Obama--a race to the bottom?

Here's more from that The Obama Deception movie. I'm not familiar with any of the people interviewed in the film--except the former MN governor. Maybe talk radio personalities and "experts" far right of Beck and Rush? Lots of anti-Bush and anti-Iraq war stuff. But they definitely think Obama is worse than Bush, whom they also hate. (Note, this is not word-for-word)

George Humphrey, economist and author: "They [there are a lot of "they" and global conspiratorial ideas in this film, but I think this refers to Wall Street Bankers] have created a power elite-- we are not talking about your millionaire down the street. You can't even be a member of their club unless you are a multi-billionaire. And friends, this is not about 'rich vs poor', this is about a very small handful of the worst criminal element on this planet, manipulating and destroying the good people of this nation and this world."

Gerald Clemente, future trends forecaster: "Now this Obama with 'change'-- look at the people he's put in to 'mastermind' the economic recovery. Larry Summers-- I love it.. Every time they talk about Larry Summers, he's always 'brilliant', he's another 'brilliant' one.. he's the one that helped dismantle the Glass-Stegall Act.. the banking act that was put in place in the 1930's, so the banks couldn't become the gangsters that they have become."

Webster Tarpley: "In the 1990s, you have the beginning of the 'derivatives bubble', thanks to people like Alan Greenspan, Rubin, Summers-- people who are now back in the Obama administration. And the derivatives I think are the centerpiece of this entire problem today."

Gerald Clemente: "These are the same people.. 'Geitner' of the Treasury Department.. imagine that, we now have a US Treasury Secretary who also is a Robert Rubin Protege of the Larry Summers Group, that dismantled Glass-Stegall and broke apart the regulations that would have prohibited the banks and brokerages from becoming these criminals. He was the former President of the New York Federal Reserve and now he's our Treasury Secretary?. As we all know, the Federal Reserve is no more federal than Federal Express, it's a private bank. And now we've put this guy in charge of it? Wall Street has hijacked Washington in broad daylight."

. . . George Humphrey: "Every single one of his appointments support the status quo, every single one of his appointments are there to screw the American People, every single one of his appointments are people who are working to bring down the Republic and the Constitution of this country."

Alex Jones: "Even if Barack Obama was the most wonderful person in the world, he was groomed and brought to power by the global elite [yes, there's that term again--I think it's code for Jews] to carry out their agenda. Humanity [he has a very annoying habit of calling people "humanity"] must look past their agenda and realize that presidents come and go, but the shadow government and their program of global enslavement continues."

. . . Webster Tarpley: "Generally speaking, this [Obama] is already the biggest liar and the biggest disappointment that we have seen in recent history-- qualitatively beyond the rather low standards set by Bush the Elder and Clinton in terms of delivering on promises." [I'd certainly agree with this statement.]

Alex Jones: "Bottom line: Obama is a fantastic actor, and an even better liar. His track record is clear-- he has done the opposite of everything he told the people he would do."

Someone said on the film, forgotten who, that if they cataloged all his lies, the film would never end, because they continue. Yes, I'd agree with that charge, too. It is truly amazing that a man who worked as a "community organizer" for nearly a decade, and never became a tenured law professor or wrote a law article or even practiced law, but wrote 2 autobiographical books, got hired by Illinois to represent a district for which he did nothing and which is still poor, and then got elected President on the basis of his looks and ability to speechify and talk black (something he had to learn as a foreign language as an adult). Call it a conspiracy against the American people if you wish, but really, Obama simply makes us look like a bunch of vacuous fools. . .if we're so great and wonderful and good, why would we let this happen?

Update: Apparently the conspiracy includes Google and YouTube, too: "YouTube is acting as a political police goon squad for the establishment, attempting to make sure as few people as possible see this important documentary."

April Fool--first new tax on the poor

As I noted yesterday, I have little sympathy with smokers, but Obama's new cigarette tax which will impact low-income smokers the most with an average of 13.3% increase and a decrease in state services which depend on those taxes, is really regressive. The SCHIP increase isn't helping those who don't have health insurance, it's pulling most enrollees off the insurance of the working parents' companies, which will cause other insured rates to go up, or companies to fail, so the government (Democrats and clueless RINOs) can further increase SCHIP to include 50 and 60 year olds not yet ready for Medicare. What a plan our great leader has for our low-income families.

This sin tax now is up from $.39 to $1.01 and the cigarette smuggling business is booming. See Brad Schiller article in WSJ. It really is a throw back to the days of FDR, taxing anything that was enjoyable like candy or movies, which hit the unemployed the hardest, and then enroll them in the WPA. Obama's new mandatory "volunteer" act to keep millions from working and on the dole just passed a few days before his April Fool tax--do you suppose they are related?

Also, the duplicity is amazing. Stop smoking programs and drugs have been shown to do nothing, but they are still funded by the government. Even the "quit help lines" which may be private and non-profit, use government grants. Then the researchers get grants to study the drugs, to whine about how the drugs aren't getting to the low-income, and then to do studies on how they don't work anyway. See JAMA, March 11, 2009, "Setting the National Tobacco Control Agenda."

There are now smoking cessation quit lines in every state, but because there are few resources, they can help only 1$ to 2% of smokers quit."

Notice, it's always the money and not the method that fails? And then in the front of that issue you find,

"Emerging evidence suggests the smoking-cessation drug varenicline is among a growing list of medications that might cause serious psychiatric adverse events."

To say nothing of the weight gain problem that often results from the non-smoking programs.

How to use the new code words

USAToday and WSJ editors are struggling with the new terrorism language in English. It's come down from on high--don't say anything mean about those guys threatening to blow up the White House--if we act really weak maybe they'll choose another target. Here's what appeared in the USAToday story about the terrorist attact (Taliban/ Mehsud) on the Pakistani police station.

"deadly assault"
"retaliate"
"militant bases"
"Mehsud plans to attack Washington and White House" [this was said twice in both articles; apparently repetition for emphasis is good if you can't use plain English about terrorism, and if you live in DC]
"striking targets"
"killed Benazer Bhuto" [the WSJ didn't get the memo, and used the more volatile "assassinated"
"harbor foreign fighters"
"revenge"
"launch and attack"
"sparked a stand-off"
"stormed a compound"
"some gunmen blew themselves up" [good-bye suicide bomber language]
"seige-style approach"
"seige of Mumbai" [remember when this story first came out before the language revision rules?]
"men arrested"
but here's the phrase that replaced EVIL, TERROR, etc. "cancer of extremism"

The WSJ actually used "terrorist attack on the U.S. capital" twice and called it Bhuto's assassination, but then downgraded to

"assault on a police academy"
"raided"
"avenge"
"attack"
"retaliation"
and it calls al-Qaeda "a group," "loyalists," "growing power of Taliban factions."

And so the U.S. print media, waiting for its bailout from Obama, continues on the search for wimp-out words. Do you suppose fewer would fail if they weren't just megaphones for the Democrats?

The GIVE Act. Does it violate the 13th amendment?

The bill, HR 1388: The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act otherwise known as the "GIVE Act," has already passed. Here’s the roll who voted for it.



Did Congress read this bill? What was missing in VISTA, AmeriCorps, Peace Corp, Foster Grandparents, and the bazillion of local opportunities, funded by government, non-profits and churches? Is there an area not already covered by Sertoma, or American Legion, or the Lung Association, or Rotary or AARP? I never had the feeling that Points of Light was mandatory, did you? And didn't Democrats ridicule Bush I or is that why--because he didn't make it mandatory?

Did we really need another massive stack of federal dollars bundled in acres of paper co-opting volunteerism? Surely, they can't call this a "stimulus." Something like $22,000 per volunteer--but then, it takes a bunch of bureaucrats to run a program like this. And what in the world is a "social entrepreneur?" More people to join the unions that get out the Obama vote. More people to look to Obama has their savior in the White House. It makes them that much more dependent on the government.

The bill, promoted by the Obama administration as a means of “encouraging America's youth to participate in voluntary community service,” (if you read it, you’ll see it goes far beyond “encouraging,” that it opens the door to conscription) has received little scrutiny from Congress or the public. It provides funding for Obama’s favorite leftist organizations, especially ACORN, but starves out the churches that have traditionally been vehicles for volunteerism--in fact, the almost 50 year old Peace Corps was modeled after what the Mennonites, Brethren and Quakers did after WWII.

Did the RINOs read this bill before they voted for it? Time to call them home. Next time the Republican Party head guy sends out that envelope pleading for money, ask about the voting records of the RINOs. Senator Voinovich voted Yay, as usual; when anything wasteful or socialist comes along, he's all for it.

So the Senate will allow funding to ACORN, but they won't allow any religious expression in the "youth brigades?" Gateway Pundit And to think we spent American lives and money to free the women of Afghanistan from the fundamentalist Taliban, only to conscript our own.

Oh yes, “Requires states to develop comprehensive plans for volunteer and paid service by Baby Boomers and older adults.” (from summary of text)

And now, tax us to death

I have no patience with smokers or any addictions (except blogging, of course), but expecting nicotine addicted people to pay the tax increases so children (up to age 28) of middle class parents can drop their insurance and let the government pick up the tab is pretty silly. Take over the auto industry, create cars no one wants, stop producing and refining oil so prices soar, make current cars illegal to drive. Hit 'em again, harder, harder. Welcome to your 95% tax cuts and $5/gallon gasoline.

Before he finishes with us, Obama will have taxed us to death. “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Benjamin Franklin wrote 1789. An earlier version comes from Daniel Defoe in, The Political History of the Devil, ” Things as certain as death and taxes can be more firmly believed.” Hmm. Maybe we need to take a look at the Defoe title.

A heads up for Christians

I recently watched a few minutes of an anti-Wall Street, anti-Federal Reserve, anti-U.S. government film called, "The Obama Deception." If you believe this film, you're in trouble.

“The Obama Deception is a hard-hitting film that completely destroys the myth that Barack Obama is working for the best interests of the American people.”

O.K. I agree. Yes, about 50% of the electorate realized he is a socialist and/or marxist. (And about 40% of those who voted for him did so for the novelty and guilt factor, never even looking at his politics, only his ethnicity.) But that’s a long way from believing this. . .

“The Obama phenomenon is a hoax carefully crafted by the captains of the New World Order.

“The Obama Deception is not about Left or Right: it's about a One World Government. The international banks plan to loot the people of the United States and turn them into slaves on a Global Plantation.”

Covered in this film: who Obama works for, what lies he has told, and his real agenda, and how his initial appointments and actions prove he serves the corporate oligarchs, not the American people. If you want to know the facts and cut through all the hype, this is the film for you."

The films claims Obama works for the same interests that George Bush I & II worked for. The film claims to be non-partisan. However, “new world order” has always been code for “the Jews did it.” Or, in the 19th century, "watch out for the pope." Tarpley can say it’s the “Anglo-American” world order, but we’ve certainly been hearing this conspiracy theme since--well, during my entire lifetime. “Military-industrial complex” (warned by Eisenhower) in the 50s; and we were railing against this in the 1970s. “Oligarchs,” “Wall Street fat cats,” “international bankers,” call it what you will, but remember, we've heard it all before--and not all that long ago, either.

Update: Ted Anthony, AP: "Here's an incomplete list from the history books: Indians, Quakers, witches, Englishmen, the federal government, Southerners and Northerners, Chinese "Celestials," Tammany Hall Democrats, Germans, Jews, Japanese, North Koreans, communists, socialists, Vietnamese, liberals, conservatives, gays, lesbians and Muslims. The Evil Empire and the Axis of Evil.

Now, a fresh group has been dropped into the cultural dunk tank. Bin Laden? Back-burnered, at least for now. Saddam? Gone and forgotten. Instead, in these jumbled days of economic uncertainty, fairly or unfairly, America's newest Snidely Whiplashes bear faces like those of Bernie Madoff, AIG executives and the private jet-flying heads of the Big Three automakers.

October 2008 seems years in the past

But here's what I wrote to someone supporting the candidacy of President Obama, who just couldn't fathom my fear and loathing.

"At the top for me is abortion, and Your Man as you call him, would advise his own daughters to abort his grandchild; McCain, whom I don't even like all that much, adopted a child, darker than Obama who would have died from starvation and neglect. Your Man is in bed with so many far left organizations I'm surprised there is room for Michelle--who hates our country. (You should have heard her in Ohio talking to blue collar moms) Your Man, as you call him, listens to racist hatred for 20 years in his church. Your Man promises to raise your taxes. He promises to sit down with terrorist regimes with no preconditions. I think McCain, who definitely isn't my first choice, understands the enemy but respects them and their power. He has experienced it personally. Morally, Obama's such a light weight I fear for our future just so white folks can stop feeling guilty over a past they had nothing to do with. David Axelrod, his handler, seems a bright man, he's in media, but I don't know how much he knows about international issues.

Yesterday we were visiting friends in another city. They are about our age and would like to sell their home which is in a lovely neighborhood. They said it wasn't as nice as their old one. So they drove us through that neighborhood--it was gorgeous--kind of like our "south of Lane" area in Upper Arlington. We saw nothing wrong with it--every home was in pristine condition, yards beautiful and palatial, but they kept saying they had been afraid because it was changing (years before) and the house had been broken into. Then we started noticing the neighborhood people washing cars, raking leaves, etc. African-Americans--middle and upper class, probably college professors, lawyers and doctors. But oh yes, these friends are for Obama--they had a sign in their yard.

I regret the election is a done deal, and I think both parties have behaved
miserably during the past month [mid-September melt-down], mostly the Democrats, but they are the best liars the U.S. Congress has ever produced, and this can and will be blamed on Bush, not their social engineering.

8 years coming of a perfect, non-racist society, with a Katrina-like plan for
our health care, education, and security. In 8 years, I'll be too old to care, but I'm not sure he'll allow any opposition by then anyway, so it may be longer."

And now a few words from Murray, guest blogger

Instead of sending updates on the old neighborhood's health and obits, today I received this. Something to think about.

I would like to see a show of hands from those people who have mailed their congressman or Obama a tea bag. If you haven't I'll be thinking that you still plan to or you are going to march on Washington instead or you agree with Obama's mass destruction of this country or you don't believe this country is being put down or you are such a staunch Democrat you have confidence that they will pull these miracles off with your money or you just don't give a damn!

I have often said that the main objective of our elected is to keep the masses confused. For years they have used diversions like immigration, the tax code, social security, medicare, abortion, war, the AMT, budget, PORK, bipartisanship, etc., etc., to keep us confused to the point that we, their constituents, couldn't come together and focus on any one cause. This my friends was by design and it is bipartisan. Our elected do not solve problems, they create them.

Now, at the risk of being labeled a Republican, I'm gonna tell you that the Democrats miscalculated when they sabotaged this country's financial structure trying desperately to make the Bush administration look as bad as possible... all in the interest of securing political power for themselves. If you don't want to believe this all I ask is that you look back on the events leading up to the mortgage mess and the pursuit of the "America Dream". I'm somewhat sure they didn't mean for it to tank this far but when you consider that they and the Republicans are unable to focus on any problem for any length of time or resolve them it became inevitable this country's financial structure was in an unstoppable downward spiral.

So what's the Obama game plan? Well, he's using the old tried and true method that has never failed either party. He's swamping us with everything at once in order to keep the masses confused. Plus he pretends he and his cohorts knew nothing was amiss and blamed everybody else. Feeling the need for a little insurance however, he has emptied the Treasury along with destroying individual wealth to create fear thus establishing a feeling of reliance on the federal government to "save" us. Just think about it for a minute. What can you do? Are the people going to march? I don't think so. Not at this time anyway. Impeachment will more than likely be out of the question [and you know why.] But, there are elections coming and that usually strikes fear in the hearts of the some incumbents. So sending in the little tea bag to your elected officials at this time is a way to be heard and just might get their attention. It could be the best 42 cents you ever spent. Besides, you'll feel much better for it! Murray

I have sent an empty tea bag to Obama, and a full one to Mary Jo Kilroy. Yesterday I received in the mail a seed package of "Forget-me-nots." Now if you like the stimulus package, you want to the government to AMTRAK the auto industry and FEMATIZE health care, and you're feeling like the government owes you for taking up space, send Congress a package of those. Takes about a year to really get going and then they will spread like crazy to your neighbors.

Visitor from Troy Ohio

If your site meter shows a visitor/commenter/reader from Troy Ohio, it's just me. I'm at the library. That's how I'm showing up on mine. Aren't libaries weird since they've turned into computer terminals? At least I'm in the main reference area where I can see books. Lots of books. Like Who's who in Amerian politics," and "Contemporary Authors," and "Feminist companion to literature in English." I'm in the 900s of Dewey--I'd tell you more, except I have on my older glasses--the ones I can read with but not see distance.

On the library terminal, I've lost at least 20 lbs--the screen is all squished. And the type font on my blog is different. So I apologize to all my regulars. I looked much better at home. My home, not yours. I probably look squishy on your too.

Cable connection down

Going to the library. Some days I hate technology.

Star Parker, back on the plantation

She thought she'd left. She wrote a book about it.

"I talked about government programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS), Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EANF), Section 8 Housing, and Food Stamps.

A vast sea of perhaps well intentioned government programs, all initially set into motion in the 1960's, that were going to lift the nation's poor out of poverty.

A benevolent Uncle Sam welcomed mostly poor black Americans onto the government plantation. Those who accepted the invitation switched mindsets from "How do I take care of myself?" to "What do I have to do to stay on the plantation?"

Instead of solving economic problems, government welfare socialism created monstrous moral and spiritual problems. The kind of problems that are inevitable when individuals turn responsibility for their lives over to others.

The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities, dysfunctional inner city schools, and broken black families.

Through God's grace, I found my way out. It was then that I understood what freedom meant and how great this country is."

But now she sees rich Americans running to climb the fence to get on the plantation she tried to leave.

"Instead of poor America on socialism becoming more like rich American on capitalism, rich America on capitalism is becoming like poor America on socialism.

Uncle Sam has welcomed our banks onto the plantation and they have said, "Thank you, Suh.""

Read the whole article here; and weep for the country.

Monday Memories--MLA San Antonio 1994

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to join an exercise class, so here I am in my 1994 San Antonio "Walk with Majors" shirt getting ready to go to class today. Majors was (or is, don't know for sure) a book distributor, a nice family operation. Even if your library didn't use their services, they always bought breakfast for and gave a t-shirt to anyone who "walked with Majors."

One of the great things about being the veterinary medicine librarian at Ohio State was the terrific cities I visited and the conferences I attended. Several times my husband took a few vacation days and joined me. The Veterinary Medicine Section of the Medical Library Association is the best professional group ever. The OSU Libraries was poorly funded for professional meetings, but the college dean would usually find the money to pay for my registration, hotel and travel.

The next photo is Jerry and I; she was a hospital librarian from Detroit and we met at our first MLA in Boston in 1988. Although she started library school about 20 years after I did, we had both joined this organization at the same time, and are both now retired but I still hear from her at Christmas. I had a scrunchy perm in those days, and it looks like I didn't scrunch that day--I think these Majors Walks were very early and we probably hadn't yet hit the showers.

Here's an excerpt from a letter to my parents about that trip:

My friend Jerry from Detroit sent me a packet of photos this week which she took of San Antonio and us when we were there for the Medical Library Association in mid-May. It is a lovely city, and they really cater to tourists--must be one of their biggest industries. They had a river that was forever flooding and during the Depression the WPA corralled it in stone walls, into a lovely river walk, and it has been extended to other areas. The city business sort of goes on above it, and you never see the traffic or hear it when walking along the river. We did a lot of walking and picture taking; I attended meetings, and an architect (friend of a friend) took us on a city tour and we got to see some of the more unusual things the ordinary tourist doesn't see. We also visited an artist's colony and bought a nice watercolor of the Alamo. One morning the Majors company took us on a long hike through the King William restored residential section where we saw all these fabulous homes, and they gave us breakfast. Jerry had a photo of the two of us standing side by side in our Majors t-shirts and we look like librarian-Siamese twins because the shirts blend together.

Another treat was going to the air force base and seeing how they train the dogs. We vet librarians always do something with an animal interest. That base is incredible, and even though I'd heard a lot about it, you almost have to see it to believe it.

Obama fired the wrong guy

I opened one eye and half an ear to see what I hoped was the ghost of Tim Geithner on Meet the Press. TOTUS says it was a hired actor, but I don't think so. It was the real, flesh and blood lie-baby. The more he lied, the faster he talked, the more my jaw dropped. I don't know who was doing the interviewing, and I can't find the YouTube, nor would it be worth it to look at it again. Here's a guy who was working for FED which helped create the housing bubble and approved the AIG bonuses and when the TARP came down, now working for a former Senator who approved the d-d thing and got the wet snowball of financial disaster rolling down hill. Tim sounded like he was using Obama's teleprompter--not the machine, but the keyboardist/writer. Then they interviewed John McCain, who was very careful not to be disrespectful (which he didn't mind being when Bush was President), but he was truthful. Sarah Palin was his best feature, but oh my, he sounded so good after Tim the Two-Faced.

Hope and Change in Health Care

• Within three weeks of his inauguration, President Obama has succeeded in a dramatic government take-over of Americans’ health care, although he is unable to nominate a tolerable candidate for Secretary of Health and Human Services. [He tried to sneak in another tax cheat like Geithner.]

• More than half of kids roped into Mr. Obama’s kids’ health program will drop their families’ health coverage, and the SCHIP explosion has an unhealthy addiction to tobacco funding. [Remember, the President himself is a smoker, but the low-income are more likely to smoke, so the new tax increase hits them hardest. So many people have stopped smoking, that they may soon need to recruit them in order to pay for SCHIP!]

• By bailing out state Medicaid programs that have spent beyond our means, Mr. Obama punishes fiscally responsible states, and Medicaid’s failure to pay its bills will result in a “cost-shift” causing private premiums to rise by about $18 billion.

• Subsidies to COBRA, the already flawed program that allows departed workers to continue coverage with their previous employer, dramatically favor unemployment or part-time work, instead of full-time work with benefits

For the details, see "Obama’s Unhealthy Start: SCHIP Explosion, Medicaid Bailout, COBRA’s Bite" By Adam Frey, Public Policy Fellow, and John R. Graham, Director, Health Care Studies, at Health Policy Prescriptions, Feb. 2009.

"President Obama plans to build on the way
he mobilized millions of volunteers and small
donors in his successful election campaign,
and his administration will use similar
strategies to sell its health care proposal. A
patchwork of progressive organizations is
poised to unleash its activists to rally grassroots
support for any health care legislation.
And, perhaps most importantly, business
groups will be much less hostile – if not
openly supportive – of the effort to radically
transform health care."

". . . One such group that hopes to play a key role
in the effort is Health Care for America Now
(HCAN), a coalition formed last July with
the stated intention of spending $40 million
on grassroots organizing and multi-media
campaigns. The founding steering committee
for the organization is comprised
of 13 groups: Association of Community
Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN),
the American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees (AFSCME),
Americans United for Change, Campaign
for America’s Future, Center for American
Progress Action Fund, Center for Community
Change, MoveOn.org, National Education
Association, National Women’s Law Center,
Planned Parenthood Federation of America,
Service Employees International Union,
United Food and Commercial Workers, and
USAction. Later additions include the Children’s
Defense Fund, Leadership Conference
on Civil Rights, and the National Council
of La Raza. Remember these names: All
are likely to be in the vanguard mobilizing
support for left-wing activism during the
next four years." CRC Trends, March 2009

Massachusetts Health Care--coming soon to your state?
"In Massachusetts's latest crisis, Governor Deval Patrick and his Democratic colleagues are starting to move down the path that government health plans always follow when spending collides with reality -- i.e., price controls. As costs continue to rise, the inevitable results are coverage restrictions and waiting periods. It was only a matter of time." WSJ story, March 27 here.

Hollywood lefties will change their tune

when Obama tries to cap and trade their salaries and spread their wealth. Although, he probably won't do that. The suit may be empty, but the wallet knows where the money came from.

“You know, the last eight years I was the loyal opposition and now there’s another loyal opposition,” Carter told CNSNews.com at the Green Door gala. “The only problem I really have is the spreading of hate by right wing, you know, super right – the spreading of hate, I don’t get it. I don’t understand it.”

Interesting, isn't it. When she disagreed with Bush, it wasn't hate. But when we disagree with her guy, it's hate. The Bush haters were just bizarre and deranged, but now when we've got a really dangerous guy in the White House, they see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing. I doubt that anyone younger than 40 remembers her, but she played Wonder Woman and looked just like my daughter, who was actually prettier. LinkOh yes, and she thinks it's kinder to let mentally ill homeless wander the streets with their prescription drugs than to provide supervised shelter. Now there's a big heart.

What media bias?

". . . none in the media are complaining about Big Guy not doing any live TV interviews, where he could get hit with "gotcha" questions about the budget deficit, veteran health-care cutbacks, or how much Michelle spends on shoes." Barack Obama’s Teleprompter . One of the best written, well researched blogs out there. Don't miss it.

I've forgotten most of my Russian

but not Russian and east European history. E. J. Dionne Jr. is just plain wrong, if he doesn't see the danger in this leftward drift.

Still, that doesn't make us socialist. There is, as yet, no broad demand for a government takeover of big companies or a widespread desire to replace capitalism with a cooperative system.

We've got the petty regulators, the bureaucratic bullies, the power hungry, pedantic feminists, the ridiculers and deniers of religion (except global warming) and a full blown marxist with clay feet and a closed mind with a sycophant following. Neither Rudd nor Obama have had a "fresh idea" or "hope for change" that wasn't tried in the mid-20th century, failing miserably and causing millions of deaths by democide. Maybe this isn't the "old socialism"--it just might be the new communism. Wake up, folks.

If you love the West

or even if you don't, you will after viewing Zack Thurmond's paintings. I love his shades of purple. Just makes me want to take a trip to Idaho with a camera and bag of paints and stretched paper. He's posting his work--daily--on his blog. Now that's a challenge. Here are some other artists doing a daily challenge. Zack writes:

So if you see that I haven't posted a painting in several days, leave me a comment deriding me for my laziness and lack of artistic conviction. I have no excuse not to put brush to canvas, regardless of the subject matter around me."

Cowpox Virus Transmission from Pet Rats to Humans in France

Oh yuk.

"In early 2009, four human cases of cowpox virus cutaneous infection in northern France, resulting from direct contact with infected pet rats (Rattus norvegicus), were studied. Pet rats, originating from the same pet store, were shown to be infected by a unique virus strain. Infection was then transmitted to humans who purchased or had contact with pet rats.

To Live Forever

is the exhibit at the Columbus Museum of Art with more than 100 objects including a mummy, statuary, coffins, jewelry, and vessels from the Brooklyn Museum's extensive collection. Having just returned from Cairo where we saw an amazing museum and the incredible pyramids and Sphinx, we thought it would be fun to see this exhibit. It runs from February 13-June 7, and it's a bit more leisurely than our race in Cairo to see so much in a brief time. We were not allowed to take photos of King Tut in Cairo, but here we are in Columbus.

And here we are at the real pyramids in Giza.


There were several places along the way at the CMA where one could fill out a card to respond to a question concerning the exhibit. For the one on "If you could live forever what would you take to the after life?" it appears Columbus is just about as tied to ordinary life as were the ancients; here are a few items I saw:

Starbucks

nail clippers

beer

Chipolte

cherry coke