1724 Jimmy Carter was my favorite president

until he started acting like he was morally still the president, and that's been for quite a few years now. When he jumped in and helped with Habitat for Humanity, he was doing what an ex-president should do. Finding his own niche. Above the fray. In the 90s he didn't like Bill Clinton, and likes George W. Bush even less. Now he has a new book, "Our Endangered Values." Apparently it is deadly dull, according to reviewer Bret Stephens. I'm not surprised. Like his party, he hasn't had a new idea in 25 years. Here are the key words of the review by Stephens, now you can decide to read the book or not. Me? Not.

tedious
boring
irritating
sanctimonious
self-congratulatory
humorless
factual omissions
passive-aggressive
"everything is wrong beginning with the title"
weird lapses of memory
obsessed
Tito--"believed in human rights"
Ceausescu--"our goals were the same"
Arafat--"misunderstood"
Kim Il Sung--"vigorous and intelligent"

I wonder of Carter thinks starvation is an important endangered value?

Article about Kim Il Sung in New Yorker. "the estimates are that two to three million people starved to death in the course of the past decade. Starving to death doesn’t happen overnight. Starving to death isn’t even a matter of having insufficient food for a couple of months. It’s total starvation over a long period of time, a complete breakdown of bodies."

"[Ceausescu's] secret police (Securitate) maintained rigid controls over free speech and the media, and tolerated no internal opposition. In an effort to pay off the large foreign debt that his government had accumulated in the 1970s, Ceausescu ordered the export of much of the country's agricultural and industrial production. The resulting drastic shortages of food, energy, medicines, and other basic necessities drove Romania from a state of relative economic well-being to near starvation. Ceausescu also instituted an extensive personality cult and appointed his wife, Elena, and some members of his family to high posts in the government. Among his grandiose schemes was a plan to bulldoze thousands of Romania's villages and large areas of the city of Bucharest, and move their residents into new apartment buildings. Over one fifth of the built area of central Bucharest, including churches and historic buildings, was demolished during Ceausescu's rule in the '80s." http://www.rotravel.com/romania/history/app4.php

1723 Fourteen entries

now in my new blog called, Memory Patterns. You're invited to take a look, although it is probably only of interest to my family. I'm using sewing patterns and photographs to reconstruct some memories. It is completely politics free, although still somewhat eclectic, because that's just how my mind works. I've come up with some memories that were pretty well buried, like buying an art print with green stamps, and who got the garter at my daughter's wedding. Don't throw anything away. You never know when you might need it!

1722 Omidyars of e-Bay finance an old idea

Now they are calling it "microfinance," but when I first went to work in the Agriculture Library in 1978 and worked with the Agricultural Credit and Technology files, I think we just called them small loans. We had hundreds and hundreds of papers in that file on third world rural development and what could be done with small loans. Sometimes it was several sewing machines, or a well, or a fish farm.

I think I'd say the same thing today I said in the 70s. Roads. Build them. Then do your miracles with microfinance or small loans. Without them, the farmers and the small business people have no market. With no markets, they move to the city slums. Without roads, aid rots in the ports.

1721 Writes like a girl--Dana Milbank

Well, it could be a girl's name, I guess.

"The Senate is witnessing a real-life revenge of the nerd. Alito, bespectacled, hair askew, suit rumpled and ill-fitting, walked into Sen. Tim Johnson's office this week to pay a courtesy call. . .Alito forgot to unbutton his suit jacket, causing his tie to stick out and his jacket to bunch up. The judge's pant leg hiked up as he sat, revealing an untied shoelace. . . What better place for a supreme square than the Supreme Court?. . . Compared with Roberts, Alito looks as if he were in town for a "Star Trek" convention. . . Alito caught his foot in carpeting and briefly stumbled while getting in the elevator. . .his buttoned suit jacket bunching up, his fingers gripping his knees, his toes pointed inward." WaPo

What passes these days for journalism! More catty than a next of kittens. But it's probably a good sign that the MSM is totally without words.

1720 Victoria Toensig’s article in the WSJ “Investigate the CIA”

As excerpted in Powerline. Read this and then tell me again why they are wasting my tax money investigating Scooter Libby when they need to be investigating Joe Wilson, Valerie Plame and whoever at the CIA is trying to undo the Bush presidency. Seven questions the reporters haven't been asking. They need a blogfire.

• First: The CIA sent her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, to Niger on a sensitive mission regarding WMD. He was to determine whether Iraq had attempted to purchase yellowcake, an essential ingredient for nonconventional weapons. However, it was Ms. Plame, not Mr. Wilson, who was the WMD expert. Moreover, Mr. Wilson had no intelligence background, was never a senior person in Niger when he was in the State Department, and was opposed to the administration's Iraq policy. The assignment was given, according to the Senate Intelligence Committee, at Ms. Plame's suggestion.

[My question 1-a: Is Ms. Plame involved in the misinformation about WMD that lead up to the war? 1-b: Did she need to cover her tracks, throw off the scent? 1-c Does Ms. Plame have more power in the CIA that we have been told? After all, she's making assignments related to WMD.]

• Second: Mr. Wilson was not required to sign a confidentiality agreement, a mandatory act for the rest of us who either carry out any similar CIA assignment or who represent CIA clients.

[My question: 2-a: Does this mean Mr. Wilson was not a CIA employee, but just an ordinary citizen since he didn't sign any agreement normal for an employee? 2-b Was the reason his wife wasn't sent was that she had already botched the WMD investigation?]

• Third: When he returned from Niger, Mr. Wilson was not required to write a report, but rather merely to provide an oral briefing. That information was not sent to the White House. If this mission to Niger were so important, wouldn't a competent intelligence agency want a thoughtful written assessment from the "missionary," if for no other reason than to establish a record to refute any subsequent misrepresentation of that assessment? Because it was the vice president who initially inquired about Niger and the yellowcake (although he had nothing to do with Mr. Wilson being sent), it is curious that neither his office nor the president's were privy to the fruits of Mr. Wilson's oral report.

[My question: 3-a: Does this mean Mr. Wilson was a common tourist to Niger? 3-b: Why did the CIA put so little weight on v.p. Cheney's request. 3-c: Were they already aware of their misinformation about WMD and didn't want to raise the issue?]

• Fourth: Although Mr. Wilson did not have to write even one word for the agency that sent him on the mission at taxpayer's expense, over a year later he was permitted to tell all about this sensitive assignment in the New York Times. For the rest of us, writing about such an assignment would mean we'd have to bring our proposed op-ed before the CIA's Prepublication Review Board and spend countless hours arguing over every word to be published. Congressional oversight committees should want to know who at the CIA permitted the publication of the article, which, it has been reported, did not jibe with the thrust of Mr. Wilson's oral briefing. For starters, if the piece had been properly vetted at the CIA, someone should have known that the agency never briefed the vice president on the trip, as claimed by Mr. Wilson in his op-ed.

[My question: 4-a: Who does Ms. Plame know on that Review Board who would pass on this? Or is she much higher up than we've been led to believe and can just go over their heads? 4-b: Why didn't NYT ask about the CIA clearance? 4-c: Was Wilson so naive that he didn't know he needed permission, and the CIA did act because then their ineptness in sending him would have to come out?]

• Fifth: More important than the inaccuracies is the fact that, if the CIA truly, truly, truly had wanted Ms. Plame's identity to be secret, it never would have permitted her spouse to write the op-ed. Did no one at Langley think that her identity could be compromised if her spouse wrote a piece discussing a foreign mission about a volatile political issue that focused on her expertise? The obvious question a sophisticated journalist such as Mr. Novak asked after "Why did the CIA send Wilson?" was "Who is Wilson?" After being told by a still-unnamed administration source that Mr. Wilson's "wife" suggested him for the assignment, Mr. Novak went to Who's Who, which reveals "Valerie Plame" as Mr. Wilson's spouse.

[My question 5-a: Was Ms. Plame's career and reputation (because of WMD misinformation) in the toilet so they didn't care how she was outed? 5-b: Is Wilson as hungry for publicity as Cindy Sheehan?]

• Sixth: CIA incompetence did not end there. When Mr. Novak called the agency to verify Ms. Plame's employment, it not only did so, but failed to go beyond the perfunctory request not to publish. Every experienced Washington journalist knows that when the CIA really does not want something public, there are serious requests from the top, usually the director. Only the press office talked to Mr. Novak.

[My question 6-a: so is Novak off the hook? 6-b: Did he have no obligation to ask just in case he was talking to a lunch time substitute.]

• Seventh: Although high-ranking Justice Department officials are prohibited from political activity, the CIA had no problem permitting its deep cover or classified employee from making political contributions under the name "Wilson, Valerie E.," information publicly available at the FEC.

[My question 7-a: Why hasn't Plame been fired for this if it's against the rules? 7-b: Has she been fired and no one told us? 7-c: Did she know she was violating the rules?]

1719 9th Circuit Court are sure a scary bunch

A Calfornia blogger, e-Claire, asks what is going on with sex education in California?

Read this Unanimous Decision by the Court: FIELDS v. PALMDALE SCHOOL DIST.

"We… hold that there is no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children, either independent of their right to direct the upbringing and education of their children or encompassed by it. We also hold that parents have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed while enrolled as students. Finally, we hold that the defendants’ actions were rationally related to a legitimate state purpose."

So I guess if the schools want to teach your kid that masturbation causes insanity, or that babies come from the cabbage patch you can't contradict them. . . "parents have no due process or privacy right. . ."

Is this the "mainstream" that the Dems keep talking about for our Supreme Court?

1718 I must have lied somewhere along the way

Or maybe I guessed. This really doesn't sound like the way I cook. I like that funny gal with dark hair who's been on Oprah and the one who starts with all the convenience food and comes up with something terrific. I've never even seen this guy. Tonight we're having pizza from that shop up the street.


Which Food Network chef are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I saw this at Jenna's blog.

1717 Escaping prison in a garbage truck

When an Ohio Penitentiary resident escaped back in the 70s, we got a phone call from the warden. We were on his visitation list--in fact, he was a few weeks from being paroled and had planned to live with us. But cupid struck, and he escaped with the lady from the casket company in the O.P.'s garbage truck.

So as I was watching the news accounts of Jimmy Causey and Johnny Brewer escaping a South Carolina prison today in the garbage truck, I thought about our experience. Our guy was on the lam a bit longer than those two, who apparently were caught when they got hungry and ordered a pizza. The delivery person recognized them and called the police. Our guy (and his lady friend) drove to central Indiana and he got a job in a bar. He was such a good employee and so trusted by the owner, that he made the night bank deposits (he was doing time for breaking and entering, in the night season, with a gun). I think he wasn't caught for nearly a year, and only because he came back to Ohio to visit his mother, and someone recognized him.

Stolen angel

Sometime after 1986, thieves entered this cemetery in Elwood, Indiana, and stole the family angel. A couple of generations of Bruces are buried near by. If you see a marble angel in someone's garden, be suspicious, very suspicious. We're looking for it.



Casselman Bruce family home, Elwood, Indiana

1715 The Bill Gates Malaria Gift

It was sad to see on ABC News two nights ago the news of the Bill and Melinda Gates gift to develop drugs to fight malaria. Yes, thousands of Africans die of malaria every day, but those deaths are unnecessary. Until Americans were duped by Rachel Carson's misinformation, good progress was being made against this terrible disease. Since 1972 when the EPA banned its use, millions have died needlessly. This "do-gooder" impulse we Americans have has killed more Africans than the infamous slave trade of the 17th and 18th centuries. Even if this experimental vaccine works, it won't be ready for another five years, which means many more years of death for Africans. ABC never even mentioned there is another option. Malaria was well under control from the 1940s-1970s. And now without the spraying of homes, it has emerged again in the last 30 years as a killer. It was completely unnecessary.

DDT for malaria control

1714 Men drivers--what babies!

The white pick up came from behind and roared around me this morning as I turned right on red, after making sure I had a clear distance--it was dark and foggy. I always immediately get in the left lane, because if I don't, it is impossible to turn left at the next light which actually has two left turn lanes, but a lot of traffic. I've seen many accidents at that intersection. So he was passing me on the right. I looked over (you can always tell a mad driver by their juvenile attention-getting tire-screeching and loud rhumphhh rhumphh) and he gave me the finger. So I figured when I got up to the light, I'd pull right up next to him (knowing we'd get there at the same time) and give him one of my best poached egg looks--I'm good at that--although smiling and waving can be good too. The idiot. He was mad because I was in HIS LANE from which he wanted to make an illegal U-turn. So when he did that, he gave me the finger AGAIN, like I was to blame because he was late for work. Even with a time change and gaining an hour's sleep, he can't get it together. Such a baby.

1713 Do you really mean this?

Today I noticed a letter where the writer was describing the wonderful attributes of Janice Rogers Brown, the black judge many of us would have preferred to Alito:

“When you read her speeches, it becomes crystal clear that she is worth fighting for, to go to the mattresses for, to the very end.”

I think he meant “go to the mat” not mattress.

But upon checking, I learned this mangled cliche is not that uncommon.

1712 Where did the WMD Intel come from?

The Anchoress knows.

“In 1998, the US was certain that Saddam Hussein was acquiring and developing WMD, and that he posed a credible threat. The president said it. His party said it. The opposition party agreed. The press said it. England said it. Israel said it. France said it. China and Russia said it. EVERYONE said it. EVERYONE accepted it. These were the intelligence reports, and everyone found them believable.

No one acted on them, but no one declared they were false, either. While some cynics suggested that the American President’s focus on the WMD was some “dog wagging” to distract attention from an uncomfortable scandal, no one seriously entertained a notion that Saddam Hussein did NOT have WMD. Everyone believed it to be true. Or at least said they believed it. Read her entire rundown of the run up to the war and what the Democrats said before Bush became President and acted on their recommendations and beliefs.”

So why are they so huffy and trying to make the Libby case into something? Why are they acting like they've speeded up the Phase 2 report? It was due already.

1711 Please don't feed the birds

Scotts Miracle Gro is expanding into the bird seed business. This is bad for the small niche pet food companies, but it's even worse for the birds. Now, if you Google the topic, backyard feeder + disease you'll find a lot of fence sitting, about the importance of keeping the feeders clean, the water fresh, not trying to treat sick birds. But let's use a little common sense. Feeders attract birds of all species who normally wouldn't get together and spread their viruses or parasites. Feeders discourage birds from eating insects, seeds and berries, their natural diet that helps our environment. They attrack skunks and raccoons and squirrels, just so you can sit in your kitchen and watch them squabble over some feed.

If the avian flu does comes around, I'm betting you'll see a change in the advice columns. People are already discouraged from feeding ducks around here. The Canada geese now never go home. Honk. Honk. Why fly south when Columbusites make it so comfortable to stay, or north in the summer. Signs are posted along the river and ponds instructing people not to do this, but many still do. Generations of mallards and geese have forgotten how to forage, plus they leave their feces everywhere in the park you might want to walk.

Be kind; don't feed the birds.

1710 What to do with your rotting pumpkins

Susie Sunshine is blogging at the Underpaid Kept Woman, and wow, did she have a bunch of pumpkins and some great ideas for composting them to get back at a nasty neighbor.

1709 Peter Eisenmen is back

in town to inspect the renovation of the disaster he designed (opened 1989) a little over 15 years ago. The Wexner Center didn't work from the get-go and the $15.8 million upgrade (on our dime) should be laid at the feet of the review committee that selected this design from a competition that would have served our campus better with a far more practical and beautiful building suited for our climate and geography.

The Wexner Center leaked like a sieve from the beginning; art objects had to be protected from the sharply angled glass that let in way too much sunlight; and the wall and halls could induce nausea in the casual visitor causing disorientation from the angles and slopes and dangerous missteps from oddly spaced stair risers.




Eisenmen says he takes full responsibility for its short comings (but not its ugliness). But sir, you left me the bill for your manic phase.

The article in today's Columbus Dispatch doesn't mention that Eiseman also designed our Convention Center on the site of the glorious Union Station. It resembles a bunch of box cars in a train accident.

1708 Worst economy in 70 years

Remember that slogan from October 2004? I think it was the Kerry Kampaign. And here it keeps improving despite the hurricanes and high oil prices (gasoline is about $2.20 here in Columbus).

"U.S. economic growth sped up in the third quarter despite the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, with consumer spending remaining strong as inflation pressures appeared to gather some steam.

The Commerce Department said Friday that gross domestic product grew at a seasonally adjusted 3.8% annual rate in July through September. The increase was driven by consumer spending and inventory changes and offset by slower growth in exports, housing investments and local government spending, the report said. GDP grew at a rate of 3.3% in the second quarter." WSJ Oct. 28

The economy will really improve when the current administration starts reining in some spending.

1707 Norma's new blog

It's been awhile since I started a blog. Today I created a new blog called Memory Patterns. I sort of got the idea from looking at scanned sewing patterns on other sites. I decided to try to match the patterns with old photos with old memories floating through my head and see what I came up with. Should be fun. Actually, I think I sold a lot of my patterns at garage sales or traded them, or gave them away. Gosh, wish I hadn't, 'cause this could be fun.

Here's an idea. Match the sewing pattern of a dress I made for my daughter to her school photo. Then tell the story of the fabric which was also used for a king size bedspread I made and my husband's ugly tie contest at the office (I also made the tie). From there I could go into other frugal ideas I had in the 70s. What do you think?


I would have used the fabric requirements for view B size 7, the jeans top, although I made the dress, so would have used 7/8 instead of 3/4 of a yard. Suggested fabrics were lightweight cotton, muslin, seersucker, polished cotton, gingham, challis, surah, and cotton knits. The dress had a back zipper with puffed sleeves with eleastic casings and a front yoke with vent. I think I made several of these, but the bedspread print seems to be the only one that will live in our memories, and albums.

The copyright date on this pattern is 1973, which means I probably made it when my daughter was in second grade. She's probably smiling like that because some teeth are missing.

1706 SCOTUS Blog roundup

SCOTUS blog has a roundup of the blogging going on about Alito. I won't repeat it here. Just go read it.

1705 The world is different now

it's harder. Nonsense! That was a line in a WSJ story today (Nov.1) about the economic woes of a recent college grad who landed his dream job. But he's taken a second job at $9 an hour at the Best Buy so he can save up for a better apartment, pay off some college loans, and add to his DVD collection. I give him credit for paying off loans, and not hitting Dad up for some extra cash, but really, is this the best hard knocks story they can come up with? Try cutting back on your desires and living on your income. That's good advice for the federal government too. The Bush administration has never seen a program it didn't like. They can cut our taxes all they want, and I appreciate that, but the government needs to tighten its belt and stop throwing money at problems the citizens should be solving.

And btw, that $9 an hour job at Best Buy might be someone else's dream job, and if Mr. 60-Hours-a-Week-College-Grad has scarfed it up, he's hurting someone else.