Guided imagery and the Christian

The Ohio State University Faculty and Staff Assistance Program offers two online videos to help faculty and staff manage the stress and financial pressures that many are experiencing in these difficult economic times. There are two: a 13-minute “Walk, Talk & Breathe: Learning to Manage Stress in Difficult Times” and the 23-minute “Relieving Financial Stress.” I only watched a few minutes, and I might have giggled at the poor quality and nasal voices, if I hadn't recognized immediately that the University is perilously close to pushing religion on its employees when it gets started on guided imagery to relieve stress. But aside from the spiritual nature of it, I think I would have hired a professional to do the voice overs or actors, instead of squirmy, self-consious university staff, because we are just all accustomed to seeing pros on screen.

Yes, exercise and breathing correctly can probably help stress levels--walk briskly or jump rope and you'll feel the stress go; but so can cutting up your credit card, listening to some quiet music, and kneading a batch of home made bread. None of those require reaching down into your inner being and pulling out a plum--your very own god-likeness. Guided imagery is just a form of "new age" religion, based on the very, very old age forms of eastern religions and mysticism.

Here's what the voice of Lisa will do, according to the blurb (in my opinion, Lisa doesn't have the voice for this): "With gentleness and vision, Lisa guides us to the shore of our inner wisdom, and helps us to remember that if we consistently bridge back to it, it will never fail us." And here's what Christianity teaches about that "divine center"--your inner wisdom or core that Lisa's going to help you find--it is the source of sin and rebellion and false gods. You may think you experience God (I doubt she says that but I only listened to a few minutes), that same God which is a universal consciousness, residing within everyone, guiding them on the path to some sort of peace or perfection, but it's a lie. That makes us all little gods. That's the oldest story in Genesis. This denies everything Christians know about reality, about sin, and about solutions.

If you are feeling stressed about finances, open your Bible--don't turn to the university or the government. I think finances and wealth may be the #1 topic--and centers on this verse, "The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." Ps 24:1

See The empty promise

Journal abuse

If a student or faculty member abused a library journal as badly as staff approved procedures, they'd probably lose their library privileges. Look at the cover of this journal



When the journal (Cultural Critique, No. 3, American Representations of Vietnam (Spring, 1986), was "checked in" after being received in the mail, it was smacked with a black ink date stamp, showing it was received January 2, 1987 at Ohio State University Library. Must be an old stamp, because the official name is The Ohio State University Libraries. Then the check-in-clerk marked it with a grease pencil. MAI in the upper right means that it was destined for the Main Library at Ohio State University, one of maybe 20 locations within the system. Then she scribbled the call number, volume and year across the cover. The brown stuff at the bottom looks like someone spilled coffee with cream on it--perhaps a user, but might have happened at check-in. The back cover, presumably by the same photographer, John Carlos Rowe, has a date due slip pasted over it, blocking about 1/3 of the picture. But the defacing didn't stop there. Before this journal was bound permanently (in 2006 according to a pasted stamp on the inside), it was "strap bound," with holes punched into the margins to keep several issues strapped together inside homemade cardboard covers, so when you open this volume, every page has four holes.

Eventually as things became more automated, grease pencils were discontinued and small stickers with call number and date received replaced the scribbling; I'm not sure about the temporary bindings since I haven't worked there in over 8 years. But I am still surprised when I see this sort of disregard not only for the artist, writers, publishers, but also the reader who may have found something useful in the cover. And publishers continue to include information on the cover or book jacket that may be no where else in the piece, and some libraries toss the book jacket, and paper covers may be removed if the book or journal is rebound.

I had no interest in resurrecting the Vietnam War, which is what this issue of Cultural Critique did, however, no author or group should have its work taken so lightly by those who say they preserve and protect information for future generations.

Prize for the most green words in one paragraph

The best reason to take care of the planet isn’t global warming--it’s as simple as keeping your home clean and attractive--we live here, so be nice to yourself and your neighbors! It’s like putting good food in your body so your brain and nervous system work well--not that you'll cure cancer or prevent dementia. But being green is also a marketing tactic for some businesses; a religious, pantheistic faith for some; a warm, emotional feel good for others; a power trip for some even on an in-house task force or committee of a college, church or corporation; and most important, a way to gain total political control at the local, state, federal and international level through laws, regulations and treaties.

This paragraph should get a prize for the most trendy, "gosh-I’m-so-green" words:

“We sell ourselves as a green-focused firm,” says HOK Architect Casey Visintin, LEED-AP. “Our community service program reinforces that and shows how our principles affect the community.” At the same time, he says, the collaborative project shows that sustainable strategies can be achieved at any level.

Green-focused
LEED
Community
service
Collaborative
Sustainable

The story which appears in the AIArchitect This Week is about a very large architectural firm with offices all over the world transforming “an unused back lot” of a school into an outdoor classroom for learning and investigation.

It had all the feel good elements of a good green story--

”members of the firm volunteering their week-ends”
“collaboration with the parents and principal”
“tangible illustration of the firm’s values,”
“Spanish immersion program school”
“outdoor classroom in the sciences”
“opportunity to learn about environmentally friendly practices”

Notice in these stories the word "profit" never appears. One would think that client needs and payroll were met with just happy-clappy, feel-good goals and motives. Also, I question any business "volunteering" their staff in mandatory projects. Do employees who have their own families and hobbies (or even gardens) object to giving up their week-ends to benefit someone else's family and green space? (This was not a poor school but a public magnet school--language immersion--and someone in HOK had ties, probably a child enrolled there or a spouse on staff.) And did the children (no mention they were consulted about this) have ideas that maybe this "unused lot" of an urban school might have been their only play space for ball or chase games or just hanging out?

Remembering the outdoor time where I went to grade school, we managed to be pretty active on concrete, asphalt, dirt and grass. We even managed to run the bases in skirts, crinolines and white bucks. Now the children will need a special grant from USDA for exercise to reduce obesity, topped off with an HHS grant to teach them social skills and how to communicate face to face to make up for being on-line in their free time.

There's something wrong with the math

This kind of cold calculation really sets my teeth on edge.

About 34 million caregivers provided unpaid help valued at $375 billion to family and friends last year, up from $350 billion in 2006, according to a report being released Thursday by AARP, a large advocacy group for older Americans in Washington, D.C.

The typical U.S. caregiver is a 46-year-old woman who works outside the home and spends more than 20 hours a week providing unpaid care to her mother, the report says. Those tasks include personal care and everyday tasks as well as health-related interventions such as administering medications.

Last Sunday friends picked us up for Bible study; Friday night our neighbors drove and we all went out to dinner. Are they unpaid taxi drivers? Is there a value there that someone needs to be calculating? Last week my husband raked leaves at our summer home. Yesterday I prepared birthday dinners for my children. Is he an unpaid gardener, and am I an unpaid cook? Where do I turn in my time card to the government or academic tracking this?

How many additional hours would that 46 year old need to work in order to pay someone for 20 hours to provide nothing close to the care she is giving her mother? How many hours of work to put Mom in the nursing home at $5,000 a month?

WSJ article

Text of Michael Mukasey's speech

The Attorney General was addressing the Federalist Society about the accomplishments of the Bush administration when he collapsed (apparently fainted, and was released from the hospital the next day). I thought this part of his speech was interesting--shows how even so-called distinguished lawyers get their information from hostile, non-legal sources rather than doing their own research:

As the end of this Administration draws near, you would expect to hear broad praise for this success [8 years of no further attacks within the U.S.] at keeping our Nation safe. Instead, I am afraid what we hear is a chorus with a rather more dissonant refrain. Instead of appreciation, or even a fair appraisal, of the Administration’s accomplishments, we have heard relentless criticism of the very policies that have helped keep us safe. We have seen this in the media, we have seen this in the Congress, and we have heard it from the legal academy as well. . .

For example, earlier this year, the head of a legal organization that prides itself on what it calls its “nonpartisan approach to the law” gave a speech condemning what he called “the oppressive, relentless, and lawless attack by our own government on the rule of law and our liberty.” According to this person, we live now in a -- “time of repression” where the “word ‘Patriot’ names a statute that stifles liberty,” and where we face “assaults by our government on constitutional rights, the Separation of Powers, and the Geneva Conventions.” You can practically hear the rumble of tanks in the background.

It is interesting—and telling—that even in the published, written version of these remarks by a lawyer, the references and footnotes are not to statutory texts, the Constitution, treaties, or laws. Instead, the author relied on such authorities as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the New York Review of Books. This style of criticism can be called many things—provocative perhaps, or evidence that the author could be regarded by some as well-read —but what it cannot be called is a reasoned legal critique."

The entire speech is well worth reading.

A Father's love

This is one of the most beautiful videos I've seen. A picture of how God carries us in love.



"Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father-and-son team from Massachusetts who together compete just about continuously in marathon races. And if they’re not in a marathon they are in a triathlon — that daunting, almost superhuman, combination of 26.2 miles of running, 112 miles of bicycling, and 2.4 miles of swimming. Together they have climbed mountains, and once trekked 3,735 miles across America.

It’s a remarkable record of exertion — all the more so when you consider that Rick can't walk or talk. . . "

Dick the father is over 65 and Rick graduated from college in 1993. He works at a computer laboratory working on a system to develop a wheelchair controlled eye-movements, when linked-up to a computer. Story here. The Hoyt's racing history.

New blog skin

Well, what do you think? The owner-designer of these skins is in the upper left hand corner--sort of came with it. I've tried several. You have to start with "minima" design of blogger dot com. Once you get the hang of it, it is quite easy. The hard part is it doesn't change your color fonts, and I really had a time getting some of them to show up.

I practiced on my Retirement blog--used a Thanksgiving scheme.

Theology and Religion

Resource list at Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion.

Lilly in Indianapolis must have more money than God.

The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion is wholly funded by grants from Lilly Endowment. Inc. This $8.1 million grant brings the total grant amount received from the Endowment to $35 million for 17 years of programs.

The Wabash Center organizes its activities around five areas: strengthening teaching and learning; developing the professoriate in theology and religion; supporting teaching environments in theological schools and religion departments; understanding new technologies in teaching and learning; and developing scholarly literature on theological teaching.

It looks to me (browsing through the grants) that if you're a pastor and you have a dream for sabbatical, say singing gospel songs in Fiji, all you have to do is apply.

The Freedom to Abort Act

It's known as "Freedom of Choice" Act but that's a euphemism, because another human dies by the choice of a woman (who may in fact have no choice at all being pressured by boyfriend, employers, parents or friends). We have about 1.2 million abortions a year, but that is a slight reduction from 1.5 a few years ago, and that has feminists worried. Some women are chosing not to abort, when clearly it would be in "the best interests of society" because they are minorities, poor, not too bright, or have a terrific career ahead if unincumbered if they could be convinced to abort the life within.

4/19/2007--Introduced.
Freedom of Choice Act - Declares that it is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to: (1) bear a child; (2) terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability; or (3) terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect her life or her health.

Prohibits a federal, state, or local governmental entity from: (1) denying or interfering with a woman's right to exercise such choices; or (2) discriminating against the exercise of those rights in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information. Provides that such prohibition shall apply retroactively.

Authorizes an individual aggrieved by a violation of this Act to obtain appropriate relief, including relief against a governmental entity, in a civil action.

Full Text of FOCA

"The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That's the first thing that I'd do." -- Senator Barack Obama, speaking to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, July 17, 2007
If you are a Christian doctor or nurse, LPN, etc., you will not be able to exercise your conscience: "Federal protection of a woman's right to choose to prevent or terminate a pregnancy falls within this affirmative power of Congress, in part, because" . . ."reproductive health clinics employ doctors, nurses, and other personnel who travel across State lines in order to provide reproductive health services to patients." And if this works like other government edicts about ethics and morality your church will not be allowed to speak out against abortion without losing it's government medical benefits for staff, government protection of pension benefits, and its tax exempt and non-profit status. All local ordinances and regulation of abortion will now be disallowed, including parental notification.

"This Act applies to every Federal, State, and local statute, ordinance, regulation, administrative order, decision, policy, practice, or other action enacted, adopted, or implemented before, on, or after the date of enactment of this Act."

Twilight breaks records

No gratuitous sex, aggression or violence? A woman director? A woman producer? A woman screenwriter? A woman author? An independent film company? And over $70 million opening week-end. Guess that covered the cost to make it and assures the sequel.

Starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, TWILIGHT tells the story of 17-year-old Bella Swan who moves to the small town of Forks, Washington to live with her father, and becomes drawn to Edward Cullen, a pale, mysterious classmate who seems determined to push her away. But neither can deny the attraction that pulls them together...even when Edward confides that he and his family are vampires. Their unorthodox romance puts her in physical danger when Edward's nemesis comes to town and sets his sights on Bella.

My daughter was one of the millions who contributed to its success, giving herself a birthday treat on opening day. She'll go again (and again) with her husband. She's a fan because she read the book, and said although the script was close she wasn't sure anyone who hadn't read the book would be able to follow the story. She loves movies and doesn't seem to mind vampires, the weird and the strange, also being a fan of The DaVinci Code, Harry Potter and Anne Rice. After she sees them a few times at the theatre, she buys them on DVD. I rarely go to movies, so I find out from her what's going on.

If you were to Google Stephanie Meyer + teen sex, as I did, you'll be treated to all sorts of snarky book reviews. I think it is like abortion--if even one makes it through, it seems to threaten the moral values of all the rest.

How to miss the point with Google

Finding the mysterious ways readers get to your blog is a never ending source of delight for bloggers. Today I found that a search on "worms in oreo cookies" brought someone here. That was a real head scratcher and I just couldn't resist following the link. It was this one:
On being white in America.

The phrases that Google wisdom found were

"Although I haven't found a scholarly article that traces when the worm turned and it became bad to be White in America, . . ."

plus

"Increasingly, being Catholic, if you are also white, will get you no "brownie points" (pardon the pun); and if you are a middle-class or wealthy African-American, you just might be white on the inside (oreo) and have sold out your heritage since you are too rich and educated to be an Uncle Tom."

Isn't Google amazing? But I've seen even stranger leaps from people who actually read the blog entry!

But sometimes, I check the search back, and this one to the AOL robot/spider search, and find information I'm interested in, like today's AOL: "womans home companion magazine-paper dolls" brought someone here, but by back tracking, I found many more sites about magazine paper dolls I hadn't checked.

Ten years ago we librarians used to say that the WWW was like a library where everything was on the floor, or like hunting through someone else's garage, but it's much better organized these days with so many finding aids. More like the books and magazines I store in the bathroom.

So you think you want government health care?

The United States used to have a rail transportation system the rest of the world envied. What happened?

Amtrak was created by Congress in 1970 to take over the money-losing passenger rail service previously operated by private freight railroad companies in the United States. More than half of all rail passenger routes were eliminated when Amtrak began service on May 1, 1971. Although Amtrak’s route system has remained essentially the same size, it represents a mere skeleton of what was once the United States’ passenger rail network. During Amtrak’s 32-year existence, the federal government has spent $1.89 trillion on air and highway modes. In the same time frame, Amtrak has received just over $30 billion in federal subsidies. While the United States once had a passenger rail system that was the envy of the world, a lack of capital investment has stalled the advancement of corridor development throughout the country. Dependent upon an annual federal appropriation, Amtrak’s national network is constantly threatened by under-investment, lack of a clearly articulated federal rail policy and an uncertain future.

Amtrak: Background & Facts

Use a land line for important presidential-type talk

"President-elect Barack Obama may not find it that hard to give up his BlackBerry after all. Verizon Wireless has announced that some of its employees accessed his personal cell phone account records. The wireless provider apologized to the president-elect and said it would discipline the employees involved." Story here. Read the DNS story in the December Wired, and you may switch to land line anyway. Maybe the Verizon employees will just get a wrist slap like Gov. Strickland's
pro-Obama employee who plumbed the depths of Joe the Plumber's records in our state data bases. Routine, she says, for people in the news!

Is required "voluntary" service marxist?

Obama's website has already backed down on the mandatory service idea, as he is backing down on many of his glorious ideals and themes. Personally, I think it will return in sort of a revised, refreshed WPA type thing. His campaign site was "scrubbed" so I won't look at the old version. I'm not sure bait and switch is more Republican, Democrat or Socialist, but we sure see a lot of it--although usually it's within the first 100 days of the administration, not the time between the election and taking the oath.

Maybe some of the Clinton retreads pointed out to him the bulging federal government give aways that already support millions of jobs at "volunteer" pay, particularly through faith-based agencies and non-profits carrying water for the federal government. The aid these programs supply to the poor and disadvantaged, the disabled and mentally ill, is so siphoned away by thousands of jobs in the chain between the grant and the hand-out, it's criminal a form of money laundering to bring home the pork to keep the elected folk in office. A side benefit is everyone from the president on down can feel warm fuzzies in a nation whose economy is over 70% built on consuming and very few people are truly poor.

The Obama administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by setting a goal that all middle school and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year and by developing a plan so that all college students who conduct 100 hours of community service receive a universal and fully refundable tax credit ensuring that the first $4,000 of their college education is completely free. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.

There are already so many organized volunteer agencies, groups and opportunities in place that your head could spin trying to select one that, 1) suits your skill level, 2) addresses a true need, and 3) doesn't bloat the state or federal government by asking for more taxes so it can give it back to you through block grants to churches, local agencies, and university studies.

I could work 40 hours a week, at no pay, just in USDA funded activities, not just distributing food, but on global warming hype, on questionable housing programs, and convincing old people to eat their fruits and veggies in hopes of slowing dementia. None of this would make an iota of "change" in the long run, but I could feel good about keep thousands of people "up stream" from the agency and the federal government employed.

On the other hand, the local and state regulators are making it very difficult to actually get physically close to a person in real need, so you may have to settle for raking leaves, licking envelopes, or shoveling snow.

How to grow a government program

Many government programs fail. You can track these at the Expect More website. Unfortunately, I'm afraid it means "expect more spending," instead of expect more for the money already spent. There are way too many government programs, and the list has grown under President Bush. According to this website, 28% of Federal programs are Not Performing. A rating of Results Not Demonstrated (RND) indicates that a program has not been able to develop acceptable performance goals or collect data to determine whether it is performing.

Let's just look at one program--and even reading through its history you wonder why it was ever considered necessary, the Food Stamp Nutrition Education (FSNE).

"FSNE began in 1988 when cooperative extension faculty in Brown County, Wisconsin and University of Wisconsin extension staff discovered that by committing state and local funding and contracting with the state food stamp agency, an equal amount of federal dollars could be secured to expand the reach of nutrition education to low-income persons in that area. Other universities soon followed. In 1992, seven states conducted FSNE using $661 thousand in federal funds. By 2004, FSNE was conducted throughout the country using nearly $460 million, with $228.6 million in Food Stamp Program administration funds and the remainder contributed by the states.

Here's why it got an RND rating:

"There are no standardized performance measures across State programs to gauge progress. The scope of nutrition education efforts varies widely, making it difficult to establish meaningful outcome measures to capture the program's progress. While States collect some data on participation, the data collected is limited and ambiguous and varies across programs.

The program's mission and goals are not clearly established in statute or regulation. The program relies on guidance to establish program policies. While nutrition education is clearly intended to contribute to advancing the program's purpose, the Food Stamp legislation and regulations are silent on the specific goals of nutrition education.

It is unclear if funds are spent effectively to increase participation and improve nutrition-related behaviors. The program grew from $660,000 in 1992 to over $147 million in 2002. This rapid growth, coupled with the program's unlimited matching source of funding, lends itself to greater oversight."

So here are the suggestions,

"Developing efficiency measures to assess program effectiveness related to its goals.

Developing a plan to increase the use of evidence-based food and nutrition education initiatives across States.

Seeking legislation to make nutrition education a component of the Food Stamp Program and developing a plan to publicize regulations."

In other words, there were no measurable results for all that money, and it could be moved to another program. That doesn't mean the money stream will stop. And even if people misunderstood the program or didn't apply correctly, would they have misunderstood it to the amount of $460 million? Maybe the solution is to write the programs in understandable English?

Other government programs are listed as ineffective. They seem to be like wayward children--the government never gives up on them.

DNS (Domain Name System ) article

in Wired, December 2008 about a hacker, Dan Kaminsky, who discovered a hole in the system that would allow him to impersonate any website -- banking sites, medical, government, e-mail websites -- to attack unsuspecting users.

If you think 9/11 was scary, if the September 2008 meltdown of our government and finances frightened you, just read this article. [shiver] Kaminsky’s bug was squashed, but it makes you wonder how many more might be out there waiting for some who had enough time to think about it and play around (he was recovering from a shattered elbow).

“Collapse,” by Joshua Davis, Wired December 2008, p. 200

I don’t see December on their archive page yet--you read it in the library if you‘re not a subscriber. But the story has appeared in tech blogs and other magazines in July and August, which I never read. Davis is a good writer--of suspense.

Big Green Tent

See what I mean about greengoes?

Here's the Greenbuild 08, November 19-21 hype

"Next up was USGBC president and CEO Rick Fedrizzi, with a high-energy stump speech rallying the unwieldy, many-shades-of-green eco-building community. He was adamant: the severe recession will NOT sink the sustainable design market.

His big-tent stem-winder veered all over -- from market data to the survival of the planet, social justice and racial harmony. And, since an Obama presidency bodes better for green business than the alternative, he gave thanks for Nov. 4 as Abe Lincoln's image flashed on the jumbo screens. Never mind the hoary business injunction against politics...

We then segued, by way of an excellent African childrens chorus and dance troop, to Desmond Tutu. Nobody else could or would try to invoke the deity, the Bible, partisan politics, excessive defense spending and liberation struggles in the name of green building and address a bunch of conventioneers as divine agents of change. But he made it work . ."

Never mind that Obama will tax them to death if they try to make any money. Dream on silly architects and building trades.

We look like a Hallmark card

my husband said this morning. "The table is set with the good china, you're preparing food in the kitchen, and I'm putting up the Christmas tree." Celebrating birthdays tomorrow, so I'm getting the food ready today so that we can all go to church. Usually, this doesn't happen, but each year I can hope. It's pretty awkward. I go to church at 7 a.m. to pray, my husband ushers at the 8:15, and then we are all supposed to meet up for the 11 a.m. traditional service. Then it's back to the house for dinner. This year, we hope that 1) everyone gets to church on time, and 2) my husband can keep them busy decorating the tree while I put everything in the oven to warm up. It's sort of like eating leftovers since everything except the meat is prepared today. Here's the menu:

Boneless pork roast with orange sauce
dressing with apples, bacon and onion
buttered, spiced carrots
mashed potatoes
scalloped corn
pumpkin pie with whipped cream
I tried a new scalloped corn recipe--the kind you make with a corn muffin mix. I used to make it from memory, but the memory's shot. Not sure how that is going to work out--it sort of looks like a cake. My husband hates corn so the only time I fix it is when there will be someone else to eat it. And bacon. No matter what brand I buy it seems so tasteless. Has anyone else noticed this? It never gets crispy and yummy--just lies there and takes up space. Is it low-cholesterol pigs? Too many antibiotics and hormones? I wish they'd stop messing with our food. Maybe it's just my taste buds. They are my age, after all, and probably wearing out.

When I looked on the internet for a corn recipe, and bunches of happy cooks were contributing theirs (all with canned corn), of course one of the grow-your-own vegans drops by and insults everyone by saying she would never eat that garbage, but "y'all have a good day." Don't you just hate that on bulletin boards? Everyone's chatting and exchanging ideas and being so friendly, and then Mrs. Poo Poo I'm better than You chimes in.

Fall 1971, probably taken for birthdays

Our son has been battling a cold, and possibly the flu, so we may be a very small group. He's dragging to work, and then goes home and goes to bed. He never eats much, but at least I can send home the left overs. My cold seems to be undercover for now with the Zicam and the Clariton and extra sleep. At least, it hasn't gotten to that stage yet where I'd call it a cold.

Friday Family Photo

It's a dictionary! Merriam-Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, unabridged (1948) Here's the story of Merriam-Webster. My recollection is that this was a gift from my maternal grandmother Mary to our family for Christmas 1949, with a set of encyclopedias the next Christmas, although it's possible they were together, perhaps a 2-fer special. It remained in my parents' home for over 50 years, and was often used because my father was a cross-word fan, and they both would turn to the dictionary to answer questions just like we might use google today. Dad died in 2002, and I was probably the only one who requested this--at least I don't remember anyone else asking for it. It is sitting in my dining room on my mother's sewing cabinet, which she probably gave me sometime in the 1970s. Behind the sewing cabinet are the sliding glass doors for my early 1960s Paul McCobb china hutch which I don't use anymore, but didn't know where to put them. Ordinarily you don't see them, but they show up gray in the photo.

The last time I used this dictionary was this morning about 5:30 a.m. Here is the sentence that stumped me: "Psychopannychia emerges as relevatory of the young Calvin's thought." I had never seen "relevatory" before. Neither had Mr. Webster. And if it isn't in Webster's 2nd, I don't need to know!

Foreclosure counseling

Yesterday I was listening to 700 am in Cincinnati and heard an ad for Hope Now Alliance which was all warm and fuzzy about helping people facing foreclosure. "Betcha they put them there," was my response to the radio. So today I looked them up. Yessiree, same old gang that put people into homes with "gift" downpayments, and balooning mortgages and probably did no credit checks or background sifting are part of this group, thrown together to get more government money for foreclosure counseling when they were about to loose their sorry as- jobs in the mortgage industry.

So how does a floundering GSE with ties to Congress and in the tank lobbyists for Obama (if no party is mentioned, assume Democrat, because Republicans are usually noted) put on a Santa Claus face?

"Freddie Mac** has instructed its national network of mortgage servicers and foreclosure attorneys to stop all planned foreclosure sales and evictions involving Freddie Mac-owned mortgages during the holiday season.

The move is designed to give more homeowners facing foreclosure or eviction additional time to take advantage of the newly announced streamlined mortgage modification program, says Freddie Mac CEO David M. Moffett.

This should allow homeowners to work out agreements with mortgage services to avoid foreclosure. All foreclosure sales slated from Nov. 26, 2008, to Jan. 9, 2009, will be temporarily stopped. The program applies to single-family and 2-4 unit properties.

Not all these apples are bad, but I wouldn't want to be in the same basket with ACORN and La Raza, one a communist agitation group spoiling many elections with illegal voters, the other wants the SW to return to Mexico.

Members:

ACORN Housing Corporation
Catholic Charities USA
Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association, Inc.
Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Atlanta
HomeFree- USA
Homeownership Preservation Foundation
Housing Partnership Network
Mission of Peace
Mississippi Homebuyer Education Center- Initiative
Mon Valley Initiative
Money Management International, Inc.
National Association of Real Estate Brokers- Investment Division, Inc.
National Community Reinvestment Coalition
National Council of La Raza
National Credit Union Foundation
National Foundation for Credit Counseling, Inc.
National Urban League
NeighborWorks America
Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America
Rural Community Assistance Co.
Structured Employment Economic Development Co.
West Tennessee Legal Services, Inc.

**Who is Fred? The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC) (NYSE: FRE), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is an insolvent government sponsored enterprise (GSE) of the United States federal government.

The FHLMC was created in 1970 to expand the secondary market for mortgages in the US. Along with other GSEs, Freddie Mac buys mortgages on the secondary market, pools them, and sells them as mortgage-backed securities to investors on the open market. The U.S. government seized control of the mortgage giants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE), called GSEs, in September 2008, placing the liabilities of more than $5 trillion of mortgages onto the backs of the U.S. taxpayer.