Observing All Hallows' Eve

Although Halloween looks pagan, especially considering the slutty costume you can buy for $30 to make your 5 year old daughter look like a slutty prostitute, its origins are Christian according to Fisheaters website:

The Vigil of All Hallows' ("Hallows' Eve," or "Hallowe'en") came, in Irish popular piety, to be a day of remembering the dead who are neither in Purgatory or Heaven, but are damned, and these customs spread to many parts of the world. Thus we have the popular focus of Hallowe'en as the reality of Hell, hence its scary character and focus on evil and how to avoid it, the sad fate of the souls of the damned, etc.

How, or even whether, to celebrate Hallowe'en is a controversial topic in traditional circles. One hears too often that "Hallowe'en is a pagan holiday" -- an impossibility because "Hallowe'en," as said, means "All Hallows' Evening" which is as Catholic a holiday as one can get. Some say that the holiday actually stems from Samhain, a pagan Celtic celebration, or is Satanic, but this isn't true, either, any more than Christmas "stems from" the Druids' Yule, though popular customs that predated the Church may be involved in our celebrations (it is rather amusing that October 31 is also "Reformation Day" in Protestant circles -- the day to recall Luther's having nailed his 95 Theses to Wittenberg's cathedral door -- but Protestants who reject "Hallowe'en" because pagans used to do things on October 31 don't object to commemorating that event on this day)."

On All Saints Sunday, which this year is November 4 (first Sunday after All Hallows'/All Saints Day, Nov. 1) our church remembers/memorializes the Church Triumphant, saints of the church in heaven, by reading the names turned in by members. The other day while delivering the intercampus mail, I picked up a stack of cards so the names of my deceased family members and friends (the saints) could be read at the 8:30 service at Lytham Road. Then I noticed the cards are for Mill Run services. So forgive me, dear ones, if I scribble on your cards. It's the thought. . .

Friday Family Photo

This portrait was probably taken 120 years ago in 1887 when Stanley C. Byrum was about a year old. It hangs in our cottage, in a fragile old frame coated with thick paint. I was the only one who wanted it when my in-laws' home was being sold after their deaths. He was my husband's grandfather, and the single most important adult in his life. "Biggie" is always in my husband's conversation when values, character or family come up. I never met him; he died in 1955 at 68 while my husband was still in high school. The little face is amazing--it has reappeared in several generations. My mother-in-law had this face, but not her sisters; his great-grand daughter Julie, but not her sister, had this face as a baby, as did her daughter Erin.

Adverbosity

I'm a sucker for qualifiers--"sort of," "rather," "just," "quite," and "too." And I'm crazy for dashes. Every editor wants to chop my adverbs. Zinsser says,

"Most adverbs are unnecessary. You will clutter your sentence and annoy the reader if you choose a verb that has a precise meaning and then add an adverb that carries the same meaning. . . "blared loudly," "mostly flabbergasted," and "moped dejectedly."

But then, Zinsser doesn't think much of adjectives, either--"stately elms," "frisky kittens" and "hard-bitten detectives.' He likes strong verbs. At nHumanities it was suggested

"Kill the modifiers. This is machete work, so wrap a bandanna around your face and grab some shop goggles. No reader is going to believe that your process is innovative or your product is world-class just because you say so, so kill those adjectives. Don’t feel sorry for them. They have no feelings."

So I struggled with film critic Joe Morgenstern's article today on Dan in Real Life, and the new Jimmy Carter documentary. There were so many adverbs (and adjectives), I was mostly and dejectedly flabbergasted.

strives desperately
romantically involved (if a man and woman are involved, doesn't that mean romantically?)
awfully heartily (adverb modifying an adverb--double whammy)
singularly unpleasant
notoriously homely
inexplicably awful
terribly tedious
extremely small (how about tiny?)
quite disarmingly
genuinely sweet

unquenchably energetic
singular passion
slightly stooped
essentially undiminished
mostly calm
patiently didactic
uncomfortably admiring advertisement
narrowly focused
mostly uncritical view
uncritical but not unaffecting
peregrinating conscience (I had to look this one up--means traveling)

Whew! Is it just me? Maybe he's British. They like their sentences fully and heartily packed.

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Pumpkin ice cream

This is one of my fall favorites (Sept-Nov), and it's only available a limited amount of time. Today I bought two half gals of Edy's. Well, not really 1/2 gallon, because they are all cheating on their measures (1.75 qts), but you know what I mean. And technically it isn't ice cream because Edy's calls it "frozen dessert." I take one of these, softened, and mix it with a small carton of thawed sugar-free Cool Whip, then refreeze. This reduces the sugar content, lowers the calories, but hardly affects the flavor or texture, because it is the fat that makes ice cream wonderful. Edy's also makes an apple pie flavor and a peppermint flavor that are seasonal.

INGREDIENTS: Whey (Dairy), skim milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup, pumpkin, maltodextrin, spices (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger), salt, guar gum, Propylene Glycol Monostearate, citric acid, monoglycerides, Yellow #6, carrageenan.

Propylene Glycol Monostearate. Isn't that C21H42O3 an ingredient in antifreeze, solvents and detergents? On second thought. . .

Are Georgians an endangered species?

I sure hope not. We University of Illinois Alumni (plus one IU) spent a lovely 10 days with University of Georgia Dawgs in September touring Ireland. Midwesterners are so practical and blunt; in Georgia they know how to sweet-talk-ya'll. I loved it. Anyway, to the point. Did you see the article in today's WSJ about that little mussel that's protected by all the government agencies, but who's looking out for the people?

The Amblema neislerii, or as it is widely known by a more unflattering name, the fat threeridge mussel, is on the endangered species list according to Ann Carrns, "Atlanta is flexing muscles," p. 1, WSJ, Oct. 26, 2007. Georgia has filed suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which controls the reservoir, Lake Lanier, from which Atlanta gets its drinking water. It's a busy little lake--sending water also to rivers downstream including one in Florida where these endangered mussels live--and it cools 2 power plants and freshens the spawning grounds of Gulf sturgeon.

In a drought year (it's Bush's fault that we got too much rain in Ohio and not enough in Georgia), that's a lot. Not only do you have several state governments involved--Georgia, Alabama and Florida--but also FEMA, the Corps, EPA and Fish and Wildlife. Not to worry! There's 9 months of water left!! Florida (pot to kettle) is accusing Atlanta of over development, squandering its water resources. Well, ggggolllleeee, like we've never seen the countryside and drained wetlands eaten up with housing developments in Florida!

This is why I don't like burning corn in our cars, Mr. Gore. The inputs including fertilizer, water and herbicides are humongous--it's a negative energy balance. We on the Great Lakes (11 states and provinces) can see the rest of you eyeing our water. Stop it!

After thoughts: Isn't it scary that there are some willing to fight for the mussel which needs a flow of water to survive who think it's OK to stop the survival of a baby moving down the birth canal ?

The Left never gets it right

but sometimes the Right doesn't either. The very first people I heard politicizing the California wildfires were the conservative talkers on radio. Now, maybe that's because I don't watch the MSM, but I think they jumped in first on Monday, without naming names, designating parties, or blaming anyone. They simply pointed out the difference between the Katrina rescue efforts (local Democrats) and the California rescue efforts (local Republicans). By the time I heard the lefties, they were off-topic and screaming global warming (Bush's fault) even though 1936 was a much hotter year with worse fires and environmental regulations have made the state a tinderbox, and not enough resources (War in Iraq, also Bush's fault) even though Schwarzenegger all but called Barbara Boxer and her bag ladies liars and alarmists.

Then Nancy Pelosi looked like she had a heart of ice and a freshly botoxed face in explaining why she just had to ram through another SCHIP bill while the California people had gone home to check out the situation. Bush actually took longer to go out to look than he did in Louisiana (remember, until the levees broke after the hurricane, people thought they had escaped the BIG one) and Blanco didn't call for help from the feds until it was way too late. (Must be a woman thing.) Two years and billions of dollars later, Katrina's devastation has shown the total incompetency of Nagin and Blanco, not George Bush or FEMA, with the only bright spot being Bobby Jindal's election.

Then today a letter writer to USAToday smugly says: "Did the residents of Southern California benefit from their economic status and race?" Actually, she's on to something, because the Democrats in New Orleans had so demoralized and weakened its poor black population with government handouts and a soaring crime rate over the years, they couldn't even help themselves. Middle-class, educated NOLAns, black and white, didn't have a problem getting out and fleeing to Texas, Ohio or Calfornia. People who are accustomed to looking after themselves and their neighbors know how to take action. When it's too smokey to breathe, or someone drives through the neighborhood telling them to leave, I'm sure a certain amount of learned self-interest goes a long way. It's a shame that buses were swamped in New Orleans that should have transported the poor, but that doesn't make people driving SUVs down a burning hillside more fortunate because of their income or color.

More young Dems seek love on the internet

According to a story yesterday in TechNewsWorld,

Twenty-four percent of respondents to an online poll said the Internet could serve as a temporary replacement for a significant other. "Some view the Internet as their new best friend, others as an increasingly powerful tool that can infect our youth with harmful images and thoughts and therefore must be controlled," said Tom Galvin, a partner in 463 Communications, which conducted the poll with Zogby International.

Wow. I like the Internet, but it's not "my best friend," it's an information source and a place to write into a template which then publishes itself. It seems Democrats are even more sucked in than Republicans (who are probably a bit less emotional and fuzzy/wuzzy). I know the left has far more wacked-out blogs than the right, and they love those social networking sites, according to this poll.

"Among the poll's other findings was that more than a quarter of Americans currently have a profile on a social networking site such as MySpace or Facebook . That varied widely, though, depending on age -- a full 78 percent of those aged 18 to 24 have profiles -- and political tendencies, with Democrats outpacing Republicans by 10 percentage points."

Chikungunya Fever and Elephantiasis

Thanks to Rachel Carson and her misguided, unscientific book Silent Spring, these two diseases continue to cripple and kill millions in developing countries, after having been virtually wiped out in the 1960s and 1970s. They used to be controlled by DDT. Chikungunya, a virus spread by mosquitoes, means "bent over and unable to walk upright" has turned up now in the Ravenna area of Italy. It is endemic in some areas of Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. It is spread by mosquitoes.


Elephantiasis is caused by a parasitic worm, and affects more than 120 million people in 80 countries, and more than 40 million of them are severely incapacitated and disfigured by the diseases. A team of scientists seem to be close to mapping the genome of the worm. [both stories from JAMA, October 17, 2007]

"Some of the diseases controlled by DDT included typhus, plague, malaria, yellow fever, sleeping sickness elephantiasis, leishmanisasis, river blindness, Oroya fever, other fevers and dysentery (transmitted by domestic flies). Many kinds of animals were protected by DDT from envenomization and parasitism by arthropods. It also killed blood-sucking parasites of birds, thereby reducing deaths from avian malaria, encephalitis, and Newcastle disease. It also prevented the deaths of hundreds of millions of forest trees, by killing the caterpillars of the gypsy moths, Tussock moths, and other forest insects. In killing insects which destroyed crops, food shortages have been minimized and food prices held relatively affordable.

Millions of trees were lost during the infestations of the gypsy moth and Tussock moths. Greens predictably opposed the use of DDT to save these trees. Political correctness and loyalty to their causes must never be challenged. The same crowd which once refused to save trees now supports saving the trees, the planting of trees, without embarrassment, without noticing the double standards." Hawaii Reporter

Apples help with weight loss

Every day, yes every day, I eat an unpeeled apple and a 1/2 cup of walnuts for breakfast. That way I don't get hungry. If I eat something with grain or dairy, I'm famished within an hour. My favorite breakfast is two pieces of toast covered with thick slices of cheese, topped with peanut butter, but those days are definitely over. And this time of year, I can get Honey Crisp apples. Monday I paid $9 for 8 apples, and one was bad when I sliced it, so it was $9 for 7. I was happy to get them. Last week they were $.30 a pound cheaper, but the store only had 4. Here's a story from the Chicago Tribune that will explain why this apple is so wonderful. Once you eat one, you'll be spoiled for anything else.

The Obesity Society reports that eating an apple before a meal will help curb your appetite.

"A new study shows an apple a day keeps the calories at bay. People who ate an apple about 15 minutes before lunch consumed almost 190 fewer calories than when they didn't have the apple. The research was presented Tuesday at a meeting of the Obesity Society, an organization of weight-control scientists and professionals." USAToday

I'm not sure why this is breaking news, because apple growers have been praising the apples' low calories and health benefits for years. But, the Obesity Society apparently also reported that walking briskly for an hour a day is key to weight loss. Who knew?

The Jena 6 myths

Sunday morning I was preparing lunch and tuned in a local church program. The black preacher had a good sermon going about St. Paul, when all of a sudden he was off and running with the Jena 6, repeating every preposterous story that could be concocted. Where's he get his news, I wondered; the local barbershop? So I changed channels. That much ignorance is a shame for a man of the cloth. Even so, the story written up in the Chronicle of Higher Education added a few bits I didn't know about, and it makes you wonder how this story got legs that led all the way to DC, even with Jesse and Al whipping the horses. Truly, there are Americans who want racial hatred to never die, or they'd be out of work.

Myth 1: The Whites-Only Tree. There has never been a "whites-only" tree at Jena High School. Students of all races sat underneath this tree. When a student asked during an assembly at the start of school last year if anyone could sit under the tree, it evoked laughter from everyone present – blacks and whites. As reported by students in the assembly, the question was asked to make a joke and to drag out the assembly and avoid class.

Myth 2: Nooses a Signal to Black Students. An investigation by school officials, police, and an FBI agent revealed the true motivation behind the placing of two nooses in the tree the day after the assembly. According to the expulsion committee, the crudely constructed nooses were not aimed at black students. Instead, they were understood to be a prank by three white students aimed at their fellow white friends, members of the school rodeo team. (The students apparently got the idea from watching episodes of "Lonesome Dove.") The committee further concluded that the three young teens had no knowledge that nooses symbolize the terrible legacy of the lynchings of countless blacks in American history. When informed of this history by school officials, they became visibly remorseful because they had many black friends. Another myth concerns their punishment, which was not a three-day suspension, but rather nine days at an alternative facility followed by two weeks of in-school suspension, Saturday detentions, attendance at Discipline Court, and evaluation by licensed mental-health professionals. The students who hung the nooses have not publicly come forward to give their version of events.

Craig Franklin, a local Jena reporter, then adds 10 more myths. Indeed. This is an amazing story and you wonder why anyone, even a professional organizer who draws his income from stirring the pot, would want to put a community through this.

Borkiversary 20

In my lifetime I date the viciousness of political smearing to the confirmation hearings of Robert Bork. It got nasty during the Clinton years, and crescendoed with Bush, but Bork was a foretaste of things to come. A training camp for liberals and conservatives both. A new verb entered our language, "to bork" or to destroy a man while smirking and posturing in front of a TV audience. Gary L. McDowell wrote in the WSJ this week:

"The issue that united the judge's critics in their fiery, scorched-earth opposition was never his ability or reputation but rather his theory of judging. Mr. Bork's belief was that judges and justices in their interpretations of the Constitution must be bound to the original intentions of its framers."

"At its deepest level, Mr. Bork's defeat was the result of the very public affirmation by the Senate of a dangerous theory of ideological judging that had been developing for quite some time. It was the idea of a so-called "living" Constitution, one that various scholars have said means there need be "no theoretical gulf between law and morality," and that ordinary judges are empowered to interpret the fundamental law in light of their own "fresh moral insight" in order to effect a judicially mandated "moral evolution" of the nation."

Some say it was about abortion, but I think that was just the tossed bone used to whip up the masses--mainly women, because men really don't care. It was about judges taking over the responsibilities of the law makers--although why our linguini spined elected officials desired that, I can't imagine. Even Clarence Thomas says his "lynching" by liberals, black and white, was about abortion. You would almost hope that was it. In his case, I'd say it was pure racism, ugly and vile, with little or nothing to do with abortion or constitutional interpretation.

For all his other slip-ups from immigration to not fixing social security, Bush has at least given us Roberts and Alito.

Now what holiday exactly would that be?

Our local suburb, Upper Arlington, is about as lily white and predominantly Christian as a town could get and not be lodged in the 1950s, but we have an "Upper Arlington Winter Festival and Community Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony" sponsored by the city. Whenever I see that, I ask myself, "What holiday exactly?" Turkey Day? Halloween? Ground Hog Day? MLK Day? Of course not. Everyone knows it is Christmas, but our city fathers (and one or two mothers) don't want to offend anyone--not even Christians who probably think the consumerism is totally out of hand. They don't light the Christmas tree, it's a holiday tree. They just aren't honest, and I think they should just drop all the happy, clappy, let's-all-just-get-along nonsense, forget about the birth of a Savior, the reason it is a joyous time, and go shopping. If it is offensive to use the word Christmas, then it is just a slap in the face to believers to play games with a religious observance. Please don't remind me that the Christmas tree has pagan origins--everyone knows that. All Christian holidays have pagan symbols--it was good marketing in the early days for mass conversions. That doesn't mean we are ready to give it back to the 21st century pagans.

http://www.markdroberts.com/htmfiles/resources/christmastree.htm
USAToday had a similar problem yesterday with an article about a shortage of retail help for "the season." Here's the euphemisms in just one short article:

holiday season

holiday challenges

holiday marketing

holiday jobs

seasonal hires

holiday hiring

during the holidays

holiday cheer

seasonal workers

holiday season employees

holiday workers

However, when push came to shove, USAToday had to use the dreaded word, "Christmas," because of the phrase, "would get Christmas day off," and "Christmas Eve." It's really hard to get around it by saying the workers would get "the holiday" off, or would have to work "holiday eve." Sounds about as goofy as leaving Christmas out of the holiday season, doesn't it?

Thursday Thirteen--13 places my purse spread germs before 7 a.m.

Yesterday I was listening to a local radio talk guy discuss germs on a woman's purse, although it also applied to briefcases, backpacks, and bookbags. Women's purses are probably the worst, because women eat, handle food and use make-up, all of which create germ growth. So I checked Snopes because some of this was going around in e-mails about 2 years ago, and was being reported on TV health shows. What I found seemed to confirm it, although I didn't track down the original research.

"According to researchers at Nelson Laboratories in Salt Lake City, Utah, women's purses may be not only high in overall germ counts, but especially prone to carrying some of the most harmful varieties of bugs. Among the nasty bacteria found on purses were salmonella and E. coli, which can cause food poisoning and gastrointestinal problems, and pseudomonas, which causes eye infections. Perhaps even more cringe-worthy: researchers found evidence of trace fecal contamination on the majority of the purses tested. Results of the study were reported in a recent piece by the local news affiliate KUTV." Lifescript

Here are the places my purse landed before 7 a.m. this morning.

1) My side desk at home (I don't work here; just pile things on it).


2) My office chair while I was gathering my coat, notebook, etc. to leave for the coffee shop.

3) Counter top in my office bathroom where I went to put on my lipstick.


4) Table top in the kitchen while I looked for a pencil.

5) Passenger seat of my van while driving.

6) Counter top at Panera's where I ordered, paid for and picked up a coffee cup.

7) Counter top where I poured the coffee and added cream.

8) Table top where I sat to drink my coffee and read.


9) Hearth of the fireplace next to my table.

10) Door hook in toilet stall of the ladies' room.

11) Sink top in the ladies' room when I washed my hands. Keep in mind you handle your purse before you wash your hands.

12) My lap, and the underside of the table, when I returned to the table.

13) Kitchen counter top when I got home.


My purse is fabric and not easy to clean; plus it's black and I can't see the soil. I'm guessing the handle is much dirtier than the bottom. The three worst places to put a purse, according to the research, were in my own home--the kitchen table, kitchen counter top, and the bathroom counter top. But think about that stall door in the ladies room at the restaurant. A power flush toilet with no lid--a door that is never cleaned but within spray range. Yuk. The door probably isn't much better than the floor, which at least might be mopped once a day.

What about your purse/briefcase? Where has it traveled today?

Visit or join other Thursday Thirteeners.

Thursday Thirteen

Totally Optional Prompt

Today's prompt is a poem by Ted Kooser about the horse, "its hide a hot shudder of satin/ head stony and willful. . ." For this I pull out an old one, written on the occasion of Lou Ferrigno's 50th birthday in 2002. He is the actor who played "The Hulk." The photo is me with my horse at a trail ride. The poem is about noticing the changes as I went from being a straight and skinny child to a more adult figured young woman.



Happy Birthday, Lou Ferrigno

Today it was announced
with little surprise
That the Hulk had turned 50;
so did my thighs.

Yes, back in ‘52
I fell from a horse,
Noticed my body shifting--
southward, of course.

Legs that outran all the boys
in school races,
Now slowed down and waited
for a few paces.

The limbs that scrambled up and
were scraped on trees
Became pudgy, dimpled
soft above the knees.

The body so straight and slim
looked like a rack,
Now grew fat and fleshy
I knew for a fact.

So it’s with mixed emotion
and a few sighs
Eat cake and ice cream,
“Happy Birthday, dear thighs!”

Totally optional prompt

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Why I never voted for Ronald Reagan

I was a Democrat in the 80s and 90s. Simple as that. Even though I grew up a few miles from his childhood home, and my dad played college football against him, he was just another aging movie star to me. I didn't appreciate him until he was long out of office. Bill Clinton did that for me. Sigh. Today I came across this Elizabeth Dole item written at his death, and thought it was appropriate as we think about the qualities we want in the next President.

Ronald Reagan knew why he wanted to be President—he came to office with the clearest of vision, a passion for achieving his goals, and in conveying them, an eloquence almost unsurpassed. Ronald Reagan made us…all of us, the American people, believe in ourselves again.

He literally changed the world. Despite conventional wisdom, he determined that Communism had to be defeated, not tolerated. He rejected the Iron Curtain, he rejected the status quo, and his legacy to the world is freedom. His strength of character and bedrock belief in right and wrong ended the Cold War, and his leadership unshackled the yoke of tyranny for millions upon millions of people who had known only oppression. . .

And you know one of the things that will really be an inspiration to me the rest of my life is a conversation I had with the President when the two of us were alone. We were waiting in a holding room for him to give a speech. And you don’t often find yourself alone with the President of the United States, but on this particular day we were waiting for a speech and I said, “Mr. President, I just can’t resist – I had to ask you – how in the world when you have the weight of the world on your shoulders are you able to be so gracious, so thoughtful, so kind? I never see you flustered or frustrated…how do you do it with such weight on your shoulders?” And he kind of leaned back – and he loved to tell a story and to reminiscence and he said, “Well, Elizabeth, when I was Governor of California it seemed like every day yet another disaster would be placed on my desk, and I had an urge to hand it to someone behind me and help me.” He said, “One day I realized I was looking in the wrong direction. I looked up instead of back.” And he said, “I’m still looking up. And I couldn’t go one more day in this office if I didn’t know I could ask God’s help and it would be given.”

Speaking as a former Democrat, I think Al Gore is much more presidential, experienced, honest and grounded than Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or John Edwards (even though I think he's wrong on humans being able to control climate), and I hope the Democrats wake up and choose him. Also, I hope Republicans select someone strong enough to beat him.

What part of NO amnesty do they not understand

Couldn't have said it better myself, although I think I did. Read John Lillpop who writes:

In short, we the people are:

FED UP with plans to merge the United States into a North American alliance with Canada and Mexico. Such a plan would destroy American sovereignty and is totally unacceptable.

FED UP with the refusal of the federal government to secure our borders at time of war.

FED UP when armed Mexicans illegally cross our borders and assault Americans, yet our government takes no action, and refuses to even protest.

FED UP when Americans defending the U.S. from drug smuggling illegal aliens are sent to federal prison, while invading criminals are to be forgiven via amnesty for violating our borders and laws.

FED UP with the fact that upwards of 38 million illegal aliens are currently in America, and cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars every year. . .[includes many other points]

Finally, Mr. President and members of the U.S. Congress, we the people are FED UP with those who consistently work on behalf of illegal aliens and the state of Mexico, and against the interests of the American people!

Please do not underestimate the dissatisfaction and rage swelling in the hearts of patriotic Americans on this vital issue.

We the people DEMAND our great country back.

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DREAM Act is our nightmare

Welcome to Amnesty via the Defense bill. When thinking, tax-paying Americans defeated the Bush administration, the RINOS, and the Democratic left on Amnesty, they just circled the wagons and came up with another plan--The DREAM ACT, "Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2007".

If this is successfully attached to a Department of Defense authorization bill (HR 1585) illegal aliens will receive amnesty and be able to receive in-state tuition, with only claiming to be here before they turned 16. Whoopee do. And no one who entered the country illegally, who violated our laws in the first place, would ever think of lying, would they?

And the wigged out Kos calls Tom Tancredo crazy for threating to call the ICE on any illegal paraded by the Dems for the sympathy vote at the press conference? Call the authorities empowered by law to stop it? I'd call that brilliant. If you can't keep the illegals out of these phony rituals "for the children" that the Dems seem to love, where are they not welcome?

Update: I have contacted my Senators. Have you contacted yours? No matter how they try to sneak this in, the American people do not want amnesty for illegals. They will self-select to go home to their own country and families, to build up their own nation and obey their own laws, when opportunities for them here are closed down.

Flash flooding in Columbus

California would love to have our rain right about now. It was dark when I left the house this morning, and I realized the car would hardly move but I couldn't figure out why. One of the drains was clogged with leaves in the condo street, and I was plowing through about a foot of water. Some parts of Columbus have had 3-4" of rain today and underpasses are flooded, as well as some homes. I've notified the president of the condo association that he needs to get those leaves away from the street drain. That'd be my husband.

Then as I took my usual spot at Panera's, there was a drip, drip on my newspaper. Their roof drain seemed to be clogged too, and water was coming in through the ceiling tile.

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Facebook and Myspace face off

Eric Schnell a librarian at OSU has an interesting entry about the stats for these sites and who is using them. Check it out here.

Forest fires and environmentalists

Several years ago when we were in Arizona I asked our guide why dead brush and diseased trees weren't being removed. He told us that environmental regulations prevented that--they don't want to encourage anymore home sprawl into the mountains and canyons. "Sure looks like a fire hazard," I said. "Exactly," he said.

So now California, home of the left wing branch of everything, is burning. It's not the worst we've seen, by any means. Remember the early 90s when the suburbs were burning? I have no idea if California has the same rules, so I googled, and found this item from 2003.

America's national forests have for decades been a battleground between forestry's desire to engage and environmentalism's need to protect. From 1950 to 1990, commercial forestry and timber production won out. In recent times, the environmental movement turned the tables, using litigation and the government's own bureaucratic tendencies to bring forestry to its knees.

Environmentalism's success in taking control of our national forests, though, led to problems. Whereas in 1990, environmental activists sued to protect old growth and stop clear-cutting, by 2000 they were aggressively appealing and litigating forest thinnings and even thwarting attempts to clean up flammable dead, downed timber. The results, predictably, have been growing incidences of unnaturally hot, catastrophic wildfires. From Mercury News

I hope the people of California are better prepared than the people of New Orleans were, because evacuating 250,000 people sounds vaguely familiar. I'm sure they'll [environmentalists] find a way to blame President Bush, because we all know it would have rained if only Al Gore had been elected.

Update: Right on call. Despite all the assistance that the feds are sending (this is between the governor and the president) Barbara Boxer is blaming a lack of National Guardsmen (which isn't true, and I suppose she wants to throw them bodily into the fire to stop it even though she won't let them recruit on campus); and dirty Hairy is blaming global warming, so you see, it is all Bush's fault.

California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer complained on Capitol Hill Tuesday that the ability of the state's National Guard to respond to disasters like the fires has been compromised because too much of its equipment and personnel are committed in Iraq.

"As you know, one reason that we have the fires burning in Southern California is global warming. One reason the Colorado Basin is going dry is because of global warming." Reid said it, then denied he said Cal was burning because of global warming. Looks like you needed those foresry companies, Harry.