Shallow research

If it's possible for journalists to drown in a mud puddle, Cam Simpson and Jonathan Weisman of today's WSJ certainly fell in and died from lack of effort in this one, "Obama ties in the spotlight." Two sources are cited for the most part in this "investigation" written mostly in the passive tense: an Obama biographer, David Mendell, and an Obama mythmaker, David Axelrod. And so we get investigative depth such as

embarrassing the 2 aren't close no suggestion of inappropriate behavior public spotlight on the episodes highlights ties name will be linked little mud on his suit no relationship say aides unclear how much Obama worked on Blagojevich campaign not involved with Emanuel say transition officials gone separate ways (Axelrod and Blogojevich) says Mendell "I was mistaken when I said Obama spoke directly to Gov. Blogojevich about the Senate vacancy," said Axelrod.

Some articles are best left unwritten. The WSJ has the most liberal news coverage of any American newspaper, but this has to be an all time best obamapology.

Rod Blagojevich, Obama, Bush, Frank, Pelosi, et al

And these are the public servants who want to tell us how to run the economy? And the world? For four years they've been investigating Illinois' governor, while he told the Illinois tax payers to tighten their belts, make grandma hostage at the nursing home with unpaid Medicaid bills, and close the local parks, even the ones that were self supporting. And Obama, the man with change and hope in his belly, heard and saw no evil, and spoke only beautiful rhetorical phrases. Meanwhile Blagojevich (is that hair real?) is negotiating a cushy job for himself and his wife with the Obama/Pelosi crowd. Will children's services remove the kids from an unfit home? This place sounds more corrupt than a few renegade Mormans. Who knew what when? Does it really matter? So, do you suppose this is what Biden tried to warn us about? Or was it some other disaster we're suppose to ignore and trust that our leaders know best?

This post has a record number of question marks, at least for me. This Blagojevich story has left me only with questions. My condolences to the citizens of Illinois. I think it's time to clean up Chicago.

Censorship or common sense?

As a librarian I think I've seen or read just about everything that's out there (that's stupid) about digital porn, filters, libraries and access. It's always about freedom and never about protecting children or library patrons who have to sit next to the perverts. "Well, what if they are doing a school report about AIDS in Africa, and you've got a filter on the computer?" Yeah, sure. I know people who will not take their children to public libraries unattended--and that's just fine, indeed recommended, by some library directors. God forbid some slimeball should be prevented masterbating at the terminal or stacks while he views naked girls and women. Now it's Wikipedia. What? Librarians on their board/staff? Here's the story in E-Commerce News.

A decades-old record album cover showing a young girl posing nude may be illegal in the UK, but the controversial image has not been banned in the U.S., where Wikipedia is hosted. The user-created online encyclopedia has therefore determined it would be censorship to remove the image from its pages. Several British ISPs have restricted access to the page, however, in response to a complaint.

The Times of India

Here's another interesting video I saw at Rainy Day--how the Times of India, the world's largest English language newspaper, supported a campaign to find new, fresh leadership. It's fascinating--this is a reality show I could watch if we did this in the U.S. Considering the events of last week in Mumbai, it may be even more important to watch this video now.

New Christmas song about Joseph

With mixed sacred and secular images, this video presents a recording for this Christmas made by The Killers, Elton John and Neil Tennant. Proceeds will benefit Product Red, an AIDS benefit.



HT Rainy Day, for anything you need to know about Ireland.

The Freshmen of 2008

When I saw that I had a message from Mabel Freeman, I almost deleted it. Could have been anything--like a guy shoveling snow in the buff from a Floridian, or a Nigerian princess offering me a loan or ink cartridges. However, I'm glad I looked--at her message, not the guy. It was about the OSU class that entered in September 2007 (not sure why that is called the class of 2008 instead of 2007). It really is impressive. I thought they were fudging a bit on the stats for "students of color" since that includes Asians, and I think there needs to be a better term for students whose ancestors didn't come from Europe like SWANE, although eventually, I suppose if colonial emigres to Britain study in the U.S., even that one won't work. I thought this was impressive: "75% enrolled having earned college credit from AP performance, post-secondary enrollment, or international baccalaureate participation." It looks like the College of Engineering snagged most of this talented group, with business coming in second. I don't know what "exploration" means, but probably "still thinking," or "present." When I was at Ohio State, there was a lot of concern and effort about retention of minority students, because they were heavily recruited, but so many failed or transferred. Therefore, I was thrilled to see this: "African American and Hispanic retention reached a new high of 91%." Also foreign student enrollment is way up again, after falling off after 9/11 when security measures got stricter.

Good job, Ohio State University!

Intelligence Community Legal Reference Book

Sometimes I can't help myself. Not only am I addicted to reference books, I swoon over serendipity in the stacks. Yesterday I pulled off Intelligence Community Legal Reference Book, 680+ pages of unclassified documents about CIA, Homeland Security, counterintelligence, Patriot Act, detainee treatment, how to share information about terrorists, and information sharing, etc. Another thing that overwhelms me--how much Obama has to learn, if this is just the unclassified, imagine what else he's trying to take in. No wonder he's tracking to the middle, with all the Clintonistas standing around him like that TV ad for cell phone support.

Don't laugh. Have you ever read the National Security Act of 1947? You know, you go through life thinking you read, write and speak American standard English. . . and then you read a government document.

"Notwithstanding any provision of law identified in section 904, the President may stay the imposition of an economic, cultural, diplomatic, or other sanction or related action by the United States Government concerning a foreign country, organization, or person when the President determines and reports to Congress in accordance with section 903 that to proceed without delay would seriously risk the compromise of an ongoing criminal investigation directly related to the related to the activities giving rise to the sanction. Any such stay shall be effective for a period of time specified by the President, which period may not exceed 120 days, unless such period is extended in accordance with section 902."

Tipping has changed!

This morning I took a Christmas card and a $20 bill into Panera's, addressed to "The morning staff," and included a little note of thanks. It seems like a big chunk when you give it at once, but not amortized. I'm there about 4 days a week, 42 weeks of the year, so that's what, about a 12 cent tip per visit on a $1.69 cup of coffee with several refills, a seat by the fireplace, regulars and friends to chat with and 3 papers to read? Two of the staff members came over to my table later to personally thank me. That was nice--and it gave me a chance to share about "the olden days."

When I worked at Zickuhr's Drug Store in high school and a few weeks between college sessions between Manchester and University of Illinois, a cup of coffee was $.10 and the advice and kidding was free and never ending, as was the Monday Morning Quarter Backing all week long about the local sports teams. But it wasn't unusual to get a quarter tip. Dave Dillehay, the town clerk, was particularly generous. If I got on the honor roll, which was posted in the town paper each 6 weeks, I got a $5 gift certificate. And when I got married, he gave me a silverplate tea service, which now resides at my daughter's home. Yes, those were the days of tipping!

Both Dave Dillehay and Ralph Zickuhr have parks named for them, from a grateful community--they were good leaders and well liked.

Bankruptcy will be better than bailout both for Big 3 and American consumer

These points come from Don Weil, however, I've mentioned particularly the need for change in the auto industry going back to the 1970s. Ohio's economy is closely tied to the auto industry, as is my son's job, so I do have mixed emotions on the bailout, however, for the country and the global economy, a bailout is much worse than a bankruptcy. Overpaid unions, overpaid CEOs. Head-in-the-sand industry. Over regulated already with Congress trying to run the business and push cars no one wants. And who was it that allowed the loophole on gasoline efficiency so that light trucks became the rage? Congress, of course. Lame duck Bush will do nothing, although he'll get the blame either way; Obama will wait so he can be savior, and it will definitely be called a success no matter what the results. Even if we stay in a recession or fall into a depression that lasts over a decade like we did with FDR who grew it to massive proportions, Obama will be lauded and praised at least until Americans wake up a few generations from now. My generation won't live long enough to have history sort it out, and our "free press" will certain be no help, if it even survives

• If the companies go into bankruptcy and come out stronger, the industry will employ about the same amount of people. If not, foreign auto makers will produce more cars in the U.S. and pick up many of these workers.
• A prepackaged bankruptcy could actually leave the major auto makers in better shape than they were prior to the financial crisis. Since the mid-1990s, the Big Three made most of their money on gas guzzling SUVs and trucks. That simply won’t cut it anymore. Bankruptcy will force the auto makers to quicken their shift to smaller cars.
• bankruptcy would give the Big Three an opportunity to rework their labor contracts, cutting compensation, and to jettison incompetent executives.
• Plenty of companies have emerged stronger from bankruptcy. Nearly all the major airlines have gone through that process and came out stronger than when they entered.
• The Big Three have had so many opportunities to change their practices since the first oil crisis of the early 1970s, yet they have been reluctant to budge. GM still has eight brands of cars, even though critics have pointed out for years that’s probably about seven too many.
• this current "bailout" bears no resemblance to the rescue of Chrysler in 1980. In 1980, Congress passed, and President Carter signed, a law giving a U.S. government guarantee of a private $1.5 billion loan to Chrysler. Not one dollar of taxpayer funds was ever used in the deal. Chrysler also had a clear plan to make a comeback and the loan was relatively small.

Dan Weil - Dec 8 at Newsmax
.
For explanation of how UAW labor costs compare with other workers, see Heritage.

The CIA's art collection

Nothing about the government should surprise me, but I didn't know the CIA has its own art collection. Today I picked up the CSI's Studies in Intelligence Journal, vol.52, no.2, 2008, to read

"By the end of 2008, 52 percent of CIA’s workforce will have entered on duty since 11 September 2001. CIA’s history and museum programs provide institutional cohesion to communicate CIA’s corporate culture and identity during this demographic revolution. Recent additions to the Agency’s historical holdings include intelligence-themed paintings and sculpture that record for posterity the experiences of intelligence officers in peace and war."

It was a non-circ item (from OSUL), but it is available on the web, or at least parts of it. Here's a sample of the art. The painting depicts Virginia Hall, a Baltimore native who joined the State Department in the 1930s, with many assignments abroad until an accident cost her a leg and she resigned. At the outbreak of WWII, she "joined the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). . . Her fluency in French landed her a clandestine assignment in Lyons, where she went to work developing the area’s resistance operations. Over the next 15 months, every British agent arriving in France passed through her flat for instructions, counterfeit money, and contacts. In addition, she orchestrated supply drops and helped endangered agents escape to England. Betrayed in November 1942, she had to use her own escape route out of France, just steps ahead of her now infamous pursuer, Klaus Barbie, “the butcher of Lyons.”

Hall then joined the Special Operations Branch of the Office of Strategic Services in March 1944 and asked to return to occupied France. OSS promptly granted her request and reinfiltrated her aboard a British PT boat. Disguised as a farmwoman, she carried cheese to local villages to count German troops and identify drop zones for the Allied invasion to come." After the war she received the Distinguished Service Cross—the only one given to a civilian woman during that war. "Hall later worked for the CIA, serving in many jobs as one of CIA’s first female operations officers."

Throw in some romance (Branjelina?) and this would be a great movie. She married her husband, Paul, in 1950 who was also an OSS officer. Her story was told in The Wolves at the Door : The True Story of America's Greatest Female Spy by Judith L. Pearson, The Lyons Press, 2005. That left leg looks pretty real to me in the painting. Maybe the artist didn't know?

Manna Storehouse raids in Ohio

Usually, I wouldn't cite a Daily Kos entry for anything, but I think this one on what happened in Ohio to a small organic co-op (private membership) Manna Storehouse, is worth looking at. It provides a lot of links that I won't go into. Both left, libertarian and right seemed alarmed by big government interference in legal, but non-licensed, activities. I suspect the raids happened because we have no serious crime in Ohio, and all the authorities who protect our great state from the bad guys need to go to the rural areas and farms because things are so peaceful in the cities. Ya think?

Here's the story as it appeared in The Morning Journal:

Wednesday, December 3, 2008 6:42 AM EST
By MORNING JOURNAL STAFF
news@MorningJournal.com

PITTSFIELD TOWNSHIP — An Ohio Department of Agriculture agent seized food, electronic devices and documents from a Pittsfield Township organic and natural food cooperative believed to be unlicensed, according to a search warrant filed yesterday in Lorain County Common Pleas Court.

Jacqueline and John Stowers, owners of the Manna Storehouse, 43565 SR 303, were inspected in November 2007 by the Lorain County General Health District, according to court records.

On Monday, ODA enforcement agent William Lesho confiscated hundreds of pounds of processed beef and large amounts of lamb, turkey and other perishable products in addition to office files, a computer, two cell phones and other electronic devices, according to the search warrant inventory. The items were taken to establish the Stowers' ownership in any property, records of hidden wealth or illegal income and anything that would establish illegal activity, according to the search warrant affidavit.

Jacqueline Stowers declined to comment because she had not seen the court papers yesterday evening.

A health district sanitarian and two other inspectors visited the cooperative on Nov. 30, 2007, to make observations and were told to leave. Jacqueline Stowers wrote in a December 2007 letter to the sanitarian that the inspectors never had permission to be on their property and that the Manna Storehouse is not operating a retail food establishment that requires a license.

"We declare now that we do not want to be a 'licensed retail food establishment' or a 'food service operation' and we do not plan to become one in the future and that we will not knowingly conduct any activities that would require that type of licensing," she wrote.

The matter was forwarded to the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office after the Lorain County General Health District received her letter, according to court records.

Ten big lies

I've been watching Michael Medved on Book-TV talk about his newest book, Ten big lies about America in which he discussed the most pernicious persistent America-bashing that we hear almost daily from the media and the children and college students learn about the economy, race, religion in politics, the Iraq war, and other issues.

These include:

"Myth: The United States is uniquely guilty for the crime of slavery and based its wealth on stolen African labor.
Fact: The colonies that became the United States accounted for, at most, 3 percent of the abominable international slave trade; the persistence of slavery in America slowed economic progress; and the U.S. deserves unique credit for ending slavery. [America-bashers try to say slavery here was unique--it wasn't--it was universal. And still exists today in many countries.]

Myth: The alarming rise of big business hurts the United States and oppresses its people.
Fact: Corporations played an indispensable role in building America, and corporate growth has brought progress that benefits all with cheaper goods and better jobs.

Myth: The Founders intended a secular, not Christian, nation.
Fact: Even after ratifying the Constitution, fully half the state governments endorsed specific Chris­tian denominations. And just a day after approving the First Amendment, forbidding theestablishment of religion, Congress called for a national “day of public thanksgiving and prayer” to acknowledge “the many signal favors of Almighty God.”

Myth: A war on the middle class means less comfort and opportunity for the average American.
Fact: Familiar campaign rhetoric about the victimized middle class ignores the overwhelming statistical evidence that the standard of living keeps rising for every segment of the population, as well as the real-life experience of tens of millions of middle-class Americans."

He also reminds us that what made the Great Depression "great" was its unprecedented length, caused by the bumbling foolishness of our two presidents, Hoover and Roosevelt. No other recession/depression in our history had ever had such interference, nor had lasted as long. Medved has a great radio show--and if you can't get it in your area you can listen via the computer. The Book-TV program will be repeated tomorrow and next Sunday.

P.S. Bush never said, "Mission accomplished," but I don't think that was covered here. He did a radio show on that myth/lie which is constantly repeated.

New Notebook Time

The "latte" journal I started October 28, and used the last page December 5.



The new one should be cheery. It's published by Legacy Publishing Group, the artist is Teresa Kogut. I bought it at the Shade Tree at Lakeside this past summer. The old one (I bought a bunch of these) was $1.00 at the Discovery Shop. The artist is Deb Strain, an Ohio artist (according to the back inside cover) who left the classroom in 1994 to devote herself to her family and art.

Lots and lots of notes here I never used. So here's what I didn't write about--but will briefly note it here.

Correction--California Teachers Association only donated $1.25 million to oppose Proposition 8, not $3 million as originally reported in WSJ. That was the ballot initiative to overturn the State Supreme Court ruling that allows gay marriage. Can you get a teacher's job if you don't join the union?

70% of subprime loans that defaulted before they reset contained some kind of misrepresentation by the borrower, lender, or broker, or a combination of the 3. (no source)

Hutu Tutsi conflict continues in Congo. Rebels advanced toward Congo's eastern provincial capital. U.N. is there. Wonder what they have been doing since the genocide in Rwanda 14 years ago?

Will the left be happy now? Wal-Mart will continue its international expansion, but growth is flat in U.S. NIMBY attitude in many communities, so we all lose. They didn't even wait for President Obama to add more environmental regs, higher taxes, restrictive hiring practices, more punitive health care demands. And we wonder why business leaves?

Hand washing--a cost cutting campaign years ago at OSUL--my idea, but it wasn't accepted. Notes on soap dishes, keyboards in libraries, tables, chairs, etc.

Obama's ties to ACORN, John Fund article WSJ October 30.

There are 39,000+ runners in the NYC marathon--26 in the 80-90 year old division. In my dreams!!!

Lake Geneva real estate ad--$4.5 million--looks like an Hawaiian plantation. I wonder why you wouldn't go to Hawaii and get a real one?

Theresa Hogan has an op-ed saying don't make this a single issue election--abortion. Why not? I might not word it that way but we do need a leader with character, not one who gets a 100% rating from NARAL.

Friend highly recommends Fireproof at the AMC Dublin 18.

Another icon the left hates--McDonalds. In France it is opening 29 stores in 2008--its biggest earner outside USA.

Bank failures in 2008--17.

When was the last time you changed your mind on something BIG? I listed 8.

Pat Wynn Brown "Love is in the Hair"--she's a local actress, writer, cancer survivor. I remember reading her columns when she wrote for one of the free-circs. The event helps women who have lost their hair to chemo.

I'd forgotten these guys--Ricky Nelson's sons, Matthew and Gunner. Playing at the Alrosa Villa.

The clerk had a terrible cold--please send her home.

50 women to watch world wide (WSJ) Only 3 appear to be African or African-American. 26 are over 50. Whoopee.

Abstinance is 100% successful in controling the spread of AIDS and in reducing poverty, but it's a political wasteland with the pro-abortion crowd. There's no money in abstinance.

I'm ignoring Peggy Noonan.

In NY the UN Secretary looks up from his latte and polished desk and says he's "concerned" that women and children are being raped; homes burned and sons murdered. Someone buy this puppet a ticket to the Congo.

I wonder why the more government funding a disease gets, the more it expands? New cases of diabetes--increased by 90% in 10 years. Spending on drugs to control diabetes almost doubled between 2001 and 2007 from $6.7 mil to $12.5 mil. Must be a relationship. Ya think?

Oxymoron--mandatory volunteer

Theodidacti--taught by God

Hunger--now "food insecurity"

Illinois leads the country in allowing retailers to keep some sales tax--$126,000,000. Apparently costs 3.1% of the sum collected for the retailer.

Sea lamprey has "evolved" and now makes Vermont its home in Lake Champlain. Havoc on salmon and trout. No one seems to know how it got there.

Recipe for Buckeye Pie

Book review of "Breathing the fire" by Kimberly Dozier, Meredith Books, 2008, reviewed in JAMA Oct 1, 1595-96. Looks really good.

Lies about stem cell research.

Hank Greenberg (AIG)--huge losses in his foundations.

Just one or two drinks can impair memory--seems to interfer with how memories are stored.

In Jos Nigeria clashes of ethnic violence have killed over 400 and displaced over 7,000--mainly Christians by Muslims. I'm not going to say it was buried in the back pages of the paper because the victims were Christians, but I will say it was because they were Africans. But when you've killed millions by taking DDT away from them, what's a few more? Where are the happy-clappy, sappy-crappy one-globe folks when you need them?

June Kronholz, WSJ 12-4-08, "Massive bureaucracy promises exciting new opportunity." Sigh. She notes: Workforce is older; only 17% of Americans trust the gov't; very sluggish; outsiders are not hired; it takes years to remove an ineffective worker; hiring one employee can involve 110 steps; pay and promotion are not tied to performance.

McCain was the creator of the system that brought him down--the McCain-Feingold. "By not trusting the American people he allowed the worst, most corrupt money machine in history to decide our election."

Gasoline in Ohio is around $1.50/gal. Auto dealerships are closing. Columbus mayor is closing eleven recreation sites.

That's a lot of not writing.

About to go to press

You would think a person who can churn out 5-6 blog posts a day, keep track of 11 blogs, and write other, non-web related things could at least put together a Christmas letter before December 1. Our cards have been ready for about 3 weeks. I wrote the letter on my lap top up at the lake, but we'd brought the printer back to Columbus, and I couldn't get a wireless connection, so when I got home, I e-mailed it from the kitchen to my office, copy and pasted it into word processing, and I think we're good to go to Staples this morning. My husband did a special watercolor--and I didn't like it. I'm his biggest fan, and biggest critic. So he substituted a wonderful painting from our Alaska trip in 2001. But the original one may show up next year. When he photographed and printed it to 4 x 6, it looked fabulous. Sometimes reducing a painting hides the little defects. I thought about offering to send one to some blog readers not on the list, but realized we'd only made 200, and who knows how many read this regularly enough to see the offer. Thousands? Ha.



This is a photo of the painting on this year's card, not a scan, so you're seeing a bit of the mat, plus I've had to reduce the whatevers to get it to load--it was too large. And the letter--well, it was the most uninspired, boring thing I've ever written--"we did this, then that, and so on." Blah, blah. So you're not missing much if you missed the list. I must say, I have friends who do some incredible things--both in travel and service. We used to get photos of the children, now it is the grandchildren. Sometimes it's a pet with no people at all!

I don't think anyone will beat Marie and Wayne's Christmas letter. Marie and I became friends living in McKinley Hall at the University of Illinois 1958-1960. We haven't seen each other since graduation in 1961, but have continued to exchange Christmas cards over the years. I still have the baby pictures of her kids. I'm always worn out by the time I finish their letter, but in 2008 I think they are going to out-do even Nelson Jr., the valedictorian of my high school class who is married to a librarian and is a Professor at the University of Nebraska.

This year Marie and Wayne had

2 more grandchildren--twins--since last year's letter

5th wheel camper Nomads mission project in Florida

summer in their cabin in the Northwoods boating, fishing, etc.

two trips to London to visit their daughter and grandchildren there

month long trip to Glacier, Yellowstone and Black Hills

2 weeks in South Africa as a birthday gift from their daughter and SIL in London--safari, national parks, history--the works

volunteering at the Northern Illinois Food Bank

ministry to the homeless through the Holy Casserolers

visit from their London family for Christmas next week

Really, even with a trip to Italy in June and a mission to Haiti in February, we look pretty stodgy compared to Wayne and Marie. Still, we're so very grateful to hear from far off friends at Christmas. I love Christmas letters and catching up, even though some people make fun of them. Isn't there a song to spoof* the Christmas letters? Our church is having a special "Blue Christmas" service for people who are having a hard time being joyful or thankful.

We know a couple who lost their daughter in October. It's going to be a tough time--worse than the day-to-day grief--getting through this. I've been there and remember. Holidays can be pretty awful when someone is missing--especially a child. As an adult I probably didn't spend more than 10 Christmases with my parents, but this time of year I miss them a lot. Probably will do a Monday Memory tomorrow about Christmas 1945, if I can scrape up the memories.

Time to head for Staples. Times's a-wasting.
---------------

*Looked it up--Ray Stevens' album

"Well, we still live in the double-wide,
but Bubba's added on,
A bass-boat shed and a workshop,
and new flamingoes for the lawn,
We took down the front yard tire swing,
now that Junior's in the pen,
But it looks like a happy new year:
they moved him off death row again!

Happy Holidays from Fred Thompson

Go ahead and spend--he's got it all figured out!

Old Time--my time--recipe collection

As we dashed out of the cottage this morning to return to Columbus, I grabbed my "Home Builders Treasure Chest" recipe collection of the Ogle County, Ill. Home Bureau. The group was formed in 1939 and the book was published in 1957, so I thought it would be fun to post some items on my class reunion blog. It was one of my mother's recipe books that I inherited after her death in 2000. She had joined Home Extension after all her children were grown and gone. I'm not sure what the group was doing by then, she could have "written the book" on being a good homemaker, although I think she did learn some crafts. This group changed its name in 1962 to Ogle County Homemakers Extension Association.



I enjoyed looking through it reading the names of the ladies from Mt. Morris and Forreston I remembered. Then I came across a recipe by Fran Babler, mother of one of my classmates, who died about two weeks ago at 95. I have pleasant memories of Fran and her children, and as it turns out I learned on this trip, that my husband and my classmate Mike were in the Air Force ROTC drill team together. Mike went into the Air Force after the U. of I. and later became a commercial pilot. So here's his mom's recipe for Oatmeal Cake.

1 C oatmeal
1 C boiling water
Let stand while you mix the rest of the cake.
1/2 C shortening
1 1/2 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1 C flour
1 t soda
1 t baking power
1/4 t salt
1 t vanilla
1/2 C nut meats
Cream shortening and brown sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Add sifted dry ingredients. Lastly add oatmeal mixture, nuts and vanilla. Bake at (350) to (375) for 30 to 40 minutes (loaf pan).

My family likes a caramel frosting but that is a matter of preference only.

Reading through this, it was clear ideas about good nutrition have changed in the last 50 years. Many of these recipes were probably family favorites and reflect an earlier time--like pie crusts made with lard--even by 1957 Crisco was probably preferred, at least that's what my mom was using. Scrambled brains and eggs; stag dinner (broiled t-bone, french-fires, french fried onions, chef salad, cheese-apple pie); parsnip casserole; and all manner of fish held together in a gelatin goo. Also, you can hardly find a vegetable that isn't potato or corn. There are over 50 pages devoted to sweets and desserts--but only 10 to vegetables--and those were mostly potato or cabbage casseroles. I could almost feel my arteries hardening as I read! Although crisp, cut vegetables were suggested for snacks and garnishes. I saw almost nothing using rice and very little on beans.

There was one recipe for pizza in this collection--under "foreign foods." Both my husband and I remember trying pizza for the first time when we were seniors in high school and didn't think it was too special, but by the time we met 2 years later, we were both fans of this "foreign" food.

And yet, people weren't as overweight in the 1950s as they are today. Probably they were just picking, cleaning and cooking right out of the garden and didn't put those dishes in the recipe collections figuring everyone knew what to do with a panful of green peas or fresh cut asparagus. This food wheel was published in the back of the collection (not in color), and was produced by the USDA in 1943, apparently still in use 15 years later. Pasta and rice aren't listed, although it would be in group 6.

Considering the obesity problem we have with the USDA pyramid, maybe we should go back to the wheel--or maybe the government doesn't have all the answers--ya think? Here's the dedication:
Here's to the Homemaker,
The mother, the cook
Who firmly believes
In a cookery book.

Assembled within
Is a very small part
Of secrets we've shared
Some close to the heart.

But sharing a secret
Or sharing a care. . .
The Best Part of All
Is learning to share.

Cover Title: Home Builders Treasure Chest
Inside title: Favorite recipes. Compiled by Ogle County Home Bureau, printed by R. Wallace Pischel, Marceline, Mo., 1957

Why they won’t change their ways--the big three

In July 1987 National Geographic published a map of the Great Lakes, 15th in a series of 17 maps, “The Making of America.” It is has very interesting information and we keep it at our lake house on Lake Erie. From 1890-1960 it reports that the “lake ports of Hamilton, Cleveland, Detroit and Gary emerged as steel making giants in the heart of one of the world’s greatest concentrations of heavy manufacturing. Lake side mills devoured iron ore shipped south from the Gogebic, Mesabi, and other Lake Superior ranges, as well as coking coal brought by railroad and lake boat from the coalfields of Illinois and Appalachia.” But there were hard times--some 225,000 were forced to leave the north country of Minnesota--the farms and mines--between 1940 and 1950 alone.

However, for the 1970s and 1980s, we see a turn down for this region--the area of the big three that now comes to Congress hat in hand, asking for a bailout. It says “in the 1970s U.S. manufacturing ran afoul of global economic ills, foreign competition, poor management and extravagant wage pacts (the pensions they are now worried about). Tens of thousands left the so-called rust belt for the Sunbelt. “Japan quick to adopt the latest technology, forged ahead of the U.S. as the world’s largest steel producer. The substitution of lightweight plastics and aluminum for steel hammered the industry harder. Meanwhile U.S. automakers floundered under an invasion of fuel-efficient foreign cars; in Michigan car and truck output halved between 1976 and 1980.” . . “Detroit’s population shrank from 1,514,000 in 1970 to 1,203,000 a decade later. . . Many migrated to the South and West, were the booming service and high-tech economy required them to learn new skills.”

So here we are, more than 20 years after this was written, 30 years after our auto industry and the UAW were put on notice that they absolutely had to change, to streamline and reduce wages. Did they learn? No. They survived making light trucks and SUVs with huge management and union salaries, wages and benefits and big profits for shareholders. Now they sit in front of sour faced congressmen, berating and ridiculing them, babbling about sharing rides, people with no business expertise such as Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi who haven’t a clue how to get us out of this mess, people who owe their own jobs to unions and big business both for more benefits and higher salaries. Those of us who didn’t make a fraction of the union wage or the CEOs salary, or a Congress salary, are expected to save them.

If you want to podcast

There's a neat little, easy to install thingy/widget for your written blog that turns it into a podcast. I don't listen to podcasts by amateurs because most people write better than they speak. But this feature is really amazing. It sounds almost like a real person--better than I could do if I read my own blogs aloud. Except. . . I can't get it to work correctly. I'm on my way out the door so I won't have time to fiddle, but if you find a blog that has one take a listen to that writer clicking on odiogo link. My problem specifically was that he/it would only read about 20 seconds, and also read some encoded huge number that I didn't know was there like 5 million 4 hundred thousand and 82. It could be because I html my topic headings with out of date code and it is trying vainly to read them. I don't think I have any fans who want my blogs on their i-pods, however, listening to the rhythm of your writing (I think) can make you a better writer. One of the reasons the KJV Bible is so elegant compared to today's plodding, English-as-it-was-never-spoken translations and paraphrases, is that it was written to be listened to--many people didn't know how to read.

Poking through the trash

Occasionally I look through spam/trash filter to see if I've missed anything. My osu address trashy writers apparently know I'm retired.

affordable meds
online pharmacy
off shore pharmacy
poker
blackjack
craps

Then my commercial e-mail address, although it has an excellent filter sends me the "extender/members" offers plus the items about work, diets and debt

flying monkey (?)
Official Barack Obama coins
low carb shakes and bars
work at home scams
debt reducer
top dollar for my unwanted gold
easy income with google
earn a college degree on line

What's in your trash?

Curses to use for those who might misuse a gift or endowment

At lunch today a group of retirees were discussing what becomes of gifts and endowments to universities and cities whether they be for a building, a library or landscaping. I for one wouldn't give a penny to any institution to name or build something, because as soon as the last relative who could object has faded from view, it is bulldozed, moved, renamed, or merged.

In the 10th century the Abbey of Cluny was established with donations from William I the Pious, duke of Aquitaine and count of Auvergne and his wife Ingelberga. You can see the charter at Medieval Sourcebook. It has some magnificent curses on those who might misuse the gift for anything other than his intent. Perhaps when you donate land, houses, or memorials to honor a loved one or yourself, you might throw in some of these curses in the agreement.

"If anyone - which Heaven forbid, and which through the mercy of God and the protection of the holy apostles I do not think will happen - whether he be a neighbour or a stranger, no matter what his condition or power, should, though any kind of wile, attempt to do any act of violence contrary to this deed of gift which we have ordered to be drawn up for the love of almighty God and for reverence of the chief apostles Peter and Paul; first indeed let him incur the wrath of almighty God;

and let God remove him from the land of the living and wipe out his name from the book of life, and let his portion be with those who said to the Lord God: Depart from us; and with Dathan and Abiron whom the earth opening its jaws swallowed up, and hell absorbed whill still alive, let him incur everlasting damnation.

And being made a companion of Judas, let him be kept thrust down their with eternal tortures, and, let it seem to human eyes that he pass through the present world with impunity, let him experience in his own body, indeed, the torments of future damnation, sharing the double disaster with Heliodorus and Antiochus, of whom one being coerced with a sharp blow scarcely escaped alive; and the other, struck down by the divine will, his members putrefying and swarming with vermin, perished most miserably.

And let him be a partaker in with other sacrilegious persons who presume to plunder the treasure house of God; and let him, unless he come to his senses, have as an enemy and as one who will refuse him entrance in the blessed paradise, the key-keeper of the whole hierarchy of the Church, and joined with the latter, St. Paul; both of whom, if he had wished, he might have had as holy mediators for him. But as far as the worldly law is concerned, he shall be required, the judicial power compelling him to pay a hundred pounds of gold to those he has harmed;

and his attempted attack, being frustrated, shall have no effect at all. But the validity of this deed of gift, endowed with all authority, shall always remain inviolate and unshaken, together with the stipulation subjoined."