4323

Fire your accountants, Warren

Buffet, the second wealthiest men in America, thinks that rich people like him don't pay enough taxes. Testimony. There's an easy solution. I'm just a pensioner, but even I know that raising taxes on the rich is full employment for accountants and lawyers, and that while we'll all pay more and the value of our IRAs and 401-ks will shrink, they'll pay less.

It's a shell game, folks. All rich Democrats should fire their accountants and lawyers who see to it that they take advantage of every loophole in the tax code the ordinary worker can't use. Don't claim any deductions for contributions (the wealthy never pay the percentage of their income that the middle class do). Get rid of those investments that hide your wealth. Mr. Buffet, you will see how quickly you are able to pay your "fair share."

4322

Support your candidate

Before the Christmas [aka holiday] rush, why not send a small check (or however you do it these days electronically) to the candidate of your choice? Campaigns are about money, no use moaning about it and sitting on your wallet. Some like Clinton and Edwards are personally extremely wealthy. Others need to raise a war chest. If Obama or McCain is your man, send a contribution. It might buy a fraction of a TV minute or buy a few posters. Today I'm sending my contribution to Mike Huckabee. He most closely lines up with the experience, personal integrity and moral clarity I think are important. I would not be unhappy with some of the other Republican candidates, but I'd sure have to hold my nose if Rudy is the choice of the party (seems like a sweet guy with loads of experience and charisma, but way too much personal baggage for my tastes).

I don't do electronic transfers and I think all these campaign websites are designed by people who are 18-19 years old, so you may have to poke around a bit to find the U.S. Mail address.

To contribute by mail, please send to:

Huckabee for President, Inc.
P.O. Box 2008
Little Rock, Arkansas 72203
"When discussing faith and politics, we should honor the "candid" in candidate - I have much more respect for an honest atheist than a disingenuous believer." Mike Huckabee

4321

How will liberals respond if there is victory in Iraq?

If headlines in the Nov 15 USAToday are any indication, here's how it will go: big headlines for anything not going well, tiny print for anything that is.

"Taliban fighters escalate attacks in Afghanistan"
"The increased activity comes as security in Iraq improves."

I've never heard a liberal or Democrat or Progressive even suggest that victory would be a good thing. So it will be "improved security," or "surge draw down" or "withdrawal of troops," but you'll never hear them claim victory.

If your company ignores Christmas--Plow & Hearth

Dear Jim McCann, CEO and
Chris McCann, President
1-800-Flowers
Carle Place, NY

You didn't ignore Christmas! Good for you! I see that you now own Plow & Hearth. I just may send an order, because it's a neat holiday catalog, and they managed to insert the word "Christmas" into several descriptions of gifts. The word Christmas is actually on the cover of the print edition (even if it is an adjective modifying delivery) and on the verso where it appears on musical miniature music boxes. There's a tiny mention of what it's all about in "Star of Bethlehem" bulb garden on the back cover. On page 11 they also advertise that if I order a live fir sapling ($24.95), they'll send me a tree-shaped ornament engraved "Merry Christmas 2007" along with planting instructions. There are 11 pewter ornaments on this page, and for each one sold, a tree will be planted by the Canadian company that creates them. I'm guessing there are at least a few million Canadians who know the real meaning of Christmas, and perhaps next year Plow & Hearth could request a religious symbol of the infant Jesus and his mother be included along with the secular, like the baby penguin and its mother.

I wish you could have done more for the millions of Christians who might be potential customers, but so far, you are definitely winning in my Christmas Catalog competition!

In 2005, Plow & Hearth celebrated its 25th anniversary. It was sold to 1-800-Flowers in 1998. It has grown from a small country store into a multi-channel retailer, a leader in the catalog industry and the premiere source of products for the home, hearth, yard and garden. It participates in and has won awards for many state (Virginia) and local projects that help people and the environment.

Barnes & Noble
Lowe's

Ohio State hires aide to General Petraeus

From OSU Today

"The Mershon Center for International Security Studies and the Department of History have selected Col. Peter R. Mansoor as the next Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair of Military History. Mansoor, currently executive officer to Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq, will begin his duties at Ohio State in September 2008. He was one of the major authors of the report on the situation in Iraq, delivered by Petraeus to Congress on Sept. 10-11. He also served on the Council of Colonels that assisted the Joint Chiefs of Staff in reassessing Iraq War strategy and devising the surge strategy currently being employed. Mansoor is also the founding director of the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Story here.

In addition to the endowed Mason chair, the center also has an endowed Woody Hayes chair(former football coach who loved military history, and a peace studies chair.

If your company ignores Christmas--Barnes & Noble

Carolyn Brown
Director of Corporate Communications
Barnes & Noble.com

Dear Ms. Brown,

I'm looking through your on-line holiday catalog (for something to blog about or purchase on my membership card), and I see that you ignore my holiday, Christmas. There are many items for an unspecified holiday, a winter event, a joyous memory, and a seasonal gift, but nothing about Christmas, which millions who receive your catalog celebrate every year. Can you account for this? Why should I support you if you don't support me?

Thank you,
Norma Bruce

See also letter to Lowe's

4327

Ethnic differences in surviving Alzheimer's Disease

The on-line edition of Neurology (Nov. 14, 2007) reports that Latinos live about 40% longer than whites after being diagnosed with AD, and blacks live about 15% longer. Asian Americans and Native Americans appear to have about the same survival rate as whites.

"The 30,916 AD patients in the NACC were followed up for 2.4 ± 2.9 years (mean age 77.6 ± 6.5 years; 65% women; 19% nonwhite [12% African American, 4% Latino, 1.5% Asian, 0.5% American Indian, and 1% other]). Median survival was 4.8 years. African American and Latino AD patients had a lower adjusted hazard for mortality compared with white AD patients (African American hazard ratio [HR] 0.85, 95% CI 0.74 to 0.96; Latino HR 0.57, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.69). Asians and American Indians had similar adjusted hazards for mortality compared with white AD patients (p > 0.10 for both). African American and Latino autopsied AD patients had similar neuropathologic characteristics compared with white AD patients with similar clinical severity.

Conclusions: African American and Latino Alzheimer disease (AD) patients may have longer survival compared with white AD patients. Neuropathology findings did not explain survival differences by race. Determining the underlying factors behind survival differences may lead to longer survival for AD patients of all race/ethnic backgrounds."

Some researchers suspect underlying ethnic or cultural differences in the higher survival rate for minorities. Isn't that fascinating. Usually, if whites survive longer, poverty and access to health insurance among minorities are to blame; but when minorities live longer, there might be an ethnic difference in severity of disease?

4326

New magazine for secular homeschoolers

I collect first issues, and I'll probably miss this one since I usually go for news stand magazines and journals, but the first issue looks really good whether you're secular or religious. In fact, The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List is priceless. And the editor has a blog. A two-fer.

HT Dancing Boys Mom

If your company ignores Christmas

don't expect my business.

Dear Melissa Birdsong,
Vice President,
Lowe's Companies, Inc.

Thank you for sending our household "Lowe's Creative ideas for Home and Garden." Winter 2007-2008. I noticed you had a lot about "holiday season," "winter season," "holiday trees," and "holiday cheer," etc. Fine, but the holiday we celebrate in this house is known as Christmas, a time when we celebrate our Savior's birth. The only nod you give to my holiday is an article about how a family can blend Hanukkah (listed first) and Christmas traditions in one unique decorating scheme where your decorators have cleverly mixed blue and green (sorry, but I missed the importance of this). And then in the next article you feature a Kwanzaa celebration. It's so little known, you actually explain what it is in a specially highlighted spot. It might have been nice if you had done the same for the Christian holiday, since it looks as though you might need to research it to learn what we celebrate.

Thanks, but no thanks. Maybe I'll stop by the store in the spring when it's time to clean up the yard, but if you don't recognize Christmas, I'll skip your promotions.

"With fiscal year 2006 sales of $46.9 billion, Lowe's Companies, Inc. is a FORTUNE® 50 company that serves approximately 13 million customers a week at more than 1,450 home improvement stores in 49 states. Founded in 1946 and based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe's is the second-largest home improvement retailer in the world." Stock price today (Nov. 15) is $24.81.

DDT is no panacea

and is not always appropriate for every exotic disease, but neither does it kill millions of people every year the way the environmentalists do. Yes, people die when politics gets in the way of saving lives. I urge you to read the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Health Policy Outlook No. 14, November 2007 "The rise, fall, rise, and imminent fall of DDT."

The modern environmental movement began with concerns about DDT. Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring questioned the effect that synthetic chemicals were having on the environment. Her argument was that DDT and its metabolites make bird eggshells thinner, leading to egg breakage and embryo death. Carson postulated that DDT would therefore severely harm bird reproduction, leading to her theoretical "silent spring." She also implied that DDT was a human carcinogen by telling anecdotal stories of individuals dying of cancer after using DDT.[19] . . .p.3

The delisting of DDT as the method of choice in many countries was a direct result of Ms. Carson's book and resulted in years of death and injury of millions, mostly in Africa. DDT was reintroduced in South Africa in 2000, and in just one year malaria cases fell nearly 80% in one of the hardest hit provinces. In 2006, malaria cases in that province were approximately 97% befow the high of 41,786 in 2000. Zambia too had great success when a private mining company restarted a malaria program reducing malaria incidence by 50%. But that's all about to change. Environmentalists are again raising their voices exaggeratimg the dangers.

Bias in the academic literature is accelerating. A recent article in The Lancet Infectious Diseases alleges that superior methods for malaria control exist--without providing a single reference for this claim.[52] The authors claim that DDT represents a public health hazard by citing two studies that, according to a 1995 WHO technical report, do not provide "convincing evidence of adverse effects of DDT exposure as a result of indoor residual spraying."[53] Furthermore, the authors misrepresent those defending the use of DDT. They claim that supporters view DDT as a "panacea"--dogmatically promoting it at every opportunity--yet they do not provide any evidence to back up their opinion. . . p.7

DDT has a better record than any other intervention. Every day people die. Someday another method might be developed. But meanwhile, environmentalists might be killing the very people who could do the research.

Does anyone remember MaryRose?

There doesn't seem to be a photo of this fashion statement of the 90s, although while looking I have found photos of dresses and jackets made of Tyvek, the home insulation wrap, of all things! Perhaps too old to wear, and not old enough to be trendy. But I loved my two Mary Rose dresses. One was aqua and the other deep fuchsia. They were made of 50% cotton and 50% polyester in a heavy t-shirt knit type fabric, one-size fit all, big shoulder pads, and were incredibly comfortable. Somewhere I have a photo of me in the beautiful aqua colored MR taken one Easter when I was visiting my parents (I have dozens of photo albums, and increasingly can find nothing in any of them). The key to looking fabulous in a MaryRose was the accessories--huge scarves, enormous necklaces, and snarky belts. Ah, the memories. The colors changed according to the season, but the fabric was the same in all of them.

And mine probably won't go into my archive of old clothing (I have kept favorites from the 1950s-mid 1990s). When I was looking for storage space about 2 weeks ago, I pulled out a suitcase and found my two MaryRose dresses. I decided I wash them before I hung them for storage. The aqua dress was wet when I hung it up, and there was printing on the paper cover of the hanger, and it bled through. So I decided to run it through again with just a touch of Clorox in the water. The ink stain faded a bit, so I ran it through again, but forgot about it. About 24 hours later I remembered, and when I pulled it out, I could see that although the stain had lifted, so had some of the aqua. So now I have a ruined dress.

I'm thinking of crocheting it into a rug. I used to watch my mother do that. She'd cut material on the bias about 1" wide, roll it in a ball, and then in the evening while we did our school work or listened to the radio, she'd crochet an oval rug. They were quite pretty and very useful, easy to wash. Everything we wore as children--t-shirts, dresses, socks, blouses, even Mom's nylons--eventually saw a second life as a rag rug.

Cut up a MaryRose? Walk on it? On second thought, I think I'll just put it back in the suitcase.

Planted Questions

What's the big deal? Why shouldn't a candidate, Mrs. Clinton or someone else, have people from the audience who are prepared to ask an articulate question that will help move the discussion? If not carried to extremes, I have no problem with this method of getting out the message. I don't know why she needs to explain this one unless

the Democrats lie about it

or say everyone does it

or she doesn't really answer the planted question even when she knows it ahead of time

or she flip flops, denying what she said last week or last year

or she opens with, "I'm glad you asked that," which sounds a bit tacky, given the circumstances of the question

or says "Many are wondering about that. . ."

or she screens out honest, hard ball questions about illegal immigration, tax increases, victory in Iraq, etc.

4321

Small waist, full hips

My husband stuck his head in my office tonight and said, "Did you hear the news? Women with small waists and large hips are smarter. Something about omega3 fatty acids." I thought he was kidding, but the story was on the evening news. Of course, I always sensed that women with my body shape were smart, but I thought maybe they just didn't have as many dates so they stayed in the dorm and studied more. I did both. Studied a lot and dated a lot.

"In the research, scientists at the Universities of Pittsburgh and California, Santa Barbara, used data from a study of 16,000 women and girls, which collected details of their body measurements and their scores in cognitive tests. They found that those women with a greater difference between the waist and hips scored significantly higher on the tests, as did their children."

"A number of scientific studies have shown that men are “hard-wired” to find women with a greater waist-hip differential the most attractive. No one has yet been able to explain this, although theories include enhanced fertility, better childbearing abilities and longer life expectancy."

Reported in Evolution and Human Behaviour

Myth Under Standings

Some of my favorites. I would've made this a Thursday Thirteen, but there were too many of them.

FDR got us out of the Depression with all his social programs for recovery and reform. He probably delayed recovery, but we still have the vestiges of these programs today.

America is a Christian nation. If by that you mean a Biblical worldview on which people base their decisions, it's a myth. And everyone has a worldview.

A college education is a good investment. Compared to what other investment? The return on a public school like Ohio State is 4.2%, and on a private school like Harvard, 1.9%. The stock market averages about 10% over the same amount of time. Take a look.

Global warming is created or stopped or controlled by people. Next time this idea tempts you with self importance, look up at the stars and think about how insignificant you are. Or, try to look at the sun without going blind. "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?" Job 38

There are two Americas (according to a certain presidential candidate). Actually, there are 5 quintiles. Read about the most recent Treasury report on the upward mobility by 90% of the poor (bottom quintile) and the downward mobility by the extremely rich from 1996-2005--and its been the same almost as long as they've been studying it--at least since the 1960s.

There was a housing shortage after WWII. There was government created rent control which took housing off the market which created the appearance of a shortage. It did however create the need for Lustrons. About 20 were built in my home town, one by my grandparents. A sweet little house.

Rachel Carson was a wise oracle who saved the world from being harmed by DDT. Her well-intentioned, unscientific book actually resulted in the death and injury of millions of Africans.

Our health care system is a mess. There is no system, so how can it be a mess?

Teachers are underpaid. Their hourly wage ($34.06/hour) is far higher than many professions that require more education.

The Federal Reserve System is a system.

Women earn less than men . Not for the same work load, responsibilities, and education requirements. "Discrimination occurs when people are barred from professions for which they are qualified, or paid less for doing the same job. It is not discrimination to freely make a choice that has an undeniable economic consequence." CNN Money

It's the quality and not the quantity of time that matters in raising children. How low can you go? 5 minutes a day as long as it is quality time? 5 hours? Split the difference? Would you put up with that attitude from a task force member or your doctor?

Ratings on movies and music benefit the public. Which way is the entertainment industry moving--to more or less violence, sex and degradation of basic values and common sense? "Age-based ratings alone do not provide good information about the depiction of violence, sex, profanity, and other content, and the criteria for rating movies became less stringent over the last decade." Medscape General Medicine

There is a shortage of . . . name your field, but there isn't a shortage of librarians. If a shortage is reported in the media, stay away from that profession. It's a marketing move by the profession to fill seats in the colleges that churn them out.

There is an easy way to lose weight and keep it off. Eat less, move more. It's the only way.

Books with "secrets" in the title, actually contain something new and never before revealed. Open one (or 10) the next time you're in the bookstore.

The death penalty deters criminals intent on acting in evil ways. It's far more likely that their evil thoughts are influencing their behavior. Think about it. Has the awareness of the death penalty ever kept you from killing someone one, or is something much deeper and more spiritual causing you to behave rationally?

4320 Will illegal immigration be a wedge issue for the GOP?

Dental Flap thinks it will be and that Mort needs to get away from the Beltway for a few days. Great license photo, btw.

This prayer wouldn't have occurred to me

Barbara Nicolosi at Church of the Masses supports the Writers' Strike and is praying for reconciliation.

She comments that one estimate is the Church of Scientology owns 60% of Hollywood.

Monday Memories--the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Last week was the 18th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. In a rather odd sequence of events, we watched it on TV with my parents, who were visiting us in the off-season at Lakeside, Ohio (the only thing more off, gray, damp and chilly at Lakeside is February). They had driven out from Illinois to see what we had purchased in September 1988--a tiny, 750 sq ft home built in the 1940s, still known today as the "Thompson cottage." Dad walked around the almost deserted town looking at the 19th century summer cottages/houses with crumbling foundations, dead flowers, and windows sealed with plastic. I'm sure he thought we were crazy and wondered why he had made sacrifices to offer me a better life than he had. We had a tiny 9" screen TV (broadcast only, with rabbit ears) and the four of us sat on the uncomfortable furniture (45 year old couch, wooden nursery rocker, and a $10 chair I bought at a yard sale) and could hardly tear ourselves away. It was an incredible sight, full of so much hope. I also remember when it went up in 1961.

I'm pretty sure none of us watching that historic event at Lakeside were crediting President Reagan--Mom, my husband and I were all Democrats, and Dad was a Republican who didn't seem to like him much (local football rivalry from their youth). However, "On the anniversaries of the Berlin Wall’s collapse, we should do Reagan the honor of recognizing his prescient leadership that helped to produce that marvelous event." Dinesh D'Souza

If taxpayers question subsidizing casino tribes' gaming interests

they are called racists and hate groups. Indian casino gaming is expanding across the nation, including new sites in urban areas driven by "landless or rural area tribes shopping for land in or near cities that can be put into trust and used to site huge new casinos." Stop urban casinos

"Bottom Line: The American taxpayer and the growing number of disenrolled tribal members have become collateral damage to our government in a disastrous experiment that began with a train called the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) and given “run away status” when the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) was passed in 1988. Promoting inequality and separatism through granting gambling monopolies and allowing tens of thousands of acres to be placed into federal trust status to expand “sovereign” tribal territories within our borders because of past persecution is misguided at best and at worst will undue the constitutional protections secured to all people, tribal and non-tribal." Story here at Capitol Weekly

Gambling as easy money for the state is always a false promise whether it's in Mississippi on floating cruise ships or California eating up thousands of acres that could be producing something worthwhile and honest. Throw in a lot of guilt and greed, and you've got a volatile mix.

Veterans' Day

Today is the 89th anniversary of the end of World War I--the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. I've told this before, but on that first armistice day the signal in the rural areas of Illinois was the bells ringing. My parents were both little children living on farms in adjacent counties (Lee and Ogle) in Illinois. Both had exactly the same memory--as each farmer heard the bell, he'd start ringing his bell, then the next farm would pick it up, and thus the whole countryside learned the war was officially over. Now it is a memorial for veterans of all wars (Memorial Day in May is for those who died in or as a result of battle).


Google, which often dresses up for other occasions, finally acknowledged it--the helmets are definitely WWI vintage.


When I was in Illinois over the 4th, we found our father's name at the new veterans' memorial in Forreston. We talked about all the surnames we recognized, even from the Civil War era (we're really not that old, but knew the family names).

The U.S. Army in WWI, 1917-1918
Army Art of WWI

My other blogs about this day
Veterans' Day 2006
Uncle Clare
Happy Birthday Marines
Armistice Day, 1918
List of US military conflicts

4315

Watching Norman's Ark on Sunday morning Hallmark movie

What a travesty. Noah (1998) with Tony Danza. Fortunately there is a commentator on board at Hallmark, Kenda Creasy Dean.

For this morning's movie, I had to do more than suspend disbelief; I had to shackle it. The special effects look like my daughter's 7th grade science project: Heaven is a sexist phone company; the lion lies down with the lamb in cages that would send the SPCA into spasms; and nobody follows the Biblical script, starting with God.

That makes the story of Noah a perfect example of our tendency to tell the story of God in a way that will make us human beings look better. Norman may be a dishonest contractor; but God is the bad guy in this story, bent on an irrational flood to destroy petty people. That makes Norman the savior, not God; in fact, you could easily conclude that Norman saved his community from God-which is fine, if the movie had been named "Norman" instead of "Noah."

For Jews and Christians, the story of Noah isn't about God's meanness; it's about God's promise. In Genesis, after the flood, God sets a rainbow in the sky and tells Noah: "This will be a sign of my covenant between me and all creation. Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." My recommendation on NOAH? Read the book instead.

Yes, read the good book!