2965 Sprint to the Finish

"I just went through the list of all 40 competitive House races on Real Clear Politics, and I found only 8 clear pickups for the Democrats."

Read the whole blog, then go up and read Dafydd at Big Lizards Manifesto

2964 Judges are not free to create rights and rewrite statutes

A decision by the California First District Court:

"All can agree that California has not deprived its gay and lesbian citizens of a right they previously enjoyed; same-sex couples have never before had the right to enter a civil marriage. It is also beyond dispute that our society has historically understood “marriage” to refer to the union of a man and a woman. These facts do not mean the opposite-sex nature of marriage can never change, or should never change, but they do limit our ability as a court to effect such change. The respondents in these appeals are asking this court to recognize a new right. Courts simply do not have the authority to create new rights, especially when doing so involves changing the definition of so fundamental an institution as marriage. "The role of the judiciary is not to rewrite legislation to satisfy the court's, rather than the Legislature's, sense of balance and order. Judges are not ' "knight[s]-errant, roaming at will in pursuit of [their] own ideal of beauty or of goodness." ' [Citation.]" (People v. Carter (1997) 58 Cal.App.4th 128, 134.) In other words, judges are not free to rewrite statutes to say what they would like, or what they believe to be better social policy."

2963 Putting Mark Foley in perspective

The U.S. government estimates that 600,000 to 800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year. Of these, approximately 80% are women and girls, and most are sold into the sex industry. President Bush denounced this at the U.N. in 2002 (Yeah, that should get some action) and in 2005 and 2006, and the U.S. Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act to expand existing laws. Many Christian organizations have pushed for stronger action. (Stats from Christian History, Issue 90, Spring 2006)

"Many victims of human trafficking are forced to work in prostitution or the sex entertainment industry. But trafficking also occurs in forms of labor exploitation, such as domestic servitude, restaurant work, janitorial work, sweatshop factory work and migrant agricultural work.

Traffickers use various techniques to instill fear in victims and to keep them enslaved. Some traffickers keep their victims under lock and key. However, the more frequent practice is to use less obvious techniques including:

• Debt bondage - financial obligations, honor-bound to satisfy debt

• Isolation from the public - limiting contact with outsiders and making sure that any contact is monitored or superficial in nature

• Isolation from family members and members of their ethnic and religious community

• Confiscation of passports, visas and/or identification documents

• Use or threat of violence toward victims and/or families of victims

• The threat of shaming victims by exposing circumstances to family

• Telling victims they will be imprisoned or deported for immigration violations if they contact authorities

• Control of the victims' money, e.g., holding their money for "safe-keeping"
Gayle Christie

The Democrats and the $oros organi$ation who knew about the page homosexual problem and did nothing until it suited their political purposes (i.e., more important to embarrass a Republican than save a child), need to find a bigger target. This might be a place to start. Or will saving women and children not get as much publicity?

We spent millions investigating the non-issue of Plamegate, ruining reputations and careers willy-nilly, finding out in September that Richard Armitage and Patrick Fitzgerald knew all along what the score was. THERE WAS NO CRIME. Let's not waste more time and money on another trumped-up-by-Democrats scandal. If they want to win an election, let them come up with some issues and solutions--the old fashioned way.

2962 Behind closed doors

It's time to see what's in the closets, cabinets, and under the sinks and be ruthless. In our home of 34 years--a 3 bedroom house--we didn't have an attic or a basement, and I was much better about clutter. Now we're in a condo and have both. And we have clutter! Yesterday I was going to make a list--thought it might be a good Thursday Thirteen topic, but I made the mistake of looking in a box that had photos, so I spent 4 hours scanning and drafting a Monday Memories about my time in Brethren Volunteer Service. Hope to have it ready by tomorrow.

However, I did strap on my audio book of "Master and Commander" and rearranged two shelves in my bathroom linen closet. I really didn't throw out much. My sister Carol sold Avon when she was in high school, and I see I still have a blue tin of bath powder that I got from her--oh, maybe 50 years ago. That would be fine if I collected Avon memorabilia, but I don't. And half used bottles of various lotions, mouth wash, tiny bottles of goop from hotels, a stash of bath soap, and not even the kind I really like (Palmolive).

My clothes closet had become a jumble over the summer--after each trip things were hung anywhere. So I moved the hot weather items to the guest room, moved some sweaters to my closet, and color coded. There's nothing like putting your shirts and sweaters on the pole by color to see that you have things you'll never wear or haven't worn in 4 years. I have four black skirts, 2 for summer, 2 for winter; 2 denim skirts; maybe 5 or 6 black slacks, only 2 of which fit (hope to change that, but then the larger sizes won't fit). Usually I buy cheap stuff, so I don't know why I hang on to them for such a long time. I pulled out a really lovely outfit--blazer and straight skirt--(in a size 8 and doesn't fit) that my daughter bought me maybe in 2001. I do have a storage area for clothing I love but don't wear anymore that goes back 50 years. So I may retire it. I looked at 3 plaid wool skirts--from my working days--that must be over 20 years old. They definitely need to go to the archives.

Then I popped over to read Neo-neocon, and I see she is cleaning closets too, while she tries on clothes for a trip, destination is a surprise. Maybe I should have cleaned the closets before we traveled.

2961 This post is about sex

While I was making a wonderful salad with dark green leafy stuff ("absolutely no spinach" the package read), two hard cooked eggs, grilled onions and broccoli, and about a third of a cup of mild salsa, I was listening to WOSU NPR, which is doing a fund raiser (what a concept!).

Much to my surprise it was two guys talking about testosterone. Except one guy started out as a woman, attended a woman's college, and had grown up accepting all the feminists said about the differences between men and women all being a social and cultural construct. Then, after she decides to become transgendered (don't know if that is the right term, but she is on her way to being a he with no penis), she starts getting hormone injections--testosterone. S/he discovered that her brain changed!

Griffin (the female to male person) talked about being filled with lust and pornographic thoughts on the subway--not from noticing a sexy babe, but from seeing just an ankle or a knee. He was terribly embarrassed and really had to struggle to avoid being crude, but the thoughts were unstoppable.

He began to lose some of his verbal acuity over time. He now has to look up more words than he used to as a woman, and the stumbles more in his speech.

He began having trouble crying when he was upset or stressed. Even when he can cry, it isn't the same with very few tears.

He developed an interest in science (this caused so much laughter I wasn't sure he was serious, but he said he'd been reading in areas that had never interested him before).

He became more visual. He now enjoys pornography and strip joints, whereas before he had no interest and thought that was sexist.

I didn't find the exact interview but here is one on Grrl Talk Borders that covers pretty much the same thing, except the interviewer is a woman and the two were girl friends in college.

2960 Family Man Librarian comments

on the world of evil he sees around him, including the killing of children:

"I haven’t felt this way — highly concerned and anxious about the state of affairs around me — since September 11, 2001. I know who is the author and promoter of evil: Satan. I know that his power is great and that his weapons include fear, doubt, and destruction. But I also know that his power is in no way comparable to God's; that his efforts are ultimately fruitless; that the only sure thing I have in this world is the promise that God will never leave me or forsake me. Jesus said to his followers: "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)" Family Man Librarian

2959 What's a Democrat to do?

Campaign issues are tough. The Democrats have no plan--not just for Iraq, but for anything. 1) The economy is going great guns, 2) The Dow nears 12000, 3) unemployment is very low--even older workers are in demand, 4) gasoline prices are down--they were below $2 here in Ohio last week, 5) there have been no new terrorist attacks on our soil--they seem to be killing only Muslims, 6) the Jew-baiting hasn't been successful and Joe Leiberman is pulling ahead. So what's left? Go after the gays! That's novel. It's never been tried in the time I've been following politics for a work-up to an impeachment.

Here in Ohio Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy is running against Republican incumbant Deborah Pryce. The ads have been negative all along, but Pryce's haven't been Miss Nicey-Nice either reporting how incompetent Kilroy has been in previous low level, local jobs. However, now Kilroy is accusing Pryce of being friends with Mark Foley! Even best friends. Now we all know, that if we have gay friends we're supposed to know what they are doing with their private sex life, right?

All Kilroy is trying to do is keep Republicans from showing up at the polls. I'm betting she even can say, "some of my best friends are gay," and keep a straight face. I don't know a single Republican who doesn't have a gay friend or gay relative, which may come as a shock to her ad agency, so this simply looks like gay bashing. John Kerry looked stupid when he did it, and so does Mary Jo Kilroy.

Mary Jo Kilroy
Mark Foley
negative campaigning
Democrat campaigns

2958 Friday Family Photo

Isn't this the most magnificent woodwork? It is called "pumpkin pine" and was used throughout my grandparents' home in Franklin Grove, IL. It is the heart wood from old growth white pine, so is extinct, I think. When I was a little girl, it had darkened, or may have even been stained dark, but my mother refinished every square inch in the house in the late 1960s. In fact, because she did it all by hand, she developed carpal tunnel and had surgery on her wrists. At one time there was a huge left over board in the garage--boards that width just don't exist anymore for pine.
My grandparents were lured back to Illinois from Kansas around 1908 with this farm (my interpretation) to help her father, then in his 80s. She was the only survivor of their four children, her oldest brother having recently died of blood poisoning from an injury on his farm near Ashton. The farm house was pieced together from a small house ca. 1850s, and a larger early 1900's style. Grandma completely remodeled it, adding this gracious dining room with a bedroom and balcony above it where she had hanging plants and flowers.

The photo was taken in July 1987 at an impromptu family picnic with a bunch of cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents and siblings from both sides of my family, some meeting for the first time and probably last time. For over a decade, Mother had used the house as a retreat center for church groups and family reunions, but by 1987, my niece was renting it from her and that very happy period of Mom's life was over.

Mother is the little one on the left--all the furniture you see--the oak dining room table and chairs, and the birch kitchen chairs--was refinished and recaned by her in the 1960s. Next to her is my father's cousin Sharon, her daughter Christie, then my sister and me. I think we had about 20 people at the picnic--played badminton, croquet and enjoyed the beautiful scenery, which might just look like soy beans, corn, towering pine trees and acres of blue sky to the rest of you, but looks like home to me.

HT to my niece Amy, who gave me this photo, languishing in the attic of the farm house for years.

2957 High tech, high touch

That's an old 80s expression for people who worked on computers all day then went home to eat tofu and quilt by the light of homemade candles. While I was on the road in California and Illinois, two new stores opened, side by side, near my home. Stitching Post Super Store and a Sunflower Market. Sunflower was very pleasant and had many nice items, but I think it is higher priced than Trader Joe's, but I'll definitely run in there from time to time just because it is so close. Stitching Post is amazing, but I think it is basically a store to sell robotic sewing machines with tiny human brains. There was one doing some fancy embroidery all by itself as I walked by. The store also has huge classroom all set up with cutting tables, machines, pressing stations, etc., and a large floor area devoted to cutting and sewing tables. I used to sew. . .

Story of this dress is at my pattern blog.

sewing machines, Crafts, organic produce, high tech high touch, Trader Joe's

2956 Checking the triggers

On September 28 I wrote a Thursday Thirteen on my food triggers, those items or events that make me hungry. I've done pretty good. By paying attention to this list and walking more, I've dropped 5 lbs., which could come back in a flash I'm sure with the first pizza. We were with family and friends this week, so that is a huge test. One day my niece brought over pumpkin donuts. OH my! One of my favorites. But I resisted.

When we went out to eat at Maxon's to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday (actually today), I ordered a Chef's salad--the only time I've ever seen sliced processed cheese on a bed of lettuce. Need I say more? I did eat a few low-cal desserts, one stale saltine, and sprinkled some salt on a few rice cakes she had in the cupboard (without the salt they taste like fresh wall board). Monday and Tuesday we had great weather, so I walked 3 or 4 miles each day. On Tuesday I had a breakfast date with a high school friend, so we walked in the park, then stopped at a restaurant and she had coffee and I had water. No use getting the taste of pancakes in my mouth. But I did leave a tip--the waitress doesn't need to suffer too.

Driving home yesterday I did discover that McDonald's has a fruit cup with yogurt which comes with a low cal granola sprinkle. It was really pretty good, strawberries and blueberries. And the price was right--$1.00. Not exactly the yummy sausage biscuit I usually get on long trips, but a nice treat.

Friday is my indiscretion day--we go out to eat with friends, and I get my Philly-cheese sandwich with french fries and a glass of wine. I'll dream about it all day! The sandwich is so huge I bring 1/2 home--but now I let my husband have it for Saturday lunch instead of enjoying it twice.

2955 Happy Birthday, Jerry Rice

Two "old" Jerrys have made it this far in Dancing with the Stars, Jerry Rice, and Jerry Springer. Rice is a decent dancer--probably his 15 years of running around and dodging other big guys on the football field. Springer is a talking clown, but his performance on Tuesday night pleased even the judges, who consistently rated him low. Because he has a lot of fans, his audience votes pull him through.

"Wide receiver Jerry Rice is the National Football League's all-time leader in receptions, yards and touchdowns. Rice played college ball at Mississippi Valley State, where he caught 310 passes for 4,856 yards and 51 touchdowns in 42 games. He began his professional career in 1985 when he was picked 16th in the first round of the draft by the San Francisco 49ers. With the 49ers he became one of the NFL's biggest stars, catching pass after pass from quarterback Joe Montana and then from Montana's successor, Steve Young. Rice played for the 49ers from 1985-2000, winning Super Bowls in 1989, 1990 and 1995. He later played for the Oakland Raiders (2001-2004) and the Seattle Seahawks (2004). . . Rice is credited with 38 different NFL records, including career totals of 1,549 receptions, 22,895 yards and 197 touchdowns." From Answers.com.

Jerry Rice
Jerry Springer
Dancing with the Stars

No Thursday Thirteen this week

We're heading back to Columbus, so I don't have time to write a 13 (we'll be 9.5 hours in the car and then off to a meeting at church right after we get home). Actually, I did write one about the 13 people (10 relatives, 3 friends) I saw this week, but it looked a bit silly, since you don't know them. I deleted it. So I'll try to come up with something next Thursday. Have a good week.

2953 Freedom of thought control

Isn't this odd. Kooky I hope. Is "global warming" science so fragile, so insecure that it can't stand a little competition? I can be an advocate for saving trees and a proponent for safe and abundant water without believing puny human beings are changing the ever changing climate cycle. But some folks are just threatened by the idea that human beings aren't the end-all, be-all of the universe.

"A U.S. based environmental magazine that both former Vice President Al Gore and PBS newsman Bill Moyers, for his October 11th global warming edition of “Moyers on America” titled “Is God Green?” have deemed respectable enough to grant one-on-one interviews to promote their projects, is now advocating Nuremberg-style war crimes trials for skeptics of human caused catastrophic global warming. Grist Magazine’s staff writer David Roberts called for the Nuremberg-style trials for the “bastards” who were members of what he termed the global warming “denial industry.”

Roberts wrote in the online publication on September 19, 2006, "When we've finally gotten serious about global warming, when the impacts are really hitting us and we're in a full worldwide scramble to minimize the damage, we should have war crimes trials for these bastards -- some sort of climate Nuremberg.” Read full account here. It will supply links.

Hat tip Amy

2952 Not Cheap

No wonder so many people depend on the internet to do genealogy. Yesterday I went to the court house and got copies with the official stamp of 8 birth certificates, 3 death certificates and one marriage license, and it cost $97! Wow. I had no idea. We went in the wrong building first, made some inquiries about genealogy, and were ushered into a small room with a film reader. But when I said I wanted birth certificates she said I had to go to the "county building" (I thought I was there), that she had only the criminal stuff! So I must have looked like someone checking out the skeletons in the closets. We said we didn't think we'd find any relatives in her department and went across the street.

I think everyone around here goes to Rockford or Freeport (different counties) to die, so the sources were limited, which is probably good considering how much I had to pay.

2951 A brief genealogy trip

We're here in the county seat this week, so we plan to take a trip to the court house and see what relatives we can dig up. I'm not sure what resources are here, but I think getting all your information from the internet probably isn't the best way to do it.

Had a nice long walk at a park in Mt. Morris today with a high school friend. The weather has changed and it is quite nippy today. We got a lot of nice autumn photographs yesterday when the sun was out. My niece and great-niece came by today bringing pumpkin donuts for tea time, and my brother came for dinner last night. We visited my aunt Muriel in Mt. Morris yesterday. She will be 90 soon but looks good.

Tiny Library

I think I'm in the country's smallest public library--in Oregon, Il. May add some photos later. The sign says I must register at the desk. Good old fashioned library rules. Gotta love 'em.

Updated October 14:

Oregon, IL Public Library

The building is on the historic register which is probably working against getting a larger facility for a thriving small town.

Monday Memories

For some reason, when I was in my 20s I thought a home wasn't complete without a piano. We bought our second home (keeping the first as a rental) in 1965 when I was a graduate student in library science at the University of Illinois, and I was spending my graduate stipend making payments on a piano! I didn't even play--had stopped taking lessons in grade school. After I bought it, my husband and I both took piano lessons from a grad student, but very briefly. I think we must have broken the poor girl's heart, we were so bad.


Our son could play piano by ear and even did a little composing, and our daughter took lessons in elementary school. When I stopped lessons around age 10 or 11, I just rarely played, but after she quit, she would play the piano almost every evening after supper for an hour or so for her own enjoyment. I was careful not to tell her how much I loved it, because you know how teens are! When she would come to visit (with her laundry) after she had her own apartment, she always spent time playing the piano. After she bought a house in 1996, I gave her the piano. And now it is just as lonesome and quiet in her house as it was in ours.

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2948 We've arrived

We rolled into Oregon about 1:30 p.m. and worked our way through streets jammed with cars for the "Autumn on parade." I'm not sure how strangers get through not knowing the streets and detours, but we finally made it to my sister's house on the other edge of town. We unpacked a few items, then went back to watch the parade, which seemed to be about 2 hours long.

The craft booths, as I understand it, are all by people from Ogle County, and we saw some wonderful items and great food (too bad, since I'm watching that). We would have stayed longer, however, there was a drill team from Chicago in the parade with amplified, canned music (no instruments that I could see). They were so loud that I could feel the vibrations through the sidewalks even a block away. We finally had to leave the area to get away from them. I think it is a form of child abuse to subject teenagers to that level of decibels, which must be like standing next to a jet plane holding a chain saw if you are in the group!

Later my Uncle Gene and Aunt Betty stopped by for a visit. Always good to see them. He is the next to youngest of my Dad's siblings. This week, I have some friends and relatives to see, but each time I come, there are fewer and fewer people I know.

I'm using a borrowed machine--can't find a spell check, so will just have to trust my instincts.

2947 Gitmo prisoners getting fat and well read

The detainees at Guantanomo Bay have access to a nice Arabic language library according to ABC News (HT Conservator):

"Nonfiction particularly philosophy, biographies and Arabic history is most popular, the librarians say. But fiction is also big. Popular authors include Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese-American; Agatha Christie; and J.K. Rowling, who penned the Harry Potter series about an English wizard in training.

The detainees are avid readers, according to the librarians. With detainees largely confined to cramped cells most of the day, reading provides an outlet and can help take their minds off the prospect that they may be jailed for years or even the rest of their lives with no trial."

But they are also getting fat because they can choose from a selection of about 4200 calories, one guy blimping up to 410. They get special cuisine and meals for holy days. The defenders will complain about lack of exercise, but we all know what taking in too many calories will do. And they can't even blame McDonald's or the fast food industry. They are choosing to over eat. What other bad Western habits are they absorbing?

"Most of the prisoners at Guantanamo picked up in Afghanistan and other conflict zones were slightly underweight when they arrived. Since then, they've gained an average of 20 pounds, and most are now"normal to mildly overweight or mildly obese,"according to the most recent measurements, he said.

The meals include meats prepared according to Islamic guidelines, along with fresh bread, vegetables and yogurt. With nearly all detainees fasting in the daytime during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, authorities have arranged for a post-sunset meal and a midnight meal. Traditional desserts and honey also are served during the Ramadan observances."

Guantanamo Bay
Terrorists
Muslims
libraries

2946 We're back

My blog has been displaying a blank page; have no idea why, but that's certainly scary. I periodically save my template as a text file, but I'm not sure I'd know how to reload it if I had to. I've made a bazillion changes in it over the years, some of which I don't know how to undo.

But actually, we're leaving again. First to Lake Erie, then to Illinois. I never know if I'll be able to log in somewhere. Maybe the library in Oregon (IL) has Wi-Fi. Oregon is having its "Autumn on Parade"--not sure we'll see much of it except for the traffic jam. Fall events are nice. There's one at Lakeside and Marblehead next week-end too, but we'll miss that.

"AUTUMN ON PARADE
Corner of Rt 64 & Rt 2, Oregon
Autumn is celebrated with enthusiasm in Oregon, Illinois at the annual Autumn on Parade (AOP) festival. Autumn on Parade features a Farmer's Market, with homemade items from over 100 vendors, plenty of live entertainment, a variety of food, and the ever popular Harvest Time Parade held on Sunday afternoon. Most of the activities and vendors will be found at the Ogle County Courthouse Square located at the corner of Ill. 64 and Ill. 2 in downtown Oregon." Oregon site