3480 What is Love?

It's the count down to Valentine's Day. Cha-Ching. I've heard some pretty sappy things on the radio today--like buy her a naked bear. Schools that have had to stop delivery of flowers and balloons because it has gotten out of hand and they can't deliver to classrooms. "Live, Love, Laugh" is a mom and grandma who works with juvenile offenders. She has a great post on love.

3479 Butterscotch

At coffee this morning my friend AZ asked if I was planning anything different this week while my husband is in Haiti on a mission trip. Couldn't really think of anything, but did decide on one thing. Butterscotch pudding. My husband gags at the thought of butterscotch, caramel or toffee (which all taste very similar) flavored anything. Anyway, I made some butterscotch pudding and it was quite yummy--hadn't had any in years. Here's what I did--it's loaded with not so good stuff, but it's quick and easy.

Mix small pkg. of butterscotch sugar-free, fat free pudding mix with 1 cup cold milk.
Quickly (because it sets up fast) mix that with 8 oz. of low fat or fat free cream cheese that has been at room temperature for a bit.
Stir into that mixture, 1/2 cartoon (4 oz.) sugar-free Cool-Whip.
Put into individual serving cups (makes 6) and top with the rest of the Cool-Whip.
I haven't a clue how many calories or grams of fat.

This would probably work for a butterscotch pie if you were using a graham cracker crust.

What I don't understand about Republicans

Why are they considered the "social conservatives," when the only three guys who are getting any notice for 2008 from the party faithful all were unfaithful to their wives? Maybe more than one? I'd put McCain as #1 crumb-bum for leaving the wife who stood by him all the time he was in prison working for his release. By the time he got home she was disabled and no longer a babe, so he dumped her for one who had money and could fund his political ambitions. And Newt? Aren't he and Rudy both with wife #3, or did Rudy just not bother to get married this time? Then if you bring up Romney, who is squeeky clean, they back off because he's a Mormon (about the only group left in the country who take family responsibilities seriously).

You can beat your chest all you want about women and gays, and how our morals are collapsing, yada, yada, but fellas, the only people getting advice in the Bible about sex is heterosexual men. And there's bunches of it. Go look.

Are government officials blocking your mail?

Pat in NC says sending an e-mail from outside the congressperson's district is a hopeless task. She can't even get Nancy Pelosi to take her message.

"As I watch CSPAN, see news clips on TV news or read article quoting legislators, they speak of "the majority of citizens " feeling a certain way about an issue. How do they know this when they ignore or actually block opinions of the majority."

It's our tax money paying for their offices, staff, franking privileges, special jet planes with expensive staff, trips to foreign countries, etc., etc. The least they can do is accept an e-mail from out of district.

Annika said it better than I could

You wouldn't know it to look at me, but I'm part of the Bear Flag League on the Internet, meaning I have at some time in my life lived in California (actually twice). So on that list, I'm called an Ex-pat. So I drop by and read my fellow-listers' blogs. Here's what Annika said about the surge, and I thought if I had said anything, it would be what she said:

"There's a reason why I haven't written whether I think the Surge Strategy will work or whether it's a good idea. I'm not an expert in any of the disciplines necessary for my opinion to have any value. In fact, most of my knowledge regarding the Iraq War comes from secondary sources, written by other people who are similarly ignorant, i.e. the press.

The vast majority of reporters and columnists who write about Iraq and pretend to know what they're talking about are completely incompetent to do so. Not only is their journalism degree inadequate for the task (it's a glorified general ed degree) but their undisguised bias robs their output of any credibility. Yet, from my desk chair, I'm forced to rely on these people almost exclusively for my information. So, as a result, my opinions are just about as worthless." Annika's Journal

But I have been listening to reports on the radio about the CIA and the Pentagon trading accusations about who gave the administration the incorrect information about al-Qaeda and Saddam playing footsy. And you know what? I don't care. The President AND the Congress (including Hillary et al) voted for it. Now it's an obligation. It's not like getting married when you're young and drunk and think she's gorgeous, and then later falling in love with someone else named Darfur because the sweety got fat, or some such nonsense. You need to meet your obligations and not leave people to die--the way you did 35 years ago in Vietnam. You need to stop giving the enemy hope to hang on just a bit longer, the way Obama and HRC are doing.

HR Clinton on the war

While carrying dirty laundry downstairs, I heard HR Clinton promising she'd end the war in 2009 when she is president. While looking through my old blogs to add labels, I noticed this item below, and wondered since all these unsafe, crime ridden cities in the U.S.A. are Democratic strongholds, if she wouldn't practice here first by getting on the case of her colleagues.

"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."

Hill, it's just a thought.

3474 Environmentalism--new incarnation for the old left

So says Václav Klaus, the second president of the Czech Republic, (and these folks have a bit of experience in this area). His interview about the UN IPCC panel is translated by physicist, Luboš Motl, at his blog, The Reference Frame.

HT Amy

Is there one for cats?

This site for dogs to have their on blog is pretty cute. I saw it at Em's blog, who is having a meltdown from diet Coke withdrawal (she read the ingredients).

I'm too cheap to buy this journal (also isn't spiral), but isn't it cute? Smithsonian catalog, I think.

In the years before blogs, and in the brief life of our many colored, beautiful lynx-point Siamese, our cat was featured on a cat web site. I think it was located in Japan. Long gone now.

What Women Want

When I started blogging in 2003, I had a small problem finding interesting blogs written by women. Now they've taken over blogdom. The crafters are stunning with gorgeous photos of wip and wonderful group projects; the cooking blogs can put on weight just reading the ingredients; the mommy blogs are so well written you can almost smell the diapers and spit-up and they write vivid descriptions of labor and delivery, something I've tried hard to forget; the photobloggers seem to have a way with cats and nature; the book reviewers with their TBR lists put me to shame; the career blogs are sometimes a bit specialized and require some anonymity if they want to keep their jobs; and of course, the librarian blogs are very high tech but with a light, feminine touch.

Almost every blog I read gets 20-30 times more comments than I do (I get a lot of readers; not many leave comments). There are reasons for this, and you won't be surprised when I tell you why.

1. My age. Yes, folks, I'm old enough to be the mother or even grandmother of some of the ladies whose blogs I link to. This is a huge disadvantage in drawing comments--it's a cultural divide of unbelievable proportions. When Crazy Aunt Purl, who is 30-something, cute, divorced and struggling, not to mention funny and a fabulous cat photographer who knits, writes about getting out of debt with a strict budget, she might get 145 comments! If write about budgeting to stay out of debt, I'd be lucky to get a yawn. It's much better to hear from a peer than someone your mom's age who's never even had a balance on her credit card! Even if I sprinkled my budget advice with adorable photos of my cat, I wouldn't get comments. Aunt Purl and the very political Neo-Neocon's sites act as discussion boards where people return and comment on the remarks of the other readers.

2. Mine is not a happy-clappy blog, cheering on the ladies like some of the boomer bloggers I've read who have come out of life's struggles with a smile and a hug for everyone, and never a critical word. Wow. I love to read them, too--and you should see the comments. Lazy Daisy is just the person to visit if you need a lift--except for that really gross-out story about her son's apartment.

3. I am a conservative, evangelical Christian and am also politically conservative. I could measure the drop off of readership if I even mention abortion or creation. They are lead balloon topics for blogs, unless you're targeting those groups (dominated by male bloggers who think women should keep quiet in their presence). But I can't resist pointing out fallacies and murky thinking when it comes to protecting the weakest.

4. Although I read a lot, I'm really a dabbler, and prefer magazines and newspapers. I have no background in literature (in college I never had a class in British or American literature and rarely read fiction of any type). I like to read the review and literary blogs, but can't really make a contribution.

5. Many of my "regular" readers and commenters that used to stop by closed up shop after a year or so. Some have totally removed the blog site, others have just stopped posting anything. Even two guys I used to visit have disappeared with no explanation.

6. I don't participate in more than one ring, or event at a time. Women just love these things--they are so social! I liked Friday Feast, but moved on to Thursday Thirteen, then left that and took up Poetry Thursday. Many of the women I visit have an event going on every day of the week, sometimes two. Tasks for Tuesday or Wordless Wednesday or Super Bowl Menu and so forth--I think it's like running into each other at the market and stopping for a chat.

7. And lastly, even my friends and family don't leave comments. Some don't even read--they say they are too busy, or can't find them, or have to clean a closet. I read a lot of blogs where the comment windows are like family reunions. If it weren't for good old Murray whom I knew in high school and sends me the obituaries from our home town, you would think I just growed.

3471 A Spat of Apostles in the Epistles

This morning I was supposed to go to a women's Bible study (Beth Moore), but at the coffee shop I got started on writing a poem, was interrupted by the guy who is learning Russian and talks non-stop, so after rushing home to eat some breakfast, I just stayed and finished the poem and the blog that goes with it.

When Paul told Peter to live by faith, not the law (Galatians 2)

Concerning the Jews in Jerusalem
Peter and Paul had a big spat
"You’re putting them under the law, old friend."
Paul told Peter, "Don't preach like that."

Not for a minute did Saint Paul give in,
Even when they were face to face.
At Antioch Paul then told Saint Peter
"Your gospel is such a disgrace."

"We know by law we are not justified
Although by birth we are both Jews,
Our faith is in Christ Jesus, Risen Lord
From whom we have heard the Good News."

For you non-Christians, the back story to this poem is that in following Jesus command to "Go, tell," Paul was to preach to Gentiles and Peter to Jews. Paul was very unhappy that Peter was living in freedom, but requiring his converts to be circumcised and to obey dietary law. Sigh. It is still going on. There's just something about the Gospel that seems too easy, so people, even pastors, try to add a little here, a little there. In 2,000 years we still haven't learned.

3470 Speaking of dress codes

I grew up in the Anabaptist tradition where some women, mostly older, wore modest dresses and prayer coverings. It was called, "dressing in order." I have relatives in the German Baptist Brethren sect who still do this. I've seen clothing sites on the internet for Mennonite, and old order groups, but here's an interesting take on the products. Check out the page called Vogue Italia.

3469 Dear Mmes Pelosi and Clinton

Please don't raise taxes on the rich. Don't punish the entire country just cause you're angry that the Bush tax cuts helped all of us and you haven't done a thing. The top 5% of Americans are paying over 57% of the tax burden now and the folks at the bottom are paying no federal taxes at all.*

I'm just a pensioner, but I've benefitted from a lot of wealth transfer over the years--like all my public education from kindergarten through master's degree, all the highways and interstates I drive, the bridges (some to nowhere), the tax incentives so Wal-Mart and Target can build near my home and employ our locals who will then pay taxes, the state and national parks I enjoy, the set asides for the railroads, the subsidies to the farmers so I can have cheap milk and staples, the public libraries, and the airline bailouts so I can enjoy my vacations, not to mention the clean up of Lake Erie where I have a second home. The rich people don't need this stuff, and the poor don't use them as much as the middle-class, so lay off the rich guys, will ya? Don't mess with your cash cow.

Our investments have done so well in the past five years, that it's like having a third person in the household who gives us his take home pay but never opens the frig or forgets to fill the gas tank or asks me to do the laundry.

I know you're mad that the Bush policies have proven wrong every bad thing you projected in the economy, and you want to hide from the fact that you too read the intelligence of the former administration about the threat of Iraq, but don't punish the rest of us who've been living a pretty nice life having the rich pay taxes and invest in America.

*Especially the Mexican nationals sending money home, making their USA dollars the second highest source of income for Mexico, with tourism third and oil first.

3468 Dress for Success

Remember that old saw? Wonder what happened? When I retired in October 2000, I vowed not to appear in public in the retiree's uniform--sweat pants and athletic shoes. Unless I'm going out to pick up trash along the road side, I've pretty much kept that resolution. However, today I outdid myself. I went to the coffee shop decked out in a suit. Yesterday I bought a black pinstripe pantsuit, cuffed leg, short jacket, 100% wool and fully lined, Jones New York brand, size 8. If the Jones* page displays correctly, my suit (or something like it) appears in the "collection" category. I actually wouldn't have worn this when I worked, because libraries are too dirty; my staff were assigned dusting or table washing if we were slow. Also, I never wore slacks to work.

I don't know what these suits cost new (ca. $120 I think), but I got it for $18 at the Cancer Society Shop which sells only donated clothing (passing along $200,000 a year for cancer research), a lot of it by someone who has my short legs and small waist.

If you first started wearing slacks to work 20 years ago, dress-down or casual Fridays put you in jeans. Today at the coffee shop I saw a young woman in flannel pajama bottoms--and I see this almost every Friday. In 2000, I just didn't know how bad it was going to get.

-----

*The Company's nationally recognized brands include Jones New York, Evan-Picone, Norton McNaughton, Gloria Vanderbilt, Erika, l.e.i., Energie, Nine West, Easy Spirit, Enzo Angiolini, Bandolino, Joan & David, Mootsies Tootsies, Sam & Libby, Napier, Judith Jack, Kasper, Anne Klein, Albert Nipon, Le Suit and Barneys New York. The Company also markets costume jewelry under the Givenchy brand licensed from Givenchy Corporation and footwear under the Dockers Women brand licensed from Levi Strauss & Co. Jones Apparel Group

Friday Family Photo

My parents wedding photo.



This is when the Scots-Irish side and the German-Swiss-English side of my family got together after about eight or nine generations of pretty much sticking with their own kind. For many years I had thought myself an 8th generation American, but when more information on genealogy became so accessible via the internet, and I joined the Church of the Brethren listserv finding distant relatives, I added a few more generations. Many of them started out in Pennsylvania--I suppose if the roads had been better or if they had spoken the same languages, they might have bumped into each other. However, in the early 1700s, these ethnic groups had little or no social interaction and rarely married outside their own fellowships or neighborhoods. Moving west and south in the 1800s changed that somewhat, and by the 20th century many couldn't have even told you who their grandparents were.

My parents met on a "blind date" the summer before they started college in 1930 because a guy my dad knew was dating a girl in Franklin Grove (a girl friend of my mother) and didn't have a car. So dad drove, and both young men found a wife.

3466 Billy Graham's New Orleans Crusade

I must be the last person on the planet to open an e-mail to receive a forwarded, forwarded, forwarded, forwarded x100 story about Billy Graham leading a crusade in NOLA to Bourbon Street and having sinners rejoicing and singing along with the thousands who attended. I don't know why someone would make this up, and often the press is hostile to Christians, but folks, this didn't happen. When you see something--maybe it's medical, or political, or artistic, or spiritual--that sounds just a tad fishy ("the press will never cover this" is a good clue), do a little checking. I always use the Snopes site when I'm suspicious, but common sense wouldn't hurt either. Here's what a NOLA Baptist pastor said about the story.

One clue should be Graham's organization. It is a huge marketing machine--the Graham organization was a pioneer in using the media to spread the Gospel. His camera crews would have been right on top of this--if it happened. I'm on their mailing list, and if you've ever been in the cross hairs of a Christian group raising money, whether Mennonite or Samaritan's Purse, you know this opportunity, if true, would have arrived via snail-mail, not e-mail, with a return envelop.

Also, this is not a story the press would be afraid of. The press loves Billy; my public library which has little of value or interest for Christians, probably has every title the man ever published.

Now, go tell someone the Good News of Jesus Christ.

And a reminder from Paul: "See to it no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy." Col. 1:8

3465 What you never knew about bad breath

John Corby (WTVN 610 am Columbus, OH) was interviewing Dr. Katz about bad breath today. He even has a product for your cat and dog. Tonsils seem to be the culprit for some, sinus for others. He said don't brush your tongue with toothpaste because it has detergent in it and will cause dry mouth, making bad breath worse. One little item: apparently super models have really gross breath because they don't eat enough to make their digestion work properly.

Speaking of WTVN, you might remember that about 6 weeks ago I was really peeved with them for taking off Glenn Beck and messin' with me. Well, they eventually reinstated him to an FM station in Westerville on a one hour delay. But before I found him again (about 2 weeks) I started listening to WLW's morning guy, Mike McConnell, and I liked his style and the people he interviews. He's really pounding the global warming fear mongers. So now I don't listen to WTVN or Glenn.

Technorati: Glenn Beck,
talk radio, WTVN Columbus, WLW Cincinnati

Poetry Thursday #6

CHANGE is this week's theme in honor of PT's new website. What changes more than women's fashion? Truthfully, my style doesn't change that much, especially with no job to go to. So when I say good-bye to a favorite style or fabric, it is a sad day. Some go to my "vintage closet"--not to wear, but to look at, like a formal my mother made when I was in high school, or my mother-of-the-bride dress from 1993.

This poem is about the last pair of shoulder pads in my closet. Shoulder pads (for women) returned to fashion in the early 1980s after a hiatus of about 30 years. They started small and then became enormous, and gradually disappeared. Now we all have narrow, dainty, child-like shoulders again instead of looking like we suited up for the middle school football team or the soap opera Dynasty.


On removing shoulder pads from a favorite blouse
by Norma Bruce
Feb. 7, 2007

Others told me
(helpful friends)
someday on my own
strength
would I go
to meet the world
tall, strong, confident.

I’d waver; you were silent.

Mirrors told me
(how they lied)
only with your
help
could I climb
the ladder of
greed, success, power.

I’d arrange; you were silent.

Today told me
(glaring lights)
it was now past
time
should I cling
another minute to
padded, shaped, contoured?

Snip and toss; you were silent.


Technorati: Poetry Thursday

3463 Update on illegals

While my power steering fluid was dripping out yesterday (I didn't know it), I was driving along and listening to someone report that the border guard who was sentenced to a minimum security prison but sent to a medium security instead and placed in the general population where he was badly beaten by other prisoners. And now it has come out the government lied at their trial. If Bush doesn't shape up on border protection for us, he's going to lose his support from conservatives for his plan to help Iraqis protect their borders.

"In the high-profile case of two U.S. Border Patrol officers imprisoned after shooting and wounding a Mexican drug smuggler, two Department of Homeland Security documents apparently contradict the version of events put forth by the U.S. attorney who successfully prosecuted the case.

The internal Department of Homeland Security memoranda – which have been denied Congress despite repeated requests by two House members – show that within one month of the shooting incident involving Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, government investigators had identified the smuggler as Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila.

But this seems to contradict U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton's claim that Aldrete-Davila came forward through a Mexican lawyer who offered to identify his client in exchange for immunity."

Update here.

Cross posted and expanded at Illegals Today.

Technorati: Illegal immigration, border security

3462 Ladies, hang on to your ovaries!

Tara Parker-Pope (just love that name*) writes the science/health column for WSJ, and on Feb. 6 she covered the unfounded belief by some doctors and surgeons that women don't need their ovaries after a hysterectomy. Although a prophylactic oophorectomy will eliminate the threat of ovarian cancer (not a huge risk, but awfully hard to detect) and might slightly reduce breast cancer and stroke, it prematurely ages a woman putting her at high risk for heart attack and hip fractures unless she takes hormone supplements. Two different studies were reported (obliquely) by Ms. Parker-Pope. So I have taken my valuable blogging time to find the journals; Lancet Oncology 2006; 7:821-828, Oct. 1, 2006 (Mayo Clinic study, free registration to read the article) and Obstetics and Gynecology, 2005;106:219-226
(a good abstract and summary).

It's awfully irritating to be at the library reference desk when a patron brings in an article torn from the newspaper and the journalist hasn't cited anything except "in today's Journal," or "last week's Lancet." They have to read the research (I hope) to describe it; would it be so hard to cite it correctly?

*

Tara Parker Pope--
such a lovely name;
sing it, play it,
hang it on a rope.

Tara Parker Pope--
she of Wall Street fame;
read her, write her,
She will help you cope.

The naked article

Or author. Do you know how to strip a Word Document of personal data? I don't. Henry says this at Crooked Timber, where I seem to be the only person listed under Library Science, and I'm not even employed.

"Fun story in the Chronicle this week, about the perennial academic pastime of trying to figure out the identity of the anonymous referee who dinged your article. Word documents preserve a lot of metadata, including, very often, the author’s name – so that if you submit your review via a Word email attachment (as many journals ask you to these days), and the journal forwards the review unchanged to the article’s author, he or she can figure out who you are without having to play the usual guessing game. I’ve been aware of this for a couple of years (I carefully strip all data before sending reviews out, just in case) – but I suspect that many academics aren’t (some of them may not even realize that Word collates this data automatically)."

See the comments at the permalink for more. They end up debating different text editors and word processing. I didn't know anyone still used WordPerfect. Guess there's been a switch back.