1791 What should I do?

Listen to Bach, play with Norma's knitting, or take a nap? Naps win paws down.



cats

1790 Plame Name

The "secret" widens. Must have been an even worst kept secret than we thought--even Bob Woodward knew before Scooter Libby, but Patrick Fitzgerald's two year investigation never even got him in the cross hairs. What's going on! But Bob, who must be the only reporter who CAN keep a secret, didn't tell his bosses at WaPo for two years, and now they are mad at him!

"Fitzgerald [on Nov. 14] asked for my impression about the context in which Mrs. Wilson was mentioned. I testified that the reference seemed to me to be casual and offhand, and that it did not appear to me to be either classified or sensitive. I testified that according to my understanding an analyst in the CIA is not normally an undercover position." Read Woodward's full statement here, and ponder again how silly this all looks.

1789 Time for a new notebook

and I don't mean a computer--the old fashioned, use a #2 pencil, 6" x 8", spiral bound, hard cover, lined paper notebook. I don't write these blog entries out of the air, you know, (well, sometimes I do). I read and take notes in long hand, then I think and decipher my scribbles and look for links to see what American Daughter or Dr. Sanity or Jane Galt or Neo-Neocon and Barbara Nicolosi are writing about. Usually, they aren't blogging about my topics, but that takes another two hours. Anyway, a notebook can last for three months, but the last one was begun on September 1, and I had way too much to say about Katrina and the liberals who claimed the federal government should be the first responder. So by November 1, I only had 15 pages left. I actually ran out on the 14th, and was scribbling in margins and on the covers. So today, it is officially, NEW NOTEBOOK DAY.

New notebook on left. I think I bought it at Meijer's. The notebook on the right (Sept-Nov) was purchased at Wal-Mart and is one of two styles I buy by Day Runner that includes passages from the Psalms, King James Version, every 3rd page. It started with 3:3 and ended with 86:12

1788 Purchased any Sony CDs lately

with XCP Content Protection Technology? Like perhaps Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook or Billy Holiday’s The Great American Songbook? Buyers are furious and the law suits started. I don’t pretend to understand the technology, but I think I know it’s not right for Sony to assume I'm a thief and modify my computer when I insert a CD.

Here’s Sony’s apology.

The back ground, with links, is provided by Charles Bailey,The Sony BMG Rootkit Fiasco. Especially read the first link in his article. Your eyeballs will fall out, but hey, it's good exercise.

rootkit

1787 A Soldier's Funeral on Veteran's Day

Soldier's Mom writes about the funeral of SPC Tommy Bryd who was in her son's squad. Bring along a tissue. She is the wife of a career naval officer (retired), and mother of four--a currently serving career sailor (Norfolk, VA), a hazardous waste specialist (a Navy vet in upstate NY), daughter in medical school (VA), and a 3rd Infantry Division soldier deployed to Iraq in January 2005, WIA August 2005 and now recovering in the U.S.

1786 A very good list

of things she wished known starting out is over at Alana's Morning Coffee. Smart lady! Especially enjoyed these:

6. Live on LESS than you earn. Be radical in order to make this happen.

7. Stay the #%#% away from credit cards.

8. Have an emergency fund saved up so you CAN stay away from credit cards.

29. Find a way to give to others: whether time, talent or money. Be deliberate about it. You will be a better person for it.

47. Pray more. Worry less. Amazing how much God seems to care about the details of your life.

48. Get over yourself and don’t take yourself so seriously.

1785 Grown Up Land

Orange Judd Farmer, Young Folks column, January 14, 1889.

Good morrow, fair maid, with lashes brown,
Can you tell me the way to Womanhood town?

O, this way and that way--never a stop,
'Tis picking up stitches grandma will drop;
'Tis kissing the baby's troubles away,
'Tis learning that cross words never will pay,
'Tis helping mother, 'tis sewing up rents,
'Tis reading and playing, 'tis saving the cents,
'Tis loving and smiling, forgetting to frown,
O that is the way to Womanhood Town.

Just wait, my brave lad--one moment I pray;
Manhood Town lies where--can you tell the way?

O by toiling and trying we reach that land--
A bit with the head, a bit with the hand--
'Tis by climbing up the steep hill Work,
'Tis by keeping out of the wide street Shirk,
'Tis by always taking the weak one's part,
'Tis by giving the mother a happy heart.
'Tis by keeping bad thoughts and actions down,
O that is the way to the Manhood Town.

And the lad and the maid ran hand in hand,
To their fair estates in the Grown-up Land.

Orange Judd Farmer (Chicago, 1888-1924), then became Orange Judd Illinois Farmer, which merged into Prairie Farmer). Attributions in farm journals were sort of careless in the 1880s, but this poem is credited to The Pansy published until 1896.

1784 Teaching an old husband new tricks

We've been married 45 years and have a good system for division of labor--I do the easy stuff, he does the tough stuff. Even when I was a SAHM (1968-1978) in the midst of the feminist propaganda of the 70s about how downtrodden and overworked we women are, I sat down and charted the work loads of our family. The kids were given credit for "work" for each hour in school and homework and any little jobs they had around the house. My husband got credit for hours at work, travel time, meetings, continuing ed and work around the house like gutter cleaning, yard work, carpentry, small repairs, autocare and night time child care if I was out of the house at a consciousness raising group. I gave myself credit for time spent on the seven C's, cooking, cleaning, clothes care, car pooling, children's outside the home activities and clubs--VBS, Campfire, etc., cat care and child direct supervision (they were in elementary school and not at home from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. week days). Wow. How humbling. I was definitely the sluggard--working about half the hours of everyone else, which gave me time for reading, painting, watching TV and lunching with friends.

So I've never been too eager to include my husband in household chores. But being sick the past two weeks, I've learned we need some minimal instruction if I don't want him snapped up by some floozy in 6 weeks if something were to happen to me. I never thought about the fact that when we moved here in 2002, we had all new appliances, and I spent a little time experimenting and learning their foibles, all of which come without thinking now. But although he could load the dish washer (sort of), he didn't know the digital settings for heavy and light and times; he didn't know the digital settings on the ovens; he could put clothes in the dryer, but didn't know how to turn it on (4 setting and a bazillion choices for time and fabrics); and he knew how to buy bananas, but not apples.

Thank God he knew how to scoop the kitty litter because she was getting hair ball cat food instead of her usual diet!

1783 Were you out of town on October 22?

Site meters are strange. They suck you in with their weird searches ("cartoon lice love story"), and leave you wondering about the days when almost no one looks at your site.

Oct. 16-Nov.15, 2005

1782 Ohio's Medicaid is broken

says State Auditor, Betty D. Montgomery. The $9.5 billion program serves 1.7 million blind, disabled, poor children and poor elderly without supplemental insurance or about 40% of our state budget. Forty percent of the state budget for 10% of the population. Only 1/5 of these Medicaid costs are coming from our state budget--the rest is coming from the federal government, also known as your wallet if you live in North Dakota or Michigan.

There have been numerous studies and recommendations supposedly being implemented, but I think they've all gone into the CYA file.

We have friends who live in Illinois and keep their mother in a nursing home in Ohio on Medicaid because apparently Illinois is worse off.

Tell me again why you think the government should be in control of our health care system. How much do you suppose graft, corruption, over charging, cronyism, nepotism and lack of oversight are adding to the real cost of taking care of the poor and elderly? How much more for the working healthy population?

Medicaid
Ohio

1781 Kroger workers to strike

Go ahead. I don't care. We stocked up on our favorite kitty litter (biodegradeable and dust free) this week and I won't darken your doors again until she's crossing her little legs.

I used to be a loyal Kroger shopper--I knew which house brands were as good as name; I knew all the cashiers and stockers and produce people. Then upper management decided they needed a "loyalty card" to compete with other chains. I don't like to play games with my food, my airlines or my credit card, so I walked.

They sell that information you give them--they don't just track your purchases. Loyalty cards are just one more way to add to the cost of anything you buy. I do use the little coffee card they punch at Panera's when I buy a cup of coffee (they don't ask for information). After eight cups, I get a freebie. Since it only costs about 10 cents to make a $1.50 cup of coffee, they aren't out much, nor are you, the other consumers who pay for loyalty and rewards plans. Staples (office supplies) doesn't offer a two tier price range, like grocery stores, and since it is only 1/2 mile from here I do use theirs (don't need to have the card with me), and they keep sending me $10 off my printing costs which I think is more than I spend.

"In the U.S., several major grocery store chains and at least one major pharmacy nectar loyalty card require the cards in order for customers to receive the advertised loyalty price. These include loyalty card machines Kroger, Safeway (through its own name and many of its regional chain names), Albertsons, Winn Dixie, Ingles, and CVS/pharmacy. However, stores also allow a customer to use the store's card if loyalty card statistics a customer does not have theirs on hand or if the customer is new and agrees to sign up right away. Many of the stores allow accumulation of fuel discounts. Some have tie-ins with airline frequent flier programs, and some agree to donate a percentage of sales to a designated charity.

The practice is also common among book and music retailers, from large chains to independent retailers. In some instances, the customer purchases the card and receives a percentage discount on all purchases for a period of time (often one year), while in other instances, a customer receives a one-time percentage discount upon reaching a specified purchase level. (For example, a bookseller's loyalty card program might provide a customer with a 10% off coupon once the customer has spent $200.00 at the bookseller.)

In addition, office supply retailers Staples, Inc. and Office Depot started issuing club cards in 2005." TaxGloss.com I used to be able to use the store card, but not anymore (at Kroger's), and they have a hissy fit if you borrow one from the guy behind you in line. So if they are only tracking merchandise, why would they care whose card records the purchase? Nope, they want that personal information about their shoppers. I have a friend who just gives inaccurate information on the forms. Why should I let a retailer dictate my ethics and cause me to lie?

Library lights the future

A hundred years ago your community probably didn't have a public library, but if you poke around in your town's history you'll probably find out that there was a community group, most likely a women's club, who had a circulating library. That is going on right now in Marblehead, Ohio, with a vigorous town committee that is buying the old 1914 quarry hospital building in the middle of downtown Marblehead to renovate it into a library/community resource center that will be the jewel of the Marblehead Peninsula.

We own a home up there, and several times I've donated books to the library's bookstore, Ex-Libris, located in the Kukay building [raises money through donated books]. The library committee has some gift ideas for Christmas--books about the area. I have a lot of them already--many authored by locals. The most recent is "My Sweetest Libbie" by Jean Gora, which tells the story of life in Put-in-Bay, Lakeside and Detroit circa 1886 and 1887 through the love letters of Libbie Magie and Alex Bruce (no relation). Web site is www.marpenlib.org and they've just issued a newsletter, MPLC Connection, which will probably end up on my premiere issue blog.

1779 Ted Kennedy on Wal-Mart

Do you suppose anyone has told Teddy how his daddy made his money? The money he's never worked for but always lived on? And he's saying Wal-Mart isn't in line with American values? Ted's family came out of the Depression richer than it went in, rolling in race track and liquor money--now that's good 'ol down home Amerika. At least Sam Walton worked.

"Joe Kennedy's money may have had unsavory sources as well. He is rumored to have imported liquor during Prohibition, working with mobsters in that industry (he later sold his legitimate liquor importing business to a known mobster named Abner "Longy" Zwillman). Joe Kennedy never publicly revealed his wealth, but the New York Times estimated his net worth at $500,000,000 when he died in 1969.Unlike their father, none of Joe Kennedy's sons went into business. Instead, they pursued his dream: elected office." American Experience, PBS

"Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the world’s largest retailer, with $285.2 billion in sales in the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2005. The company employs 1.6 million associates worldwide through more than 3,600 facilities in the United States and more than 2,300 units in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the United Kingdom. More than 138 million customers per week visit Wal-Mart stores worldwide." Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart has beat out every other American business in the aggressive use of information technology and in meeting the needs of its customers--and for that it has most businesses trying to imitate it, and everyone on the left who hates capitalism trying to stop it.
Wal-Mart Dist. Center. Imagine if Washington was this well-run!

1778 Why I don't support the death penalty

First, I'm pro-life, and I believe I'm being consistent. But, second, our system of justice is extremely uneven, and I don't think we should condemn one guy to death for murder because he planned it, and another to eight years because he was stupid drunk by his own choice and plan. There are just too many ways to weasel out of it, so let's not play games and buy into another killing and have the blood on our hands.

Damian Hayes shot and killed 16 year old Angela Hughes, a freshman in high school, and seriously wounded her mother, Phyllis Sanders during a drunken New Year's "celebration" here in Columbus. He got eight years. Five for killing her and 3 for using a gun to do it. His sentence was lenient because he turned himself in. Of course, she's still dead; her mother is still recovering from her injuries and grieving.

If he'd been white, we'd probably had race riots in Columbus. But this was black on black, and when a black man kills a black woman, hardly anyone raises an eyebrow. It was the same thing on my husband's jury trial case in October. Jesse Jackson didn't show up. Fox News didn't bring cameras to town with Greta and Geraldo. This story didn't even make the front page--it was in the "Metro" section of the Columbus Dispatch.

Tell me again why choosing to get drunk as a skunk and killing someone is worth only 5 years (+ 3 years for using a gun) and choosing to shoot someone deliberately is worth a lethal injection.

1777 My Autumn Wastebasket

The Cheryl's Cookies seasonal gift bag (for about a dozen cookies) is just the perfect size to fit under my desk for a week's worth of trash. It is very good quality, colorful, and stands up to accidental kicking and cat curiosity. I've just replaced the Easter Egg bag with the Fall produce bag.

Since I've been ill, I've missed three events--a trip to the Dayton Art Museum to see the Egyptian exhibit, the Frank Lloyd Wright tour group reunion, and the autumn condo potluck. About noon yesterday my husband, who does not cook, said, "What should I take to the potluck?" I always make a pie, and if I must say, it is terribly wonderful, but I didn't think anyone would appreciate it just in case I'm still contagious. So I suggested he buy some sugar-free Cheryl's cookies. They come individually wrapped, so if they weren't all consumed, he could freeze them. Now, they aren't as luscious as a regular sugar laden Cheryl's, but they make a good second choice. So he did. And I got this nice wastebasket.

1776 I've been propositioned

A librarian found my blog about my hobby, collecting premiere issues of magazines. He wants me to sell one of them so he can complete that library's run of a particular serial title. Having incomplete serial holdings creates a lot of angst and sleepless nights for librarians. They are like drug sniffing dogs. I know I was.

I used to run a pretty good veterinary replacement title service out of my office. We vet librarians would put our list of extras on our listserv and offer them to other libraries. We had a thousand extra JAVMA's, but not so many Dairy Goat Journals. Our method of exchange was postage stamps. If it cost $4.50 to send them, then that librarian would send you $4.50 in postage stamps. You never actually used your stamps for postage--just used them as barter. Some of these stamps in really odd denominations had been around the world several times.

One day in 1995 someone left a sheet of Marilyn Monroe postage stamps in the copy machine. No one ever came back to claim them. (I used to find divorce papers, lab tests, medical records, and love letters in the copy machine.) I put them in the stamp box, but never used them. I suspected they'd never come home in the exchanges. That 32 cent stamp issued in 1995 is the 12th most popular stamp ever issued by the USPS, earning it $15,000,000 from 46,000,000 stamps sold. If I'd been smart, I would have just replaced them with the same amount in ordinary postage stamps. But in 1995, they were just worth 32 cents--$6.40. Or, I'm too honest for my own good.

I'm still thinking about that guy's offer.

1775 Welcome back Gaylords!

For 25 years we enjoyed the Little Professor Bookstore in the Lane Avenue Mall operated by the Gaylord family--husband, wife and kids. It expanded to five, went public, then bankrupt. The family also operated some Cookstores, and I think perhaps a bath and linens shop. Now they've come home.

The new bookstore, back on Lane Avenue, will be called Liberty Books, and will have a coffee bar, internet access, and study area. Oh--I'm in heaven. It will be 10,000 sq. ft. and have 7,000 magazine titles. Be still my heart. Newspapers (foreign) will be printed from the internet and sold by special order.

Here's an Aug. 3, 1998 Publisher's Weekly article about its demise:

"In today 's cutthroat bookselling environment, smaller chains look for a niche to survive. Crown Books's Chapter 11 filing last month is the latest in a string of bankruptcies and downsizings that have caused many observers to question the viability of regional bookstore chains.

Left behind as Barnes & Noble and Borders grew rapidly in the 1990s and often not as flexible or close to the market as single-store independents, most regional chains have suffered dramatically.

In addition to the high profile bankruptcies of Crown and Lauriat's, three other, smaller regional chains filed for Chapter 11 over the last 10 months. The Gaylord Companies, which operated five Little Professor Bookstores as well as six Cookstores in Ohio, filed for Chapter 11 last November. Village Green Bookstores, which at one point operated 12 stores in upstate New York, went the Chapter 11 route in January."

Story about Empire Books in West Virginia, owned by the Gaylords.

1774 Cat Bloggers

Many years and one cat ago, my beloved We Be Three (died of CRF at age 4) had a web page. It was in the distant, dark past, before anyone thought of blogs, and when librarians who knew a little html were ahead of the pack instead of sitting in the back. I can't remember how it was posted, or where, Japan possibly, and I think I used to walk across the street to the vet hospital to scan her photos because I didn't have a scanner.
She was a lynx point Siamese (almost) with issues. After her death, I went right to Cat Welfare and rescued our current calico, who, because she was abandoned, also had issues, but at least she loves to cuddle and she doesn't eat the furniture.

Now I do occasionally look through the cat blogs to look at cute pictures. I was checking out Catbloggers, and looked at their http://www.frappr.com/catbloggers map, and discovered they have no one from Ohio. When I get well and can follow instructions maybe I'll read through it and see what's required. My cat, however, will not be given her own blog, Jane. I also need to read the instructions with my digital camera, another project for the future.

And no, I'm taking no applications for my son, either. Even if you sent me your resume, and you passed muster (beautiful, intelligent, employed, sense of humor, Christian, good cook), he does not take his mother's advice.

cat

1773 Preparation H: Itchy and Tender

What are Californians thinking? San Franciscans passed Proposition H, which outlaws handguns, so now people who watched what happened in New Orleans and know the "big one" is coming any day when they may need to protect life and property, are buying shotguns! The voters couldn't disarm the criminals, so they decided to disarm the law abiding citizens. Those folks spend too much time in the sun. There's a challenge, of course.

1772 Fat Ohio

The Nutrition and Physical Activity Program to Prevent Obesity and Other Chronic Diseases is designed to help states prevent obesity and other chronic diseases by addressing two closely related factors — poor nutrition and inadequate physical activity. The program supports states with developing and implementing science-based nutrition and physical activity interventions. The program’s major goals are balancing caloric intake and expenditure; increasing physical activity; improving nutrition through increased consumption of fruits and vegetables; reducing television time; and increasing breastfeeding.

In 2005–2006, 21 states are funded at $400,000 to $450,000 for capacity building. Seven states are funded at $750,000 to $1.3 million for basic implementation, bringing the total number of funded states to 28. CDC site.

Ohio is fat--I think Columbus is 5th or 6th fat city USA. We are not one of the 21 states taking federal dollars to fund yet another bureaucracy that will pay the salaries of nutritionists and physical therapists on temporary contracts as the money is filtered through the state offices. (I've been a librarian on state library contracts , so I know how this works.)

Can we talk? I think we know what's causing this--too many calories and too little exercise. I can't imagine one more TV ad will take one more hand back off from a Big Mac or a third helping of turkey and dressing.

But, let's do lunch, soon.