Monday Memories--When Mom was a war wife

This is another great book I picked up at a Memorial Day yard sale (how appropriate). It was only fifty cents, but what makes it special, besides the interesting content, is it still has the cover. That's unusual for a book going on 70 years old. When I checked on e-Bay I didn't see any that still had the cover. The book was given to someone named Emily on Christmas 1944--and I'm guessing she was entering this new experience of being the woman left behind. Oddly, the handwriting looks exactly like my mother's, who in March 1944 had to learn all the tips and tricks the author Ethel Gorham writes so well about as a war-time wife. My review here.

My other blogs on WWII

Grad Student research grabs headlines

Last week I was complaining to my librarian colleagues about an undergraduate scholar poster competition at Ohio State where the website for entries contained no links to the library for research purposes, just sites for templates on formatting the posters! The first abstract I looked at which was on disproportionate representation by rural areas in the military had enough holes in the short paragraph you could have driven a tank through it. But it didn’t make the national news probably because it's been done before, and now that the war is Obama's problem, the press doesn't care. This one did, by grad student Kerri Tobin, reported at Junk Food Science on IQ and junkfood.

Last week, more than 400 news stories in just two days reported that a study had found conclusive evidence that fast food makes children stupid and lowers their school tests scores. How many journalists do you think actually went to the original source and read the study?

None.

How can we be so sure?

Because there is no published study. There was no ability for any educational or health professional, let alone a journalist, to examine the research and its methodology, data and interpretations.

Read the whole story at Junk Food Science and why and how we are so often mislead by the press with the fear of the day. "Had any reporter or editor gone to the original source material and understood it, they would have instantly realized that none of the claims they were hearing were credible."

A Thigh Master appointee?

We knew this was coming, didn’t we? More taxes to hurt the poor and grow government agencies.

“Hot dogs, potato chips, soda and beer are staples of the traditional Memorial Day cookout, but Washington wants to redesign the menu. Just in time for your neighborhood block party, the Obama Administration and Senate Finance Committee are signalling a change in your diet.

President Obama has named Thomas Frieden, the New York City health commissioner who championed a ban on artificial trans fats, as the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Frieden's campaign forced McDonald's to change the way it cooks french fries -- you may have noticed the taste -- and he has lately called for all restaurants to use less salt. Let's hope he spends at least some of his time considering flu pandemics and bioterrorism.” Memorial Day Make-over

Actually, I’m in favor of some government meddling in my food. Like, why can’t we clearly have on every label--canned item, frozen food package, and bag of carrots or lettuce--“grown in the USA.” The “distributed by” doesn’t mean a thing. I waste so much time looking for that tiny piece of information, and even then I came home the other day with carrots grown in Mexico. I’m not going to give USDA an A+ on everything, but we have a much better chance of avoiding parasitic diseases transmitted by careless hygiene, bacteria and gross amounts of pesticides, if we can buy American, even if our inspectors don't have enough staff, and we can’t do that without the information. I don’t want them off the market, they are important for trade, but I want to make the choice. That’s one area of my life where I am pro-choice.

Where it is grown or baked is more important to me than the percentage of fat or salt. I think I can figure out that a handful of potato chips won’t hurt me, but a bagful just might. And non-calorie pop must make people hungry and thirsty, because I never see a thin person drinking one. (Actually, I do buy it occasionally for my husband who wants something cold on an 84 degree day painting the house.)

Also, with so many people suffering from allergies, I think the wheat and peanut labeling is a good plan. Just don’t take the wheat and peanut products out of the store because two people within a mile of the store have severe reactions. In the last 30 years, there have been all sorts of movements by novices, animal rights groups, amateurs and environmentalist-food nazis to remove certain things because of obesity. And what has happened? We’re much fatter than we were in the 1970s as a nation, particularly men and children. Junk Food Science is the best place to go to read about the hype that comes with food warnings--it's the science that's junk, not the food, says Sandy.

If Americans need to lose weight, I suggest that Congress begin by emulating our First Couple. They are slim and trim and growing a garden in the yard (with tax paid gardeners). The Bushes were also a normal, healthy weight, and so were the Clintons (after Bill slimmed down) and the Bushes before them. It’s Congress that is fat in body and attitude--along with some of the regulatory agency employees and research staffers. Their retirement plan and health plan are also fat and sassy--and you'll never see anything like that!

If you're interested in beer, here's a cute story about beer and history at TonyRogers.com.

"The 2 most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer.

These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into 2 distinct subgroups: Liberals and Conservatives."

Sad news

I learned today of the death of Murray Weber. He was killed early Saturday morning when he was hit by a train near the Lennox Shopping Center. I knew Murray when he was a little boy growing up in Upper Arlington and he and my son were friends. I met him again later as a young adult, a veteran I think, and caring for a paraplegic in his home. I'd lost track of him during the last decade, but in my mind's eye he is still a beautiful, tall young boy, with hope, humor and caring in his heart.

"The Franklin County Coroner has identified the man who was struck and killed by a train early this morning in Clinton Township.

David Murray Weber, 40, of Columbus, walked onto the tracks and into the path of an empty freight train, according to a report by the Franklin County sheriff's office traffic bureau. He was killed instantly.

The incident occurred at about 1:31 a.m. on the railroad tracks behind the Lennox Town Center, south of Kinnear Road.

The report also stated that the man was seen causing disturbances at a nearby restaurant prior to the incident." Columbus Dispatch

Obituary

Randy's Ten Suggestions for Litter Critters

Randy lives on Cape Cod, and it seems some of you visitors are less than careful when you come to that beautiful vacation spot. He has posted some photos of the latest community clean up at his humor blog, and observes, "When someone comes tootling along sipping the last sip of an iced coffee and heaves the empty cup out the window, only one thing comes to my mind: Life imprisonment with no possibility of parole."

So Randy Hunt has a few ideas on how you can break that bad habit. It will work anywhere, even if it's Lakeside or Columbus, Ohio:

10) No matter how old you are, think about what your mother would say if she saw you littering.

9) Whether or not you remember the commercial released in March 1971 on the second observance of Earth Day, watch the Crying Indian Commercial.

8) If you catch your kids littering, make them pick it up.

7) If your kids catch you littering, make them pick it up. They’ll quickly learn how the rest of us feel about other people littering.

6) Instead of throwing that losing scratch ticket out the window, save your two bucks and use it to buy gas to drive to the library and check out a book on environmentalism.

5) Take your habit home with you. Rather than ruin the town for the rest of us, throw your litter onto your living room rug.

4) Save your empty Dunkin Donuts and Mary Lou’s cups. They make great gifts for the personnel at the transfer station. Trust me. They love ‘em.

3) If you find yourself throwing beer cans, liquor flasks, and nip bottles out your car window, seek counseling. You’ve got worse problems than being a litterbug.

2) Rather than throw your empty cigarette pack out the window, eat it. It can’t be any worse for you than smoking the 20 cigarettes.

And the number one suggestion for people who feel compelled to litter is:

If your name is Ron and you feel compelled to litter out your car window, consider purchasing this hip hop vanity plate: M O dot R O N.
Copyright 2009 Randy Hunt

WHO is killing Africans and why

"In 2006, after 25 years and 50 million preventable deaths, the World Health Organization reversed course and endorsed widespread use of the insecticide DDT to combat malaria. So much for that. Earlier this month, the U.N. agency quietly reverted to promoting less effective methods for attacking the disease. The result is a victory for politics over public health, and millions of the world's poor will suffer as a result. Malaria, politics and DDT

Sadly, it's not just misguided environmentalists with an agenda, many Christian groups have bought into the bed net scam, too. But then, many European Christians of the 17th century thought slavery in the New World was saving Africans from going to hell in the Old--and the DDT ban has killed far more people than the trans-Atlantic slave trade ever did.

Our Alaskan Cruise

About eight years ago we were preparing to take our first cruise--our first really big trip. I had it on my list of things to do when I retired and wrote it into my Post Employment Plan (PEP). Also in my PEP was to take up painting again (after about 30 years.) Those were the days before blogging when my family and friends just received fat envelops or stapled copies of things I wrote. When I was visiting my family at Easter, I found one of my hand painted post cards from that trip. I didn't have a scanner in those days, so had no record of it. I'd taken along a tiny little w.c. set and post card size #300 paper. I have no idea where the rest of them are or to whom I sent them.

Lakeside yard sales

I was headed for the Erie Road Mkt to buy milk and oj and just had to pass two yard sales! Got 3 fabulous CDs for $3--Sweet And Lovely: Capitol's Great Ladies Of Song with Keely Smith, Sarah Vaughan, Julie London, Peggy Lee, and others; Mary Chapin Carpenter (whom I heard live here at Lakeside in the 90s before she became famous); and a Glenn Miller. Also a one volume Bible dictionary for $1, and a midwestern garden book for $1 (I don't garden, but benefit from our son's special touch with plants). But on the way back with my treasures I passed a cottage with a laundry basket of Pfaltzgraff Yorktowne pottery for $10.00. We have more than enough dishes here at the cottage, also in blue and white (Currier and Ives), but this looked good to me. I tried to pick it up (put the money in the coffee can because the owners weren't there) and couldn't even budge it. I drafted the two young boys across the street to watch it and help load it in my van, and I came back with the car.

I think there are 5 dinner plates, a bunch of saucers, 3 cups, 6 sandwich plates, sugar and creamer, large pitcher, 4 soup bowls, serving platter and a serving bowl. I think they might be seconds, the stamp on the bottom is not clear on some, but for a cottage that's fine.

And the laundry basket was included in the price!

Axelrod and Rahm need to rein him in

This constant marketing of the President as though he were still on the campaign trail is over exposure. Axelrod's profession is marketing, and Rahm Israel Emanuel's is dance. So you put the two together and you get . . . a President who dances around the truth and does the splits? As soon as I hear that odd cadence (not black, not white, not Illinois, not Kansas, not Hawaii), I rush to switch channels or stations. It's grating when you can't figure out where a guy comes from. The only thing that has changed since 2008 is the phony diction and rhythym of a black preacher. He learned to talk "black" as an adult in Pastor Wright's church and African American linguists pointed this out before he became the favorite. The Righteous Brothers of the 1960s sound more black than he does, but that's what boomers like. Then the linguists shut up because it seemed to be working, particularly on guilt-ridden moderates. It is a foreign language for Obama--only whites think it is authentic. Because I was a foreign language major and worked with immigrants a large part of my work life, I became accustomed to listening closely to make sure I understood. His accent is the proverbial two dollar bill we used to talk about--although we eventually got one.

On back of the $2 bill, "replacing Monticello, is engraving of John Trumbull's painting "The Declaration of Independence"; because of lack of space, 5 of 48 men in original painting were not included in engraving." Removing a piece of history--imagine that!

Rahm may get the credit for bringing the Democrats into power in 2006 by being ruthless, but in Ohio and elsewhere they got in by pretending to be highly ethical, soft, quasi-Christian wannabees. Also the "scandals" referred to in this review were nothing compared to Nancy Pelosi's. Usually, they were at the expense of gay Republicans, but HEY any sacrificial lamb for the Messiah! Also, the economy started going south after Democrats took over Congress, and it is Congress who has the final say.

"Responsible for everything from handpicking Congressional candidates to raising money for attack ads, Emanuel, a talented ballet dancer better known in Washington for his extraordinary intensity and his inexhaustible torrents of profanity, threw out the playbook on the way Democrats run elections.Instead of rallying the base, Rahm sought moderate-to-conservative candidates who could attract more traditional voters. Instead of getting caught in the Democrats' endless arguments about their positions, he went on the attack, personally vilifying Republicans from Tom DeLay to Christopher Shays. And instead of abiding by the gentlemen's agreements of good-old-boy Washington, he broke them, attacking his counterpart in the Republican party and challenging Howard Dean, the chairman of his own party. In 2005, no one believed victory was within the Democrats' grasp. But as the months passed, Republicans were caught in wave after wave of scandal [concerning homosexuality mostly], support for the war in Iraq steadily declined, and the president's poll numbers plummeted. And in Emanuel, the Democrats finally had a killer, a ruthless closer like Karl Rove or Lee Atwater, poised to seize the advantage and deliver what President Bush would call "a thumpin." From review of The Thumpin' by Naftali Bendavid

Learning from the past

The dueling speeches--Cheney and Obama--certainly show that we have administrations with entirely different perspectives on war and defense. WaPo version. President Obama is attempting to criminalize, after the fact, actions that were taken by the former President and Congress which were ruled legal just a few years ago. At the same time, he's attempting to shore up his support on the hard left--those who pushed him into office hoping he'd dance to their jig--who think he's backing down. Obama's view on security and defense is that of the USA/FDR of the 1930s, the drill we went through as Hitler knocked off his neighbors and threatened England--watch, wait, and talk. The other, the Bush-Cheney plan (with Congress's approval and support) was to go on the attack rather than wait any longer. Last night I heard a woman liberal on a panel critiquing the two speeches whine that Cheney had mentioned 9/11 twenty times in his speech, that it obviously was a defining moment in his mind.

I've been reading "Westminster Pulpit" the collection of sermons of G. Campbell Morgan now 100 years old. He had some interesting points about remembering the past.

The true backward look is that which sets the past in relation to God; that which lays to heart the lessons God has intended to teach by the experiences of the past; and is that which always has the future in mind. . . [commenting on Moses' use of the past] These people had been brought out of Egypt and its bondage to God, and to that freedom which was perfectly conditioned within government and within law. This was fundamental, and this they were charged never to forget. Take the Old Testament and read right through it, listening to its teachings; and whether you are reading its devotional literature, or that which is distinctly prophetic in the sense of the forthtelling of the Divine Will, you will discover how constantly these prophets, seers, and psalmists, took the people back to Egypt, and the fact of their deliverance there from. That was absolutely fundamental. V. 4, p. 10-11

Morgan goes on to make a spiritual point, and I don't think he mentions that often the escaping Hebrew people wanted to go back to Egypt where they were slaves rather than face the tough problems of the wilderness.

Arthur Erickson, 1924-2009

Arthur Erickson, the famous Canadian architect, died May 20, 2009. Story here. His firm and a Columbus firm Feinknopf Macioce Schappa were partners in the competition for the Wexner Center for the Arts.

Their submission won the popular vote, but wasn't selected by the jury. In fact, it was so popular, even the other participants thought they'd won. Too bad. If you're familiar with the Wexner you probably know it has been extremely expensive to maintain for a named "gift." The most recent renovation cost $15.8 million for a building built in 1989, named for the primary donor, Les Wexner, founder of Limited Brands, which includes Victoria Secret, and Bath and Body Works.

In 1982 the OSU Board of Trustees authorized a competition for an arts center and my husband’s firm (he was a partner) Feinknopf Macioce Schappa was paired with the Arthur Erickson firm of Vancouver, British Columbia. Trott and Bean, both OSU grads (Bean lived across the street from us) was paired with Eisenman/Robertson of New York. Three other Ohio architectural firms from Dayton, Cleveland and Columbus also participated. The program was vague--an understatement. The participants didn't even have the place for the building specified let alone a firm focus.

In the vicinity of the supposed location there once was an armory which was removed in 1959. To tie into the history of the location, Peter Eisenman's design (with two loyal OSU alumni) includes faux towers reminiscent of the armory at the corners of the building and some sort of alignment with the football field and flights into Port Columbus! Not being familiar with this piece of OSU history, the Eisenman building always reminds me of a collection of glued popsicle sticks.

Although FMS + Erickson didn't win, it was an exciting time in my husband's career with Erickson's people coming to Columbus several times, and he going to Vancouver to work with them. He loved working with this group and fell in love with Vancouver.

In 1996 we visited Vancouver after my MLA meeting in Seattle, and stopped at the Erickson firm again, but much had changed (downsized, different location). It had been about 12 years. My husband didn't know many of the people. But we did visit several of Erickson's buildings in that area: Museum of Anthropology (1972) Vancouver; Simon Fraser University (1963) Burnaby, B.C.; and Robson Square (1973-79) Vancouver.

Update: If you think I'm tough on librarians, you should read my thoughts on architecture and the rush to be green.

There is a photo of the Erickson/FMS popular winner on p. 9 of "Design by Competition" by Jack L. Nasar. It has been scanned by Google.

The "Give Back" theme of the Democrats

It's graduation season. Giving back is always and forever the theme of speeches at graduation, but it seems only the Democrats have recently discovered it as a way to smack down Republicans. And that's so strange. Because all research for years and years has shown that conservatives, particularly conservative Christians, are more generous with their time, talents and money than liberals. Joe Biden and Al Gore's contribution record is laughable, and President Obama's was almost as paltry until he got serious about campaigning for the presidency and one of his advisors noticed this moral flaw.

I personally was a bit uncomfortable with George H.W. Bush's "thousand points of light" theme. I was a Democrat then, but also an evangelical. It just didn't seem right to me that the President was doing a Preacher's job. Later I found out it was Peggy Noonan, his speech writer, who came up with "kinder, gentler nation," and "thousand points of light." Liberals absolutely hated this Bush theme because it encouraged Christians to do even more (and apply for government grants to do it). After Democrats were trounced in 2004, they had many pity parties--I know this because I watched some of them on C-SPAN. The conclusion apparently was to pretend to care more than conservatives, so that they could gain political office. Play down the liberal-progressive drivel. In Ohio we elected a former Methodist pastor as governor on an ethics platform because our former governor played golf with someone and it wasn't recorded as a donation, or something silly. Our new governor, who seems a nice person, has had nothing but trouble with some of his morally-challenged appointees. You remember, don't you--the folks who decided to investigate Joe the Plumber for calling Obama's bluff accidentally.

But that Presidential leadership into good works wasn't good for the churches, either. Christians were getting a bit fat and sloppy at the government money trough.
"Wanna feed the hungry? Wanna rehab housing for the poor?"
"You bet!"
"Just apply for a USDA or a HUD grant."
"What will it cost?"
"Not much. Just take down the cross of Jesus and don't hand out literature."
"Well, OK, it's for a 'good' cause."

It's not that Candidate Obama didn't notice that U.S. citizens were already volunteering for all manner of projects from community concerts, to cleaning up rivers and streams, to recycling yard waste, to helping immigrants learn to read. No, of course he knew. But he needed something to make us feel guilty and morally deficient, like we couldn't decide for ourselves if taking an elderly neighbor to the doctor was the right thing to do if the government wasn't tracking it. So he's going to make it mandatory.

Right off the bat I can tell you what will happen.

First, volunteering in a religious activity where evangelizing or proseletizing takes place will not count, in fact, it might even be penalized. If that activity takes place in a church basement--like a food pantry--all religious symbols will need to be removed.

Second, certain 501-c-3 non-profits (religious, educational, charitable, scientific, literary, public safety, amateur sports, or prevention of cruelty to children or animals) will count more than others--like the ACORN, Saul Alinsky-type, left-leaning organizations, animal rights organisations (as opposed to animal welfare) and radical "greenies" claiming concern about safety. Signing up illegals to vote, for instance, will be a credited, gov't approved volunteer activity. Helping someone refinance a mortgage they can't afford, will count if the helpee is a minority. Helping a woman avoid an abortion or going back to Mexico to give birth in her home community will not.

Third, many non-profits, if not allowed to use government money because they won't dance to Obama's tune, will have to close shop. People who wish to remain in the "giving" field will increasingly need to be employed by the liberals and socialists.

Fourth, your mandatory volunteerism will become a factor in your job security and promotion ladder. Maybe even in hiring. The "volunteerism" required of many school children (begun years ago) can barely pass the sniff test.

Fifth, eventually, only those volunteer activities that directly promote the government approved agenda (what ever it is at that time) will be allowed.

How to screw up the language

I could swear President Roosevelt declared war after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, but apparently not--he declared a discussion or negotiation, as Bush should have done, but didn't. Congress must have misunderstood him. And it was his words, and not Japan's actions, that propelled us into war.

"I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire." FDR, December 8, 1941

Yet that's what this article in Scientific American Mind implies. We have terrorists because of the words we use. Reminds me of the mothers of pre-schoolers, "Now sweet dumpling, use your words not your fists. Johnny's nose is bloody." It's not their fault--we're inflaming them with our choice of words. We should have treated the attack like street crime. Declaring war is for a country, and this was just a world wide movement. And apparently Obama read the article!

"The Bush administration’s framing of terrorism as an act of war is a departure from past administrations’ ways of thinking. Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Ronald Reagan, for example, preferred a disease metaphor. President Bill Clinton’s general themes were the pursuit of justice, law enforcement and international cooperation. Clinton wanted to deny “victory” to terrorists, but he and other previous presidents stopped short of the word “war.”

President George W. Bush adopted the war construct immediately. On the morning of September 12, 2001, after a meeting of the National Security Council, the president told reporters: “The deliberate and deadly attacks which were carried out yesterday against our country were more than acts of terror. They were acts of war.”

Refresh my memory. Did Nixon or Reagan or Clinton field any attacks on US soil the way FDR and GWB did? Must have missed that in the news.

The author is hoping now that there are more academics in counterterrorism, we can develop more successful strategies. Must be working. We haven't had any attacks for 7 years, thanks to Bush and Cheny. Article here. I wonder if these are the guys who gave us "enhanced interrogation techniques."

Whoopi and Rachel exchanging misinformation

Walking through the living room to wash the dirt off my hands and straighten up my back (working in the yard, a task I'm not accustomed to) I heard Rachel say to Whoopi that obese people tell her they'd love to cook some of her recipes but they can't afford broccoli and fruits and vegetables. That's such an outrageous lie! If they want to believe it, that's one thing, but she shouldn't be spreading gossip. Yesterday I was in the "12 items or less" line and the woman in front of me bought 7 packages of Jello and a small can of mixed fruit. She paid more than I did and I bought 4 apples, 2 bananas, l lb. of carrots, a pint of organic grape tomatoes and a pound of strawberries--I know I paid with a ten and got back change and some bills.

The myth that the poor are obese because of "expensive" processed food (i.e., it's the fault of capitalism) is just ridiculous. They are fat for the same reason everyone else is--too many calories and too little exercise.

Come on, Whoopi--you aren't skinny and you sure aren't poor!

The weather is cooperating

We're at the Lake. My husband is painting the house this year. The weather has cooperated--in fact, a bit too hot yesterday--84. Milder today with a slight cloud cover. I keep reminding him about sunscreen, but you all know how husbands love to be nagged about their health and safety.

I did make an important reservation yesterday. I reserved the pavilion for our 50th anniversary party (for lake friends) on August 15, 2010. We've got a rain room too, because the weather here is very iffy. We have not a single computer model that can tell you what Lake Erie will be doing this afternoon, let alone a 15 months from now. We'll have our Columbus event on the real date in September.

I'm cleaning. Decided to tackle the throw pillows. Two will be tossed. There is no way to wash them. I'm washing two that my mother made for me about 20 years ago. From the looks of the stitches to close, I've washed them before. She was neat and careful; I just get the job done and hope for the best. I remember when my parents visited for the first time in 1989 and she and I went shopping over in Marblehead to pick out the fabric. She took the pieces home and made pillows. They are very special. It would be nice to be able to pick up the phone and wish her a Happy Birthday (next week).


I'm going to plant a few more flowers--white impatiens. We already put in 2 flats, but they always seem too thin. When our daughter-in-law planted our flowers one year for Mother's Day they were fabulous--only year they looked really good. A good cook, too. I have the proverbial brown thumb and don't like dirt under my fingernails.

We actually had an offer to buy the cottage yesterday. Although it was a bit of a joke. The neighbor said, "I'll pay you twice what you paid for it." That got a good laugh. I'm not sure how real estate is holding up here, but the county, the people who want to kill the golden goose that is supporting their school system, says it is worth about 6 times what we paid. It's interesting how home values come down, but the taxing entity doesn't reevaluate. They just want more. But we will be selling (he promised) in about 5 years. We'll need the money to pay the higher energy costs as the President destroys Ohio's coal industry and auto plants and everyone has to put a windmill in their back yard. And the higher food costs. And the higher cost of everything made with petroleum products from highway paving to shoes to carpet to windshield wipers. And health care (if you think it's high now just wait 'til Obama Amtracs it).

Sigh. Life is just political, isn't it?

Update: I just checked a real estate list. Prices here are still crazy. I noticed a tiny "fixer upper" that would get you laughed out of town at $80,000 if it were on Columbus' west side listed at $209,000. The coffee shop building is listed at $689,000 and that's not the business--just the building. There's a wooded lot on our street (waaaay back) for $174,000.

Today's new word--less unaffordable

What ever happened to "affordable?" Now it's "less unaffordable"

"It is well known that the largest percentage losses in house prices occurred early in the housing bubble in inland California, Sacramento and Riverside-San Bernardino, Las Vegas and Phoenix. These were the very southwestern areas that housing refugees fled to in search of less unaffordable housing in California’s coastal metropolitan areas (Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and San Jose).

Yet now the prices in these hyper-expensive markets are beginning to fall. Once considered widely immune from the severe housing slump, the San Francisco area now has muscled its way into the list of biggest losers. The newly published first quarter 2009 house price data from the National Association of Realtors indicates that prices are down 52.5 percent from the peak. Only Riverside-San Bernardino and Sacramento have experienced greater losses out of the 49 metropolitan areas with a population of more than 1,000,000 for which there is data (see table below). Other metropolitan areas that have seen prices drop more than 50 percent include Phoenix, Las Vegas and, for very different reasons, that rustbelt sad sack, Cleveland." Housing downturn update

We may have more relatives in California than Illinois--so we keep a close watch, and don't like what we see.

And of course, we like to eat, too. Environmentalists along with Mother Nature seem to be conspiring to bring down the agriculture industry in California. Governors of either party are helpless and hopeless. That's higher priced food for the rest of us, shipped from a "country" that won't use its own energy resources.

Friday Family Photo--Biggie

Sunday I was moving winter coats to storage when I pulled out a forgotten maroon, hand-knit, zip front sweater in a dry cleaner bag that had belonged to my husband's grandfather, Stanley, or Biggie as he was known to his grandchildren. I think I have the story straight when I say that the oldest grandchild, whose name is Norma Lou, gave him that nickname. Probably because she was little and he was "big." She was raised by her grandparents; her cousins, my husband and his sister, visited on week-ends. These three little ones were all children of divorce, so Biggie was the one monumental and consistent male figure in their lives. Yes, he was BIG. The whole family always called them "Neno and Biggie," and so did I (although I never knew his grandfather).

I decided to take the sweater out of the bag and check for moth holes because it is 100% wool and probably close to 90-100 years old. It was made at a time when knitting or sewing for the family was just a feature of the homemaker's life, a necessity rather than a "craft." (Neno had been a police woman before marriage.) I had a vague recollection of my husband wearing it on very cold days back in the 70s (when all the talk was about global cooling and we couldn't keep our house warm enough), and I think I used to occasionally wear it to work in the 80s because we couldn't control the air conditioning in Sisson Hall. Frankly, I'm not sure either one of us could get this sweater zipped today. And no, the dry cleaners didn't shrink it. It would definitely be an XXS in either a men's or women's size.

The item on the sweater is Biggie's gold pocket watch, and we don't have much else that belonged to him. When I asked my husband where it was, he couldn't remember, but then found it in the first box he checked--along with the silver cuff links we bought our son for his wedding or graduation--don't recall which--and a few other odd items.) The photo below is Biggie, Neno and brother Jimmy, and was probably taken about 1948.





There seems to be a strong family resemblance--photo of my husband at about the same age in 2003.

Ed Asner--a very hate filled man

My little converter box here at the lakehouse works great--except I get programs I'd never watch at home. This morning in the background (can't see the TV from this angle) I can hear Tavis Smiley interviewing Ed Asner who is spewing the most hateful, anti-American drivel I've ever heard from the Hollywood left. It's enough to make you stop watching old re-runs. This man desperately needs to retire.

Here’s what the Waxman-Markey energy bill will do for you

“Nothing. Zip. Zero. Zilch. There are no benefits for the American people in the Waxman-Markey energy tax bill. Whenever defenders of the free market point out how much an energy tax will cost the economy, the enviro-left always tries to change the subject to “the cost of inaction.” But here is the dirty little secret about Waxman-Markey: it does nothing to prevent global warming/climate change whatever you want to call it. And that is before House Democrats gutted the bill.” Heritage.org Indeed, in a Congress full of downright scary people, thieves, murderers, adulterers, and brain dead, Henry Waxman reigns supreme.

Here are the numbers. My detractors always want the facts, not the unintended consequences, not the run up to the War on the Economy by smart investors and CEOs who were ducking for cover hiding their assets in foreign countries as soon as an Obama presidency was on the horizon, while contributing to his campaign. Not an historical survey of the Kulaks loss of property and life by Stalinists. OK, here they are. Here’s what higher prices on everything for the sake of a global warming myth looks like. Waxman's energy bill will mean the loss of your job (especially if you are paid on local tax money such as a teacher, librarian, policeman, street sweeper, dog catcher, etc.)

By the year 2050, the “clean” version reduces projected global temperatures by 0.044ºC (or ~3% less than the rise without the legislation), the “dirty” version gets you about half of that, or 0.022ºC (~1.5% less), and the “dirtier” version saves half of that again, or 0.011ºC (<1% less). By century’s end, you don’t do much better–the temperature reduction amounts to, respectively, 0.112ºC (0.20ºF), 0.046ºC (0.08ºF), and 0.013ºC (0.02ºF).

They only crunched the job loss numbers on the clean version and found it would reduce aggregate gross domestic product (GDP) by $7.4 trillion by 2035 and destroy 844,000 jobs annually. Maybe on your planet that sounds like a worthwhile trade, but not on mine!

Burying the lede

It probably pained the NYT to even report on the foiled terrorist plot against two Jewish synagogues, but since they were in New York, it is sort of local news. They didn't mention until the end that all those arrested in the year long investigation were Muslims. And of course, Chuck Schumer (D-NY) calls them unsophisticated. That should be a comfort if it is your family that is blown up. According to James Taranto's column, May 21, in WSJ:

At the end of the ninth paragraph comes the revelation that the suspects "are all Muslim, a law enforcement official said."

According to Rod Dreher of BeliefNet.com, "This is what is called 'burying the lede.' Some editor in that newsroom found this to be an inconvenient truth, and tried to hide it. You can practically hear the Times cringing when it has to disclose this fact, which most fair-minded readers would find rather pertinent."

According to the NY Daily News:

Among those arrested was [James] Cromitie, of Newburgh, who is the son of an Afghan immigrant and his African-American wife. Cromitie, who also called himself Abdul Rahman, has served a long stretch in prison.
David Williams, Onta Williams and Leguerre Payen - his alleged henchmen - were busted with him. Cromitie allegedly recruited them at the Newburgh mosque.