Post Office in trouble

A very naive reader of USAToday suggested today that all we need to do is cut out the junk mail to save the Post Office. Sorry, dearie, then your postage would really go up--what you call "junk" is what floats the rest of the boats. And who are you to tell me that the grocery store flyer is junk, or the appeal from Lower Lights medical ministry on the west side is junk, or the church newsletter (ours is no longer mailed, but I still get one from my former church) is junk, or the pizza and spaghetti coupons from Iacono's, or the post card from the guy running for city council or the office supply store are junk? Hello! How much more of our economy would you like to see go under and ask for bailouts with your tax dollars?

"The Postal Service lost $1.1 billion in its latest quarter. That number would be even larger if it weren't for direct mailings, which now constitute 52 percent of mail volume, up from 38 percent in 1990. Revenue from direct mail "is the financial underpinning of the Postal Service—it could not survive without it," says Michael Coughlin, former deputy postmaster." Newsweek

NBC rejects pro-life ad for Super Bowl

Some pro-lifers are unhappy that NBC rejected a very tasteful, non-political ad about hope and change from CatholicVote to run during the Super Bowl. Not me. I think they should have the right to reject any ad that works against their business plan which includes ads demeaning to women and putting animals above people. Soon, under the current administration, businesses may not have the right to pick and choose to benefit their stockholders--it may be the government's way or no way. Vote with your remote on objectionable ads. Then write and threaten never to buy their product again.

The pro-life people who raised money to show a baby in her mother's womb (a concept much more offensive to sports fans than watching young women prance around showing surgically enchanced body parts to oogling, drooling old men) now have more funding to show it on other channels, like BET where it might reach the African American community much at risk from the leftist drive to eliminate them before they see the light of day.

More GAD--Geithner and Daschle

They apologized for tax mistakes to get their jobs; they really aren't crooks with friends in high places, they're just stupid and inept. Not so the same deal for the little guy with little problems.

My son who manages an automotive quick serve at a dealership received a very threatening letter about his taxes last week. He said he'd mail it to me so I could scan it for my blog, but I'll try to reconstruct for you the double standard for the working stiff and the ones stiffing us in Congress and the Oval Office. The notice said that if he didn't comply immediately he'd be in deep doo-doo.

HE OWES $.50--YES, FIFTY CENTS!!!! No forgiveness for the little guy. The computers can't even be programed to save the government money by not sending notices that cost more to send than to collect.

GAD! Geithner and Daschle.

Today's new word is GAD

Actually it's an acronym for Generalized Anxiety Disrorder, and I read about it in the January 21 JAMA (Vol 301, no.3:295). It's not that I'm unsympathetic with people who have these vague symptoms, but it really does sound like it's a created disease to give the pharmaceutical companies something to sell. The most interesting part of any medical article is the paragraph I can understand, and that's usually the first one that provides a mini-review of the literature. Here's the story on GAD, and you'll recognize it immediately because 15 of your best friends, 7 of your lunch buddies and 10 choir members at your church probably have these symptoms. At least if they are my age. You just didn't know what to call it:

"Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is the most common anxiety disorder in primary care and is defined by chronic, difficult-to-control worry and anxiety. Related somatic and psychiatric symptoms include muscle tension, sleep disturbance, and fatigue. Individuals with GAD have poorer quality of life, with impairments in role functioning (encompassing social, occupational, and family functioning) on par with those observed in major depressive disorder and other common medical problems such as arthritis and diabetes."

Wow! Not only that but the prevalence of GAD "is as high as 7.3% in community-dwelling older adults and higher in primary care where they are most likely to present for treatment." And with the baby boomers getting older, you know what that means. . . more GAD and increasing human and economic burdens. More for the universal health care plan of the president and his socialist staff to cover! Not only that, but older adults have been excluded from some of the large scale studies, so we need new studies and new drugs to determine the safety, efficacy and tolerability of new SSRIs.

The other day I was reading the blog Crazy Aunt Purl, and she has found a wonderful cure for this type of vague, anxious feeling--she's opted out of the recession. First, before the meltdown, she gave up extreme consumerism, buying only the essentials. She just decided not to be a slave to it, found out she liked having less clutter, less waste. When the meltdown came, she was in good shape--because it was her choice. Second, she switched her alarm from an all-news, all-the-time station, didn't turn on the TV cable news, didn't read the financial news articles or the sad stories about lost dogs, dropped her e-mail subscriptions to the bad-news bears, and didn't listen to the news in her car. She took a vacation from the anxiety and worry that the constant yammering of 24 hour news, most of it bad, spews at us. Smart lady, that Purl. No GAD for her!

Sit down, shut up and pay attention

My brother has asked for a repeat, so here it is.

Lilly Ledbetter Act--It's not about equal pay

The 1963 Law already is the equal pay act--this is about comparable worth. And it's about destroying what's left of our economy so you can be even more dependent on the federal government. Here's a discussion at the Independent Women's Forum. Personally, I'm not fond of podcasts, so if you'd rather read about it, go here.

Pray for the president

Obama on the radio news break is a good time. I pushed the off button while leaving the coffee shop and prayed:

Oh Lord, your servant, our president, is feeling the responsibility placed upon him, and we know he is unworthy, as we all are. May you abundantly bless him with a believing heart, and make him a valiant soldier of the cross. Protect the smallest and weakest in our world by raising up legislators to defeat legal measures to kill them. Give him and the women visiting the PDC for an ultrasound today a tender heart for the unborn in their wombs. Amen

Today's new word is PUSILLANIMOUS

The Latin word pusillus is the source--it means "very little" from pusus, meaning boy. Not exactly a compliment, even if you're referring to a group of toddlers playing soccer (I've seen them at the park with their hyper dads). Webster's in the dining room says destitute of manly strength and firmness of mind; weak or mean spirit; cowardly. I didn't jot down the origin of the quote, but here it is: "In the old days a guy who voted "present" on 130 bills while a member of his state senate was rightly viewed as pusillanimous." And that, not the battle going on in Gaza, is what worries me about our trip to the Holy Land.

The day google ate its young

I thought it was me--that I'd opened something in e-mail that attacked my computer. Everything I looked up seemed to have a warning that the site would harm my computer. So I shut everything down, removed cookies, history, etc. (I had no idea what I was doing, but it seemed a good idea). I walked away for awhile, and when I came back and turned it on, everything seemed fine. Now I find out it was Google, attacking itself.

A major hiccup at Google this morning caused the entire Internet to be flagged as malware.

The problem appears to be centered around the Google Safe Browsing API — even that returned a “This site may harm your computer” warning — the security diagnostics service that powers Firefox’s malware blocking service. ZD Net

And here I thought I was some sort of genius for getting rid of it. Sigh.

Trying to appease the PUMAs

Although he can't do for women what President Bush did--he freed millions more women from tyranny in Afghanistan and Iraq than Lincoln freed slaves--he can undo a 2007 Supreme Court ruling about the statute of limitations on filing a job discrimination claim. It was easy. No deliberation. No discussion. No stats, just myths. Stroke of the pen. I don't know why 6 months was bad and 12 months is good. I guess if you don't get a new job, you can look back and say, "Now that I've been unemployed for awhile, I think it was discrimination and not my performance, but I just didn't realize it until now."

I read through the complexities of this, and it still is no piece of cake, even though it will be full employment for trial lawyers, as are most of these government regs. Never you mind--the media have put a feather in Obama's cap. (Lawyers should kiss his feet, or go higher.) Most smaller companies won't be able to afford to fight it, so we'll see some incompetent, unhappy people staffing various offices and boards. And more reluctance on the part of employers to take a chance on placing women in line for top positions. Was Michelle Obama on that Chicago hospital board because of her brilliant legal abilities, or because she was Mrs. Obama? What spouse of a white legislator would be allowed to complain or file a discrimination suit and not kill his/her future with the party? The actual facts are that when you sift all the numbers nationwide, black women are making more than white women and Hispanic women. Now, sociologists and economists try to blame this on a number of reasons, like maybe white women stay home longer after a birth of a baby, or black women may have a second job, but they really don't know. Maybe it's the Oprah factor.

If women, of any color, won't play the game, they won't have the gain. Here are the items you need to look at when comparing incomes of men and women, or even women with women: Women who

first and foremost are married, because most top male executives are--today marriage is the big divider between getting by and doing well

have a spouse who manages the home, the nanny and the housekeeper

have a spouse willing to chauffer the children to sports and activities, take the pets to the vet, serve on the school committees, meet with the teachers, make all the appointments for doctor, dentist and hair cuts, hire and supervise the lawn service, oversee the nutritional needs of the household, and help out mom and dad at the retirement home

are willing to work 60-80 hours a week

spend hundreds of hours a year on the Bluetooth while sitting in airports, sleeping in first class on airplanes

are willing to have no personal relationships with other women, or maybe occasional casual sex with lower ranked male colleagues

willing to endure the long commute from the fashionable suburban McMansion

can show, and this is critical, that they have never bumped anyone better qualified out of line because of affirmative action or need for diversity in the company (which brings huge resentment with networking colleagues whether or not they admit it)

Today's new word is CRUCIFER

When I was checking my robe this morning in the robe room at church, I noticed there were instructions for the CRUCIFER taped to the wall with some diagrams. After reading it, I understood that the crucifer is the person who carries the cross into the church service when we process in or out of the sanctuary. I'd always called him, "the guy who carries the cross," but then I didn't come from a liturgical background. CRUCIFER comes from the Latin word for cross, crux, crucis. I looked around the internet to see what other churches suggested for their crucifers, but most of the instructions were for acolytes to ask the crucifer what to do. On our instruction sheet it does tell the crucifer not to hold the cross with an awkward hand position which makes your elbows stick out like wings, and lower it when under the balcony. I have seen people who do that. So I don't know if these are our homegrown, UALC rules, or if they were copied from another's church manual.

We had people there at 7 a.m. to pray in the sanctuary, including two pastors, then about eight of us processed in and sat in the front rows, ready to go up to serve communion. We said the liturgy, sang the hymns. But during "passing the peace" one of the choir members noticed there were no communion rails (lowest step below the altar). So he came to the front, alerted some of the men, and there was much hustling to get the rails back into place.

I noticed a small water bottle at eye level, some incorrect knots, a wine stain on someone's robe, and the word crucifer, but not that the communion rail was missing.

The training of children

As I've mentioned before, I've been reading a chapter a day of Westminster Pulpit (10 volumes, compiled from sermons of G. Campbell Morgan preached about 100 years ago). So far I haven't found anything that doesn't speak to today's problems, just a few words with which I'm unfamiliar. In chapter 9 of vol. 2 he discusses "The Training of our children," using Proverbs 22:6--"Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it." He nailed me on this one.

. . . Christian people generally today believe the Bible to be true. A great many would . . .indulge in their own peculiar method of criticism in the presence of this particular text.

"In the beginning God created"--yes!

"And God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son"--certainly true!

"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap"--there can be no question about that!

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it"--well, that is open to question; we are not quite sure about it.

And in my case, I even believe the book of origins, Genesis, also believed by Jesus, which many Christians toss over the shoulder with a few grains of salt because they learned it differently in school. But he caught me indeed on this business of children. It's easier for me to grasp a 6 day creation than this one, because of what I've seen and experienced in my own life and those I love. I'll laugh at you if you explain a billion years of evolving from slug-slime, but nod in agreement if you try to sort out what happened to the kid we knew who was raised by godly parents, was a pastor for 20 years, who has left his wife and family or she's embezzled from her employer while in a position of respect and honor.

Pastor Morgan doesn't let anyone off the hook here. He's speaking to parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, pastors, Sunday school teachers and school teachers. He chides parents for setting ideals too low--that we want educated, successful, cultured, socialized offspring.

What is Jesus Christ's estimate of greatness? . . . in the Kingdom of God there is never a single blessing pronounced upon having, never a blessing pronounced upon doing. All the blessings are upon being. . . That the boy may be a Godly man, that the girl may be one of the King's daughters all glorious within, that first. Everything after, but that first. To neglect that is to lose sight of the goal and ruin our children by love which is false love. . . You have to be what you want your child to be. . . your boy will be what you are, and not what you tell him to be. . . You can't turn your child toward the Kingdom if you are a rebel.

He spends a lot of time on the word TRAIN and on "according to HIS way. . ." pointing out that what works with some won't work with all, and training is very individualized. But by far, his strongest words are for fathers--that's where Christians have failed, according to him. "Be very much and very constantly in comradeship with Jesus Christ. . . In God's name, if you do not know Christ, keep your hands off the bairns. You cannot train the boy to be a carpenter unless you are a Christian man and in fellowship with Him constantly. The parents' responsibility cannot be relegated to Sunday-school teacher, or Day-school teacher. . . all I can do in the presence of the old affirmation of ancient scripture which is fresh in its application today is to pray that my Father will keep me so near to Himself that I may know how to be a father to my children."

That's a sermon that can still make the congregation squirm in the pew.

The Iraqi elections

Sworn enemies voted side by side; those who refused to participate four years ago were now part of the process; one-third of the candidates were women; there was open campaigning for months; no violence; 60% turnout. And what does the NBC reporter say on last night's news? [paraphrase] "This was the first test of the Obama administration." Unbelieveable. It's one thing to be in the tank for Obama; it's another to thing completely to drown there.

He also is praying for Obama

Is anyone else ready for Spring?

This is our back yard in June. I'm listening to the snow plow scrape the ice off our street. It was very pretty floating down on Wednesday and Thursday, but . . . A water main has broken and we have many inches of ice in front of our drive. I am so ready. And all day I thought it was February, and it's only January 31!

When I pray for Obama

Although I'm not sure how God will do this without dumping the reading lists of better educated presidents like Bush, Truman and Clinton in Obama's lap, I often ask God to give the current president a sense and understanding of the past. Of all that is lacking in his qualities, and there are many, this one really stands out in every speech. You can't cover that with rhetorical flourishes. Even if he doesn't write them, I assume he tells his speech writers what he wants. I used to write speeches for a state of Ohio official, and to find her ideas and cadence I reviewed very carefully what she'd said in the past and who the audience would be. (She's deceased.) Charles Krauthammer mentions Obama's ignorance about the U.S. relations with Muslims in his limp apology on our behalf for being disrespectful (I don't think he used the word ignorance).

"America did not just respect Muslims, it bled for them. It engaged in five military campaigns, every one of which involved -- and resulted in -- the liberation of a Muslim people: Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The two Balkan interventions -- as well as the failed 1992-93 Somalia intervention to feed starving African Muslims (43 Americans were killed) -- were humanitarian exercises of the highest order, there being no significant U.S. strategic interest at stake. In these 20 years, this nation has done more for suffering and oppressed Muslims than any nation, Muslim or non-Muslim, anywhere on Earth. Why are we apologizing?" Washington Post

Well, WE AREN'T. Mr. Obama's on his own here.

The not-so-green Mayor of Columbus

Usually I complain about tree-huggers, global alarmists, and the pantheistic Mother Earth folks who think she needs assisted care in a very expensive nursing home, but I truly do care about what happens to our land, and that includes the soil, water and air we all share. The Mayor of Columbus has big dreams--like a trolley line to no where and light rail to Cincinnati and Cleveland. On the other hand, he is penny wise and pound foolish. Do you know what he is cutting to save money? Yard waste pick-up. 26,000 tons of blowing, rotting green matter and trash that will have to be dumped somewhere by private parties who have no access to legal dump sites. Smart move! Now it will go into the rivers and streams, the nooks and crannies between jurisdictions, or into the regular trash, where the workers can't inspect every bag.

This is indicative of government at every level--local, state and particularly federal. Let's cut essential city services, like police, fire, and trash. The poor, low income and elderly will be hurt the most so the bureaucrats can keep their jobs and play around with new programs. I'm sure there will be enough money to install more cameras at trash sites and scenic ravines to catch the dumpers.

That was then, this is now

I'm not going to list it as a "new" word, but I was curious about when the little word "then" took over from ex- or former when referring to divorced spouses. "Then" is another one of those little over-worked four letter words. You know the others. It comes from the Old English word thonne related to the Old High German word denne. It means, "at that time," "soon after that time," "next in order of time," "following next after in order of position," "next in a series," "in that case," "according to that," and "as a necessary consequence." It's the little, multiple use English words that foreigners leave out.

Here's the definition that fits the use I refer to, "existing or acting at or belonging to the time mentioned." I suppose you can apply it to a wife or husband, but to say, "he and his then wife (1992) bought the house and remodeled it. . ." just sounds sort of crass. As though she is just one in a series, perhaps. To my tender ears. Still, if you can use it with a secretary of state or a judge. . .

When I googled the phrase, "his then wife," I got about 196,000 matches. I was wrong about the usage, because using this phrase goes back many, many years, to the point of being almost quaint. I found early 1800s:

can any limitations be implied in favour of the testator's issue by his then wife unprovided for by the settlement (1845)

yielding and paying therefore yearly during the said term unto the plaintiff and Nancy his then wife, since deceased (1870)

I think this means his then wife. I feel that very strongly (1896)

Plaintiff herein further states that, during and by reason of the late War of the Rebellion, the said deed from the said Joseph C. Parry and his then wife, ... (1905)

Even so, some of the more interesting ones were recent

[Jenrette, a liberal Democrat] had sex with his then-wife, Rita Jenrette, behind a pillar on the steps of the Capitol Building.

When I met my husband, his then wife threatened me, harassed me, and basically made life a living hell.

Sienna might have been cheated on by Jude Law but Jude cheated on his then-wife, Sadie Frost, with Sienna.

Snodgrass says Hyde carried on a five-year sexual relationship with his then-wife, Cherie, that shattered his family . . .

He had the contract in his hand to sign when his then wife, Laura, asked him if he really, really was ready to give up the adrenaline kick . . .

In September 1992, Pavarotti and his then wife, Adua, . . .

Podhoretz recounts that Mailer rushed up to Podhoretz's apartment after Mailer had stabbed his then-wife Adele Morales in 1960. . .

When Giuliani was in office and having an affair with Judith Nathan — who later became his wife — both she and his then-wife, Donna Hanover, ...

His then-wife gave him some A.A. pamphlets which he pretended to ignore, but he sneaked into the bathroom to read them.

English: such an interesting language.

Sonya Apples

When I can't get Honey Crisp, my favorite, which is most of the year, I usually buy Braeburn, but last week an apple I'd never seen, heart shaped with the coloring of a ripe peach, appeared at Marc's for $.99/lb. So I bought 5, and this week bought 6 more. Very good eating! I eat an apple a day, and find that they control hunger much better than grain, dairy or another type of fruit such as bananas or grapes. So I know what I like. If you're near a Marc's today, take a few home. You won't be sorry.



Orange Pippin web site says: "Sonya has two distinctive features. Firstly, its unusual shape - it is a very tall apple, a shape which is characteristic of 'pearmain' apples such as Adams Pearmain. However the parentage is Gala and Red Delicious, so Sonya is very much in the Golden Delicious and Red Delicious style.

Sonya's other distinctive feature is its exceptional sweetness - which is what you would expect from an apple which is related to both Golden Delicious and Red Delicious." This is interesting in that I wouldn't cross the road for a Red Delicious--I find little flavor in them.

How did we get here?

So many people I know have given up. Their attitude is "Oh well, I'm not going to be here to see it." For some reason they think their pension and/or Social Security and annuities will still be here by the end of Obama's first term--perhaps enough to see them to the grave. Scary. While some of you were dancing in the streets and trashing the mall, some of us saw the lights going out all over the country--and not to save electricity. It was the dimming of a dream and hope for the future. Then I read

April 1, 2013 -Unemployment is approaching 25 percent, inflation is close to 40 percent, major portions of the U.S. are having power "brownouts," and Americans are forced to go to foreign countries for timely and quality medical care. How did the world's largest and most prosperous economy fall into such a morass in only a very few years?
Read the rest of Shape of Things to Come?