3608

March 21 poetry selection

from my daily book of poems has one I could not resist, but I've changed "Father William" to "Lady Blogger," and made it a bit more edgy and updated.

The Lady Blogger's Comforts
being lifted from Robert Southey's "The Old Man's Comforts"

You are old, Lady Blogger, the young man cried,
The brown locks which are left should be grey;
You are hale, Lady Blogger, a hearty old gal,
Now tell me the reason, I pray.

In my twenties thirties, Lady Blogger replied,
I remember'd that youth would fly fast,
And abused not my health and my vigour at first,
That I never might need them at last.

You are old, Lady Blogger, the young twit cried,
And pleasures with youth pass away;
And yet you lament not the days that are gone,
Now tell me the reason, I pray.

In my forties fifties, Lady Blogger replied,
I remember'd those days could not last;
I thought of the future, whatever I did,
That I never might grieve for the past.

You are old, Lady Blogger, the rude kid cried,
And life must be hastening away;
You are cheerful, and love to write about it all,
Now tell me the reason, I pray.

I am cheerful, young man, Lady Blogger replied,
Let the cause your attention engage;
In the days of my youth I remember'd my God
And he has not forgotten my age.

The notes say that Southey wrote "Old Man's Comfort" in 1799 at the age of 24. He died when he was 70.

3607

Pick up the phone!

if you are

• a Republican anything or
• a gay man or
• trying to get your kid into an exclusive pre-school or
• having an affair with a fellow astronaut or
• with one of your students or
• a Wal-Mart executive having an affair with a subordinate.

You can commit any sort of flagrant misconduct via e-mail or text messaging or even drive off a bridge with a staff assistant if you are a Democrat--it's expected of you, and you guys know how to stonewall it (no pun).

The latest story about the Wal-Mart VP, Julie Roehm, who was trying to portray herself as a victim of bad old Wal-Mart management problems in the aftermath of her firing, but in fact her trail of e-mail dropped little crumbs through the woods dark and dank to the bed of her subordinate Sean Womack. Now it's public; it's all documented. And his wife turned some of them over to the company. Roehm was using company money for lavish lovers' trysts. (story in today's WSJ)

When will executives and politicians learn to 1) be faithful to their marriage vows; 2) obey company policies about expense accounts; and 3) pick up the phone instead of e-mailing or texting their smarmy thoughts, longings and private yearnings?

You've come a long way baby, but Julie, you've proven women can be equal opportunity chumps and philanderers.

Read what Wal-Mart has done for the poor.

3606

Bootleggers and Baptists

There's an economic theory called "Bootleggers and Baptists" that refers to social regulation: "durable social regulation evolves when it is demanded by both of two distinctly different groups. Baptists point to the moral high ground and give vital and vocal endorsement of laudable public benefits promised by a desired regulation (and they flourish). Bootleggers who expect to profit from the very regulatory restrictions desired by Baptists, grease the political machinery (they are in it for the money, so they too flourish)." [Bootleggers and Baptists in Retrospect" by Bruce Yandle, Regulation Magazine Vol. 22. No. 3] Like Sunday sales. Baptists wanted alcohol banned on Sunday; bootleggers get that much more business. It's sales, not consumption. Like stricter FDA approval. The longer it takes, the more the holders of the current permits and patents benefit. Stricter emissions standards. These benefit established businesses while stifling new competition. Saving the owl (Baptist/environmentalists) put thousands of acres in storage and drove up lumber prices (the bootleggers/logging companies). So environmentalists (Baptists) may be touting the moral high road, and industry (bootleggers) goes along because they benefit, but someone else (you and me) always pays, either in higher prices, higher taxes, or loss of jobs.

I think Al Gore's new religion is going to bring about many more federal government regulations that benefit business and agriculture with the backing of the global warming cartel. Like ethanol. Like the phony carbon exchanges. I'm sure that rich capitalists and energy barons are eager to run up the sawdust trail waving their hankies and shouting "Alleluia, I believe" testimonies. Al, tears running down his cheeks, will be there to bless them.

3605

The contaminated pet food

There will probably be law suits over this, even though last I heard they had still not determined the source. Just a quick reminder for those of you who think "natural" is the way to go for food--it isn't. Perfectly natural aflatoxins kill people and animals.

But, that's not my topic. In Columbus, a woman has been charged with killing over 650 animals "to save them." Problem is, she encouraged people to bring the animals to her, telling them she'd find a good home for them. Story here.

"I just want people to know that I was trying to prevent a long, protracted, horrible life on the streets with a 90-second death," [Maureen] McLaughlin stated. "It was only 90 seconds. I know it was awful, but it was only 90 seconds."

Prosecutors described those 90 seconds as "pure hell" for the animals.

"She put the crates in the water, put cement blocks in the crates and she would stand back while it was going on and she would pray for the animal in question," said assistant city prosecutor Bill Hedrick. "I mean, it's just sick."
McLaughlin will now undergo a psychiatric evaluation before standing trial.

"I think she's competent, that she's aware of what she did was wrong," Hedrick said. "At no point was she deluded in what she was doing."

I think I heard on the radio that even if she is found guilty on every charge, it is not a felony and it won't keep her from owning animals in the future, unless someone changes the law.

So here we have the terrible tragedy of a few pets dying or being made ill through no one's fault, and then a person who deliberately kills animals "to save them" (reminds me of the pro-choice argument) will go free. I'm guessing that because the pet food company has deep pockets, they'll be punished much more severely than Columbus' own Ms. Jo Black who helped hundreds to the Rainbow Bridge prematurely.

3604

Denial isn't the name of a river

Two weeks ago I blogged about my daughter's DVT--she put up with the pain in her leg making excuses, first that it was the antibiotic for her sinus infection, second that she'd forgotten to take her calcium (lack of a thyroid causes leg cramps). The blood clot meanwhile was moving up her leg toward her heart or lungs. Tomorrow a friend of ours goes in for a quadruple by-pass--one 100% blocked, and three 95% blocked. He was having chest pain and sweating profusely, so he drove himself about 30 miles to the hospital. Our friend was busy doing the Lord's work, and almost ended up in the heavenly choir. My father lived into his 90th year instead of dying at fifty, because when he started coughing up blood at 39, he quit smoking, cold turkey.

Folks. Listen up. Pain is a gift. Pay attention to it!

3603

If you were a kid

which father would you prefer? There are many styles of parenting. . .

3602

How to deal with college debt

At a time when fewer, not more, young adults should be considering college, law makers are scrambling to find more ways to loan more money--long proven to be the road to more debt. How will the student loan industry be fixed? By you and me picking up the debt, betcha?

What do students with $20-60,000 debt do when they graduate with an almost worthless B.A. that will get them a $30,000 a year job? They go to graduate school and take on more debt, of course. And why shouldn't they when the federal government subsidizes the poor decisions they made when they started college?

The federal government gave out $12.7 billion in Pell grants, and Bush, the education president, is promising $15 billion. Students take on almost $70 billion a year in debt. Education, even learning to read, can dramatically improve living standards in 2nd and 3rd world countries. In the U.S. it has become a status thing, especially which college or university. The actual monetary return for a Harvard or Yale education is less, if compared with other investments--stock or real estate or just going to work after high school--over forty years. The push to get into college, particularly high profile, prestige schools, does little except keep faculty, staff, and administrators employed. The return on a public school education is 4.2%, and on a private school 1.9% (statistics here).

Senator Kennedy and President Bush both have grandiose ideas on how to increase debt for students by making it less painful to repay (it's called making it more affordable, but the real word is debt). If this were one of these payday loan companies in the inner city, we'd call it a scam and there would be congressional hearings. Both men inherited wealth. Bush actually was a business man, so I give him a bit of credit for economics 101 (and his wife was a librarian), but Kennedy has never held a "real" job in his life. He's gotten fat, literally and figuratively, at the public trough. They both need to take a second look at why and how people sign on for debt. The ordinary American, even one with an income of $100,000, is not just drawing on a trust fund set up on grandpa's wealth.

I graduated from college in the 1960s with no debt. I paid for two years, and my parents paid for two years. There were government programs then for indigent and special cases. But most of the people I knew--didn't spend years paying off debt. In the 1930s, my father received a small scholarship from the Polo, IL women's club, for "the worthy poor" (his words, not theirs), and he spent a number of years paying it back in full, and the college gave him a scholarship to play football. Repaying debt is always difficult. Rather than just prolonging the pain, shifting the blame, and doing the same, let's do some review and see why during an era when everyone had less, we had more for our future.

3601

Only 7,000 dead and wounded

Today I was reading about the Battle of St. Mihiel in northeastern France in September 1918 during WWI. The chart says there were low losses--only 7,000 between the Americans and the Germans in the one week campaign. Usually I don't use Wikipedia as a source, but WWI battles are pretty well researched.

"For all historians, the battle of Saint-Mihiel is an example of advancing an army against one that preferred to leave a difficult to supply bulge. Overall casualties were low as defense was mainly rear-guard oriented. Strategically it was good news for the Allies. Compared to huge battles such as Verdun or the Somme, this was merely a skirmish. Its real importance is in the huge boost that this advance had on the US and Allied morale."

I had looked up this battle because in reading War Record of Mount Morris I noticed a WWII veteran from our town, Eli Raney, I considered "old" when I was young (although truthfully, I thought anyone over 25 was old). Born in 1892, he was 50 when he reenlisted during WWII and he served 14 months in frontline construction in New Guinea and the Philippines. So I flipped to the back of the book for his WWI service and see that he was a member of Company D, of the 104th infantry, and arrived in France in August 1918, just in time to be in this battle in September. He was not among the wounded, but was wounded in the Argonne campaign.

This is a public service announcement for the war protestors and peaceknickers who forget that most people don't want sons and brothers lost in battle, certainly not one that historians see as a "morale boost." Our recent marchers in Washington want the US to shame the memories of those who've died and to run out on the people it has liberated.

Iraq War

3600

Exercise

some horse sense.

Photo by my niece Amy who says it's time for the new foals.

3599

Happy Spring

It doesn't feel like it and I have on wool slacks today, but it is Spring. I've been using A Poem a Day edited by Karen McCosker and Nicholas Albery (Steerforth Press, 1999) and today's selection "Spring" is by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) and was written in 1877. Many poems of the 19th c. are quite predictable, but this one has some irregularities that I found quite charming, as the poet juxtaposes the freshness of spring with Eden before the fall. And don't we often have that same sense when walking out doors on a glorious day. In the notes it says that when Hopkins showed it to another, known poet he got a discouraging analysis because he used "several entirely novel and simultaneous experiments in versification and construction. . . and unprecedented system of aliteration and compound words. . ." I can't make my lowly blogger word processing component space appropriately, but I think I have the puncuation and lines recorded correctly.

Nothing is so beautiful as spring -
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush's eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.

What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth's sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden. - Have, get, before it cloy,
Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid's child, thy choice and worth the winning.

3598

From the front lines

This has been posted on many blogs, but I just saw it today when a high school friend forwarded it to me via e-mail. Sgt. Eddie Jeffers in Iraq writes: "Democrats and peace activists like to toss the word "quagmire" around and compare this war to Vietnam. In a way they are right, this war is becoming like Vietnam. Not the actual war, but in the isolation of country and military. America is not a nation at war; they are a nation with its military at war. Like it or not, we are here, some of us for our second, or third times; some even for their fourth and so on. Americans are so concerned now with politics, that it is interfering with our war.

Terrorists cut the heads off of American citizens on the internet...and there is no outrage, but an American soldier kills an Iraqi in the midst of battle, and there are investigations, and sometimes soldiers are even jailed...for doing their job.

It is absolutely sickening to me to think our country has come to this. Why are we so obsessed with the bad news? Why will people stop at nothing to be against this war, no matter how much evidence of the good we've done is thrown in their face? When is the last time CNN or MSNBC or CBS reported the opening of schools and hospitals in Iraq? Or the leaders of terror cells being detained or killed? It's all happening, but people will not let up their hatred of President Bush. They will ignore the good news, because it just might show people that Bush was right."

Full letter here.

Iraq War

3597

The fallout of Vietnam--dragons and tigers

As misguided but sincere Christians return home from the pitiful march on Washington on the 4th anniversary of the war, some trying to recapture their youth and energy of the 60s and 70s, it's instructive to note this article in the Jan-Feb 2007 issue of Foreign Affairs. I am not familiar with the author, Lee Kuan Yew who was Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959-1990, and I would have preferred some attention to the 3 million people we abandoned to be slaughtered by the Communists, but he does have a less parochial view than American peaceknickers who think everything is about us. He presents an Asian viewpoint as to what the benefits of that war were.

"I am not among those who say that it was wrong to have gone into Iraq to remove Saddam and who now advocate that the United States cut its losses and pull out. This will not solve the problem. If the United States leaves Iraq prematurely, jihadists everywhere will be emboldened to take the battle to Washington and its friends and allies. Having defeated the Russians in Afghanistan and the United States in Iraq, they will believe that they can change the world. Even worse, if civil war breaks out in Iraq, the conflict will destablilize the whole Middle East, as it will draw in Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Turkey." p. 3

"Conventional wisdom in the 1970s saw the war in Vietnam as an unmitigated disaster. But that has been proved wrong. The war had collateral benefits, buying the time and creating the conditions that enabled noncommunist East Asia to follow Japan's path and develop into the four dragons (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan) and, later, the four tigers (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Phillippines, and Thailand). Time brought about the split between Moscow and Beijing and then a split between Beijing and Hanoi. The influence of the four dragons and the four tigers, in turn, changed both communist China and communist Vietnam into open, free-market economies and made their societies freer." p. 7

He also predicts the next president (I'm assuming a Democrat) will be facing a long-term fight against Islamist militants, a battle which is only in its early rounds. And I predict lots of career building activity for our leftist protestors as the older ones go into nursing homes and make way for the younger.

Iraq War

3596

Homosexual adoption

Honest, I was looking for the amount of CO2 termites contribute to global warming, and somehow wandered into this strange story of the granddaughter of IBM founder, Thomas Watson, who adopted her adult lesbian partner, then they split, and now about 15 years later, the ex-partner is trying to get herself listed as the 19th grandchild of her ex-lover's biological mother so she can help support her own biological mother, who apparently had no objections to giving her up for adoption. Serves the greedy little twit right if she loses her suit. Serves the flaky IBM granddaughter right if she loses in court to her ex-lover. Story here. Some people give adoption a bad name. Some people give women a bad name. Some people give money lust a bad name. Some do all three.

Monday Memory

Aunt Betty
My Aunt Betty is in poor health and has entered a nursing home; we are all very sad for her and her husband, one of my dad's younger brothers. Betty is 8 years older than me, and I remember when I was about 14 or 15, we went to a Mother-Daughter Banquet at church together, she as a stand-in for my mom who was busy doing something else. In small town churches, these were big events with a dinner and program and music. I think we dressed in our best and even wore hats! We giggled and laughed like kids--which looking back, I suppose we were. She is a wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, sister, aunt, loyal friend, and former avid golfer and bridge player. She was Mrs. Clean, a perpetual cleaning machine, and had an energy level that just wore me out. She lived a few doors from my grandparents and was a big help and comfort to them as were her children. This photo was taken at her job, and I don't know the year, but I'm guessing maybe 25 years ago. The flowers indicate it may have been a special day.

3594

Check your pet food!

The list of contaminated pet food is growing. We use 9-Lives and Purina One Hairball, and so far, they aren't on the list. In fact, I can't even get the list to connect, but here it is.

Matthew, a nurse/librarian who occasionally leaves comments here, writes: "I have one can of Iams sliced chicken in gravy cat food that has been recalled. I should say that I have one can left, Baxter ate the other several dozen I bought on my last trip to the grocery store. I had to have my cat euthenized last Sunday due to acute renal failure.

Unfortunately I had Baxter cremated so any lab work is now out of the question. However they did do labs last week so perhaps they saved the sample, I know we do for people." from his journal at LISNews.com

3593

Dinner Party Plans

Today we're having two couples over for dinner and photos of my husband's trip to Haiti, Sharon and Eric and Joan and Jerry. Joan has also participated in medical mission trips to Honduras, so she's bringing her photos too. If they are on a disc, we've got a wee problem (my F drive is being fussy and our VCR isn't sophisticated enough or have the right gee-gaws to give us a slide show), but we'll find something. Either my laptop or theirs.

I'm of the "clean once, party twice" school of hostessing. Next Sunday we're having friends who know Martti and Riita (Finland) for dinner and photos of our trip to Finland last summer--Nancy and Bob, and Pam and Dave. Now, because of cat hair, I will have to push the vacuum around again before next Sunday, but I'm hoping I can keep the clutter under control, and not put away the good china.

Today's menu: Sweet sour meatballs, potato salad, fresh asparagus, tender crisp carrots with honey glaze, hot rolls, relish dish, sugar-free, fat-free lemon fluff pudding with fully-leaded St. Pat's shamrock iced cookies from Cheryl's Cookies. I'm thinking of adding a small dish of black beans and rice, just for the theme.

Next week's tentative menu: Boneless pork roast with orange-cranberry glaze, cole slaw, chunky applesauce (home made), probably carrots again, rolls, and maybe chocolate peanut butter pie (sugar free).

3592

We're not losing

"In terms of fundamental historical changes favoring 21st century freedom and peace, what Free Iraq and its Coalition allies have accomplished in four short years is nothing short of astonishing." The story of how a fossilized society is coming to life ready to meet the 21st century is here.

Iraq War

3591

Can 83% of Americans be wrong?

Yes. Someone surveyed Americans (don't know the source--I got it second hand from WSJ) and 83% said they wished they had more time with the family.

This is so easy! Confiscate all the i-pods and cell phones, take down/turn off the cable/internet connection. Put the whole family in the car, but don't go anywhere, not even to a movie or fast food restaurant. Find something to talk about.

It may not be quality time, but you'll change your answer on that next survey.

3590

Food Porn

You do not want to go here. It's titillating, tempting, toothsome, tantalizing, teasing, tormenting, and you'll put on weight just looking at Columbus Foodie's photo.

3589

America 100 years ago

Although I’ve browsed some of the pricey, recent, multi-volume histories of the United States and the World at the public library, I’ve been disappointed by the revisionism* of current authors and publishers, so I was pleased to pick up this title at the library book sale, and wish I had the other volumes. Our Times, The United States, 1900-1925, vol. 3, Pre-War America by Mark Sullivan, The Chautauqua Press, Chautauqua, NY, 1931. I may try to track the other 5 volumes down, but probably won’t get them for $3.00. Chautauqua Press was "liberal" in its day, but liberal in the classic meaning of the word, not socialist as it has come to mean today, but open to new ideas. Chautauqua had a broad Christian base, but wasn't fundamentalist in outreach. Liberals of today are afraid of a little "sonshine" and have minds so open, their brains are in danger of falling out because nothing can be right or wrong (except GWB). Their publications reflect that, so it is difficult to get an intelligent synthesis of history because every culture and religion is presented as being of equal value.

Vol. 3 begins in 1890 with the developing friendship of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft when they were both subordinates of Benjamin Harrison, Roosevelt as Civil Service Commissioner, and Taft as Solicitor-General; and moving calendar style, it ends with 1908 as alcohol prohibition is getting established (reminds me a lot of the smoking bans we see today, state by state), unemployment and breadlines caused by the panic of 1907, and women's outrageous fashion (sheath skirts considered a step toward the fig leaf, huge hats, fishnet stockings) and behavior (smoking and attendance at cheap moving picture theatres). There will be many stories in this volume I’ll enjoy researching further, such as spelling reform, hookworm humor (laziness was declared a disease), and Roosevelt's relationship with African Americans.

This volume was published in the early years of the Great Depression, yet the paper is good quality, there are excellent photographs and plates, better footnotes and indexing than I see in some modern histories, and the author is careful to note where he has copyright permission and carefully cites the sources. For some sections the author allows the events to speak for themselves, others are heavily laced with opinions. Because Chautauqua had such a strong cultural bent (still does), and Sullivan was a popular culture buff there are interesting photos contrasting the early 20th century with the late 1920s, for instance, a photo of two working women, one in 1907 and one in 1928 showing the differences in clothing and office technology on p. 479, and comparing shoe advertisements from a 1927 Scribner's Magazine with one from Theatre Magazine of 1906 on p. 434. Apparently the hunger for "big hair" in 1910 was filled by the locks European women, Chinese women and the goats of Turkestan. There's a delightful section on the historical significance of the popular songs of the pre-war era.

The dramatic change in fashion for women and the amount of flesh exposed after WWI is very apparent in this plate. As more leg is exposed, the less the waist and bust are emphasized. Skirt length dropped again almost to the ankle in 1930.

*With contemporary 21st century authors, it is difficult to determine if the Soviet Union was ever a big threat to us in any meaningful way, and hard to tell if the Christian church had any impact on American society except for amusement to be pilloried in cartoons and obscure court cases.

Dan Rather on Mark Sullivan: "Mark Sullivan was one of the most widely respected journalists of his day. One of the original muckrakers, he became America’s leading political reporter and columnist in newspapers and magazines for nearly half a century. A committed Republican, he had unrivaled access to the leaders of his party, including Presidents Roosevelt, Taft, and Harding, and contacts like these made him the ideal chronicler of his age."