Change--is it just a campaign phrase?

I wonder if this is what Obama means. That a Clinton might tell the truth.

Concerning her records buried in the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, which opened in 2004: At the time, Mrs. Clinton promised that "everything's going to be available." More than three years later, the library that is partly funded by taxpayers has released less than 1% of its records, and the withheld documents include two million pages covering Mrs. Clinton's White House tenure. As usual with the Clintons, they've managed to make the controversy seem so complicated that everyone has lost interest. If she's got all this experience, shouldn't we know what it was? Story here

If it weren't so serious, it would be funny

I was reading through comments left at my church blog written over 3 years ago. I was describing dehydration and starvation as a medical treatment--and it wasn't about Terri, but about an elderly man I knew, whose daughters were trying to go around the stepmother's wishes. My list for his end of life included:

· Dry mucous membranes (mouth, nose throat and genital organs)
· Constipation
· Impaction (buildup of stool in the body), severe abdominal cramping and bloating, nausea and vomiting
· Electrolyte imbalances (salt and water problems in the blood and tissues)
· Arrhythmias (heart problems); myalgias and malaise (muscle pain and marked fatigue)
· Cough and shortness of breath
· Severe depression and confusion, severe agitation and fear, delusions
· Dry, cracked skin
· Urinary, vaginal and bowel infection
· Bronchitis and pneumonia
· Blood in the bowel, stomach, kidney and lungs, kidney failure
· General systemic collapse and death

Three comments were left, either by spam bots or real people with bad English who surf the internet with key words. 1) If you suffer these symptoms . . ., 2) I have the pleasure of visiting your site. . .contact______for medical services, 3) You may want to read about obesity. . .

The irony of a spammer or bot trying to help when the wife and staff were colluding to kill him.

Now in your 65th year

In your 65th year
by Norma Bruce

Do your shoes squeak
and your knees creak?
Does your nose run
when you’re having fun?
Do your chin hairs
appear in flares
of righteous self pity
and poetry so witty?

Does your inner self
demand more wealth?
Do your feet hurt
and the tomato squirt?
Does it all hang out
so you want to shout
Enough’s enough
Life’s getting tough?

Does the sky look bluer
and your last love truer?
Do little snacks matter
and make you fatter?
Do you know it all
right before the fall?
Calm all those fears
Welcome to your “Golden Years.”

DSpace and institutional repositories

If you aren't a librarian, archivist or pinhead, you won't care, but there's an article in the latest D-Lib magazine on Carrots and Sticks. When I first stumbled into an institutional repository (probably Ohio State's) I began specifically looking for them. As a former cataloger, I would give them a D- in access. Miss Oldfather and Miss Dean would have rapped my knuckles. If it weren't for Google, they'd be worthless. I don't care what they do in Portugal or Pennsylvania to market these to their faculty, staff and students, they are one more black hole of information that needed a good librarian to design and run it, but which looks like it was turned over to the campus IT department instead. They are the 21st century equivalent of the mid-20th century closed stacks, using the Katrina method of shelf arrangement.

4598

From my Birds of a Feather archives

"Am I the only one who notices that the same folks who think we pea-brains control the climate are the same ones who thought it was OK to remove food and water from a woman who wasn't sick or dying, just helpless and dependent, and let her starve and dehydrate? Or that it is OK to kill babies because they come at an inconvenient time or have defects and anomalies? Or that it is OK to use human embryos to get grant money for research as long as it is for a worthy cause? Or that it is OK to deprive 3rd world peoples of DDT so that millions of them die, but the bird eggs will be strong? There seems to be a god complex infecting the liberals. And the humility vaccine seems to be in short supply." From March 23, 2007

4597

New Notebook Time

There just wasn't enough time, space or pixels for everything in the last one. So here's what I didn't write about.

Deaths of journalists--I had noted particularly Mexico and Africa

Role disability--53.4% of us according to Archives of General Psychiatry

What the Constitution says about the religion of candidates

What Anabaptists say about Doctrine of Justification

November consumer spending rising fastest in 3.5 years

Americans aren't saving enough--GAO

Schwarzenegger's $14 billion health care plan

Public housing solutions in architecture journals--40 years of reading this

Social worker jargon for staff workshops

Should churches and religious groups be paying real estate taxes

Consumer changes 2005-2007

AMT, Bush tax cuts

Recipe for Chicken Merlot

13 fudge factor phrases (I'll probably still use this for a TT)

Free genealogy sites on the web

My "new" first issue (1895)

"If you're not hungry several times a day, you're eating too much."

New strain of MRSA in MSM

"Overcoming the worry gene" was most e-mailed WSJ story

Abortion front page story in Dispatch--word choices of reporters show hostility to pro-life supporters and advocates

The 2001 rebates

Lithuanian Jews "The Unknown Black Book"

Black 17 year old, accepted at 6 colleges, comments on Obama are really strange

How will your candidate handle Jihadism?

Posting calorie counts in restaurants

Stomach banding also cures diabetes - better than lifestyle changes - JAMA

Edwards' rich-poor gap a lie - Thomas Sowell

Freddie Mac swindles Ohio pension system

When half as much is twice as good

Top 1% of income earners paid 39.58% of all income taxes in 2005

Do not smoke or drink during Super Bowl--health risk

Notebook by Colorbök, Inc. 2716 Baker Road, Dexter, MI 48130, made in China, of course. Each page has narrow lines, and either the pinto (verso) or the sorrel (facing) with head turned. I also bought earlier a small nesting box with four horses in this design which includes a butterscotch/palamino color horse.

Who's behind the push pull into a recession?

I used to think it was media--but they only read what they're sent; then I thought maybe it was the Democrats since they've been moaning about the economy for seven years in order to get elected (remember 2004?); but lately I've been thinking it's the get-rich-quick guys, who rush in for the bargains when everyone else gets weak kneed. Reading the January results in today's paper

The Dow is still off just 0.2% from a year ago

Employment grew in January by 75,000

Unemployment is 4.9%

The average fixed rate 30 year loan was at 5.68%. Wasn't it about twice that in the Carter years?

January projections for subprime losses were double digit, but actual losses on 2006 subprime loans are slightly above 1%

The Dow had its worst January since. . . January 2000 (Clinton, if I recall)

Follow the (guys hoping to make) money.

Extending unemployment benefits

A look at the history. They are usually extended far beyond the original plan, some for years, having the effect of "permanent" jobless benefits.

Crappy White Trash Stuff

Placemats with Lionel Barrymore's artwork. It's an interesting way to sell on e-Bay. I followed the link from Books Found who sells on line. You've got to admit, she's got a way with words. I don't read e-bayese, so I don't know if they sold. Nice touch--I think we had carpeting in that green color.

Because the placemat potential is trashed by the fact that some stupid guy in some placemat marketing department who came up with the idea of these placemats ruined the whole thing by printing them on panic-level ugly green backings and then, if it was possible to screw them up more than that, he thought it would be clever to laminate them with apparently the cheapest worst quality laminate he could find in the 1960s.

Retro-Soviet art

When visiting the former Soviet Union, specifically St. Petersburg (aka Leningrad, Petrograd), "if you are really interested in art and have limited time, I'd go for the Museum of Russian Art, Государственный Русский музей. The Hermitage is European art, but the other is Russian art, and much of it you've probably never seen, not even in art books or classes. There was a huge display of Soviet era art [summer of 2006], both the public and the underground." Me blogging about Russia. Neo-Neocon thinks this Obama poster is retro-Soviet; some of her readers say it is Che-lite, others Yugoslav partisan. It makes me nostalgic for my early career years in Soviet studies, shuffling the PL480 novels about machine-tractor station romances and 5-year plans.

"Art has a duty to speak out fiercely and courageously against oppression, exploitation, lies and hypocrisy in all their manifestations. It must point to the possibility of a better life and a better world. It matters not that the message lacks clarity, that it is incomplete and imperfect, and that it deals only with this or that particular. Art is not politics or science. It has its own identity and speaks with its own voice. While adopting a passionate stance on the great issues facing humanity, it must ever remain true to itself." In defence of Marxism.

Oh yeah! Slogans and Shibboleth. I'm picking up my poster right now to go march in the streets.

What's in your kitchen?

This was written in April 2006 when I was commenting at another blog, that kitchens encourage us to over eat, by design. I noted all the stuff that wasn't food in my kitchen, but which keeps you in there--eating.

What is in your kitchen and kitchen cabinets that has nothing to do with your eating or food preparation and storage? Here's my list:

small TV (never on during meal time)
radio/cd player
car keys
stash for charge card receipts
basket for mail
cat's food and water bowl
junk drawer for candles, pencils, addresses, stamps, calendar etc.
telephone
notepad
reminders of appointments
artwork
magazines
cleaning supplies
kleenex
flower vases
several games
seasonal decor as needed
medications
flashlight

Looking around today, I could add

prayer job jar
cell phone
calendar
recent letter
grocery circular
candles and matches on the counter (storm warnings)
hand lotion and alcohol wash
bag of garbage (too cold to take it out last night)
greeting card to be sent
invitation to a party
church newsletter
husband's sunglasses
cat's medication

Looks like it is time to tidy. The only thing from the first list moved out is the cd player.

Thursday Thirteen--13 discussion starters

In the margins of my Serendipity Bible for Groups (4th ed. NIV) there are "warm up" questions of a personal nature to get members of a small group talking. Most are non-threatening and deal with childhood, the thinking being I suppose that the members stay off the topic of co-workers or current relationships. I'm not fond of "ice-breakers," but I've enjoyed looking through these and thinking about them. Here are 13 from the margins of Romans in the New Testament. Can you pick one to answer?

1) When you write a letter are you more likely to write until you run out of paper, or keep it short and to the point? They got me on this one. I definitely use up the paper, even if I have to add an afterthought. Then I'll write in the margins to keep from using another sheet, because I'd have to fill it!

2) When you were growing up, what chores were you expected to do around the house? Dishes--rotated with my two sisters, and lawn mowing--and my brother was in on that rotation.

3) What is the biggest scam or junk mail offer you have fallen for? It was either the life-time free ink cartridges or the 15 sex crazed 3-legged mountain climbers. Just kidding.

4) In your family, who tried to keep the peace? Mom or Dad? Mom.

5) Who do you take after in your temperament, your mother or your father? Father.

6) What about abilities, like music or art? Most likely my mother, but for those we'd probably go back to grandma.

7) What is the closest you have come to losing your life? I almost drowned as a child, and another girl who really didn't swim well saved me.

8) In your first real job, was your boss easy to work for or a slave driver? Not easy, but then who would be with a bunch of teens? I see it differently today.

9) What New Year's resolution have you made only to have it fizzle? Could I just list the one or two I've ever kept?

10) What signs of aging or weathering are you starting to feel in your bones? Ah, let me count. How much time do you have?

11) What was one thing about which your folks used to say, "Wait 'til you're older, you'll understand then?" I can't remember this specific phrase, but it undergirded every lecture from my mom I heard (and ignored). The woman had advice on absolutely everything--the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

12) When you were a child, what did you do to earn your allowance? At least when I was little, my allowance wasn't tied to anything. Family chores were not connected to money, just expectations and maturity level. As a teen-ager, the allowance was supposed to cover my clothes (except shoes and coats).

13) Describe briefly your first best friend. Are you still in touch? Smart and sort of goofy, but deep thinker, even then. Yes, we're still in touch.

Dear IRS

I hardly ever buy a T-shirt with text, but this is tax time and I thought this one for the Internal Revenue Service was cute: "Dear IRS: I would like to cancel my subscription. Please remove my name from your mailing."

On or before the first Monday in February, the President of the United States is required to submit to the Congress a budget proposal for the following fiscal year, beginning in October. The Congress reviews it and makes changes, setting its own priorities. In fiscal year 2006 (Oct. 1, 2005 - Sept. 30, 2006) here's what they did with $2.655 trillion (income of $2.407 trillion, deficit of $.248 trillion).

1. Social security, Medicare and other retirement took 36% of the income.

2. Social programs like Medicaid, food stamps, needy families, health research, public health, unemployment compensation, assisted housing and social services got 13%.

3. Physical, human and community development--agriculture, national resources, environment, education, commerce, energy, community development, science, etc. got 12%.

4. National defense, veterans and foreign affairs takes about 23%, most of that for the war on terrorism, or 19% of the government's income, and the rest for veterans, economic assistance to foreign countries, and embassies abroad.

5. Interest on the debt eats up about 8%.

6. Law enforcement and general government gets 2%.

The above percentages are from p. 33 of the 1040EZ booklet, which despite 35 pages, contains no forms. The government figures you will use 26.4 hours ($207 average) to do your taxes--most of that in preparation and gathering information. (p. 32)

Most of the taxes in the United States are paid by the wealthiest income earners--the people in the top quintile. Many people at the bottom receive from the government, they don't pay the government--except gasoline taxes, cigarette and other sin taxes, but those are called "miscellaneous," not income taxes. (This is not true at the local and state levels because even the poor pay real estate taxes, sales taxes, etc.--often far beyond a reasonable percentage of their income). Ohio doesn't charge sales tax on food, but many states do. Now, I've never been in the top group, but for awhile in the 80s and 90s, when we were "DINKS" double income no kids, we did make it to the 4th. Now, being retirees, we're back in the bottom quintile like when we were first married. Income, however, does not mean assets, so therefore, many retirees are very well off because we're in good health, saved when we were younger, sheltered some of our income when we worked, inherited from our parents, or just had good luck.

At my age, true wealth is figured in how healthy you are, your relationship with God, and what is the status and proximity of your social and family network.

Dana Jacobson

If she'd been this insulting to blacks as she was to Catholics, her bosses wouldn't be excusing her for being drunk. She would have been fired. People who customarily drink too much should always bring along duct tape to public functions as well as a driver. And why didn't the people at her table or in her party just take her home? Women get drunk on less alcohol than men, BAC chart.

“My actions at the roast were inappropriate and in no way represent who I really am,” she said. “I have personally apologized to many of the people involved. I won’t make excuses for my behavior but do hope that I can be forgiven for such a poor lack of judgment.” MSNBC

You are forgiven. Now get help.

When I'm 64

We're going to a "When I'm 64" party this week-end (Beatles song) for a married couple who are both turning 64 in the same week. Maybe eventually, insurance companies will be insuring your children under your policy to 64. Jim Raussen-R, Springdale, has launched HB 456 to cut Ohio's uninsured population--insurance companies will need to include "children" up to age 29 on family policies.

When I was 29, I had a master's degree, 2 children, had owned 3 houses and rented several apartments, had owned several cars, and paid my parents back for college loans. My health care was pay as you go. What parent insures a child through age 29, and why stop there? Why not 64? There are families who will always need to protect fragile members, but I think we already pay into social security and medicaid for that. This is one more income transfer from the low income worker to the higher income worker.

With Republicans like Mr. Raussen, who needs Democrats? Ohio faces a budget shortfall of $1.9 billion, and the "starting point" health care legislation he's proposing (it contains lots of other goodies) is estimated at $150-$500 million but who's counting? We know it will be much, much higher.

Entrepreneurship

Next to diphtheria and ophthalmology, I think entrepreneurship is one of our most frequently misspelled words--I misspelled it about 5 times drafting this. Now this book will shatter a lot of myths, "The illusions of entrepreneurship," (by Scott Shane, Yale University Press). Reviewed in today's WSJ by Nick Schulz. My take aways (not quotes):

In the U.S. each year more people start a business than get married or have children.

A typical U.S. entrepreneur is a married white male in his 40s who attended but didn't complete college, and he lives in a city like DesMoines or Tampa, not in California or Michigan (where they chase people out with high taxes and regulations).

The richer the country, the lower its rate of business starts.

Entrepreneurs earn less than those who work for established businesses.

Encouragement by the government to go in to business through the use of protectionist subsidies and tax breaks actually encourages people to enter highly competitive fields, making them more likely to fail.

The surrogate mother

I'm baffled that either feminists or Clintonians are happy with Hillary hatching Bill's third term. He just gets more bizarre and brazen the longer he's on the campaign trail. It happens with real babies and real people, it can happen to plastic people candidates who run as a team for the same office. Sometimes the surrogate says, "I did all the work and had all the pain, now it's my baby." These are not nice, let's-play-fair people. People die. Careers are shattered. Women are violated. The battle of the sexes and ex-es has been the story of their marriage and careers. Let's not put them back in the White House.

CNET and the new media

Years before I'd heard of WWW, hypertext protocol, and linking (just struggling to ftp and code some e-mail), I subscribed to CNET at work. I can't remember when I stopped reading it or looking for comfort there in an IT world fast spinning out of my control. And I'd never heard of blogging before 2003 and now I'm in my fifth year with eleven blogs. But, you don't see any ads here, do you? Or winky, blinky, noisy things. No, I'm no threat to CNET. But Kevin Delaney of WSJ yesterday wrote about CNET's competition--and blogs are a part of that. Blogs and their ads. When I subscribed in the early 90s I think CNET was about pretty serious stuff, but it has moved on (without my help or support) to gaming, entertainment, and news (I'm not denigrating the billions invested, but for me it's the same appeal as viaticals). I get a tech/business combo with cheese now and sometimes dump it before I read it. Delaney writes

"The investor battle raging over the iconic Internet media company offers an object lesson in how high-tech Web firms that miss a beat can be vulnerable to succeeding waves of Internet technology. With the Web in its second decade as a popular consumer medium, some well-known companies that arose in its first decade, like CNET and Yahoo Inc., now face heightened competition. . . As tech blogs proliferated, CNET's News.com and ZDNet tech sites lost 27% and 4%, respectively, of their U.S. readers over the past year, according to comScore Inc."

It has sold off some underperformers and does have its own blog now (crave.cnet.com) but I don't think I've ever stumbled into it (which is how I get to most technology blogs). Delaney will explain how this working for investors.

Three word Wednesday

Each week Bone posts three words and writers choose to use them in an essay, poem, story. Words you use every day, but perhaps not together. Then you leave a comment at the 3WW site letting people know they should visit your blog. This week's list for January 30 is

Approach
Bottle
Smooth

The approach

Pour the truth of the moment
from a bottle of pragmatism,
or smooth this rough patch
with comfort words?

The approach is obvious.
No one’s been maimed and broken
to die along the roadside
by a bottle unopened.

I asked the same question

when we were in Russia in 2006. Where did all these gorgeous Russian women come from? Now we know. It's market forces.