Ike blew through here yesterday

and it's hard to imagine what they must have experienced in Texas, after seeing our downed trees and power lines and released roof shingles. I drove past the OSU Golf course this morning and there are many trees down--the Meijer's store where I'd been shopping was on generator power, and most of the stores along Henderson Road were closed, and traffic lights off. We got no rain out of this, but I've heard Chicago got some flooding. Last night we were hosts for our couple's group from church (planned that way) and the other 3 couples from different parts of the city had no power.

Here's some good news, though. Honey Crisp apples are in stock at Meijer's! You'll pay at least $1 a piece for them, but oh it is worth it to bite into one and have the juice dribble down your chin and shirt.

Update: A friend who lives in one of the NW Columbus areas without power was told by PUCO that it could be 7-14 days before their power is restored, and yes, our crews are on their way back from Texas. I invited them for supper, but she's taking her thawing meat to her son's home to cook it on the grill. The local TV stations are showing enormous damage in Columbus. My son is off work because they have no power, so he's picking up pieces of his roof today.

It's the world we voted for

I see brands of green,
dollar signs too,
regulations are growing--
for me and for you.

And I think to myself,
So we control the world?

I see inventors leave,
small businessmen too,
Unions are flexing--
for them not for you.

And I think to myself,
It's a Democrat world.

The colors of a rainbow
once thought so cool,
just special interest groups--
with power to rule.

And I think to myself,
it's a never change world.

Michigan, Ohio,
and Illinois too,
are ranked the lowest--
soon it will be you

And I think to myself
it's an Obama world.

Don't hear babies cry,
Or see them grow,
A lot were aborted--
More than we know.

And I think to myself,
Do we want such a world?

Finding Leslie

I found a terrific reviewer at Amazon this morning, her name is Leslie and that led me to her blog! Oh happy day--a reviewer of Christian books who reminds us to go beyond the anecdote and proof texting and points out what many Christian writers have forgotten

The gospel is the incarnation, sinless life, substitutionary death, burial, bodily resurrection, ascension, and eternal reign of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Not once does she [Fitzpatrick] indicate that the gospel is something "we do." It is a work that is done for us for the glory of God. Our only work is to believe, to look to the crucified. [from her review at Amazon of Elyse Fitzpatrick‘s Because he love me]

I’m so bored with Christian writers who make no or little mention of the cross, pick a verse or two on which to hang their latest need for grant money or donations, and jump into “community,” or “relationships” or “healing,“ or “saving the environment.“ I’m increasingly going back to read the classics or at least books older than me. And that's old!

Go to her web page or her Amazon profile and be refreshed!

Whatever happened to Joe Biden?

Don't see him much on TV. Is he out on the campaign trail, the sawdust trail for the chosen one? This can be sung to the tune of "Old Black Joe."

Gone are the days when Joe’s heart was young and gay,
Gone are Dem friends from the beltway far away,
Gone from the shore to a better sea a sailin',
I hear their vicious voices calling Sar-ah Palin.

Chorus: I'm going, I'm going,
but I thought it should be me,
I hear their nasty voices calling Hill-a-ry.

Why do I weep, when my heart should feel no Palin?
Why do I sigh that my friends come just a sayin’?
Grieving for polls now departed long ago.
I hear their shaky voices calling Old sad Joe.

Chorus: I'm going, I'm going,
for my choice is not so free,
I hear their nasty voices calling Hill-a-ry.

Where are the hearts once so happy and so free?
The party so dear that I held upon my knee?
Gone to the shore where my soul has longed to go,
I hear their sorry voices calling Old sad Joe.

Chorus: I'm going, I'm going,
I do it for my part-y,
I hear their nasty voices calling Hill-a-ry.

Sarah Palin Sexism Watch

Like shooting fish in the proverbial barrel. Wish I'd thought of this one! Sarah Palin Sexism Watch includes some awful, some hateful, and some unexpected folks. Mostly they're terrified Democrats, with a few on the opposite of the political fence. Me? I'm paraphrasing that old feminist line on abortion: I wouldn't run for vice president myself if I were a governor and had 5 children, but I support the right of a mother of 5 who governs a state and wants to go higher.

For the most part her group of shameful journalist articles (with links) seems to be in the same bag of obsequiousness that has paved the way for Obama.

Does Barack really send his own e-mails?

At Panera's where I buy my morning coffee there is a new desk with a computer next to the coffee and cream bar. It's for employee training, not the customers. They log-in, put on their head phones, and learn about all the latest products and procedures (nice photos). I'm sure it's a way to have all employees, particularly new ones, cover the same ground, but it also helps the long term employees catch up. We had something like this in the OSUL for training our student staff, but it was so primitive (in late 90s) I don't think my staff ever used it.

However, sitting at a computer is not too useful for senators, presidents or representatives. Better they should have to put the budget or census reports on their lap and experience the heft. In fact, government staff in general have gotten themselves in deep doo-doo sending e-mails, which causes our tax money to be used to hire battalions of lawyers on both sides to figure out what was purged, what was meant, and who sent it. Little jokes on the side when you think you're chatting with staff in on the background, sound pretty dumb when parsed by the hostile media or blogosphere.

I'm thrilled John McCain doesn't send e-mail. I'm not impressed at all that Barack Obama sent a text message (did his little pinky really press "send?") to his Gen-Next supporters to announce he's added an old guy, Joe Biden, a long time senator who with him holds down the ratings of Congress, to the ticket. Let them write long hand the way George Washington and John Adams did. If Barack writes the way he talks (multiple parenthetical and clarifying phrases per sentence), it could fill libraries of the future.

Update: Hot Air reports that this appeared in the Boston Globe and Forbes in 2000:

"McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: McCain’s severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes. Friends marvel at McCain’s encyclopedic knowledge of sports. He’s an avid fan - Ted Williams is his hero - but he can’t raise his arm above his shoulder to throw a baseball.
After Vietnam, McCain had Ann Lawrence, a physical therapist, help him regain flexibility in his leg, which had been frozen in an extended position by a shattered knee. It was the only way he could hope to resume his career as a Navy flier, but Lawrence said the treatment, taken twice a week for six months, was excruciatingly painful.

”He endured it, he wouldn’t settle for less,” said Lawrence, who rejoiced with McCain when he passed the Navy physical. ”I have never seen such toughness and resolve.”

Another update at Hot Air points out he regularly reads his e-mail even though typing is difficult, and was chair of the Senate telecommunications committee--probably knows more than Obama. Does not having served in the military disqualify Obama from being Commander in Chief, it's asked, since sending e-mail seems to be a qualification? I'm betting they pull that ad if it's not gone already! Sort of like Joe Biden asking that guy in a wheel chair to stand up, innit?

The Library Quarterly

If you are planning to purge your bookshelves, you shouldn’t place the stack at the door to take to the garage and then your car, and then the Friends of the Library Sale later. No, if you are really determined, place them in a dark garbage sack, hustle them to your husband’s car, and don’t look back, because they will call to you like a puppy who’s been left in the culvert by a farm, in hopes someone else will want him.

I looked at this old friend (in the 1960s I was a Slavic cataloger at the University of Illinois and at Ohio State University) lying on the floor this morning and made the mistake of leafing through it. What could be less useful than what librarians were saying about their collections in 1965--collections that specifically dealt with Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, Islamic countries, and Russia (the former Soviet Union)? Today’s whiz kids librarians with their Twitter, air guitar and hip-hop programs and digital doo-dahs wouldn’t pause for a moment over a controversy on whether the Library of Congress should be spending time producing cards(!) in the original language or should speed things up with transliteration and English and catch up 20 years later to the incredible disgorging of the Soviet presses when improved technology permitted. Little did we understand in 1965 what “improved technology,” and a very young Russian immigrant who would invent Google, would do to our profession.

No, I just couldn’t do it. I carefully wiped off the mildew (it’s in pristine condition otherwise--none of the pages have loosened the way today’s paperbacks do after one reading), and it will go back on the shelf with all the other unread titles like The Federalist and SoDoku for Dummies. However, I did discard some of my old library school text books like AACR cataloging rules. Not too useful these days, in fact, a bit like reading recipes that call for dollops, swigs and “moderate oven.”

Slip-ups by McCain and Obama

Both candidates made very odd statements last night. First McCain mentioned that the confidence/popularity of Congress was at an all time low--I think he said 9%--lower than the President's. But he's going to restore faith in government if he's elected. Well, three of the four people trying for the new administration are Senators. If you know how to fix it, why didn't McCain, or Obama, or Biden do something?

Then Obama was asked about his plan to require (insist, suggest, encourage--he's vague on this) government service for all young people. But then he mentioned how hard the young people are working on his campaign. They are volunteers I assume, and truly committed. So if people really care, they do volunteer, so why more government funding for what's already available through the private sector? It's just another huge bureaucracy with political strings.

Friday Family Photo--Latin Class Doodles

When my husband left for exercise class this morning I had strict instructions to start cleaning off the bookshelves in his office. He had found mold on a number of the books, so he's in high gear today. I started with my sophomore Latin book and got no further. I found a band assembly program and just had to scan it and put it on my class blog (and also since I have a new computer the scanner is acting up, so that took about 30 minutes to figure out).

So when he got home, he asked how much I'd done. "I stopped after one book," I explained. "It was just too interesting." "You can't do that! How are we ever going to get done if you look at every book?" Obviously, the man never had to withdraw thousands of books from a library collection--it's like drowning puppies for a librarian.

I looked up cleaning mildewed books on google, and it seems I need some alcohol and some sunlight, or if the book is really valuable, I can put it in the freezer. Several people who had never tried it suggested 10 seconds in the microwave, but I'm already sneezing. I remember that freezer trick from my working days. Our library roof leaked spring and fall and also winter when the ice thawed (bad roof drain), so the preservation office dubbed its freezer, "The Veternary Memorial Freezer."


Latin class doodles. I think my girlfriend Tina drew Gene Autry to go with my horse and a note about "wrigglies spearment gum". We sat together and giggled a lot. She's now a great-grandmother! Still giggles.
Also written on the back cover of the lst year Latin book, "Living with the Romans":

Latin is a language
as dead as it can be.
First it killed the Romans
and now it's killing me.

Will ya won't ya can't cha
Don't ya wanta
Won't your mother let cha
Oh go on you said you would
Won't cha Huh?

They were not in my handwriting, so I flipped to the front to see if it was a used book. This book had been used by my two sisters in 1951 and 1952.

Shame on you, Charlie

The not-so-subtle sexism and hostility in Charlie's opening question for Sarah Palin about experience and hubris would have never been asked of Barack Obama, or any man running for public office. Fortunately, she was a lady as well as an experienced leader, and she "didn't blink." Ladies, we have a long way to go--vote McCain-Palin.

Mr. Gibson, she answered you the first time, you didn't like the answer, and then you just looked silly.

GIBSON: What if Israel decided it felt threatened and needed to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities?

PALIN: Well, first, we are friends with Israel and I don't think that we should second guess the measures that Israel has to take to defend themselves and for their security.

GIBSON: So if we wouldn't second guess it and they decided they needed to do it because Iran was an existential threat, we would cooperative or agree with that.

PALIN: I don't think we can second guess what Israel has to do to secure its nation.

GIBSON: So if it felt necessary, if it felt the need to defend itself by taking out Iranian nuclear facilities, that would be all right.

PALIN: We cannot second guess the steps that Israel has to take to defend itself. More here

Headline slants exist everywhere, not just politics

“No Connection Between Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) Vaccine And Autism, study suggests.”

ScienceDaily (Sep. 5, 2008) — In a case-control study, the presence of measles virus RNA was no more likely in children with autism and GI disturbances than in children with only GI disturbances. Furthermore, GI symptom and autism onset were unrelated to MMR vaccine timing. Science Daily article

The heading in the original report from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health words it a bit stronger than “suggests.”

Study Firmly Shows No Connection Between Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) Vaccine And Autism
Focus on children with autism and gastrointestinal symptoms; findings show GI symptoms and autism onset both unrelated to MMR timing. Mailman web page

Study findings are reported online in the Public Library of Science on September 4 (http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0003140).

Genetic determinism

This makes perfect sense. I already understand the Democrats better.

Looking through the Fall opportunitites

Our community has a wealth of opportunities for adults to learn, to create and to think. I have laid out on the kitchen counter Center Stage, the programming for the Senior Center (adults 50 and over), UAPL Fall Programs 08, with programs for adults, teens and children, and UA Lifelong Learning & Leisure, Fall 2008. I could be busy morning to night, and with the exception of a few pricey trips ($1800 for a trip to Charleston & Savannah or $900 for Tulip Time at the Greenbrier), at a very reasonable price or free. At the Senior Center I could hear on Friday at 10 a.m. Ed Lentz, local historian, talk about the American Presidential Elections for $5 per class ($30 for 6). Or I could go Tuesday evenings to 4 lectures in the City Council Chambers for $40 to hear various university professors, including John Quigley, Moritz College of Law, Ohio State. After looking up his research , I think I'll pass. Another blame US first guy.

Quigley points to a series of interventions by the United States after assuming dominance of the region in the 1950s: the facilitation of a coup in Iran that overthrew a democratically elected regime and replaced it with the totalitarian Shah; a similar attempted CIA-backed coup in Syria; CIA backing of Western-loyal parliamentary candidates in Lebanon precipitating a civil war; and the backing of U.S. friendly totalitarian King Hussein in Jordan.

“In the United States, none of these interventionist actions gained public attention,” he writes. “But in the Middle East, a perception developed that the United States was out to promote its own interests.” These anti-U.S. perceptions were further solidified by the continued one-sided U.S. backing of Israel and Cold War decisions to support causes like the Islamist revolutionary Mujahideen in Afghanistan, Quigley writes.

Ultimately, anti-American sentiment caused by these actions coalesced into the current Islamist movement that gave us 911 and the resultant “War in Terrorism,” he writes. “Osama bin Laden’s militias grew out of the Afghan resistance,” Quigley writes. “Bin Laden framed his anti-United States arguments in the language of Islam, but he was voicing the same anti-colonialist sentiments that had been directed against France and Britain in the early 20th Century.”

I heard enough of this at the Lakeside programming this summer to last awhile.

Then for more enrichment, I could go to classes offered by something called "Dating Directions Certified Matchmakers," which will teach me how to flirt, go online, and set dating goals. Hmmm. I've been married 48 years, so I think I'm beyond that. Oh, here's a good one: Exploring past lives with guided regression--wear comfortable clothing! Or I could do a 2 session "Living your Passions" with guided visualization and positive thoughts. Whew! This is getting way too hot.

I could study near death experiences with someone doing it for 20 years (and it has fundamentally altered her viewpoint on death!) or observe a real life death autopsy (90 minutes on tape) at COSI or attend a session with a certified laughter Yoga instructor--wear comfortable clothing!

Also the city offers belly dancing basics with finger cymbals (this should work well with the flirting class), composting the worms (might work with the autopsy class), and introduction to beer (for the laughing Yoga?).

One trip the Senior Center offers that looks within my price range if I could find a girl friend to go is a trip to two of the homes of Rosemary Clooney, girl singer of the 40s, 50s and beyond, actress and author (and aunt of what's his name). We would stay overnight in the French Quarter Inn (of Maysville, KY), and make rolls at a bakery. This is $269 per person, double occupancy. This doesn't sound like something my husband would be interested in, but mid-October would be lovely in Kentucky. Then for $15 I could do the Holiday Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo--that would be Christmas, you know. There are some financial classes that look good--tax free investing, investment and stock market trends and indicators, how to down size and organize, legal counseling and investment counseling one-on-one. Medically there is a hearing screening and Life Line Screen for various blockages like abdominal aortic aneurysm (I think a lot of communities are offering this) and nutrition classes.

The UAPL has some interesting art and movie series, like "Objects of Wonder," which will coincide with the Museum of Art's offering this fall. We're members, so that might be an interesting peek ahead of time of what we'll see at the opening. "Objects of Wonder" features "a trove of treasures held in the more than 300 libraries and collections at OSU. The curator of the exhibit will be speaking--free, no registration required. There's an Italy travel show--having just been there, that looks good. I'll skip the movie on Darfur and the Afghani cabbie who died in military custody, but Young @ Heart was at Lakeside this summer and I missed it. There are several law topics, like Domestic and Probate Law 101, and General Law. There's a guy talking about the war between Woody and Bo. Of course, there are classes about the internet and book clubs to join. There are two art lectures, one on Manet and one on Cassat that look good.

Democrats pick up the "Jesus as Organizer" theme

In Virginia, labor leader Cecil Roberts, said,

“I used to be a community organizer and I’m in good company,” Roberts said as he introduced Barack Obama at a town hall event “Martin Luther King was a community organizer. Listen, Sarah, Moses was a community organizer and yes, Jesus was a community organizer.”

Wow. Obama is sure in good company. Then Donna Brazile, big Democrat, repeats this nonsense after it got repeated on Daily Kos that Biblical brain trust, and adds that Pontius Pilate was a governor. Well, Donna, back to the Gospels for you. Jesus wasn't on trial for organizing, he was on trial because he called himself GOD as in, I AM THE WAY, I AM THE TRUTH, I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE, I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, and so forth. I AM has deep meaning in scripture, and it doesn't mean IAMACOMMUNITYORGANIZER. He wasn't organizing anyone to do anything except repent, get baptized and serious about worship. I don't think that's what community organizers following the Saul Alinsky model do. Having 12 ordinary type guys leave their jobs and listen to your teaching while you cast out demons, give blind people sight and feed 5,000 with a few fish and loaves of bread is not "community organizing," it's called proving who you are. Nor is facing down Pharoah and demanding that he free the Hebrew slaves and then leading them to the gates of the promised land called community organizing. You guys are embarrassing Obama, and he's got a big enough ego without this!

Plus, Pilate said three times he couldn't find anything wrong with Jesus, and then listened to his wife who said she'd had a dream. Pilate disclaimed any responsibility for Jesus' death (which is how the Jews came to be blamed, instead of all of sinful mankind), and put a guard at the tomb.

According to Philo and Josephus, Pilate was a mean old dude who infuriated the Jews by desecrating the holy city of Jerusalem. There were mass protests and many Jews were killed by Pilate, and supposedly he committed suicide when called to Rome to answer to the Emperor.

If Palin isn't influencing any women who weren't on board in the first place, if she's just dumb trailer trash with librarian glasses, why in the world are you guys so terrified of her that you are not only rewriting history, but ripping out pages of the Gospel and rolling them for a smoke?

Desperate Democrats who can count

Just like they used to count Vice President Cheney's military deferments, Democrats are now counting Vice President elect-to-be Palin's colleges. They found six (no one knows about Obama's undergrad record or transcripts or whether he attended on a diversity plan, because that would be racist to reveal; but it's not sexist to question a woman's record). Knowing that my husband (h.s. class of 1957) had about as many deferments as Cheney or more, I decided to count my colleges, and came up with at least five, including one in Indiana that has changed it's name, so don't ask which one, and one in Maine (I think it was Colby) where I partied too much and never transferred the credit I did get (a C I think), so the U. of I. has no record that I attended. What U. of I. does have for me is a record number of course withdrawals, because I would hit the road if my grades weren't high enough, and withdraw before the deadline. Now, my standards were a bit high--I didn't like getting B's and I didn't take easy courses, but that method did keep my accum in the A- range. Then when I went to graduate school (library science) we were required to take tests in four areas, whether or not we'd taken the classes for credit, although the tests would have no impact on our grade average or continuing in school. I failed all four, but had straight A's in grad school--obviously those tests didn't test anything we had in the courses.

You just can't please a Democrat. They didn't like George W. Bush's Ivy League credentials, didn't matter he had better grades than Kerry. All their guys but one (was it Biden?) voted to go to war, but it's all GWB's fault. They built the hysteria about WMD to cover for their guys, and then denied it to the high heavens. GWB ignores them and their criticism, he won't govern by polls and focus groups and a desire for a legacy--and they hate that because then they can't manipulate him. I hope Palin does the same. Democrats are such snobs and whiners. And to think I used to be one for 40 years!

Speaking of college educations, if all you did was invest your kids' college costs in an IRA for four years, when s/he retired he'd have much more than your neighbor's son who went to Yale, Columbia or Harvard with their huge endowments and Marxist professors. Or maybe send her to a small state university, save the difference and see how far she can go.

Deja Vu--the Clinton middle class tax cuts

Obama says he will give tax cuts to 95% of the American people. We've heard it before. Bill Clinton said he was going to give the middle class tax cuts during the 1992 presidential campaign. (Obama doesn't seem to know that the poor don't pay income tax, but that's another blog.) It didn't take long for Clinton to change his mind--about a month, because The NYT called him on it on February 18, 1993, about a month after his inauguration.

"In selling his economic plan, President Clinton is gambling that voters never took seriously his campaign promise to lower the tax burden of the middle class and will respond favorably to an aggressive pitch based on equal measures of hope, fear and class revenge.

After months of polling and research, Mr. Clinton's top political advisers say they are convinced that middle-class voters will support higher taxes. The advisers say the voters will see the new taxes as the price of great improvements in Government service and as inflicting a just punishment on the rich who profited during the Reagan and Bush Administrations." Complete story

Apparently, the voters did forgive him, because they gave him another term (I'd learned my lesson by then and didn't vote for him in 1996). But the lesson of history is, don't believe any candidate when he/she promises to reduce your taxes. It's just campaign rhetoric. What's scary is, Obama has actually promised to raise taxes--but of course not for you and me, just on corporations and the rich. Yeah.

Foul, Fowler and Fowlest

What is it with Democrat party poo-bahs named Fowler? First there was that Fowler guy who joked about Gustave arriving just in time for the GOP convention, and now Carol Fowler, who has an incredibly low opinion of women who use a choice she doesn't approve of. Choices, you see, are only for Democrats.

The South Carolina Democratic Chairwoman, Carol Fowler, offered the kind of shot at Sarah Palin that the Republicans have been complaining about, but which Democrats have largely avoided, in an interview with Politico today. Fowler said McCain had chosen a running mate "whose primary qualification seems to be that she hasn’t had an abortion." Politico

The change line from 2000 campaign

This morning on WOSU I watched a rehash of past presidential debates--Dole and Clinton, Gore and Bush, and I think there were references to others, but by then I was in the shower. It's interesting to listen to the Bush campaign promises of 2000--he was promising change, and was running as an outsider. Also he and Gore agreed on what to do if the U.S. were attacked--retaliate. So I looked at the transcript of the Oct. 11, 2000 debate, and see that Bush stayed with his vision for the Middle East, even if you don't think declaring war to preserve peace makes sense (it's a common theme through out history). Both men were equally firm about defending Israel and "friends." It was interesting how often they agreed on the Persian Gulf, Rwanda and Saddam. They could have easily been running together instead of on separate tickets.

Bush: Peace in the Middle East is in our nation's interests. Having a hemisphere that is free for trade and peaceful is in our nation's interests. Strong relations in Europe is in our nation's interest. I've thought a lot about what it means to be the president. I also understand that an administration is not one person, but an administration is dedicated citizens who are called by the president to serve the country, to serve a cause greater than self, and so I've thought about an administration of people who represent all America, but people who understand my compassionate and conservative philosophy." Gore: "We need to insist that Arafat send out instructions to halt some of the provocative acts of violence that have been going on. I think that we also have to keep a weather eye toward Saddam Hussein because he is taking advantage of this situation to once again make threats, and he needs to understand that he's not only dealing with Israel, he is dealing -- he's dealing with us if he is making the kind of threats that he's talking about there." Bush: "I think it's important to reach out to moderate Arab nations, like Jordan and Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. It's important to be friends with people when you don't need each other so that when you do there's a strong bond of friendship. And that's going to be particularly important in dealing not only with situations such as now occurring in Israel, but with Saddam Hussein. The coalition against Saddam has fallen apart or it's unraveling, let's put it that way. The sanctions are being violated. We don't know whether he's developing weapons of mass destruction. He better not be or there's going to be a consequence should I be the president." MODERATOR: People watching here tonight are very interested in Middle East policy, and they are so interested they want to base their vote on differences between the two of you as president how you would handle Middle East policy. Is there any difference? GORE: I haven't heard a big difference in the last few exchanges. BUSH: That's hard to tell. I think that, you know, I would hope to be able to convince people I could handle the Iraqi situation better. MODERATOR: Saddam Hussein, you mean, get him out of there? GORE: " . . . I was one of the few members of my political party to support former President Bush in the Persian Gulf War resolution, and at the end of that war, for whatever reason, it was not finished in a way that removed Saddam Hussein from power. I know there are all kinds of circumstances and explanations. But the fact is that that's the situation that was left when I got there. And we have maintained the sanctions. Now I want to go further. I want to give robust support to the groups that are trying to overthrow Saddam Hussein, . . ."

The amazing technicolor campaign

Lipstick? We're listening to pundits argue about what an old saw about a pig in lipstick means? A man makes a slip in discussing faith and says Moslem instead of Christian and the talk shows have a melt down? Come on, folks. Let's get real! He got a laugh from the lipstick comment, then he segued to something about a fish wrapper, and flubbed it. Consider my theory. Obama attempts to talk in four vernaculars--the Kansas, mid-western twang of the grandparents who raised him, the snobbish Kerry-esque of the Ivy League schools he attended, the obscure, murky language lawyers use, and the patois of the ghetto. Are you surprised he sometimes mixes up his idioms, jargon, slang and metaphors? Admit it. You would too if you weren't sure who your audience was.

Update: an 8 page list of figures of speech (used in scripture) with the English translation.

Another convert

He was a 60s war protester, a community organizer, a Jew, a New Yorker in the midwest and he hired Obama for his first job in Chicago. He's also a convert to Christianity and is now a Roman Catholic. Read the story of Jerry Kellerman here at Busted Halo. Watching the angry leftists attack Palin for her religion (Pentecostal, Bible based, pro-life), makes me think Christians are getting some payback for denying Obama's faith. Let's stop throwing stones at those the Lord has forgiven and welcomed into the Kingdom. Even if you (left and right) don't understand the concept.