1764 Big shoes to fill

If you are pro-choice, you may not actually contribute money for women to have abortions or give to abortion clinics--you don't go THAT far. You try to put out of your mind that "choice" means taking a life. But if you are pro-life, I hope you're putting your money where your heart is. We support the Pregnancy Decision Health Center of Columbus.

This fall's newsletter came yesterday and had an interesting story about the Fall fund raising banquet attended by 600 people at Villa Milano. One testimony was by a woman who 26 years ago rejected the "life" message her doctor gave her and proceeded with plans for an abortion. "She subsequently got up from the abortionist's table and returned to Dr. Raymond who helped her through her pregnancy and delivered her baby boy. The child was placed for adoption and the presentation ends with a still photo of the baby. At that point, John Vorlicky, now 26 came out on stage to announce that he is the baby in the photo." PDHC wasn't in existence then, but he thanked the group for the moms they are helping today.

If you are part of the adoption triangle (adoptee, birth parent, adoptive parent) you are part of an amazing transaction where grief and sorrow are miraculously turned into joy and hope. Not all adoptions create picture perfect families--but then I don't know any families like that made the other way, do you? Abortions, on the other hand, create nothingness forever and ever.

Some women among the 30,000+ who have been helped by PDHC choose to raise their children, and here's a list of items you can donate to help.

1763 Bird Watching

When I retired in 2000, I posted my "Post Employment Plan" on my web-site (no longer available). One of the things I listed was bird watching, something I knew nothing about, but thought it would be interesting. So my colleagues in the Departmental Libraries got me binoculars. We've actually used them quite a bit just sitting on our deck watching the condo wild life, but I haven't gone to any cemeteries at dawn to peek at the birds. Here's an interesting rare birds site, called, well, Rarebirds.com.

For instance, by clicking on the pushpin on the map of Indiana, for Nov. 8: "The Gray Kingbird, first discovered at 1:20PM on November 5, was seen again today. It was reported this morning at 9:20AM CST on the wires on the West side of US 35 and County Road 1100 South. It was observed while actively feeding, catching flying bugs for 20 min before flying about 200 yards south to the first fenceline South of the intersection. It gave close views on weeds and fenceposts on the East side of the road then moved further East along the fenceline where it was last observed today at 9:55AM CST. This bird constitutes a first state record for this species in Indiana.

Photos of the bird were taken by John Cassady on 11-05-05 and may be viewed
at: http://www.jkcassady.com/gallery/gyki.htm "

I saw this listed at Blogdriverswaltz, in an item about Google Maps. Neat, huh?

1762 This is not news

but it bears repeating. A few brave souls tried to get this message out last year during the campaign meme, "worst economy since Adam and Eve," but they were drowned out.

“The enormous US trade deficit has caused many observers to conclude that international trade, particularly a massive flood of imported goods from China and of services from India, is to blame for the loss of US jobs since 2000. In fact, research shows that only 11 percent of the job losses in manufacturing—about 314,000 jobs—can be attributed to trade, and even in this instance the real culprit was falling exports, not rising imports. Offshoring in the services sector destroyed even fewer jobs. The real causes of job losses were weak domestic demand, rapid productivity growth, and the dollar's strength.”
McKinsley Quarterly, Nov. 11, 2005

1761 Another ex-soldier

wants to be a senator from Massey-chews-its. Worked for Kerry.

1760 Harriet is a class act

Maybe so. But I still think she was a decoy.

"It would have been easy for her to skip the event [Federalist Society Dinner], and one might think it would have been more comfortable, given how much opposition her nomination, withdrawn just two weeks earlier, had stirred up among this crowd--especially since one rap against her was a disparaging comment she made about the Federalist Society back in 1989. But she went, and she got a warm reception. We chatted with her briefly after dinner and found her most gracious. We haven't changed our mind about the nomination, but we can say Harriet Miers is a class act."
James Taranto WSJ Nov. 11, 2005

This White House press release referred to her as a staff secretary

1759 Booga Uga Booga Bag

Cathy is making this for a church bazaar. I have no idea what it is, but she "felted" it. She's a very talented lady. I love to check her site. I'm learning to knit.

1758 Just who is politicizing the war?

The Democrats were out with their talking points seconds after Bush's Veteran's Day speech. Shock. Horror. He's politicizing the war!!!! He's finally, finally, pointing out what we all know--they were all convinced and supporting the issues that brought us to Iraq when they thought they'd get some votes. I hope he keeps it up. He's sticking by his words--let them do the same.

"While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began.

Some Democrats and anti-war critics are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and misled the American people about why we went to war.

These critics are fully aware that a bipartisan Senate investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the intelligence community's judgments related to Iraq's weapons programs.

They also know that intelligence agencies from around the world agreed with our assessment of Saddam Hussein.

They know the United Nations passed more than a dozen resolutions, citing his development and possession of weapons of mass destruction.

Many of these critics supported my opponent during the last election, who explained his position to support the resolution in the Congress this way: When I vote to give the president of the United States the authority to use force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein, it is because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a threat and a grave threat to our security.

That's why more than 100 Democrats in the House and the Senate, who had access to the same intelligence, voted to support removing Saddam Hussein from power." From Veteran's Day Speech, Nov. 11, 2005, President George W. Bush

1757 Jak sie masz? Na zdrowie! Daj mu buzi!

These are said to be the three phrases non-Polish Americans are most likely to know in Polish. The most familiar single words are thought to be kielbasa, pierogi and the four-letter "D-word."

I read that in the Polish American Journal (Buffalo). No Poles in my family--don't think we've even brought any in via marriage. But if you are Polish within recent generations, you might enjoy this updated offering at the College and Research Libraries C&RL News; it's an update on on-line resources about the Polish Presence in North America.

(I got kielbasa, pierogi and Na zdrowie, but the rest is Greek to me.)

1756 Happy Birthday Marines

Semper Fi, and thank you all veterans and current armed forces members for your service this Veterans' Day.

Dad and his brother Russell, both Marines
"On November 10th, 1775, the Second Continental Congress resolved to raise two battalions of Continental Marines marking the birth of our United States Marine Corps. As Major General Lejeune's message reminds us, the ensuing generations of Marines would come to signify all that is highest in warfighting excellence and military virtue. Each November as Marines the world over celebrate the birth of our Corps, we pay tribute to that long line of "Soldiers of the Sea" and the illustrious legacy they have handed down to us." Message from M. W. Hagee General, U.S. Marine Corps

Dad's brother John was in the Army and took part in the invasion of Normandy and was wounded then and again in Belgium; Russell served in Alaska and then was with the first wave of Marines who stormed Iwo Jima and was wounded; their cousins Andy, Bill and Phil were in the Army serving in Europe, Philippines and Korea; cousin Wayne and brother-in-law Glaydon were in the Navy and served in the Pacific; cousin-in-law Harlan served in the Army in New Guinea and the Philippines; brother-in-law Johnny was in the Coast Guard; brother-in-law Charlie was also in the service, but I don't know the branch. Another brother-in-law, Clare, was in the Army Air Force and died in the China, Burma India Theater.

Dad served on the U.S.S. Mayo and made two trips across the Atlantic and one trip each to Okinawa, the Philippines and Japan. Not bad for a kid who had probably not been further away from home than Chicago and never learned to swim.

All but two of these men were from the same town and all are deceased now. [Service records and photos of over 400 men and women for a town of less than 3,000 appear in "War Record of Mount Morris" edited by Harry G. Kable, 1947.] Even the town band was part of the National Guard and served in the Fiji Islands.

1754 This is a GLOBAL WAR.

Dr. Sanity says she's too busy to blog much right now, but she still gets in a few licks. about Islamic violence in France, Denmark, Australia, Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq and Afghanistan.

"This is a GLOBAL WAR. It is being waged by TERRORISTS who have no particular nation and who seek to unify all nations under an Islamic Caliphate. It is against EVERYONE who does not believe as the terrorists believe, including fellow Muslims who might be inclined to live and let live.

It is not caused by Bush, Cheney, Blair, or Howard's policies. It is not caused by poverty or lack of assimilation. It is not caused by oppression. It is caused by the terrorist's desire to force people through murderous violence and intimidation, to conform to their fanatical religious ideology, and accept a view of the world where Liberty, Justice and Human Dignity play no part.

It is barbarians versus civilization."

1754 A new book blog

New to me anyway. Looks like it could start some interesting discussions.

1753 No more stories about Mitford

Jan Karon, 68, is leaving Mitford with her latest in the series, "Light from Heaven." And I haven't read the first one yet, "At Home in Mitford," although I've borrowed it. After awhile, I suppose, a character, even one like Father Tim, must move on. She's not killing him off, just changing locations. I used to think that about "Murder She Wrote." You sure wouldn't want to be that woman's relative--they were always on trial for something. After awhile, Jessica just ran out of cousins and neighbors in trouble and the series had to have her traveling more.

That's how my newest blog, Memory Patterns, will be. Eventually, I'm going to run out of material (pun), because it is based on various sewing projects and patterns combined with photos from my albums. At the rate I'm writing, I should not have left a spool of thread or a scrap of fabric unturned by Christmas. Then I'll print it out, pass it around to relatives, and eventually shut it down. Print on paper is really the only way to preserve your memories and photos, much as we might like to think digital is the end all, be all, of communication.

1752 Is it something I said?

Today I left a comment at a very nice Christian book site called Buried Treasure. The blogger is an official prairie muffin and has written a nice entry on Agrarian Picture Books. Wow. My kinda site. So I left a comment. Here's the reply.

"Spam Karma: Your comment looks suspiciously like spam and has been moderated. It will be displayed once the admin approves it."

Since when did Christians believe in Karma?

1751 Just about a good idea

Today I was browsing through LIS news feeds and came across About Children's Books. I think all the About.com sites were originally good ideas, but they are extremely aggrevating to read. The page is packed, jammed, smashed with advertising, some of which bounces and moves as you scroll, and you get one paragraph of information--always good, but not worth the struggle. I get queasy reading. I'm often amazed at the writing ability of the specialists who host these pages. Maybe they write a weekly essay and then chop it up into 7 parts? I only subscribe to one About.com feature, and often they build up in my mail box and I eventually delete them just because they are a good idea gone just about bad.

1750 Google Print

Google Print. You won’t find a better wrap up than Charles Bailey’s bibliography. Still no comment by the American Library Association, however. He's good. He'd find it. They are busy with bigger fish, you know--Bush, torture, Patriot Act--all that library stuff.

1749 He's so good to me

Yesterday he went out and bought me tapioca pudding from the Chef-o-Nette and a bag of corn chips. Don't know if it is the pneumonia or the medications, but I've had some food cravings. Then he willingly hid the corn chips after I put some in a small bowl, so I wouldn't eat them all at one sitting. Then this morning he refilled the bowl for me so I wouldn't have to go to his office and take it apart looking for the bag. He is such a blessing.

1748 A frenulectomy

What's that? Check my sewing blog for an explanation why I have nice teeth.

1747 Women who have abortions

are more likely to die within 12 months than women giving birth? And a violent death (suicide, homicide, accident)? I wish I knew more about statistics, ratio and risk after reading this report based on statistical data from Finland. Finland has liberal abortion laws and socialized medicine, but not the privacy laws that the U.S. has which has prevented this study being done here. (But if you want to study equine orthopedics [horse bones] which would cause pain to horses, Finnish vets come here due to their animal welfare laws.) Even non-pregnant women were more likely to die than women who carried to term or miscarried. It's an amazing story. Have to think about that. About how much God wants his little ones to live.

1746 I voted today, did you?

Yes, I drug my self from my sick bed (in the passenger seat) with my husband driving to the local Catholic cathedral, looked for the one 12" American flag, walked down 16 curving steps into an outdoor reception area, and found the upside down "vote here" sign with the arrow going the wrong way.

Vacation Disaster Avoidance

Here's some good advice on vacation and time share planning. I'm not going anywhere soon (except out to vote), but you might be. She also has lovely photos of Hawaii, Ohio and Arkansas--they love to travel.