (18), in my opinion. But we have helped them financially over the years, with car payments, bills, etc. We've helped them both buy homes, and I think that is a good investment for them and for us. I plan to move in with them some day and leave pizza scraps and dirty laundry around the house.

Home for visit

1635 As we watch Wilma

One thing I noticed at the museum today when I read the explanation of the empty frame was that Hurricane Katrina was called "our nation's worst natural disaster." This is not true. Here's the information on the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 from the Sun Sentinel site:

"1900 -- More than 6,000 die after storm washes over Galveston
The nation's deadliest natural disaster, the storm struck with little warning late on Sept. 8. Storm tides of 8 to 15 feet inundated Galveston Island and portions of the nearby Texas coast. The tides were largely responsible for the 8,000 deaths, with some estimates ranging as high as 12,000."

Just because it happens within your frame of memory, doesn't mean nothing worse ever happened.

1634 JAMA, JAMA is its name

Ask me again, and I'll tell you the same.

Cover: Andrew L. von Wittkamp, Black Cat on a Chair

I just go crazy when USAToday and Wall Street Journal spell out Journal of the American Medical Association. It changed its name in 1959 to JAMA.

Anyway, the infamous "today's issue" (there's a phrase that drives librarians crazy) apparently revealed some unsavory information about gastric by-pass surgery for the morbidly obese--patients are dying at a much higher rate than first thought. However, because they are using Medicare figures, and these people were severely disabled by their weight to even qualify for Medicare, they don't have records for people using private insurance for this study. Nor do they have records to show that medical problems requiring non-hospitalization have decreased. Often this surgery needs to be followed by surgery to remove huge skin folds. There's a lot that can go wrong.

Still, does it make sense that one man's family sues Vioxx because he died of an irregular heart rate and that drug which helped millions live with the pain of arthritis is taken off the market; but many people die after by-pass surgery and 48% are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days and the procedure is still used and recommended for unhealthy, obese people who can't lose weight any other way. Somehow, these figures aren't making sense to me. Most public libraries carry JAMA, so go look at it and see what you think.

"Early Mortality Among Medicare Beneficiaries Undergoing Bariatric Surgical Procedures" David R. Flum, MD, MPH; Leon Salem, MD; Jo Ann Broeckel Elrod, PhD; E. Patchen Dellinger, MD; Allen Cheadle, PhD; Leighton Chan, MD, MPH. JAMA. 2005;294:1903-1908. Abstract:

"Results: A total of 16 155 patients underwent bariatric procedures (mean age, 47.7 years [SD, 11.3 years]; 75.8% women). The rates of 30-day, 90-day, and 1-year mortality were 2.0%, 2.8%, and 4.6%, respectively. Men had higher rates of early death than women (3.7% vs 1.5%, 4.8% vs 2.1%, and 7.5% vs 3.7% at 30 days, 90 days, and 1 year, respectively; P<.001). Mortality rates were greater for those aged 65 years or older compared with younger patients (4.8% vs 1.7% at 30 days, 6.9% vs 2.3% at 90 days, and 11.1% vs 3.9% at 1 year; P<.001). After adjustment for sex and comorbidity index, the odds of death within 90 days were 5-fold greater for older Medicare beneficiaries (aged 75 years; n = 136) than for those aged 65 to 74 years (n = 1381; odds ratio, 5.0; 95% confidence interval, 3.1-8.0). The odds of death at 90 days were 1.6 times higher (95% confidence interval, 1.3-2.0) for patients of surgeons with less than the median surgical volume of bariatric procedures (among Medicare beneficiaries during the study period) after adjusting for age, sex, and comorbidity index.

Conclusions: Among Medicare beneficiaries, the risk of early death after bariatric surgery is considerably higher than previously suggested and associated with advancing age, male sex, and lower surgeon volume of bariatric procedures. Patients aged 65 years or older had a substantially higher risk of death within the early postoperative period than younger patients."

1633 An afternoon with Renoir's Women

Five of us met for lunch at the Palette Restaurant in the Columbus Museum of Art this afternoon. Our husbands are all Columbus area watercolorists who meet for lunch and discussion once a month, so occasionally we get together too. Here we are enjoying the food and good company.



You are not supposed to take photos in a museum, but when the guard stepped out of the room I quickly snapped one of this interesting Renoir, on loan from the New Orleans Museum of Art. Because of Katrina, it didn't make the trip, and I'm not sure they really know what has happened to it. A tiny link in our connectedness. For a view of some of the lovely works on loan, go here.



The site for the show is http://www.renoirswomen.com.

1632 Seventeen plus weeks to see a doctor

Health care is improving in Canada--it now takes only 17.7 weeks for treatment after your first visit instead of 17.9 weeks. The drop is because Saskatchewan has improved to 25.5 weeks. At the coffee shop this morning Jim sounded just awful. Bronchitis he said. His wife is a doctor and she told him he needed to see a doctor, so he called today and has an appointment this afternoon. Just be glad you aren't Canadian, I said, and read him the stats from this morning's paper. I am, he said, because then I'd have to live in Canada.

I know Mr. Cloud will respond and tell us that it isn't really 17.7 weeks if you are really sick, that it is only for elective surgery like by-pass or transplants or wrinkles, prolly. The only "new" idea the Democrats have for 2008 is nationalized health care. Or, as I like to call it, FEMAized health care. Call us when you have a disaster.

1631 Straight but sensitive

is the definition of a "metrosexual." Now before I ever had a chance to even use the word (except in this blog entry), it has been replaced by "ubersexual," according to Nathan Bierma's Tribune column On Language. He sites a new book, "The future of men" by the folks who gave us metrosexual. Examples are George Clooney, Bill Clinton and Bono--obvious heterosexuals who can feel your pain. Sweet. Anything to sell a book.

1630 Golf course bandages

Some golf courses get better care than people. Can't imagine why people go out and chase little white balls when they could be enjoying the scenery. But. . . today I took some photos of the golf course near by. It is really lovely, except it is being repaired, or renovated, or resculptured, whatever people do to these places. I don't know what this is called, but it looks like a giant bandage, or a huge mattress fastened to the dirt.



It's hard not to get an earthmover or truck in the photo, but there is some lovely color.

1629 The painting of Mr. Cloud

Those of you who were with me (bloggity speaking) during the summer, know I took a portrait class. Because I didn't know the class would be offered, I had no photos with me. So I looked around and settled on a lovely photo of Anvilcloud with some chickadees on his head and shoulder. He is a retired Canadian school teacher who writes a wonderful blog, and enjoys life with Mrs. Cloud, who also blogs at Brown Betty Brew. The portrait was never finished. I just can't paint chickadees.

But I have fresh batteries in the digital camera, so I decided to go to the art room and photograph Mr. Cloud. It's a bit messy, I obviously can close the door on that room, but you'll get the drift.

1628 On Memos and Surveys

This week I received a memo (RE: DEFINING THE CHOICE A Strategy for Going Outside and Reaching New Ground) from James Carville of Democracy Corps (I'm not sure why I'm on the mailing list) that suggested the Democrats recruit the supporters of Ross Perot, who they believe got Bill Clinton elected. I thought they sounded sort of dispirited and discouraged. Didn't see much of a program or plan, but maybe recruiting disgruntled libertarians is a plan?

In Carville's memo I saw the word "change" and "choice" but I never found any program or fresh ideas, other than universal health care, more money for education (hardly fresh ideas), and all was apparently to be funded by canceling tax cuts for incomes over $200,000. And it is the tax cuts that restored our economy after it started plunging in 2000. I saw nothing about saving social security or helping the poor. The twisted and biased wording used to describe various administration's programs in their questions would make even me say I was against it or looking for alternatives.

Considering the clarity with which Rush Limbaugh outlined conservative beliefs and values in yesterday's WSJ, I think the Democrats are going to have to find something a bit more focused than just bashing Bush, which this document definitely did.

Also, then I went to their webpage and looked at some of their polls. I read the poll taken last October right before the election. For the life of me, I can't figure out why they were so shocked they lost. The evidence in their own poll seemed clear in hindsight, although some numbers were terribly close. I had a little problem reading the figures, which seemed to be in percentages, although number of respondents was recorded (and it varied from question to question). The question on "feelings" struck me as really odd. Although the actual intention to vote may have put Kerry a little ahead of Bush, the "warm fuzzies" were in Bush's favor (question 11). And the NRA and pro-life questions favored (more warm) the Republicans. So when they stepped into the voting booth, did feelings win out over intention?

When it came to issues, in general only Bush was rated--Kerry's name was not there in "direction the country is headed." But on specifics, (Q. 37-49) I think Bush rated higher than Kerry--and way outpaced him in security and terrorism. This could have made a significant difference in the voting booth if there was a perceived gap between the poll and the results.

Also, I think this one (Q. 4) was interesting because it was so out of place--like it was intended to create doubt; but no one took the bait:

Q.4 Many people weren't able to vote in the 2000 election for President between George Bush, Al Gore, and Ralph Nader. How about you? Were you able to vote, or for some reason were you unable to vote?
Total
Voted ...........................................91
Not registered in 2000/Ineligible/too young.......2
Did not vote .....................................6
Can't remember/Don't know/Refused) ...............0
(ref:VOTE00)

According to their poll, no one had a problem voting in 2000. So, how accurate is their premise, "many people weren't able to vote in the 2000 election."

http://www.democracycorps.com/reports/surveys/dcor103104fq20public.pdf

1627 Talk to the Democrats about high gasoline prices

Elvis was still alive the last time the United States built a new oil refinery (1976), according to the Wall Street Journal ("Agony and Energy," on-line for subscribers). That was probably the last time the Democrats had something creative to offer. The energy bill that recently passed in the House did not have a single Democratic vote. So if you want to complain about high gasoline and heating costs this fall, please contact your anti-energy Congressperson, who is apparently a Democrat. Gasoline for America's Security Act of 2005 was a squeaker October 7 in a vote of 212-210.

"Don't go home and tell your constituents you did anything for them. In truth, you haven't," said Rep. James P. McGovern (D-Mass.) "When they ask you, `What did you do to lower the prices of gas and home hearting oil,' you can say, honestly, you did nothing."

Here’s what the bill will do.

1) gives the government the authority to use closed military bases as possible refinery sites.
2) lets governors request the Department of Energy coordinate the permitting process.
3) reduces the number of “boutique” fuels from 17 to 6.
4) allows more time to cities to petition to meet costly ozone standards (2010)

The Democrats, playing their one string guitar, say it doesn’t address the cost of natural gas and it gives too many benefits to the profit-rich oil barons and special favors to business interests. Same old, same old.

1626 Turning blogging into dollars in a big way

Write a blog, scramble for funding, do a good job, fill a need, and let AOL.com buy you! It worked for Jason Calacanis, who writes an entertainment, magazine, media type blog. Check back in a few months to see if the honeymoon is over. He wrote on Oct. 10:

"It’s pretty exciting to be part of a transformation like this and I’m going to put all my energy into it. For me this is more exciting than doing another startup to be honest. Look at it this way, I’ve done three or four startups since I worked for SONY back in 1994/95. It’s been over 10 years since I’ve been part of a big company doing big things. At SONY I was 23 years old and was sitting in the basement—I couldn’t get anything done. I fought my way to the CEO at SONY and told him to buy Lycos and Yahoo and he didn’t do it even though the price would have been less then the Last Action Hero!!!

At AOL I don’t have to fight to get to the CEO and senior management team—I can send them an IM or go to lunch with them any time I want! In fact, I’m part of the executive team and they’ve embraced me and my team with open arms. I’ve known members of the executive team at AOL for over 10 years in some cases, so there’s a lot of history and trust between us."

I remember a few mergers and acquisitions that felt that way too. . .

1625 You'll never catch me running

Actually you could catch me, because I almost never run. I entered the Raccoon Race at Lakeside about twenty years ago, and walked the route after the first block.

Raccoon Run (3 miles), Lakeside, Ohio

The women's breast cancer marathon was this past Sunday--usually its cold and rainy, but I wouldn't watch even if it were sunny and pleasant. But at Jane Galt's site this morning (another non-runner) I saw a link to the 10 best reasons for not running marathons. All the reasons are documented by research on heart, lungs, brain, etc., and are not anecdotal, but it is easy to read. I haven't researched this site, or the articles, but the text appeals to a non-runner, certainly. Still, read knowing I have not vetted the author or information.

Unless a very large animal is chasing me, or I'm late for dinner, you'll never catch me running.