Friday Family Photo

There's a new Superman movie out with Brandon Routh. Superman turned 50 in 1988 and so did my husband.



Also in the photo are, from left, Fran, Connie, Marvin, Tony, Nancy and Margie.

Thursday Thirteen

13 things we did when the budget got tight.

After six carefree years as DINKS (double income no kids), we went to one income in 1994 when my husband decided to go into business for himself. Although we were never profligate spenders and had lived on one income our first 18 years of married life, we had to learn all over to tighten our belts. If you need to go to one income so one parent can stay home with children, most of these tips will work for you too.

1. Put all credit cards except one in the drawer--and it was only for emergencies. Cash only for day to day expenses.

2. Ate out once a month instead of once a week.

3. Stopped going into retail stores or the mall, "just to look."

4. Threw out all retail ads and circulars that came to the house. The word "SALE" actually is a trick word meaning "debt."

5. Bought no new clothes.

6. Reduced our utilities--water, electricity, gas, and phone.

7. As part of the buy-out, we got a rather old company car and used it as our second car for a year so we wouldn‘t have car payments.

8. Borrowed a computer for the business; used a small room in the house for an office. I was "staff" and worked when I got home from my job. He bought no equipment until he made some money--he went to the drug store to copy things, and Kinkos to use the fax. After the first year we bought a copier, fax and our own computer. He decided against learning CAD at his age so that was outsourced.

9. Took a five year buy-out of his stock in his former firm. That provided some income and reduced the taxes.

10. Made no major repairs on the house, or decorating, or new furniture.

11. Maintained my regular contribution to my 403-b at work.

12. Maintained our church tithe, but discontinued all other donations.

13. Gave up his downtown Y membership and joined an aerobics class at our suburban church (which he still does).

After two years, and he had established his practice, it was business as usual.


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2607 Multi-tasking accident

A few months back I featured Chris White who was heading for Afghanistan and was blogging about his experiences. I just checked and he's had an accident--sliced up his finger closing his switchblade while reading a letter! Ouch. But it has healed enough to get back to blogging, and it is fascinating to read about what he is doing--putting on workshops for contractors using an interpreter. He's had to remove comments because of hackers and spammers.

He updates his blog by first sending it as e-mail to his father in Michigan who puts it on the blog.

2606 Rush's theory on women in politics

Perhaps this isn't a new idea, but it is the first I'd heard it. Shouldn't be too hard to investigate. Yesterday Rush Limbaugh was reading some statistics on women in government. Seems the U.S.A. is somewhere around #68--and even Iraq and Afghanistan (thanks to GWB) have better representation in their governments by women than we do. Rush attributes this to our very powerful feminist movement--that it has actually set women in this country back by pitting them against men and to be like men instead of encouraging them to be partners in business and government with men and to be women. Spinning your wheels and spitting in the wind, maybe?

2605 American Library Association is in NOLA

As I've commented here numerous times, my profession (i.e., I'm retired) is more liberal than the ACLU or Hollywood movie stars who testify before Congress on topics from oceans to apples. Statistically, it is 223:1 liberal to conservative, based on a survey done during the 2004 election. So, the fact that we've got a librarian in the White House, and the current Administration has been quite generous in its support of libraries and museums, means zip, nada, zilch--her name is BUSH. Shush has cut and pasted from a library listserv (probably a no-no) into his website (scroll down a little since the entries aren't clickable), and Matthew from Florida has responded to their silly whining.

Mark Rosenzweig, ALA Councilor at large, appears to be just a flaming Communist/ Anarchist based on the stuff he's published--and his post here is mild compared to some I've seen. He really needs to live in Cuba, except they jail librarians there and he knows it. Michael McGrorty, a left coaster, is an outstanding writer to whom I link for that reason, but he's so off base here (speakers like Mrs. Bush are brought in to incite the membership? Wow--what's he smoking?). Unbelievable stupidity is demonstrated in these clips for people with advanced college degrees who can't imagine why there is so much security--given their own level of hatred, she probably needs protection from raging librarians!

And from my alma mater, the U. of I. comes this undergraduate pout from Al Kagan, who is a Professor: "First of all, I would like to know who invited her [bangs his shoe on the table]. Second, I want to know if there will plenty of opportunity for questions from the floor [grabs the microphone screaming]. If there will not be questions from the floor, we should vigorously protest [give me a piece of posterboard and a marks-alot]." Here's another one from a blog: "Laura Bush will be speaking at the American Library Conference on Monday June 26. Though I usually stay for the entire conference I will leave the conference early. Below are a few reasons why. I don’t want to be back-drop for a photo-op."

Get a grip, you guys. Show some manners, since you are showing your lack of reasoning. You want everyone else to be liberal and open minded, but you can't even tolerate the smartest and prettiest First Lady we've ever had? [She earned a bachelor of science degree in education from Southern Methodist University in 1968. She taught in public schools in Dallas and Houston. In 1973, she earned a master of library science degree from the University of Texas and worked as a public school librarian until her marriage in 1977. She also won the cookie vote against Mrs. Kerry (who said she'd never worked) in the 2004 election.]

If there were no ALA tomorrow is my entry on why I think ALA is such a waste of time, energy and money (disclaimer: I was never a member).

Michelle Malkin picked up on Greg's (Shush) blog entry about ALA and Mrs. Bush.

American Library Association
Laura Bush

2604 While I'm on the topic

of librarians, this is still one of the best reference question stories I've ever read. It beats my road kill and blackbirds in a pie questions.

2603 I hope this is an urban legend

I says to Florida Cracker, another rare find, a conservative librarian, but her comments window isn't working. Anyway, she's got a post about Mary Travers (Peter, Paul and Mary) but on the internet, you never know about stories like this. I can't imagine anyone could be this tacky.

2602 A little private instruction

My husband is headed for the neighbor's for a little private instruction in his new digital camera. I hope he comes home knowing how to do it as beautifully as Mr. Cloud who is posting some lovely shots.

2601 What would you bet?

• By floating so many withdrawal (aka cut and run) plans for Iraq, the Dems are bound to hit one or two dates correctly, so when the Iraqi government is strong enough to stand on its own, the Democrats will claim a victory for withdrawal of American troops.
  
  
• Bush will be blamed for the kidnapping and deaths of the two American soldiers, not the terrorists.
  
  
• Although no captured American soldier has been returned alive, making prisoners wear pink or go naked in front of female soldiers, is much worse behavior because it is humiliating and Americans should play by the rules.
  
  
• If WMD are found, even a small amount of chemicals, the Dems will say they are planted. They've had this story ready since 2003.
  
  
• When the number of soldiers killed equals the number of civilians dead in 9/11, the Dems will be playing ring around the towers, all fall down. New Orleans violent death rate before Katrina was 53.1 per 100,000, and in Iraq it is 25.71. It is more dangerous to be a male between 18-24 in Detroit, Chicago or Baltimore just because of the effects of testosterone on stupid behavior, than it is to be a well-trained soldier with body armor in Iraq.
  
  
• No Democrat will ever be able to recall (i.e., deaf and dumb) the Carter or Clinton administration giveaways as Korea and Iran heat up.

2600 Why I don't RSS you

Sure, it's easy, they say. But do I want more things to read? I just click on my favorite links which are right here to my left, recommended by me and occasionally updated. As it is, I subscribe to way too many newsletters, a method I prefer to RSS feeds. I hear from James Carville and some lady (Nikki?) at the LATimes for news from the left; I get Nathan Bierma who writes for the Tribune about language; Michael Yon for news from Iraq; Boogie Jack tells me web page code secrets; George Barna keeps me informed about surveys of Christians; I get a genealogy newsletter, and a film maker newsletter, and an adoption newsletter from Capital U.; James Taranto of the WSJ and Christianity Today alert me when they have something new to say; and I have on-line subscriptions to WaPo and NYT. Medscape tells me when one of you have commented, so I can go back and find it. Really, I don't want your RSS feed. I have enough to do feeding my own eight blogs. And then there's all that Viagra and ink cartridge and mortgage spam.

2599 Let's all go down to Mexico

and protest their immigration policies.

• Immigrants and foreign visitors are banned from public political discourse.
• Immigrants and foreigners are denied certain basic property rights.
• Immigrants are denied equal employment rights.
• Immigrants and naturalized citizens will never be treated as real Mexican citizens.
• Immigrants and naturalized citizens are not to be trusted in public service.
• Immigrants and naturalized citizens may never become members of the clergy.
• Private citizens may make citizens arrests of lawbreakers (i.e., illegal immigrants) and hand them to the authorities.
• Immigrants may be expelled from Mexico for any reason and without due process.

Full story here at "Mexico's Glass House" which pretty much confirms an article I found in Lexis Nexis about the classism in Mexico's citizenship.


No wonder their citizens try so hard to stay here, and not go home.

2598 Can 500 experts be wrong?

Today's WSJ editorializes that 500 prominent economists claim that "immigration has been a net gain for American citizens."

Guess what? In the 1830s and 1840s, U.S. economists and egg-heads believed that about slavery too! Yes indeedy. Slavery was absolutely an economic necessity in the rural South (they said then) and besides, white people were doing those poor pagans a big favor by bringing them to an enlightened country (while decimating their own culture and families).

I'm not worried about the 950,000 legal immigrants. We need them. But the illegals flooding in from Mexico? Is that good for the Mexican economy and culture to export their poor so they never have to address the inequalities in their system. And how about that drug trade that is part and parcel of the illegal immigration, and the one in 10 who are not Mexican, but come across that border into the U.S. Do you know how hard it is to immigrate to Mexico? Did you know you can't be President of Mexico if your mother was born in Spain even if you were born in Mexico? Did you know there are at least 4 classes of citizenship in Mexico, and guess who is at the bottom--the poorest and brownest (that's not the correct way to say it, but I like the alliteration). Well, no, the naturalized Mexican citizen would be at the bottom--especially if brown--not allowed to do many things.

But hey. Could 500 economists be wrong? Yes, about something other than the economy.

2597 Acceptable risk

Would you get on an airplane, eat an egg, or take an aspirin with these safety figures? The U.S. government regulations for acceptable quality for condoms is 4 per 1,000 with discernable holes. Thirty two percent of normal, intact condoms leaked in FDA tests. Add to that depressing figure, they must must be used from the beginning (during foreplay), until the end to work as intended. Among couples where one partner had AIDS, over an 18 month period the HIV virus was transmitted to the uninfected partner in 17% of the couples who used condoms. The "in theory" rate of failure in birth control for condoms is 2%; the reality rate is 14%, just slightly less than the reality rate for the rhythm method (16%). "How to talk confidently with your child about sex," by Lenore Buth.

Aren't you glad you stopped by to read my blog today?

condoms
HIV-AIDS
birth control

Clarifying Clinton's Kyoto

Amy Ridenour of National Center for Public Policy Research takes apart Media Matters claim that Clinton's Kyoto plans (U.N. global warming treaty) were dead on arrival because of key Republicans, concluding . . .

"It seems to me that Chris Horner [on Neil Cavuto's show] is right and Media Matters is wrong to criticize him. Senate Republicans may well have told Clinton Kyoto couldn't be ratified, but Senate Democrats -- indeed, 95 out of 95 Senators present at voting in July 1997 -- told Clinton the very same thing. And, if Clinton disagreed, he didn't do much to fight them."

Calling all B-team Catholics

I saw this at Vox Lauri's blog. It's for blogging Catholics (which I'm not), but I thought it was a cute idea, because blogging is definitely being taken over by the "real" journalists, and in Catholicism I guess the little guys are feeling crowded out.


Here's a typical B-Team member:

"I am the poster child for the Amateur Catholic. I am not a theologian, I am not a bioethicist, I don't have a Ph.D. and I have to beg my parish to let me speak on stem cells and cloning. (In fact, when I told my Bishop about my website, I got a polite response that passed me off to my parish priest, who I am sure was instructed to discourage me at all cost!)

My only credentials are that I go to Mass on Sunday, I have a degree in Biochemistry and have a high speed Internet connection. It doesn't get more amateur than that." Mary

"I'm part of the 20-something crowd that has decided to stake our claim on Catholicism and rebel against the evil effects of the 70's and 80's, or what we like to call "the birthing years". I'm a graduate student in Theology but don't let that fool you. I'm part of the school of thought that firmly believes; 'the more ya know, the more you realize you don't know anything' and boy do I know a lot, or...something like that. I've just recently started a new blog about my adventures through the Lenten season. How long will it take me to break all of my Lenten promises? Not long at all, in fact, I probably already have. I'm broken, I'm inarticulate and in spite of the number of comments on my blog remaining firmly at 0, I still think I'm wildly interesting." Amy

I discovered the Catholic blogosphere when I was trying to ignore that pesky call to become a Sister. I kept going to Google and typing in "Should Susan become a Sister" or "What should Susan do with her life" or "Does anyone become a nun anymore?" to no avail. I was however lucky enough to happen upon the real life stories of amateur Catholics who were struggling to make sense of this thing called life. I was inspired by their honesty and integrity, and it helped me to decide that I too could trust in my loving God and walk down this path to see where it leads. I must say I've been pleasantly surprised! Susan

Others call themselves amateur Catholics because they are converts as well as bloggers.

Monday Memories

Cousin Kirby, seated on floor, album cover, The Lincolns* Kirby and I at a family reunion in 1993 Kirby Johnson and I were first cousins and about the same age (I think my grandparents had 24 grandchildren). Our families would gather at my grandmother's home in Mt. Morris on Sunday afternoons, and the little house would be full of cousins. I remember he had terrible asthma and I think he took up trumpet to help his breathing. We both attended the University of Illinois, where we graduated in 1961--he in music and I in Education. He was a member of the concert band and was in a music fraternity, so our paths rarely crossed on campus. While at Illinois he and some friends formed a folk singing group called "The Continentals," and then changed the name to "The Lincolns." I was only vaguely aware of what they were doing, but I have one of their records (cover photo above). After college they headed for California and the "big time," touring the country with Donald O'Connor in 1962-63. Kirby by this time was playing many instruments and singing. Their album was the commercially viable pop/folk tunes so popular in the early 60s, with a number of the songs written by Rich Dehr, Frank Miller and Terry Gilkyson, of "Marianne" and "Memories are made of this" fame. Kirby stopped to see me in Champaign in 1963 after the death of my son, but I didn't see him again for thirty years. His home was in California and after 1967 mine was in Ohio, and when we returned to Illinois to visit family, our paths didn't cross. I knew the group performed on TV and changed its name to The Wellingtons. So through the magic of Google and the internet I looked him up this week. I discovered that he and his group (by then a trio) recorded the original Gilligan's Island Ballad. Rick Jarrard had left the group to become a producer. It was a rush job and no studios were open so it was actually recorded in someone's garage (according to one message board). Many sites still list them in the credits, but another said it was re-recorded the next season by a different group. According to Rick and Darva's Gossip page, the Wellingtons appeared on one of the episodes of Gilligan's Island as a band called "The Mosquitos," a take off on the Beatles, having added Les Brown, Jr. to the group. Kirby performed regularly with The Wellingtons on Hollywood Palace, a popular, long-running Saturday night variety show of the mid-to-late 1960's often hosted by Bing Crosby. They also performed 64 times on Shindig! according to a fan site. I found Kirby's name as a performer, conductor and arranger on the albums of some big name performers like Carly Simon [No Secrets, 1972; Another Passenger, 1976], Harry Nilsson and Bonnie Raitt. I think he probably had a fairly strong career in concert touring, TV and as a studio musician at least through the mid-1980s**. I never heard much after that, and didn't find many Google entries for later dates. I did find a 1986 film (music arranging) credit. It is difficult to tell, since many recordings are reissued and the credits run very long. We got together at a family reunion in 1993--in some ways he seemed the same sweet boy I knew as a child, but he was also world-weary. He died in 1999. Most of the pop music web sites and bulletin boards say that Kirby became an attorney, but if he did, no one in our family ever knew about it. And some web sites say a group called the Wellingtons recorded Disney's "Ballad of Davy Crockett," but if so it wasn't for the TV series (Mellomen one of whom was the voice of Tony the Tiger)--the guys in the Wellingtons wouldn't even have been out of high school in Illinois. Some sites say Wade became a producer, but I think it was Jarrard--but maybe they both did. The internet is fabulous, but there's a lot of misinformation too. And it's not much cleaner in the Wiki's. *Members of The Lincolns were Kirby Johnson, Rick Jarrard, Ed Wade and George Patterson **There is another musician also named Kirby Johnson, so more recent entries most likely belong to that person. 1. Ma 2. Natalie 3. The Shrone 4. Libragirl 5. Reverberate58 6. Shelli 7. Lazy Daisy 8. Old Lady of the Hills 9. Chelle If you'd like to join in on Monday Memories, leave a comment and I'll link back to you. Click here for the Monday Memories code Trackbacks, pings, and comment links are accepted and encouraged! View More Monday Memories Participants The Wellingtons Hollywood Palace Shindig! Kirby Johnson

2593 The cocoon where I live

If there was ever a statement that shows me my cocoon it's this one: "There is little difference between the amounts that Christians and non-Christians earn, spend, save, charge, or donate to charities." (John W. Kennedy)

Almost all my friends are Christians. They are married (or widowed), well-educated, prosperous and most tithe or at least are close. They are also very generous with their time, serving the larger community in many ways from boards of education to committees and races for the cure, city government, food pantries, hospitals, prisons, mental health agencies, Habitat for Humanity and inner city schools. Friends at Vineyard fan out and pick up the Homeless from the streets and bring them to church. There's a group of my friends who are doing an arts camp all summer "on the Hilltop" which includes meals for the children and neighborhood volunteers. Men I know are using business skills to reclaim a decaying neighborhood, house by house, for the poor. This month alone I know Christians coming home from rebuilding in Biloxi, distributing medicine in rural China, and Latin America, or going to Haiti to work in a school.

And probably because of our age, we know many people who are debt free and living well, after an early adult life of struggle and building. So I'll have to take a second look at that quote (forgot to write down the source, forgive me) and see why my life experience is so different.

2592 Front end or back end?

According to JAMA (285,no.16) Democrats are holding up the approval of Andrew von Eschenbach to be the Food and Drug Administration commissioner.

"Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D., was appointed Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs in September 2005. He holds that appointment concurrently with his position as Director of the National Cancer Institute, to which he was named in January 2002. Dr. von Eschenbach is a nationally recognized urologic surgeon, medical educator, and cancer advocate. He also is a cancer survivor.

Prior to his appointment as Director of NCI, Dr. von Eschenbach spent 25 years at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, ultimately serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer. In that position, he led a faculty of nearly 1,000 cancer researchers and clinicians." Full bio here.

If you read about him in the MSM (I checked WaPo), you'll first hear all about his friendship with the Bush family. That, in my guess, is what's really holding this up. No possible good could come of person with ties to the Bush family. It's apparently OK for him to fight cancer, but his views on over-the-counter sales of "emergency contraceptive pill" are not liked by Dems, who would rather catch potential cancer victims in the womb and eliminate them then, rather than treat them 50 or 60 years down the road.

2591 Out of the word closet

Every time I see JAMA or some other medical journal struggle to euphemistically describe men who transmit diseased results of homosexual behavior to women, I wonder if they need a committee working on a new term. Here's my suggestion.

The current term has three parts--the perp, the act and the victim. "Non-gay-identified men-who-have-sex-with-men who-have-female-partners could be shorted to prom-him-aids. That would mean a promiscuous bi-sexual moving very serious diseases back and forth (promenade).

2590 Are we drowning in red tape?

A clock repairman in South Charleston, Ohio refused a job with Lake County (Painesville, OH) to fix its 128 year old court house clock. The bid process was 20 pages long.
Phil Wright who is one of a handful of craftsmen who does this says he's used to doing work on a handshake, and it was just too much red tape. I can see having a contract, especially if you are a county or state agency, but 20 pages?