Obama's second term

My husband, who follows main stream Obamedia closer than I do, stuck his head in my office this morning and mentioned that Obama's second term is just a given when you listen or watch the news. I'm not surprised. In today's Columbus Dispatch there was a small article about the trial of some of the Obama campaign workers who helped steal Ohio for him. It certainly won't be any different a year from now when he begins campaigning seriously. The "Vote Today Ohio" three, Daniel Hausman, Amy Little and Yolanda Hippensteele, were just the tip of the iceberg of outsiders brought in by the busload to an important swing state. Obama couldn't have made it without Ohio, whose electoral vote he absolutely needed. We were flooded with these "illegal" Obamaniacs. These three got the proverbial wrist slap--a year's probation, $1,000 fine, and 60 day suspended jail sentence.

For the press, the younger lady whined that this could ruin her career in public service, but I don't think so. Oh honey, you'll be a martyr--you'll be richly rewarded. Maybe a cabinet post in the next term. The strings are firmly attached--just learn to dance.

Fancy Nancy

Scooter Libby went to prison for the "outing" of a desk-jockey CIA agent. He forgot conversations. Pelosi forgets briefings. And the outing of our entire intelligence apparatus by Democrats is OK. Story here.

Swine flu--Mexico and the U.S.

In Mexico, they are dying. In the U.S. they are getting sick, being treated, and going home.

Besser CDC update today, Apr. 28:"The CDC today raised the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. to 64, with 45 of them in New York. No deaths have been confirmed in the U.S. That will change, Besser said."

In Mexico, no one really knows how many are sick, or how many have died. I doubt that the government has reported it accurately. The government is in charge of their health care and their media may have about the same independence (none) as ours. So that may be the head scratcher answer for our journalists who can't seem to figure out why Mexicans are dying and Americans aren't.

The Mexican government for years has been dependent on money sent home by its illegal immigrants in the U.S., instead of developing its own infrastructure. Mexico is a country rich in natural resources, but entire cities and families have been descimated by emigration (who are probably now returning home). So far, their health care system hasn't even been able to get help to family members of those who have died, and this is spread person to person. I saw this from a blogger in Mexico (Medical News Today)

I live in Cancun, on the Caribbean coast of Mexico, about 1hour and 30 minutes by plane from Mexico City. Mexico City is the Swine Flu ground zero. A few days ago most of the Cancun population watched news coming from Mexico City with detachment. "This is over 1000 kilometers away," I heard one person say "we are fine." Gradually, local attitudes have changed.

Yesterday we all watched the national news and heard that restaurants, nightclubs, schools, theatres, sports stadia, and anywhere that might hold large groups of people had not only been closed in Mexico City, but along the vacation resorts of the Pacific coast - Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, Zihuatanejo. Can you imagine the economic consequences of closing restaurants, bars and nightclubs in tourist resorts?

Friends in Mexico City phone me and describe empty streets. The few who do venture out wear masks and go about their business as swiftly as they can.

The whole of Mexico is scared. "Will I get this? If I do what will happen to me? Am I hearing the truth? They say it is not so bad and easily treatable, but they would say that, wouldn't they?"

I heard a young mother say today that she was told not to bring her daughter to preschool because she had a temp (teething), but she had the little girl at the senior center where I was volunteering. Doesn't seem to be much alarm here--although I think that was poor planning on her part, considering many elders are immune compromised. Probably because Americans know they don't have government health care. YET. However, a pandemic will be a good excuse for the government to take over, just like Obama took over the auto industry, to share it with the unions, who supported him and the banks. If we already had Obama-care, I think there would be a different story--a much larger, faster spread and many already dead. The government handled the last swine flu outbreak (1976) badly, with more people dying from the vaccine than from the flu.

Another thing journalists are asking is why young, healthy adults are dying. My parents' generation didn't die in the last flu pandemic in 1918. They were young children. It was young healthy adults that died--like our soldiers called to fight in Europe, but dying before they got there. That's how it spread--lots of young, healthy people crowded together. We lost more soliders to the flu than we did to the war, a war in which it wasn't unusual to lose more men in one campaign than the 6years we've been in Iraq. Most of that generation is gone now. The immunity is over. It died with my parents' generation.

We know now how to treat the effects of the flu, but it will be interesting to see if Obama uses this as a crisis to take over health care with out a vote or objection.

If we already had Obama-care, we'd be holed up in our homes like the Mexicans, whimpering, wondering why the people ever voted for the man who nationalized our industries, destroyed our military, created a constitutional crisis by attacking the former president, and groveled and pandered before foreign leaders. Oh well.

Update: In Wednesday's WSJ article about the swine flu, you had to get all the way to the end to find, "the sorry state of Mexico's public and private health system. . . patients often wait hours to days to see the doctor." Just the kind of Obama-care we need north of the border.

Update 2: On the way to the grocery store Wednesday I heard a young child had died in the U.S. of swine flu. On the way home, I learned the child was a Mexican brought to the U.S. for better treatment. It's a tragedy for the family, but a plus for Obama's team which is looking for opportunities to nationalize health care, so maybe it's not as good as an American death, but it's close.

The story of small town recreation in 1957

According to a July 1957 issue of the Mt. Morris Index (a weekly newspaper that launched the printing career of the Kable Brothers), a movie company came to Mt. Morris, Illinois on July 3, 1957, to do a recreation advertisement movie. The filming crew returned on July 15 because they needed several more people to film another segment. A classmate of mine, Nancy, remembers being in the film along with her parents and brother and when we had coffee during my Easter visit to Mt. Morris, she mentioned it.

Coffee with Lynne and Nancy at the Mounder Cafe
She found the article in the Index which reported that it was a 20 minute color motion picture and the title of the documentary was "Town & Country Recreation.” The Director was Oz Zielke, Cameraman Frank Plieffer of Dallas Jones Productions of Chicago, and Gene Balsley, Unit Manager. The film was sponsored by the nonprofit Athletic Institute of Chicago and was designed to show towns and villages how they can offer their citizens the most recreational opportunity at the least cost per person. The fictional city in the story is "Spring Valley," however, most of the actors and the majority of the locations were to be taken from the Mt. Morris vicinity, since the sponsors of the film felt that Mt Morris was representative of what can be accomplished by a good recreation program, including both town & farm families.

I poked around on the internet and found a description of such a film in a database of old marketing and documentary films, from the 1930s through the 1980s. Films about bullying from the 1950s; and visiting an airport in the 1940s, etc. According to a description of Audiovisual Geeks on Internet Archive, it is: "The A/V Geeks Film Archive is an ephemeral film collection curated by Skip Elsheimer. What started as a hobby more than ten years is now a lifetime commitment. His collection has grown to over 20,000 films gathered from school auctions, thrift stores, closets and dumpsters. He presents themed film shows in his home base of Raleigh, North Carolina and he's taken his shows on the road across the United States. Films from Skip's archive have been released on DVDs. For more information about A/V Geeks upcoming shows, the DVDs, stock footage inquiries and donating to the collection, visit http://www.avgeeks.com. Skip is happy to be able share these selected films from his collection online - giving them a life beyond their intended purpose as little cultural time capsules of our immediate past. Enjoy!"

So we're waiting to hear from "Skip." My friend Nancy is hoping this is the film, and if it gets transferred to video and put on the internet, or to DVD, we’ll all get to watch “the way we were.”

I have never cataloged or described a film (I was a cataloger of Slavic material back in the 1960s), but I think the numbers tell how far into the film the description is. I don’t know what some of the abbreviations mean. They could be descriptors or tags for what the camera is doing or of the film quality--I just don’t know. I’ve looked in the Library of Congress Thesarus for graphic material, but don’t know if the person who did this description used it or something more simple like a homemade template for the video database. I think CU might be “close up,” WS could be “white space,“ FG possibly Foreground. But these are wild guesses. Maybe I’ll check with some other retired librarians.

There is no lake in Mt. Morris, so I'm wondering if that scene might have been taken at Lake Louise near Byron--because school buses may have taken children there. I remember it well--I almost drowned there!

“Shows how ‘RECREATION ROT’ was eliminated in the small rural town when a young doctor took the advice of a county extensionist and built a live-wire activity program around a paid recreational leader. Color 1957 Documentary-promotional film about town planning, cast as a drama. A young doctor decides that his town is so boring that a general depression is settling over the populace, so he resolves to involve the community in a plan to develop recreation facilities. Some good images of idealized small town Americana; the color is pretty good. 00:00:26:00 Color 1957 cu Sign: WELCOME TO Spring Valley THE TOWN THAT ENJOYS PROGRESS. 00:00:29:00 Color 1957 vs Montage of small town life: Suburban street, boys riding bicycles; PAN over Main Street; various houses and buildings; WS farm with cornfield in FG; farmer on tractor; two men greet one another on sidewalk; elderly man raking lawn, woman brings him water. 00:02:30:00 Color 1957 ms Man enters office, hangs hat and coat on coat rack, looks out window through Venetian blinds. 00:07:30:00 Color 1957 vs Community meeting: various men and women around conference table; CU faces - they read as ordinary citizens. Also at 0:13:30. 00:11:26:00 Color 1957 ms Two women hanging laundry on clothesline. 00:16:18:00 Color 1957 cu, ws Sign says CAR WASH $1.00; PAN to group of teenagers, mostly girls, washing cars. 00:16:34:00 Color 1957 ms Woman at mailbox, opens it, retrieves newspaper. 00:18:30:00 Color 1957 ws PAN from lake to school bus; group of children in bathing suits exit school bus, run toward CAM; children run across beach; bus driver blows whistle, they all stop. 00:19:00:00 Color 1957 vs Montage of community recreation activities, brief shots: middle-aged people square-dancing, good; adult-education class, man draws diagram on blackboard; teenage boys in shop class, jig saw; softball game, girl hits baseball; tennis instruction; skiing and sledding; camping, children emerge from tent; elderly men playing dominos; boy with stamp collection; badminton; golf instruction; family packing car trunk (a Buick station wagon, two-tone aqua & cream) for camping trip; Buick station wagon drives down country road."

BlogTalkRadio

Today I checked into BlogTalkRadio and was tickled to find Fly Lady. I used to get Fly Lady e-mail and followed the instructions for a week or two. For the clutter-challenged, she's (they) great. Take a listen on how to make your bed while still in it.

Then I looked at Missus Smarty Pants Fashion Rescue--I think that's more down my aisle. For clutter, I have a neatnik husband.

Obama at 2 months, looking for 3?

This doesn't include Korea, or the pirates, or hacking the weapon system, or the swine flu, or trying to create a constitutional crisis.

Why the Axelrod-Rahm team feared the tea parties

This Texan, Katrina Pierson, knows the dangers of socialism, she knows the founding fathers, she knows her choices.

A message from Joe Alutto and Larry Lewellen

The Provost and Vice President for HR of Ohio State University want you to do what I was taught in kindergarten. "Understand that the symptoms of swine flu closely resemble seasonal flu and include fever, weakness, coughing and lack of appetite. It is contagious. The best way to prevent swine flu is to continue to follow these steps:

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue or your forearm (not your hand) when you sneeze.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth to prevent germs from spreading.

Wash your hands often with soap and water and use hand sanitizers.

Avoid being in close contact with those who are ill. If you are ill, please limit your exposure to others by staying home from work or school.

Swine flu can be successfully treated with medication. If you think you might have the flu, please see your primary care doctor. He or she can test you for the flu and will be able to identify the strain of the flu you may have. University students should call or visit the Wilce Student Health Center if they have questions or concerns."

I remember about 15 years ago we had a big cost cutting campaign in the OSU Libraries. My suggestion was to launch a hand washing campaign to cut down on sick days. I was told it was not a line item, therefore it wouldn't count even if we could do it. All the things they are saying about prevention are common sense, and you should have been doing anyway. I also carry a squeeze bottle of alcohol hand rub in my car and my purse. And every time I see a cashier pick up my coffee cup by the lip and hand it too me, I want to smack him.

Also, if swine flu had been on the uptick after George W. Bush had returned from Mexico, you can bet your patooty that the press would have blamed him. As it is, because Bush stressed the spread of disease as a weapon of terrorists and beefed up that component of security, we should be in good shape--as long as Obama doesn't wait as long as he did with the pirates. But if he fails, he can blame Bush anyway as not having done it right. Nothing was achieved in his 100 days, and he can either use the excuse he was a baby, out of the office campaigning in Illinois, or it was Bush's fault. The press was so sickening over this 100 day meme over the week-end it was enough to give one flu symptoms. And nothing but taking over large sectors of the economy, creating a constitutional crisis over interrogation techniques and raising more debt has been accomplished. Way to go BO.

It's been hot, hot, hot

The flowering trees won't do so well in this heat, but it's always nice to see them in bloom. These are from Saturday.







north creek

south creek

view from our patio

If disco had lasted longer. . .

Maybe we wouldn't have an obesity problem?
Boogie, Oogie, Oogie. Taste of Honey.



HT, 2nd cup of coffee

Our President parsing

John Crace The Guardian, Friday 3 April 2009
Article, Barack Obama, the World's Greatest Orator (™all news organisations), didn't exactly cover himself in glory when the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson asked him a question about who was to blame for the financial crisis. Normally word perfect, Obama ummed, ahed and waffled for the best part of two and a half minutes. Here, John Crace decodes what he was really thinking ...

Nick Robinson: "A question for you both, if I may. The prime minister has repeatedly blamed the United States of America for causing this crisis. France and Germany both blame Britain and America for causing this crisis. Who is right? And isn't the debate about that at the heart of the debate about what to do now?" Brown immediately swivels to leave Obama in pole position. There is a four-second delay before Obama starts speaking [THANKS FOR NOTHING, GORDY BABY. REMIND ME TO HANG YOU OUT TO DRY ONE DAY.] Barack Obama: "I, I, would say that, er ... pause [I HAVEN'T A CLUE] ... if you look at ... pause [WHO IS THIS NICK ROBINSON JERK?] ... the, the sources of this crisis ... pause [JUST KEEP GOING, BUDDY] ... the United States certainly has some accounting to do with respect to . . . pause [I'M IN WAY TOO DEEP HERE] ... a regulatory system that was inadequate to the massive changes that have taken place in the global financial system ... pause, close eyes [THIS IS GOING TO GO DOWN LIKE A CROCK OF SHIT BACK HOME. HELP]. I think what is also true is that ... pause [I WANT NICK ROBINSON TO DISAPPEAR] ... here in Great Britain ... pause [SHIT, GORDY'S THE HOST, DON'T LAND HIM IN IT] ... here in continental Europe ... pause [DAMN IT, BLAME EVERYONE.] ... around the world. We were seeing the same mismatch between the regulatory regimes that were in place and er ... pause [I'VE LOST MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT AGAIN] ... the highly integrated, er, global capital markets that have emerged ... pause [I'M REALLY WINGING IT NOW]. So at this point, I'm less interested in ... pause [YOU] ... identifying blame than fixing the problem. I think we've taken some very aggressive steps in the United States to do so, not just responding to the immediate crisis, ensuring banks are adequately capitalised, er, dealing with the enormous, er ... pause [WHY DIDN'T I QUIT WHILE I WAS AHEAD?] ... drop-off in demand and contraction that has taken place. More importantly, for the long term, making sure that we've got a set of, er, er, regulations that are up to the task, er, and that includes, er, a number that will be discussed at this summit. I think there's a lot of convergence between all the parties involved about the need, for example, to focus not on the legal form that a particular financial product takes or the institution it emerges from, but rather what's the risk involved, what's the function of this product and how do we regulate that adequately, much more effective coordination, er, between countries so we can, er, anticipate the risks that are involved there. Dealing with the, er, problem of derivatives markets, making sure we have set up systems, er, that can reduce some of the risks there. So, I actually think ... pause [FANTASTIC. I'VE LOST EVERYONE, INCLUDING MYSELF] ... there's enormous consensus that has emerged in terms of what we need to do now and, er ... pause [I'M OUTTA HERE. TIME FOR THE USUAL CLOSING BOLLOCKS] ... I'm a great believer in looking forwards than looking backwards.

Isn't it odd that he can be so crystal clear on abortion and the viability of unborn children (or aborted and alive children), and what a danger to society pro-lifers are, and yet be clueless about the economy. Knowledge? Values? Character? Education? Social-network? Broken teleprompter?

Mild mannered librarian on the road

My friend Jerry and her husband just landed in France yesterday. They are going to spend 3 months traveling around Europe. Sounds like fun, but having just returned from the Holy Land, I'm glad it's them and not me. Here's Jerry and I a few years back.

Our Friday night date

We usually go out to eat on Friday night with another couple--Joyce and Bill or Joan and Jerry or Ron and Jane or Sue and Wes, etc. But last night, everyone must have been busy or we gave up too early. So I suggested a movie. After some intense questioning (my husband resists change) we settled on "New in Town" at the dollar theater, which I think is now $1.50. It was billed as a romantic comedy, as was "Shopaholic," our other choice in that not G but not R group.

I thought I'd blog about it while I still remember the plot (24 hours later), because it is truly forgetable. And yet it isn't. When you're watching it (released in January 2009) you could swear you've seen this 4 or 5 other times. And you have. Only the names, climate, clothes and marital state change. This one is supposed to take place in New Ulm, Minnesota, but was actually filmed in Canada, and I guess they nearly froze their tushies off. Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick, Jr. play the leads--her the on the rise executive from Miami, and him the union boss--so you know where this is going. As smart as she's supposed to be, she doesn't seem to understand how cold it is in Minnesota, but as the movie moves on, and on, her clothing does change from 4 in. designer heels and skinny suits to muklaks and parkas. Nor does she seem to know you don't drink alcohol if you are stranded in a snow drift. I'm from balmy Ohio and even I know that. But drunken blondes are supposed to be funny, I guess. I'm not sure Min-e-so-tans talk like they do in this movie, but they did have to let them have the last say, even though they were scrapbooking Jesus lovers, because they were unionized. And all Hollywood has to make the executive the butt of the joke, so the worker can beat them, right? We watched about 5 minutes of credits scroll by at the end, and I wonder how many of those are small, independent contractors hoping to someday be big companies?

Just two other things, then I'm done. Renee's skin looked like she really had been affected by the severe weather--very red chapped and blotchy, and the small popcorn was $4.75--more than our two tickets.

Mercury spill clean up in Columbus

Those of us who are a certain age and living in Columbus were probably amused, or not, at the thought of the $300,000 mercury spill clean up at the local Volunteers of America last week. We used to play with that much mercury on a desk top when I was in grade school in Forreston. I'm not sure it was for science class--we probably just couldn't go outside to play so the teacher brought out some mercury.

People who have too much time

complete things like this. I saw it at a Canadian librarian's blog, who saw it at other librarians' blogs. I think I've done it before, but I've done more now. Still haven't been to Paris--never had any desire, but who knows? I didn't know how fabulous Turkey was until I visited.

Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to - leave in plain font

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity. (Actually, you can always afford more.)
7. Been to Disneyland/World. (both)
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning. (Just last month)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty. (I was there--can't remember how we got to the top)
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon.
28. Ridden a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise. Just last month.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person.
41. Sung Karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa. (Just last month.)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Gotten flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London.
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.

Unintended consequences of trying to save the earth

The Army has a new blog--it's quite interesting. The Earth Day entry reports on how environmentally proactive the Army is, which was a surprise to the writer. What s/he writes about here I've seen up at Lake Erie. Attempts to control the lake and where it wants to be have been disastrous for the shore line, the beaches, the plant life, the fish, and eventually property owners. Imagine trying to hold back the ocean. Fortunately, the U.S. Army came to the rescue in Flordia.

"Just one example is the Soldiers with the 97th Transportation Company at Fort Eustis. They traveled to Florida to help dismantle the world’s largest man-made reef, and a manmade creation that had proven to be destructive to the coastal marine life, as the tires were dismantled by the pounding waves. This wasn’t just an everyday mission for the Soldiers - it was a project they cared about. In several interviews, the crew explained how their environmental standards are of the highest caliber, and they work hard to ensure that with every mission their environmental footprint is as small as possible. They were proud of the opportunity to help the coastal Florida community preserve the marine habitat."

You wonder how much damage is going to be done to our greatest resource--people--considering that only about 1% of our energy is supplied by the so-called alternatives. The measures to destroy fossil fuel through regulation and taxation before there is actually an alternative, to say nothing of the products made from petroleum that are NOT fuel, are mind boggling. We did this with DDT and malaria--millions and millions (mostly Africans) have died and they are just now hoping for a vaccine that might be 30% effective, and using bednets soaked in insecticide (who knows the side effects of breathing that?).

Save the earth; kill the people.

Federal bailout funds coming to Ohio

Upper Arlington, that wealthy suburb of Columbus, the same city that wants a $25 million levy for an addition to the library (last levy was 2 years ago), is hoping to snag a modest $500,000 of the more than $28 million in ARRA funds to install sidewalks along streets that serve as school and bus routes. No self-respecting, safety minded, SUV driving, Gen-X UA parent allows a child to walk or bike to school--so I'm not sure if a little foot will ever meet that concrete. I hope they don't get it. And if our city planners of the 1930s hadn't put the sidewalks up against the street, we'd all be a lot safer.

The process of getting this $500,000 could easily consume that much in employee time because like any government money, it has to pass through many hands. First our own UA city staff has to research it and work through complex applications; the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission which reviews, coordinates and makes recommendations; the Ohio Department of Transportation which administers the funding, makes sure all the applicants meet state infrastructure standards, and requirements; and of course, all the Washington career worker-bees, and party loyalists who are writing those standards and funding requirements. Just to get that little sum to UA city Manager, Virginia Barney, will cost a bundle. Even not getting it has a dollar cost to the tax payer--all over the country wherever ARRA funds are sought unsuccessfully. This is how our politicians, Democrats and Republicans, grow our economy; first you grow the government; second you expand what you just grew. (details from the UA News, April 22, 2009, opinions my own)

Then today's Columbus Dispatch reported that we're going to reinvent the Great Depression CCC and put men to work. Ohio officials are using federal stimulus money to "resurrect the idea and create the Recovery Conservation Corps" expecting to "create" 20,000 jobs funded with $47 million of the federal stimulus (maybe we could give them the library money and 10,000 jobs?), plus another $2 million of state money to transport these workers to their jobs of litter pick-up, building repair, and removing invasive plants.

Now, the snag here is there has always been money (grants) for this, so this is additional money, but these jobs are designated for low-income, disadvantaged, drop-outs, homeless and disabled. You see, Democrats believe that if low IQ men, or ex-cons, or mentally ill, or physically disabled people would just try harder, they could all have government jobs. With all the billions and billions that have been designated for that during the last 50 years, I wonder why we still have people sleeping under bridges? In recent years, when the economy was booming under Bush, disabled and disadvantaged were being incorporated into the regular income stream as tax payers--I saw them many places as grocery baggers, stockers, janitors, and in protected, sheltered workshops. Often with one-on-one, or two-on-one job coaches and supervisors, in part subsidized by the state. Sometimes it was a private-public partnership type thing, but often it was just a private business willing to spend the extra time training them. Workers with disabilities hired for REAL jobs put money into the community--into goods and services, transportation, restaurants, house. But not a program to pick up litter by the homeless (something state workers are hired to do). So this ARRA money will primarily be going for the social services required to assist minimally functioning people who either can't or won't or are too ill to work. More games with our money and with the wording of ARRA, which is pork distribution by Obama to those who supported him.

Government cannot and has never created jobs. It only redistributes money from workers by handing it off (for a fee) to other workers. No job is "created."

Fancy Nancy and her memory problems

162 Democrats in Congress voted to go to war in 2003--after months of study, debate, building international alliances and proclaiming the build up of WMD during the years of Bill Clinton. But unfortunately, these are the same folks who didn't read the bail out numbers and passed it anyway proclaiming the sky is falling (and now they've proved it). So I'm guessing those still left, like John Kerry, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Hilliary Clinton, Jack Murtha, Joe Lieberman, etc. will follow Nancy Peloser and swear they have no memory of being briefed about anything, especially not interrogation techniques. For pity's sake, they thought we used water guns and gossip to find out the enemies' secrets. Doesn't everyone? It was those evil Bushies who brainwashed them (without waterboarding) into believing there was a global terrorist threat after 9/11.

Not too long ago librarians, university faculty and other ACLU-an and Hollywood types got the vapors at the thought Wal-Mart was using RFID tags to track pallets, because citizens would be next, and there was that awful Patriot Act (also voted for by Democrats) which allowed the government, with a warrant, to listen in on terrorists in the US contacting those abroad. But they are certainly silent about violation of First Amendment rights at peaceful demonstrations called Tea Parties. In fact, they are joining a chorus of ridiculers and paranoid Obama protectors who go on national TV to proclaim our Constitutional protections are dangerous because not everyone voted for the messiah.

Isn't funny how politics changes your viewpoint on privacy and terrorism with just a stroke of midnight, January 19, 2009.

It's a God thing

That's what serendipity is called at our church. I was asked to help with a new member breakfast (they don't usually let me in the kitchen, so maybe everyone else was busy), and I thought it might be a good way to meet new people, so I agreed. I'd fogotten that UALC offers chef quality meals--it wasn't just your usual Lutheran coffee and donuts--it was home made biscuits, crisp bacon, egg casserole, coffee cake, mounds of fresh fruit, three kinds of juice, coffee and tea. So leftovers will be our supper tonight!

I joined one of the tables and met 3 people joining 2 services at Lytham, and 4 people joining 2 services at Mill Run. While I was asking David (whom I know from exercise class) about the memory problem with my almost new computer, Gary, one of the other church servers, over heard us and handed me his card. He owns a computer parts and repair service, CPRS, Inc.! How great is that! After chatting a bit while cleaning up, I found out he does the computer work for a lot of individuals and businesses I know--some of whom I thought would be doing their own. Also, he served in Haiti with my husband on the mission team.

I haven't even called him yet, but since I don't know anyone else to recommend, his e-mail is gbollinger@myvideopal.com. His card says he'll remove viruses, setup a custom arrangement or network, hardware and software upgrades, databack up and recovery, HDTV setup and calibration, and if you go to his web site, www.myvideopal.com, he has a free video for the technically challenged. And he's pretty darn good in the kitchen, too.

How about that fun game, Shaken Baby?

This one mystifies me. How did it make it from the bar where the drunk gamers were yukking it up, "Listen, [belch] what if," get on the drawing board, and make it past adults in the marketing department of Apple?

Why not, "steal the food from the homeless guy" or "tape the puppy's mouth shut and tie him in the hot sun," or "assault the substitute math teacher." "Hey," as one blogger indignantly said, "it's just a game. It's not like it was real."