USAToday gets on the Christmas word bandwagon

The "Holiday Gift Guide" in today's USAToday just went crazy using "Christmas." The message is out. Don't kill your advertisers' joy with "diversity days" and "multicultural merriment." On page 5D: Christmas tree; Christmas stocking; Christmas excitement; Christmas gift; and Christmas. In the article about shopping at CVS there were two Christmas words. On 6D, Christmas. On 9D, Christmas past. In the Kitsch article there was Christmas Story leg lamp and Charlie Brown's pathetic Christmas tree.

At this rate, someone may even report why we Christians celebrate Christmas, although that may be too much to hope for.

And by the way, forget that recommendation for the 5" b & W TV in the CVS article. I bought one for $19 earlier this year for the kitchen because it included an am/fm radio and wouldn't take up much counter space. Lots of static. Can hardly see the controls. We left it on the same channel most of the time because it was too complicated to move the dials made for tiny little stunted fingers. Then that channel seemed to wear out, so we've located another channel. Today, I swapped it with the guest room TV.

1843 Wash before and after eating

fruits and vegetables. Have you ever tried to prepare a salad following the new guidelines for contaminated food? It appears that fecal matter is traveling with them to the stores, restaurants, and our kitchens. I just washed some mixed salad greens. First I washed my hands for 20 seconds; then I dumped the greens in some sudsy water, rinsed, and put them in a drainer, and ran water over them. By this time, I'd contaminated everything in sight, so I washed my hands again, and wiped down the sink and counter top. Then I laid out some paper towels and dried off the greens, which by this time were looking a bit poorly. Then when I tossed out the paper towels and the plastic bag they came in, I decided I was probably contaminated again, so I washed my hands again. I repacked the greens in 2 bags, and wiped down the counter tops and sink again. No, I don't have OC disorder, but if you don't follow some complicated sanitation guidelines, your first unwashed salad could be your last, or at least send you to the hospital with bad diarrhea.

Apparently the same with oral-anal and oral-genital sex, according to a recent issue of JAMA which summarizes a CDC report. First timers can pick up all sorts of nasty pathogens--Shigella flexneri serotype 3 is making a big comeback, or you could pick from a varied menu of Hepatitis A, Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia, Campylobacter, or Samonella. Instead of suggesting that men stop having sex with men (called MSM in the medical literature), the authors recommend a routine not unlike fixing a vegetable or fruit salad--wash your hands and anal-genital regions with soap and water before and after sex; use a condom, a dental dam and gloves. Be especially careful if you or your partners have recently had diarrhea or any breaks in the skin. I'm sure they'll be honest while you do your scrub routine.

Yes, that should just about take care of the safe sex check list and the salad prep routine--and cool your appetites.

1842 WalMart, Target and the left

Why do you suppose liberals hate WalMart so much, but seem to like Target? Target is much more upscale, so is it just snobbery? But now WalMart is moving into that area too, and I don't think liberals will love them just because they carry a better line of clothes or make wider aisles, gussy-up the stores, or put their mega-stores in cities instead of small towns.

Target and WalMart both got their start around 1962 in non-metropolitan areas, but Target should have had a huge head start, being part of the Dayton-Hudson group and WalMart was just a family who'd run a successful Ben Franklin store in Arkansas. They both have "global" suppliers; both oppose unions; both have super stores; both put surrounding smaller retail firms out of business because they can't compete. Both pay about the same entry level wages and offer the same kind of benefits. But WalMart's done everything better, faster, and with more innovations and tighter margins.

WalMart has also served the poor and low income consumer better. And I suspect that's what is at the heart of the liberals' ennui and dislike for the world's largest retailer. WalMart succeeded by marketing to the low-end customer, someone just about all other retailers except the little local guy forgot about. At WalMart needs are met, desires satisfied, and the consumer who wouldn't walk into a regular department store or boutique because of their high prices, can be quite happy in a WalMart.

Liberals don't want the poor to be happy; they want them to be angry and feeling victimized--dependent on the government and Democrats for special programs. Not programs that lift them out of the bottom quintile, mind you, but programs that keep them right there where they belong--as their power base. The left is getting very aggressive with law suits against WalMart--and it's not just their deep pockets they're lusting for, they truly want WalMart to fail. Gimme back my po' folk!.

Think about it. Is it snobbery or just old fashioned power politics?

Update: I hadn't seen this WaPo op ed when I wrote this, but here's someone with the details. "Wal-Mart's "every day low prices" make the biggest difference to the poor, since they spend a higher proportion of income on food and other basics. As a force for poverty relief, Wal-Mart's $200 billion-plus assistance to consumers may rival many federal programs. Those programs are better targeted at the needy, but they are dramatically smaller. Food stamps were worth $33 billion in 2005, and the earned-income tax credit was worth $40 billion." Some interesting facts for all you WalMart haters.

Technorati tags: WalMart, Target

1841 Don't open your mail from the "FBI"--it's a virus

My provider cleaned it off, but I went in to the FBI page to see if they posted a warning. They did.

"We're sorry to report yet another wave of virus-laden e-mails sent out with false FBI addresses. This particular e-mail claims the FBI has been monitoring your Internet use...says you've accessed so-called illegal websites...and demands you answer questions—all you have to do is open an attachment, maliciously laced with a variant of the w32/sober virus.

Don't do it! In fact, don't EVER respond to unsolicited poison pills like these. The FBI does not conduct business this way.

Who are the e-mails from? To date, they're being sent out with email addresses of mail@fbi.gov, post@fbi.gov and admin@fbi.gov.

What does the message say? Something like:

So be very cautious about opening attachments.

1840 A Thanksgiving story

One of my regular readers e-mailed me that I didn't have a Thanksgiving story. Well, I posted the menu, but I guess that was on Wednesday. So here it is, Bev.

Thursday evening after everyone had gone home (all three of them) and all the dishes were done and we'd had a few left-overs for supper, one of the upper cabinet doors in the kitchen swung open as far as it could, and wouldn't close no matter what. We don't know if it is the ghost of turkeys past, or if the building suddenly settled after 30 years, but that sucker is open as far as it will go.

After studying the situation, I tied a piece of dental floss around the cabinet knob and then tied that to the coffee caraffe handle. Then I moved the caraffe back under the cabinet to secure the door in the closed position with its weight. I have to keep the counter top clear, because if we forget and whip that cabinet door open, we have a caraffe flying through the air knocking everything in its path to the floor.

1839 Great Balls of Fire

It's 70 degrees in Columbus today, which is lucky for all those folks without power. A fire in a transformer of American Electric Power on the city's north side left about 40,000 people in the dark and cold and a number of schools and businesses closed. Our son is handwriting the customer orders today since he works in that area of the city.

My husband could have used a little of this unseasonable warmth Saturday. He and our son-in-law went up to Lake Erie to rake leaves at our summer cottage--covered by about 4" of snow and ice. Today was the last leaf pick-up. He took a tumble on some slippery landscaping stones, but didn't break anything. Good thing I didn't know he was up on a ladder chipping ice and leaves out of the gutters.

1838 Christmas word in the Journal

The Wall Street Journal has apparently picked up on the backlash about the non-use of the C-word, Christmas. In section B (Market) today I noticed the use of four Christmas words and one Hanukkah, and five holiday words uses plus one cute play on words.

Christmas selling season
Chilly Christmas sales
Last Christmas
Christmas morning
Hanukkah

Holiday sales
Holiday discounts
holiday season
holidays
holiday gift-giving
jingle sells

I was reading Snopes.com and understand that the proposed boycott of WalMart for a rude customer service rep's e-mail insulting a "valued customer" has been called off because WalMart has apologized and the employee fired. And I think they are going to use the Christmas word.

I hope all the Christians who've been complaining about this keep in mind this event isn't about making sales.

1837 The Not Used Blog Entry

Occasionally you'll see my numbering system is messed up. That's because I drafted something, let it percolate for awhile, then decided to discard it. Meanwhile I continued on another subject. This one (1837) was about hiring the older worker. I didn't like it when I finished, and didn't really have any stats to back up my opinions, so it got moved to the permanent draft file with the title "This Blog was not Used."

1836 A Favorite Cookbook?

The week-end cooking thread at Daily Pundit is "What is your favorite cookbook?" I thought that was a good topic for this blog and too long for his comment section, so here goes.

When I got married in 1960, my mother was busy assembling not only the pieces-parts of the wedding (I was living in another state), but also a cookbook. At the store each week (maybe the A & P) she’d buy a chapter of Mary Margaret McBride's Encyclopedia of Cooking (Homemakers Research Institute, Evanston, IL: 1959, 1960). Really, you'd never need another cookbook in print, unless you needed to know something old, like how to pluck a slaughtered chicken (I use Granddaughter's Inglenook for that) or how to cook something in a crockpot or microwave (I use the manufacturer's instructions or the internet because they hadn't been invented yet). My most favorite, favorite give-to-every-new-bride recipe comes from this source: sweet sour meatloaf.

It contains standard American recipes--that's primarily what I use, but also "the world’s best recipes of all nations" including Scandinavia, Ireland, Italy, Great Britain, France, the Balkans, Eastern and central Europe, Belgium and Holland, Spain and Portugal, Germany, Latin America the near East and the Far East. It even includes Canada! And it also includes American regional cooking, most of which I haven’t tried--rabbit casserole, Maine togus loaf, royal Poinciana pompano, smierkase, etc.

There's lots of helps, how-to's and many photographs--oh, not fancy colors like today’s cookbooks, but more than any one person could ever use. Some take me back a few years--like Pineapple Baked Beans which is two no. 2 cans of baked beans and one no. 2 can of pineapple chunks. Bake at 350 for 20 or 30 minutes and serve 6. Any bride could master that one! There’s a tiny chapter on weight control (eat less, exercise more) and a very large chapter on wines, a nice meal planning section, high altitude cooking, freezing, game, preserving, and to please my librarian’s soul, a good glossary and index.

I'm not a great cook, but if I had wanted to be one, here's where I’d turn.

Technorati tags: cookbooks, American cooking, memoirs.

1835 Unpacking and washing the memories

At my other blog, I'm matching up sewing patterns with photographs, and yesterday unpacked the storage bins with my children's clothes finding all sorts of things I'd forgotten. These items had been stored for many years, and then were repacked and sent to my daughter's home when we were trying to make our storage-impaired home of 34 years (no attic or basement) look larger. It's a trick every home seller does--clean out the closets, buy bigger wattage light bulbs, bake a batch of cookies, etc.

Before repacking, I decided I needed to launder everything. Some of these things have been packed for over 30 years, some for 40, and things were musty and there was some evidence of tiny bug carcasses. It was quite an event because some items have become fragile. I have no idea why I'm saving these, but who among you could throw away such precious, delicate pretties that a tiny daughter was able to wear only once or twice before outgrowing them?



And then there is the ironing. . .

1834 Are your Christmas cards ready?

We've usually received at least one or two Christmas letters by this time (week-end after Thanksgiving). Card/letters from my cousin Gayle and friend from high school Lynne usually are first. Then there is a cousin in Iowa and a niece in Florida who send theirs out some time in the Spring. Cousin Mel's wife found her New Year's letter and sent it in October. Ours are ready, but I haven't run the labels yet, or composed the Christmas letter. You would think with all the writing I do, I'd have that ready to go in an instant, but it is often done the final week and my husband will be asking everyday, so they are sent out in batches, with only a few getting the letter. If you're on our list, this is what you'll see this year:

We couldn't get the lighting just right and it is too large to scan, so finally he took it to the camera shop, they used a digital camera 10x better than mine, and had the cards ready the same day. Actually, I thought my photo was better for color accuracy. This shot must have been after several tries, because I see samples of the prints sitting under this. The problem isn't my camera, but the home printer has a problem picking up all the colors. [The painting is my husband's.]

Now you can have web based companies prepare and mail paper cards--it will even create a font of your handwriting. As a potential recipient, I'm really not comfortable with all those personal addresses floating around on hackable web sites--mine included--and I'd sure be cautious about letting someone copy my signature. So if you're doing that--just take me off your list.

My husband put up the Christmas tree and got out the decorations on Wednesday. That's a bit earlier than I would choose, but since he does all the work of dragging it out of the garage attic, putting it together, digging the boxes out of the basement, buying the new lights, etc., I won't complain.

1833 Don Paterson's Aphorisms

I took the October issue of Poetry to the coffee shop this morning, and thoroughly enjoyed Don Paterson's Aphorisms beginning on p. 37. Then I found it here on the internet. Although it reads better with coffee and a fire place and the neighbors strolling by, it's still good here too. Here's a sample.

"It is possible for a woman to say, honestly, that she has thought of her lover all day long — but she will neglect to mention the twenty other things she has kept in her head at the same time. A man ignorant of this ability will be terrified by her declaration, since were it to be his . . . it would be a straightforward admission of his own derangement."

"Google, that new-minted, bright-eyed demon, that constant reminder that our little history now is no history at all, and that we must live with every insult we have delivered or received until we are ash and dust. Eventually it will guarantee the sensible government of our tongues in a way nothing else has yet been able to manage; but first things will get much worse."

"Only the mad are safe from doubt. I never fail to be mystified by those who regard the revision of a former opinion as a sign of weakness; it strikes me as a perfect guarantee of the commentator's sanity."

Go ahead, you'll enjoy it, and it's not long. In addition to being a poet, he is also a guitarist and has some interesting things to say about that, too.

1832 Harry and David Win the Christmas Award

Leafing through the most recent Harry and David catalog, I see they've used the "Christmas" word eight times (3 times on one page)! See? How hard was that? They also use "holiday," [has anyone noticed that is holy day?] and "celebration" and "all-occasion" in this luscious catalog of chocolates, pears, cheese, nuts, apples, crackers and shortbreads. It's not to late to order a Christmas Deluxe Tower or a Chardonnay smoked turkey. Harryanddavid.com or 800-547-3033. This year our list is getting a book, but normally we would use Harry and David for the distance relatives.

1831 The mysterious X on Cheney's face

When Vice President Cheney was giving his speech (Monday?), people watching it on CNN saw a strange full size X come across his face with an unreadable scrolling message. I saw a clip of it later on Fox, where I had listened to the speech. It was sort of scary, even for the MSM. CNN issued an apology, said it was a technical glitch, and that was it, but some bloggers kept checking.

Bill Quick at Daily Pundit gives a run down of this, which is interesting because there was more to it, but also it shows how news stories are followed by bloggers and how the fact checking is done, and how it is passed up the line to the main bloggers who get thousands of hits a day (ahem--I'm not on the list--I get between 130-150), and how updates are posted frequently so readers can make their own conclusions or start their own research. It also shows CNN should make their phone numbers a bit more transparent and save everyone some work.

1830 Sin cargo anual

We received a credit card solicitation in Spanish today. There may be Spanish speaking residents in our zip code, but I'm guessing it would be less than .001%. Not a very close hit for targeting Hispanics--especially since we are already this company's customer, for oh, maybe 25 years if you count the company they bought. This firm sent a solicitation recently (not here), signed by the same guy to "Dear Palestinian Bomber." I googled him. He's given testimony before the Senate--says they have 94 million customers with outstanding credit histories. Really?

Reminds me of the time I got a letter addressed to Ms. Ohio State Libraries.

1829 Fathers are optional, just another choice?

Read this silly star-hype article. I don't know if she actually said this, but this is how it was written:

"Jessica Alba used to believe she would never find someone to share her beliefs when it comes to raising children, so she was convinced she'd end up a [sic] being a single mom."

I have no idea who Jessica Alba is--I accidentally ran into her on the internet. But I sincerely hope she's smarter than this reporter.

So, she's got firm beliefs on child raising, but they don't include a father? There are unfortunate events that might leave a child fatherless and a woman alone to raise a family, but choosing it? How silly. And disrespectful of men.

1828 No words to describe it

Angle of Repose has been blogging about his time in Hurricane Katrina territory here. He's been to Dallas, Houston, Vicksburg National Military Park, Jackson, Ocean Springs-Biloxi-Gulfport-Long Beach-Pass Christian, Mobile, and New Orleans. He left California on September 26 and is now headed home, and back to his regular routine.

"I lack the words to describe the devastation I've seen on the Mississippi coast. The pictures I took can't capture what I saw," he writes.

His photographs tell some of the devastation.

He notes another problem that FEMA has caused: butt sitting syndrome.

"Help is in short supply in the lower paying jobs. Small stores and restaurants have fliers offering jobs and even sign-on bonuses. I thought the lack of employees stemmed from people moving out of the area because their homes were destroyed. I asked a waitress if this was the case. She said there are plenty of people around here to take jobs. The problem is FEMA, which gives money to people who say they they're so stressed out from the hurricane damage that they can't go to work. These people take the FEMA money and then sit on their butts. The thing is, when their FEMA money runs out, they may find getting a job difficult. The waitress said her restaurant wasn't bringing back any of the people who took this FEMA-funded stress leave. She had nothing but contempt in her voice for these people and for FEMA. And why not? The absence of her former co-workers has put an added burden on her and the others who chose to continue working."

Technorati tags: Hurricane Katrina, FEMA

1827 Human victims of animals

Today's Wall Street Journal featured a story of a battle raging in San Francisco between responsible dog owners, and the flagrant violators of the leash laws (guess you can tell whose side I'm on, huh?). If I were still working in the vet library I could give you the stats on how dog feces contaminate our water and soil, destroy our parks and ornamental trees and shrubs, and make our public areas living hell for the elderly and very young. Then I'd show you the web sites for plastic surgeons who have to repair the faces of babies and toddlers torn apart by "Oh, he won't bite" dogs who interpreted something wrong when friendly baby grabbed his ears, poked his eye, or just stood there.

It seems that dogs and children are about equal in SF, not only in numbers, but in value. Some dog owners want to let their "children" run free in the parks and have play groups. The stupidity of some pet owners just overwhelms me. 1) They place a higher value on Fido being able to catch a frisbee than on the life of a child. ALL DOGS BITE. ALL DOGS WILL BITE. ALL DOGS CAN BITE. 2) They think they should own a large dog, a huge dog even, but live in a small apartment or house. Therefore, that means it would be cruel to keep poor puppy on a leash. Either get a small dog, or running shoes, but keep the streets and parks safe for people.

And if you live around here, get a $18.95 Puppy Poop Carrier and make her carry her own dump to the dump while on a leash. Although usually the worst offenders of "What, my dog poop, where? I don't see it" are men, in our complex they are women, I guess because we are co-owners of the common space. There are two large dogs that are allowed to run while their owners stand by (100 yards away) and "control" them. "No, no precious, don't jump on that nice man." "Here, baby, let's not join that couple on the deck eating their dinner." "Ha, ha, she's just curious--won't hurt you."

So when I hear or read about legislation that would allow pet owners to take their animals to rescue shelters for people after a disaster, I'm wondering how all those irresponsible pet owners of snakes, birds, cats, dogs and horses are going to improve under panic conditions. Especially when that earthquake we all know is coming hits San Francisco. I can just see the dog owners pushing little children aside while getting evacuated.

Technorati tags: Leash Laws, Pet owners

1826 Katrina's animal victims

You've probably seen that Animal Planet is showing reunions of victims of the hurricanes--owners and animals. Friends of ours from church have had a taste of this. Their daughter and son-in-law lived in New Orleans and were flooded out, so they've relocated to her parents here in the Columbus area. But they rescued a cat before they left, and brought it with them. Our friends have a dog. These two are not getting along. The unhappy dog has started "marking" his territory if he suspects the cat is invading it. Plus, the young couple has recently gone to Florida to stay with his parents, and left the cat here. Poor little thing is so traumatized that his new owners too have abandoned him, that he is acting out by attacking the toilet tissue rolls and unwinding them all over the house.

Before Katrina, they were empty nesters with just a well-trained dog.

Technorati tags: Hurricane Katrina

1825 Why they’d vote for Bush again

Check it out at RightFaith.blogspot.com who is rallying for President Bush.

JR says:
He's pro-child (education, marriage, life, and family values). Bush is pro-victory in Iraq.Bush is pro-American military. He is pro-reform (tax systems and SS). Integrity--I don't question it.

Gary says:
He is changing the course of the world and making America safer. He has taken bold steps and major risks to bring about change. That shows an immense sense of mission and courage.

Cindy says:
He stands for the things that are most important to me--preserving our religious freedom, marriage, the family, the unborn, the strong defense of our nation. I also believe he is a born-again believer. I believe in his integrity and good character, and that's extremely important to me in a president. No, I don't agree with everything he does and says, but I do respect and admire him.

Pat in NC writes:
Our expectations for a president are tremendous--responsible for our safety, economy, health concerns, education of our children etc. GWB is doing well and although immigration is not at the top of his agenda, he has the rest of his priorities right.

Susan says:
The issues he supports - national security, rights of the unborn, protection of marriage, education, the economy, oil in our own country, etc - are those I prioritize as well. I'm thankful our nation has enjoyed the past few years with him and will miss his presence at the helm when he leaves.

Don’s with Dubya:
The defense of our country is critical. Homeland security depends on a President that will not allow adversity to sway his (or her) resolve. Our military needs (has) a steadfast commander and our country needs (has) a man (or woman) of moral integrity. Under liberal leadership America became weak, lazy and vulnerable. Today our military and economy are stronger. We are liberating and changing the world. Why would we put this heritage back in the hands of politicians whose platform promotes abortion, tax increases, military cutbacks, and the United Nations and the ACLU?

and there are others, but you get the idea. I haven't read all the instructions for signing on, but I probably will. I just wish he were a little more conservative with the spending and demand a few more reforms and changes before throwing money at problems. I like the fact that he has freed more women from oppression and slavery than the feminist movements of the last three centuries.

Technorati tags: George W. Bush, President