3736

Noonan knows

the press, and she really laid it out in Week-end edition of WSJ in "Cold Standard." In describing how common sense has broken down in many areas of our lives, particulary the mental health gurus uprooting the walls that used to protect us and then blaming someone else,

"The literally white-bearded academic who was head of the campus counseling center was on Paula Zahn Wednesday night suggesting the utter incompetence of officials to stop a man who had stalked two women, set a fire in his room, written morbid and violent plays and poems, been expelled from one class, and been declared by a judge to be "mentally ill" was due to the lack of a government "safety net." In a news conference, he decried inadequate "funding for mental health services in the United States." Way to take responsibility. Way to show the kids how to dodge."

the politicizing of every tragedy and event, and the Bush derangement syndrome,

"The anxiety of our politicians that there may be an issue that goes unexploited was almost--almost--comic. They mean to seem sensitive, and yet wind up only stroking their supporters. I believe Rep. Jim Moran was first out of the gate with the charge that what Cho did was President Bush's fault. I believe Sen. Barack Obama was second, equating the literal killing of humans with verbal coarseness. Wednesday there was Sen. Barbara Boxer equating the violence of the shootings with the "global warming challenge" and "today's Supreme Court decision" upholding a ban on partial-birth abortion."

culminating with the inexcusable actions that NBC took (and other networks followed) to allow Cho to glorify his insanity,

"Brian Williams introduced the Cho collection as "what can only be described as a multi-media manifesto." But it can be described in other ways. "The self-serving meanderings of a crazy, self-indulgent narcissist" is one. But if you called it that, you couldn't lead with it. You couldn't rationalize the decision. Such pictures are inspiring to the unstable. The minute you saw them, you probably thought what I did: We'll be seeing more of that."

For some reason Noonan chose not to list among the demise of common sense Cho's course work in literature (and I'm guessing other humanities and social sciences), might have included the bizarre twisting of every thing that might be positive in western literature and history (it did when I was on campus in the 90s). This is one area of his ramblings which pretty much reflected what he was being taught in college.* For that, one only needs to open a syllabus of a freshman lit or history course to find the poison that will rot a young, unstable mind, and turn off a health one.

*You can fulfill an English requirement by studying movie Westerns, or gangsterism in hip hop music, or sexuality in disabled women or probably even the fantasy life of your professor if you make a good case. It's ideology before thinking and politics before craft.

3735

Is Al Gore the new Rachel Carson?

Were you surprised that the Christian Science Monitor declared Al Gore "the Rachel Carson of global warming?" [Story was in Wall Street Journal by Katherine Mangu-Ward] I was stunned. This should be an insult, a death blow to his movement. Do the editors not know? More Africans have died of malaria since the 1970s when her book was read by do-gooders and entertainers who then lobbied and protested DDT off the market than were killed in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Malaria was all but defeated. They aren't apparently being killed by the increased use of pesticides to deal with the resurgence of mosquitoes, although that can't be too healthy either. Then when I checked Amazon.com I see that he wrote an introduction to a new edition of one of her books, so I guess he just doesn't care about black and brown people, to turn on a phrase of a well-known comedian.

Now, through Al Gore's misinformation and whipped up hysteria, the West will be shutting down factories and mines in developing countries, even as we try to find places (outside our own country) to manufacture energy saving lightbulbs that contain mercury. And then the food stuffs we might have sent them to keep their poor babies alive (assuming we don't send in medical teams to abort them), we'll be burning in our SUVs.

I don't think this is good for your movement, Al.

3734

Ten great Christian biographies

was the name of the radio program I walked to for exercise yesterday. I'd never heard Albert Mohler before, but a very interesting program for a librarian. He says he's done shows on a number of different biographies, his favorite genre. I'll have to dig around and see if they are on-line. I walked 2 miles before lunch, and 2 miles in the afternoon. So now I have 21.5 miles in my 50 Days of Easter Walk, which I do with other bloggers. I should have really done a few extra rounds and clipped off that .5 mi. I think he said it was G K Chesterton who thought fast walking was best for thinking. Because of time for commercials and finding it a bit late, I heard Augustine, Aquinas, Luther and Chesterton.

3733 Many conservative bloggers are rude

to their peer bloggers on the left. They call them names like moonbats and wingnuts, change their surnames, i.e., Moore and Moran might become Moron, disparage their 19th century Marxist reasoning, or bully them for having no reasoning at all, point out the failed socialist programs that undergird their solutions, ridicule them for misleading the poor to get votes for the Democrats, post unflattering cartoons of leftists or videos of mumbled speeches that go nowhere, and upload photos showing lines and wrinkles on has-been senators or a covered humble head of an attractive Californian visiting a dictator. For shame!

Yesterday I was reading a media site for information on new and discontinued magazines for my other, other, other blog. And I discovered they keep an eye on Rush Limbaugh, excerpt part of his monologue, and put it out like raw meat for the wild dog, scavenger bloggers. There were two obvious errors, both of omission, in what was posted, because I was listening to that show.

First, Rush had either seen or been sent the information from the website at VA Tech (said it was in the English Dept. site). He quoted some of it, apparently not realizing it was from Nikki Giovanni's poem read at the memorial service--at least he never mentioned it. The poem included the usual concern for the poor, dispossessed, and baby elephants who also don't ask for their fate and the violence done to them.* Rush then went on to comment, that based on Cho's manifesto which railed against the rich and the bullies and the fact that he'd been in this English class, the only conclusion was that he was a liberal. Rush parodies the left all the time (knowing they have no sense of humor), and although this was not said to be funny, it was said to be ironic (left also has a problem with irony), and to juxtapose a madman's ramblings with the marxist, deconstructionist blather that passes for literature and writing courses on our campuses of higher education.

Second, most of his program yesterday was devoted not to Cho, but to his favorite charity, leukemia research. He has raised approximately $17 million dollars in the last 17 years devoting just a few hours of air time one afternoon a year. His listeners contribute, but this year he personally was donating over $300,000. I doubt that any left of center media watch organization or left wing blogger ever mentions this, choosing instead to pull several sentences out of his monologue, and not mentioning the context in which it was said. Then that fuels the fanatics who don't do their own listening and research.

*from Giovanni's address: "We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy."

Friday Family Photo--Cousins

Sister on the left, me on the right, and our cousin Dianne in the middle
I think this was taken in October. We weren't doing anything special--just sitting around having a cup of tea. My cousin had stopped by on her way to visit her mother, and I was in Illinois visiting my sister. We've lived in Ohio for 40 years, so times with my family are done in little snatches--mini-vacations, weddings, funerals, health emergencies and reunions. When I was a child it never really occurred to me that I would be away from my siblings, or lose touch with the cousins I saw every Sunday at grandparents. Then I got married, moved to another state, and became part of another family, and saw more of them in Indiana than mine. Now it seems normal, and our holidays and special times revolve around our little family here, but for many years I felt adrift.

3731

Dear Bill O'Reilly,

Your using the Cho clips while discussing whether it was gratuitous, was ridiculous. We are regular watchers of your show, but this is a story you bungled.

Bill's note to me:

"Dear Valued Visitor,

Thank you for contacting the Customer Service Team at BillOReilly.com.

[publicizing his show]

Sorry, but due to the overwhelming volume of emails, we are unable to respond to specific show content questions for The O'Reilly Factor."

I'll bet you are.

3730

What it means to be me. . .

Cynthia Blair Kane in The New Standard (central Ohio's largest circulation Jewish newspaper) writes:

"I have always been a Jew.
I was a little Jew in my mother's womb,
I was a Jew before my parents knew if I was going to be a boy or a girl and
I was a Jew before they picked out a name."

Reminds me of Psalm 139.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in the secret place...your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before they came to be." Psalm 139: 13-16

3729

Hoping-for-Defeat Harry

Senate Majority Leader Hogwash Harry Reid (D-Nev) said Thursday the war in Iraq is "lost." Heedless Harry Reid (D-Nev) said he told President Bush on Wednesday he thought the war could not be won through military force, although Haughty Harry (D-Nev) said the U.S. could still pursue political, economic and diplomatic means to surrender in Iraq.

"I believe myself that the secretary of state, secretary of defense and - you have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows - (know) this war is lost, with my help, and the surge is not accomplishing anything as we've successfully blocked funding, as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday," said Help-the-Enemy Harry Reid, (D-Nev). slightly adjusted for truth from Associated Press story on MyWay News

The Democrats. Constant in criticism, sniveling in surrender, but bold against the unborn.

3728

How to say thank you to your employees by age group

Today's WSJ had an article on the "kudo kids" now entering the labor force. From the time they were infants, they've been told how great they are, receiving a lot of affirmation for not doing very much. A "thank you" guru reports on how to say thank you or "good job" to your employees based on their ages.

Over 60--It's called a paycheck

40-60--A few self-indulgent treats or freebies

Under 40--Require a lot of stroking and constant feedback. They need praise for showing up.

This all started sometime ago. I remember going to a middle school athletic "honors" banquet with my daughter, maybe around 1981-82. Every child got a little trophy. I think hers was for working at the refreshment stand during sporting events. I was a bit deflated (although I knew she wasn't an athlete, I sensed a lot of praise inflation even 25 years ago).

3727

At my other blogs

• How "Hispanic" became a racial category
  
  
• Was I the only Christian disappointed?
  
  
• Children in coffee shops
  
  
• As American as apple pie
  
  
• Lake Erie Living

3726

Ask at your local library

Dear Home Editor,

I am a regular reader--my husband is an architect, I'm a retired librarian. I note that you suggest to your readers that to apply for "a chance to win great prizes," one of which is a $35 acrylic throw, they need to have internet access and an e-mail address. Then you offer the services of their local library where the staff will help them set up a free e-mail account and, presumably, teach them how to get onto your website, find the right page, the correct window, and enter all the appropriate information. Whether a person would actually go to this much trouble to get a "chance to win" a $35.00 throw, I don't know, but I do know it would cost about $100 in staff time to teach someone who knew nothing about the internet how to set up and manipulate an e-mail account.

Also, once this person is up and running on the internet, she must enter your giveaway site by noon Eastern Time. That would be 9 a.m. in California. Are libraries even open that early on the west coast? As you well know, nothing is free, not even giveaways which are part of marketing. Libraries are definitely not free, nor is information. Please be responsible in your own offers and suggest a phone number or snail mail option if people don't have, don't want, can't learn, or physically can't get to the internet. You are a print medium.

I have 10 blogs and 2 e-mail addresses, and use the internet 4-5 hours a day. My husband does not know how to turn on the computer and I don't mow the lawn. It's not for everyone.

Norma Bruce
Faculty Emeritus
Ohio State University Libraries

3725

Doing my part for the environment

You've heard the expression, "Think globally, act locally." Yesterday on my walk I picked up some trash along the way. Now, that does slow me down, but if I don't do it who will?

At one spot I found both the letter and the envelope. I don't know if it was tossed out of a car window, or if it had blown out of the garbage truck because we've had some really windy days with our very cold spring, or perhaps it blew out of a trash recepticle placed for pick up. When I looked at the addressee I thought someone had listed a fake name and address which got into database--it was just too classic. The first name was of a well known painting of a woman with an enigmatic smile; the surname phonetically was "mall walker;" and the house number was 1234. Obviously, I have way too much time on my hands, but I actually googled the person, and yes, the family lives in a nearby neighborhood. Then I found the vita of one of the residents (recent MBA from Ohio State looking for a job), with e-mail and phone number, reviewed his job history, and of course, Google showed me a map of where the family lived, and the letter from ADT told me that they didn't have a security system and that 1 in every 5 homes will experience a problem with security. If I wanted to, I could have pulled up a floor plan of the house from the county auditor site showing me the location of windows and doors, drive-way's relation to feeder streets and main arteries to the free-ways.

Trash is so informative. Don't let anything go in the trash intact that you wouldn't want someone else to find, because there are just too many ways to find you.

Poetry Thursday

"Think of places that most need to see a poem. Think of people who most need to read a poem. Go to those places, to those people and leave your words for them to find." The assignment calls this Guerrilla Poetry. Not my term, but I did pass this one out to a few people and post it on a bulletin board at the coffee shop. Actually, my blog is where I do this. I don't really like the idea of cluttering up public places. It seems a bit pushy.

I wrote this poem while reading about the difficulty of preserving archives, how memory changes over the years, varies from person to person, and is valued depending on who the victors are. The archives themselves can be biased and/or violated, as we learned in the Sandy Berger theft of 9-11 materials from our National Archives, or even by what is selected to be released, printed, digitized and stored within our various levels of government.

Interview with a western journalist
by Norma Bruce

The problem is not
that I know nothing,
but that I know everything.

Now that I've disappeared
into the general population,
it's with the locals I survive.

So when you speak to me of
identity, ethnicity and faction,
who would you have me be?

Unless you've seen your mother raped,
don't talk to me of the evils of
genocide, vengeance or escalation.

Correct your own country's history,
douse your own archives with gasoline,
then we'll talk.

For my past, present and future
I shall burn in Hell,
but at least I'll burn for Croatia.*

*Quote about Croatia from "Archives, documentation and institutions of social memory, essays from the Sawyer Seminar."

3723

Do you work with difficult people?

Fat Doctor has the answer. She "pretends the patient is Jesus. And that he's testing me. Don't wanna make Jesus angry, so I behave myself appropriately."

It's a hilarious story.

3722

What do you think of NBC's behavior

The murderer gets his wish for immortality--NBC complies, and all the other media fall in line and once out, it will never die on the internet. When I bring up my RR homepage, his ugly face and the tape is there.

A foul mouthed Don Imus MSNBC hired to say outrageous things gets fired for doing what he was hired to do. He says "nappy headed hos. A man who murders over 30 people sends NBC taped rants and then uses NBC to tell his story to the world. Same network. I'm trying to think of as many synonyms as possible for the executives of NBC (and Fox, ABC and CBS and cable affiliates) who made the decision to play the Cho images over and over and over. These words describe NBC, the main newsperp, not Cho.

money driven

bottom liners

bottom feeders

profit motivated

power besotted

goof ups

disgusting

bumblers

bunglers

shallow

muddled thinking

screw ups

rotten

fetid

odious

vile

four letter word for bottom discharge

irrational

atrocious

outrageous

scandalous

unrestrained

merciless

undignified

disrespectful to families of victims

unprincipled

brutal

barbarous

repugnant

loathsome

evil

troubled

disturbed

creepy

careless

duplicitous

rotten

3721

Nominate a library web site

I've been ranting at a library blog about how difficult most library websites are to navigate. Since the Mt. Morris Public Library was the first I ever used (when it was still in Old Sandstone) and I worked there in high school (before the present building expanded), I looked at it in my quest for easy-to-use and understand library websites. Although I don't care for the pea green background color of the site, I must say, it is easy to navigate and clear, and has a helpful form for requesting information. Good job, Mt. Morris.

As I recall, this collection which began as a philanthropic effort by the women's club became a public library around 1931. My mother was a teen-age college student in Mt. Morris and was issued card number 14 or something like that and used it until she died in 2000 at 88.

------------------

Usually I express nothing but frustration with the Ohio State University Libraries web sites, however, I've just looked at the Cartoon Research Library (part of OSUL) and after staring at it for 2 or 3 seconds, figured out how to use it. I loved the special database, especially searching by genre. How cool is that--especially if you are unfamiliar with the names of the artists or even what to call their art.

Just ignore the little band of boxes across the top which send you off into the larger library system (don't go there unarmed without vast knowledge of how to work the system).
-----------------

Bismarck, North Dakota: address (name and state) at bottom; four columns, too many colors, difficult to read and find information; couldn't find a link to staff names or comment/contact window--possibly buried on a hard to find page.
----------------

New Albany-Floyd County Public Library, IN: Very amateurish, too many colors. Main photo appears to be of an office through the glass doors, but it's hard to tell. Purples, green-blues. Blobs of information. Can't find a list of staff or way to comment or request.
-------------------------

Alameda Free Library, California: seems to have a new library. All the money must have gone for the building, leaving none for the website, which is amateurish, with poor color choices (what is it with libraries and sense of color--I've never seen so much purple and pea green!) Can't find any list of staff or way to contact them. Might be there, but not easy to locate.

-----------------------------
Toledo Lucas County, Ohio: although the site is attractive and eager to please, the main features are the lyceum--all programming, not the collection. That's not why I come to a library, and for a web site, it is really disappointing. I wasn't allowed to even look at the database titles without a pin number, so can't tell you much about that. The staff, at least, is not in alphabetical order, although based on their titles, there are no librarians there, only "managers." I did finally find a "suggestion for purchase" form, which my library doesn't have. This library has a very long list of rules, procedures and guidelines, maybe being urban they have to, but the overall impression is sort of oppresive.
---------------------
Flagstaff City-Coconino County Public Library: The main page is a bit hokey--can't decide between flashing cartoons and dignified photos. I'd not miss it a bit if all library sites dumped the free, flashing cartoony stuff. No address or state name on the main page; no list of staff, only departments. You'd have to hunt a bit to find a way to send an e-mail or request. Very nice history page--more libraries should have one. The long list of rules to get a library card really makes my PL look like the tooth fairy--I suppose they have more of an illegal immigrant problem than we do. There you have to show your ID and proof of address--mine lets you register online, but does want your SS#, which I'm against. But everyone seems to do it, even with the high turn over of staff who have access to it.

3720

Amazing gifts for women soldiers

If you ever need a reason to feel crummy about your craft skills, just go visit a knitter or quilter's blog! Oh my goodness those folks are talented. Somewhere on a shelf in my laundry room I have some yarn and needles, but have never even made it to "purl." Today I wandered into the blog home of Debra Spincic of Texas. Not only is her own work amazing, but she had photos of a quilt show that I assume is a local Texas group. Then scrolling down, I see she is buying quilt tops on e-Bay, having them quilted (finished, I assume), and then they will go to injured women soliders at Walter Reed. See her project here. Here's the quilt show favorites she featured.

I'm so depressed by my total lack of talent, I'm going out for coffee where I'll try to post my poetry for our Poetry Thursday assignment, "Think of places that most need to see a poem. Think of people who most need to read a poem. Go to those places, to those people and leave your words for them to find."

Nominated again!

I got another Thinking Blogger Award from RennyBA, who blogs from Norway. Right now he's enjoying Springtime and a Lifecruiser Cyber cruise. So stop by and say hello. Although he gets a lot more comments than I do. Since I've already nominated a few other thinkers in a previous post, I'm assuming I've fulfilled that requirement.

Politicizing the tragedy

Within minutes of the news of the shootings at VA Tech, the terrible tragedy was being politicized on both the left and the right, by the talking heads, the talk show hosts, the blogs, the politicians. The poor parents hadn't even been notified yet--they were still trying to call their dead children, and we had started a very angry, politically charged "conversation" about gun control, American culture, "we" and "we're all to blame." Rosie O'Donnell and other hot shots have a private security force to protect them, so we know she'll call for gun control for others--that's what left wing entertainers do. But it was equally upsetting to hear the conservative talk hosts railing against the lefties who they believe are trying to bring them down with this issue, and then second guessing the police investigation of the first murders in the dorm. The blame game was unbelieveable. I feel so sorry for the school officials who never ever thought they would be facing a carnage like this. A pox on both houses. As I understand the laws of Virginia, the murderer had done everything legal. I think the college administration and the police who must have faced a scene most would only see in war or horror movies have behaved with honor and dignity. No one would ask a city of 30,000 to secure a shut down after a murder or have cameras in every building, but that's what people are shouting now! Let the parents at least bury their children before you get on the soap box for your favorite cause.

This man, as it now turns out, was criminally insane. You don't pass legislation or make grand judgements about an entire nation because an insane college student has fantasies, is paranoid, or is a psycopath--and consumed with or by evil. What we may need to look at, instead of gun control, is our privacy laws and disability laws which have put many of us in danger both from disease and people who can't control their minds or take their medication.

3717

Do smoking cessation pills and programs work?

I know many former smokers; my son-in-law quit 9 years ago, his father knows the exact day in 1980 that he quit after 37 years of being a smoker. Both my father and my husband's father began smoking as teen-agers; one quit at 39, the other around 50 (his wife didn't quit and died of lung cancer). A good friend of ours quit about 5 years ago in his 60s after heart surgery, but has recently been diagnosed with cancer. I know many people who thought they could not live without a cigarette but miraculously discovered after lung cancer, COPD or triple by-pass, they could indeed live well and not smoke. Of all the former smokers I know, all quit by. . . quiting. They stopped lighting up, usually cold turkey not gradually, and just suffered the short term consequences and discomfort rather than the agony and pain of losing a lung or the disability of having a stroke or heart attack.

So when I read about Medicaid paying for smoking cessation programs I wondered if that's the best use of our tax money. 41 million Americans have their health insurance through Medicaid, and 29% of them are smokers. Medicaid is handled by the states--in Ohio, 37.6% of our state taxes go to fund Medicaid. Thirty-eight of the 50 states offer some sort of coverage for at least one smoking treatment according to MMWR 2006:55:1193-1197. Some are a mix and match between drugs and behavioral modification.

Obviously, it's not healthy for anyone to smoke, but does any one but the pharmaceutical companies and the people who run these programs really benefit?