Dingle Dangle Dingell

The letter from Henry I. Miller was buried in the letters column--would have been better as an op-ed, but is still available on-line. Miller writes about (D-Michigan) Rep. John Dingle's Inquisition Politics, saying that his defense of the auto industry was the least of his faults.

"Mr. Dingell was a master of the politics of personal destruction. In acrimonious hearings, he made vile and untrue accusations against prominent scientists, university administrators and business executives, relying on his congressional immunity to avoid being sued for slander.

In performing his committee's oversight role over the FDA, Mr. Dingell acted as a kind of self-appointed grand inquisitor. He and his staff often summoned agency officials to humiliating and abusive hearings and demanded that they produce mountains of documents on unrealistically short deadlines. His investigators even helped themselves to FDA files that contained confidential business information, a clear violation of federal law.

Mr. Dingell lost track of the constitutional division of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government. His actions were often grossly inappropriate."

Why do we have so many Dingells of both parties in Congress? This behavior is certainly not limited to him. A prize example of why we need term limits.

Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D., is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where his research focuses on public policy toward science and technology, including pharmaceutical development, the new biotechnology, models for regulatory reform, and the emergence of new viral diseases. He headed the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Biotechnology from 1989 to 1993.Link. Twenty five cents of every consumer dollar goes to a product regulated by the FDA, an agency he says is dysfunctional, a swamp in need of draining, according to a recent article he wrote for the Washington Times.

The Bible or the Bard?

Take the quiz and see how you score. I didn't do so good.

The Bible or The Bard?

Score: 70% (7 out of 10)

I care, I really do

Just not enough to print out 23 pages, and it's much too complicated to read on screen. Here it is: "A GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED: LIBRARIES AND THE GOOGLE LIBRARY PROJECT SETTLEMENT" Link to ALA/ARL paper. Besides, it's time for a nap, and all the medical studies seem to agree that naps are good for you. Although, I'd do it anyway.

The Science of Prevention

It's not getting more lab tests, as reported in today's WSJ--at least not at my age. Recently a relative broke her foot. In helping her into the ER, her husband broke his finger. Last week I made my husband promise that he wouldn't get on a ladder to clean the gutters at our summer home. Men his age die falling off ladders. I chatted yesterday with a woman whose arm was in a sling and she said she injured herself pulling out the hose to water her plants before winter. A friend of a friend fell down the stairs carrying things in both hands and broke his left wrist and his right ankle--and then tried to drive himself to the emergency room. And yet if you were to read the medical news or watch the TV health stories, you would think all you needed to do at my age was eat fruits and vegetables, never microwave anything in plastic, hide the salt shaker, and lower your cholesterol by eating boring stuff (my lunch today was 5 vegetables and 2 brownies--all the colors, just like mom said ;-) ).

I suggest you all go read Sandy, my blogging friend and nutrition writer, Junk Food Science. She doesn't write about junk food, she writes about junk science about food. Today she's writing about where you get your medical news. JAMA is one of my favorite magazines, but if I remove the slick, thick advertising pages, it's quite skinny.

Meanwhile, I'll just remind you that you can't beat good genes. That's still the number one factor in good health and a long life, and you didn't have a thing to do with it. If you're still alive tomorrow, give thanks for your parents and grandparents who gave you a good start. My mother died in her 88th year, her brother at 99, her father at 94, and her sister is still going at 92. Dad died at 89, his father at 92, and his grandfather was 88 in 1950 when he died, and one of his daughters is still going at 92. Second, don't smoke; third, drink alcohol only in moderation, and if you think a 6 pack after work is moderation, you need to relearn the meaning of the word; fourth, reduce your calories; and fifth, get some regular exercise.

Here's a photo of OSU's President Gordon Gee leading some university employees on laps around the Oval. It looks to me that most of the folks falling in line here are already fairly trim. I've noticed that at the Senior Center dance class too--all the ladies dancing, from late 70s into early 90s are quite trim. I have no idea, and neither do the researchers, which came first--the fitness, or the activity.

Sew Homemade

When I was a little girl, my mother made a lot of my clothes--the rest were "hand-me-downs" from my two older sisters. With the left over fabric she made clothes for our dollies. She even made our underwear! But it never looked like this.

She also made clothing for my brother--these coveralls were sewn from my dad's WWII camouflage.


Today I upgraded my Memory Patterns blog, which was completed several years ago but has a lot of old photos of sewing projects. In checking some of the old links, I found the above pattern.

Obama Names Bill Clinton to Presidential Post

That Iowahawk is such a kidder, but still . . . it surely looks that way. Those of you afraid of a Bush third term with McCain, are you happy about the Clinton third term?

WASHINGTON DC - Ending weeks of speculation and rumors, President-Elect Barack Obama today named Bill Clinton to join his incoming administration as President of the United States, where he will head the federal government's executive branch.

"I am pleased that Bill Clinton has agreed to come out of retirement to head up this crucial post in my administration," said Obama. "He brings a lifetime of previous executive experience as Governor of Arkansas and President of the United States, and has worked closely with most of the members of my Cabinet."

Idea for transferring your wealth to Washington

Here's an idea for those of you who want to be patriotic (Joe Biden's term), to share/spread your wealth (Obama's philosophy), and get universal health care off the ground (Hillary's plan from the 90s). I read this week that $16 billion is spent annually on tailgating! That would fund the CDC for more than two years. So all you Obama supporters just have to give up your fall tailgates, send the money to President elect Obama, and he'll be able to share the bounty with government salaried workers. Neat idea, huh?

Whether your Buckeye is a Republican or Democrat, Jack Park's new book will be a welcome sight under the Christmas tree.

Almost 50 years ago

"On January 25, 1959, at the Roman Basilica of Saint Paul outside the Walls, Pope John XXIII announced his intention of convoking a council of the church to open its windows, as he put it, to let in fresh air. The ultimate goal of the council was to be Christian unity. After nearly four years of extensive preparation, the council met in four sessions from October 11, 1962 to December 8, 1965 and was a momentous event not only for the Roman Church but for all of Western Christianity. . .

. . .the Second Vatican Council . . showed the Church of Rome to be not the monolithic monarchy many thought it to be but rather a living body capable of remarkable change, renewal, and renovation--a model for the rest of Christianity. Moreover, the churches of the Reformation, and Lutherans especially, saw in the working and the documents of the council an acceptance of basic principles of the sixteenth-century Reformation:

• the primacy of grace,
• the centrality of Scripture,
• the understanding of the church as the people of God,
• the use of the vernacular language.

It was as if the Lutheran Reformation had made its point at long last. Indeed, some Lutherans observed that the place in the modern world where the principles of the Reformers were most clearly at work was the Roman Church. . ."
Commentary on the Lutheran Book of Worship; Lutheran liturgy in its ecumenical context, by Philip H. Pfatteicher, (Augsburg Fortress, 1990) p. 1

Yes, it certainly was an optimistic time, since even today 50 years later many Lutherans will not worship together or share in Holy Communion with another synod. And there are some of us old time transfers (1976) from other denominations (Church of the Brethren and Presbyterian in our case) who wish someone would close the windows or maybe lower them for a year or two--at least in terms of tinkering with our Sunday service. We were just getting the hang of the LBW (or as we non-liturgical types call it, the green book, which replaced the red book, Service book and hymnal) when the mid-week informal/contemporary service at UALC migrated to a spot on Sunday morning back in the 80s, and now has pretty much taken over. Only a few stubborn old timers who enjoy complex theology in their hymns, a real choir, confession of sins, and creeds show up for the two traditional services (out of 9). However, if you read Pfatteicher's book, LBW really isn't so traditional after all but reflects constant change over two thousand years, beginning with a bunch of rag-tag, frightened Jewish Christians gathering after Jesus' resurrection to follow his instructions, "Take and eat; this is my body given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

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