Who's a Republican?

Apparently, if you voted for George W. Bush, you be one.

KERRY: Are you a Republican? You answer the question. Did you vote for George Bush? Did you vote for George Bush?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I voted for George Bush and I...
KERRY: Thank you.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE sits while booed by crowd) John Kerry quotes

So why is there all this angst about not accepting Colin Powell as a Republican? He usually voted for Democrat presidential candidates in the past, and voted for Barack Obama to be his president in 2008. Case closed, according to John Kerry. I think it is pretty simple. If a man's race is more important to you than his political values, he's a Democrat and so are you.

What I was taught

Everything I was taught in school about poverty and political disenfranchisement being the root causes of so many of societal ills and revolutions has been proven wrong in just a few months of this presidency/congress. In the 50s, I was taught that the Germans accepted Hitler because the agreements forced on them by the Allies after WWI were so punitive it reduced them to poverty and they were looking for a savior, someone who could tell them how wonderful they were, and who could find a scapegoat for them to hate. They wanted hope; they wanted change. So what's our excuse? Poverty in the USA had to be redefined as "income gap" by the academics, social scientists and politicians, both Republican and Democrat. Yes, some homeless wandered the streets, just as they do in socialist countries, primarily because liberals in the 1970s shuttered all the institutions that took care of them. Drugs could take care of mental illness they said; group homes with no caring staff could handle people with special needs. Ah, the beauty of freedom to sleep on a city grate at night and panhandle during the day. Children too suffered from being born to single mothers, ensnared by the feminists' myths that marriage is just leftover of patriarchy. That was U.S. poverty--a tiny percentage even if you included the illegals and their baby anchors. Our middle class citizens who never knew want unless someone pulled their credit or raised ticket prices on a rock concert are lining up to bow to a narcissist with a big head and small heart. We have a leader who tries to diminish the accomplishments of his people so he can look bigger than life, worthy of worship--really, worthy to take over the whole world once he removes the only country who could have stopped him.

No, I don't claim to understand my friends and relatives who don't yet have buyer's remorse. They aren't even chagrined as they see their retirement accounts shrink, the job losses in their communities and watch as Obama takes over private businesses. Oh, they say, the recession started under Bush's watch. Indeed it did, and Bush inherited one from Clinton (go back and check your accounts--mine were sinking in 1999). Bush's administration had the tech bust plus the tragedy of 9/11 (now forgotten by careless voters), and turned that around quickly by encouraging investment and building our self confidence and sense of security. We all can see that Bush spent money like a drunken Ted Kennedy for 8 years--our deficit certainly isn't Obama's doing. But Obama spent more in 100 days than Bush ever thought about, but for some reason the Potus with the Totus is still racking up those points with the true believers as we slip further and further into national socialism.

Why do they hate George Bush so much?

Lots of people voted for Barack Obama simply because they hated George Bush, and by association John McCain. I don't pretend to know how McCain became the Republican candidate--he certainly isn't a conservative (but neither was Bush), and seemed even less so a Republican. The only thing positive about his campaign was Sarah Palin, and because she is so visibly pro-life (didn't even kill her baby with Down Syndrome or get her daughter an abortion) she was virulently hated by the left and snubbed by the right who really are sort of embarrassed by all those people trying to save babies). The latest Palin attack dog with a public face is David Letterman, who proposed her daughter be raped by an athlete as a joke--he even got applause, but no outrage from leftist feminists.

McCain was indeed a war hero, but certainly was a thorn in Bush's side through out his administration despite the fact we all know the country would be safer with him as Commander in Chief. It's even possible McCain would have immediately expressed his condolences when one of his miliary recruiters was murdered. Obama ignored the death of Pvt. Long, who was killed by a Muslim, although he was quick to see the political advantages of decrying the Tiller murder and the guard murder at the Holocaust Museum. I think McCain would have been the perfect Democratic candidate--far better than either Clinton or Obama. At least McCain is what I considered a Democrat all those years I voted as a Democrat up to age 60.

The Bush hatred goes back to the election of 2000. The Democrats just never got over it--that he didn't get the popular vote but the electoral vote put him in office. Oh, I know the fanatics say it was the Supremes who put him in, but SCOTUS judged the state law of Florida which was hanging by chads, corruption and ignorance in one black polling district, not even the whole state. Democrats essentially said that not that many blacks could escape the plantation to vote for a Republican. Besides, we know the lawyers were lining up to question all the close districts where the dead Democrats had voted in Florida and other states, especially Illinois, Oregon, etc. With those recounts, which would have taken forever, GWB still would have won. Democrats are so accustomed to stealing elections it is almost a birth right, and winning the electoral vote is not even stealing. Just feels like it, and Democrats rely heavily on feelings.

They didn't learn to love GWB just because was very soft on immigration--it would have been good for big business and big labor both--just very bad for the rest of us. They didn't love his Kennedy Drug Plan nor No Child Left Behind, even though if it had been a Democrat plan to throw money toward the NEA instead of away from it, they would have loved it. GWB, because he spent more money on social programs than any president before him, should have been their hero.

The Democrats in Congress voted for the war in 2002, 296-133, and we went to war in part on the intelligence of the Clinton administration. Go back and look at the Kennedy and Kedward speeches about WMD in 1999 and 2000--they were building up for their own war, and then called it Bush's war--the war they voted for. Now with Obama pursuing the war in Afghanistan, they can't even squeal about that. Where are those Code Pink Ladies--out shopping for new ridiculous outfits?

So it's not Bush's war per se, we know, because Congress declares war. Maybe it's because GWB liked to talk about military victory and Obama wants terrorists to be street criminals? I was reading one liberal/progressive/marxist blog yesterday that was comparing Bush's 2005 Annapolis speech with Bobama's. Bush's was about strength, power, victory, challenges, bravery, patriotism, and Obama's was, well, it was just one more head swiveling, yada yada speech by the teleprompter--hiding, keeping out of harm's way, reconciliation, wimp-out, negotiation, etc., so that the USA can continue the traditions of the last 64 years of going to war with no intention of winning. The blogger was salivating over Obama's ideas and criticizing Bush. You know--where we negotiate North Koreans into millions starving to death under a brutal dictatorship, and 20 years later abandon millions of Vietnamese allies when we run out.

Naked legs

We live across the street from a golf course. 99% of the men seem to wear shorts (knee length) when they play golf. Why is that? And mostly the same color--khaki, beige, buff, cream or taupe. Are there no bugs on golf courses? Do your calves need to be exposed to hit a golf ball? They even wear shorts when it's cool. When it rains. In the fog. When it's 87 in the shade. All the golfers in the TV and newspaper Flomax commercials are wearing long pants. They seem to have a good time and play a decent game. Tiger manages to wear long pants and he's a pretty fair golfer, so what's with the naked legs?

Friday Family Photo--Graduation Announcements

Thanks to someone in Europe who e-mailed me a genealogy question about an Anna Schürch (web page is in French but the ancestor I think is Swiss Mennonite), I pulled out a file and found the high school graduation announcements of both my mother (Franklin Grove, 1930) and my grandmother (Ashton, 1893), from high schools in Lee County, Illinois, just about 6 miles apart. I didn't remember I had these paper memorabilia.


The Ashton graduating class of 1893 class members were: Fannie A. Smith, Mary L. George, Alice B. Taylor, Lulu I. Canfield, Dollie E. Roat, Ethel E. Reid, Mary E. Wisman, Eva M. Ling, Henry H. Vauple, W. Cabot Hodges, and Louis C. Pollock. The class motto was "One step towards the goal." The Principal was H.V. Baldwin, the grammar department was Wm. Feldkirchner, the Intermediate department was Ida Thompson, and Blanche Vanness was the primary department.

The graduation program for Ashton was quite ambitious with lots of music and speeches by the students. It began with an invocation and music by the orchestra. The Salutatorian address was given by Fannie Smith, and Alice Taylor gave the mission speech. That was followed by a duet by Miss Smith and Mrs. F. Richardson. Then Henry Vauple gave "Earth's Battlefields"* and Lulu Canfield presented "A good cause makes a stour heart." The the school orchestra performed. The class retrospection was given by Mary Wisman, and "Chicago our pride"** was presented by Dollie Roat. Then the Glee Club and Quartette sang. W. Cabot Hodges, one of the 3 graduating men of the class of 1893, spoke on "Education, what it was, is and is to be," followed by Eva Ling's "select reading," which may mean she hadn't selected it in time to let the printer know the title. That was followed by a trio. Mary George read the class prophecy and Ethel Reid gave another "select reading." Then the orchestra played again. Louis Pollock, the class Valedictorian, gave the final speech after which they all sang the "class song." Then the diplomas were presented.

My mother's commencement in 1930 was on May 27 at the Methodist Church. Class members were Frances Genet Hussey, Olive Inez Weybright, Hazel Elizabeth Bill, Merrill C. Morgan, Clair R. Hood, Jack Johnston, Gordon Clark Phillips, Lucile Irene Buck, Norma Arlene Beachley, Ethel Catherine Nass, James Elwin Patch, Dallas B. Stultz, Charles J. Hepfer, Leslie Kenneth Mielke, and Arland Stanley Butler.

The class motto of the 1930 class was "Rowing, not drifting," their colors were blue and gold, and their flower was a rose.

*I looked up "Earth's Battlefields" in Google, and couldn't determine if it were poem or essay, but did find it listed for other turn of the last century graduation programs.

**The Columbian Exposition of 1893 opened in Chicago that year, and I'm sure all of Illinois took great pride in the recognition this brought their state. My grandmother attended the fair with her parents. One could catch a passenger train in Ashton or Franklin several times a day and be in downtown Chicago faster than one could drive there today.

Of course you can choose to keep your insurance

But. . . here's how it will really work. "Of course, no sane 23-year-old will "choose" a $400-plus per month insurance premium over whatever subsidized plan the government offers. And as younger people leave the private risk pool, older, sicker people will remain—driving up premiums more and more for those riskier folks who're left. Eventually, a steady stream of people will "choose" to abandon private health insurance altogether. And where will they go? Obamacare. All according to plan."

See how easy it is? Socializing medicine in 3 easy steps.

Collect, circulate and preserve

That's what librarians used to do. I watched a video on the new OSU Thompson Library today--"1,000 more seats, 1.5 million books." I even recognized the architects. But there used to be over 4 million volumes, I think. This video called the Nonstop Alternative Library is made up of volumes rescued from the Antioch College Library here in Ohio by a small group of students and alumni in the Summer and Fall of 2008. The Nonstop Liberal Arts Institute has taken on the task of preserving organizing and cataloging the collections. See

Nonstop Alternative Libraries from News @Nonstop on Vimeo.

Caught Between empty and a flat tire

A new 2009 or 2010 Dodge mini-van might have been in our future (assuming we could even find one on a lot), but not now, now that we know for certain that neither the government nor Chrysler will honor their agreements. There's nothing wrong with my 2002 van--but it won't be long before the government declares it is a "clunker." The new plan to get less fuel efficient vehicles off the road by offering a cash incentive of $4500 to purchase something with better mileage is of little value to people who can't afford or can't get the credit to purchase a newer, more expensive, smaller and more dangerous vehicle. Remember, not only have we bailed out Chrysler and GM, but we've destroyed the pension and investment account values because once the government can renege on those investors, it can do it to any. In other words, those of us in the lower income group will be hurt the most. That's why all these government plans whatever their good intentions for green spaces, for cholesterol, for cigarettes, for safe toys, for clean air, always hit the pocket books of the poor and fixed income seniors first, and then work their way up the pay scale.

Also, that's our tax money, that $4500 the government will reimuburse the automaker, which is really reimbursing the labor unions, the guys whose pensions Obama is trying to save because they so generously helped him buy the Presidency. We've already given the unions and automaker CEOs billions, but Obama's whiz kids are saying they still can't build a good car unless they get this ridiculous offer. An offer which most people with old cars can't afford, so there will be plenty of scammers running around buying up old cars from people who won't be able to replace them at any price. Next, they'll cap the pay of whatever executive was dumb enough to stay and not flee to another field, leaving the company with more Obama appointees. Besides, if Chrysler won't honor its agreements with the local dealers, some in business for generations, then why should it honor its agreement with me, the buyer, who buys bundled with that car the warranty on the various parts, the service agreements, and the supposed resale value, all of which is built into the cost of a new vehicle. No, I see no reason I should trust either Obama or Chrysler to give me a good deal.

Detroit has been pressured to build more fuel efficient and safer cars for 30 years; and for the most part, I think many of these regulations and laws have succeeded. Even so Americans burned 39% more gasoline in 2007 than they did in 1975, according to Energy Department figures, because more people hit the roads and drove more miles. My 2002 van (my third Chrysler mini-van) is an outstanding product and much better than my first one, a 1989. On the highway it gets around 27-28 mpg if there are no dead deer, semis or head winds to fight. In the city, not so great--maybe 19. But I'm sure the Obama car czar, who probably is too young to even drive and has never held a real job, will look at some sort of average for a 2002 mini-van made in the USA, and within a year or two, I'll be clunker driving. When I don't trade it (new it was about $19,000) with a voucher in hand for $4500 on a $50,000 model, I'll probably be cited for driving illegally, and told to take public transportation.

The cap and trade hoax, of which this "cash for clunkers" and automaker/union bailout at taxpayers expense are a part, is just the newest version of the 1970s DDT ban which killed or disabled millions and millions of black Africans, mostly children, so that European and American liberals could feel smug and self-righteous and continue to worship their pagan goddess, Mother Earth.

Eaten any sushi lately?

Wood print depicting a man passing a strobila of a broad tapeworm. The caption (not shown) said, "The man ate masu salmon. After a time, a strange object emerged from the anus and was pulled out: it turned out to be 2–3 m long." From Shinsen Yamaino Soushi, by Daizennosuke Koan (1850). Illustration at the CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases, "Diphyllobothriasis Associated with Eating Raw Pacific Salmon." Link And they do mean emerging.

". . . in the past several decades, regions with endemic diphyllobothriasis nihonkaiense have disappeared from Japan, yet the infection has been perpetuated among urban people who eat sushi and sashimi."

Sort of makes those farm raised salmon look a little better, don't ya think?

No one calls this a scandal

“Between 2000 and 2008, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union” gave 23.7 million dollars to Democrats, including Barack Obama. “In return, the UAW received 55 percent of Chrysler and 17.5 percent of GM, plus billions of dollars.” Newt Gingrich pointed this out. Where are our investigative reporters who were glued to Bush's every misstep?

In a rigged proceeding in which the federal government disregarded bankruptcy law in favor of the political outcome it desired, the Chrysler bankruptcy laid the predicate for the much larger General Motors bankruptcy to come. Against law and precedent, the unions were moved to the front of the line when it came to who would benefit from the bankruptcy.

The Obama Treasury Department strong-armed Chrysler’s creditors into a deal in which the UAW was given 55 percent ownership of the company while Chrysler’s secured creditors – investors who would have received priority in a non-political bankruptcy proceeding – were left with just 29 cents on the dollar.

Indiana pension funds aren't the only ones getting hit. Even Democrats are invested in pensions. They should be very worried about what their president is doing to the rule of law in this country.

HT Recliner Commentaries

It's all about me

Recently I bought two new pillows for our bedroom at the lakehouse, and brought them back here while we have guests in the house. (We only rent during the Methodist conferences.) The kitty thinks this was all done for her. She also likes my computer case, transferring her fur, one hair at a time until the case is pretty much a fur ball.

Both remarks are way out of bounds

On national TV . . ."Last night the esteemed David Letterman (why does anyone watch him?) joked that Sarah Palin’s attendance at a Yankees game went well until “her daughter got knocked up by Alex Rodriguez” (Audience laughter)." That was from a commenter at another blog. Who only made it worse by suggesting . . . what if. . . "How about joking about nappy-headed ‘hos in the White House, Mr Letterman? Oh no, can’t do that, dissing the kids of da Prez."

Both remarks are sexist and disrespectful to women and sexualize children. Letterman also said Palin looked like a slutty flight attendant. But yes, on national TV you can make sexist and sexually abusive and threatening remarks about rape of a white teen-ager, daughter of a Republican governor, but you dare not make a remark about a black first lady and her daughters--not because of their position, but because of their race. Those are the really low, rock bottom, dragging on the ground, post-racial standards of the Democrats and their backers in the entertainment industry and the media. Congratulations, folks, you're even worse than we imagined.

Again, I have to disagree with another Conservative

"Sarah Palin Says U.S. Headed Toward Socialism." Honey, we've already passed go and are hoping for our get out of jail free card in the game called Obamonopoly!

It's a small world and a small car

My friend Jerry (also a retired librarian) and her husband are on a three month tour of Europe, in a little car stopping along the way for a few days to sight see. They posted a blog to keep friends and family informed. I believe they are doing France, Spain, Italy, and are now in Germany. I think they started about April 24. On May 29, five weeks into the trip, her husband posted the following:

#1-the french yell at you when you get in their way---the italians yell at you before you get in their way--and the germans just go 120 mph so you never get in their way
#2 the french never smile at americans
#3 the french have small dogs --germans have big dogs
#4 there are a lot of churches in europe
#5 the catholics spend more money on their churches than the lutherans
#6 all churches are cool and quiet and a good place to sit
#7 churches are usually in the center of the town and are still in the center of their lives---maybe we should do that---
#8 three months is a long time
#9 you never hit your thumb if you don't have a hammer
#10 and you never say never

By today they’ve got burnout and Jerry says: “We've realized that people mean more to us than museums, churches etc. We' enjoy the other things, but will remember the people the most.”


Jerry in Dinkelsbuhl, Germany. They ran into their Michigan mail carrier at Harburg Castle in Germany. It really is a small world, isn’t it? And a small car.

We met in Boston at a Medical Library Association meeting in 1988, and have kept in touch. Last saw each other in 1994. 　

More traffic expected around here

Beginning Monday (June 15), work on State Route 315 is expected to generate heavy traffic along Kenny Road, Olentangy River Road, High Street, Lane Avenue and possibly Woody Hayes Drive. Motorists should anticipate traffic delays, and are encouraged to plan accordingly to reduce frustration. More information on this project and a detailed map of entrance and exit ramp closures can be found at http://www.buckeyetraffic.org/315. The Ohio Department of Transportation also will be staffing a telephone line throughout the construction: (740) 833-8268. Read more: http://tp.osu.edu/alerts/summerconstruction.shtml.

Looks like I may have to leave for coffee at 6:15 instead of 6:30.

Why traffic stops matter

It isn't always speed or running red lights. Here in Columbus a police chase Monday resulted in the seizure of millions of dollars of heroin. It began when officers noticed a car moving erratically on Interstate 70 shortly before 7 p.m. yesterday.

"Police said when an officer tried to stop the car, the driver drove off, tossing a bag out the window. The bag contained eight packets of heroin with a total weight of 15 pounds and a street value estimated at $4 million." Reported by Channel 10, WBNS Columbus and this morning's 610 am news.

Police believe the drugs came from Mexico and have arrested Roberto Alvarado-Cebrero, 21, who says he’s in the country illegally. What a surprise. Story here in Columbus Dispatch.

350,000 wannabees, many now unemployed

So what happened to all those idealistic campaign workers who left it all to get out the vote? Some of it illegally, like here in Ohio. This is an interesting story of the unemployed and underemployed, the idealistic Obama orphans, adrift in a sea of memories.

“Toby Osherson joined the [Obama] campaign straight out of college and gave 21 months. He frames the experience in terms of national service. “I felt this was my duty to my country…this is how I sleep at night, so that I can tell my kids that when our country hit closest to rock bottom, this is what I did to help.” “

Fella, we are at rock bottom now (at least I hope we won‘t go lower, but we could), not then when unemployment was at 5%, not near 10% like now, and the President of the United States wasn’t illegally taking over major segments of the economy and destroying the country. Back when a President would speak and you could trust him and he wasn’t getting whiplash from reading teleprompters without understanding a word he was saying. Sigh. Sorry you wasted so much of your idealism and young life for such a global disaster.

You will be inspired

to clean out your refrigerator after viewing this. Get a load of that rattlesnake in the freezer!

Here's mine.



This looks a little screwy I know--about 2 lbs. of butter and some Slim-fast in the door. But occasionally I over indulge and have a Slimfast for supper. Cheese is my big downfall, and there is some cheese sitting behind the butter. That's leftover roast chicken and sliced strawberries in the front. I got those little Pyrex bowls as a wedding present 49 years ago--still using them. There's a spring mix and tomatoes in the veggy drawer and some potatoes under the sink, so that will be supper, and then I think it's time to go shopping.

Will she find a wise Latina doctor

Rush asked today in commenting on the unfortunate accident of Judge Sotomayor

The White House says Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has broken her ankle after an airport stumble in New York City.

Sotomayor fractured her right ankle Monday morning at New York's LaGuardia Airport before boarding a shuttle to Washington for an afternoon of meetings with senators.

He was being snarky, but health is all about disparities and minorities being included in the medical system. In fact, if you read American Journal of Public Health (recent issues only contain table of contents, but older ones have full articles) the only problems the minorities and poor in the U.S. have are caused by discrimination and evil capitalists. Diseases, except for race based HIV, seem to be a thing of the past, as is personal responsibility.

If the Fed doesn't know, who does?

The Inspector General of the Federal Reserve in this video (HT Taxmanblog) acknowledges that trillions of dollars of our money cannot be accounted for. The five-minute video is taken from a Congressional hearing on May 6 where Federal Reserve Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman is questioned by Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida about huge amounts of money for which the Federal Reserve is responsible. Really, this is quite alarming.



The original Bloomberg reportreferred to in the video.

I used to wonder why Congress called upon Hollywood stars to testify on weighty problems--like oceans and apples. Now I know. They are apparently better prepared as concerned actors than the OIG of the Fed whose task is described on their website but who doesn‘t seem to know or do anything:

Ms. Coleman joined the Board's OIG in 1989 as a senior auditor. She was promoted to program manager in 1999 and to senior program manager in 2001. She was appointed to the official staff in 2004, as the Assistant Inspector General for Communications and Quality Assurance. Over the last eight years, Ms. Coleman has worked closely with the Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency, a professional organization of about thirty statutory Inspectors General who are appointed by their agency heads in certain designated federal entities, including the Board.

Prior to joining the Board's staff, she was employed by the Government Accountability Office. Ms. Coleman has a BBA from James Madison University and is a graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking, Georgetown University. She also attended the Federal Reserve System's Trailblazers Leadership Conference. Ms. Coleman is a Certified Information Systems Auditor.

The OIG is tasked with the responsibility to prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse, and to promote economy and efficiency in the programs and operations of the Board, keeping the Chairman and Congress fully and currently informed of problems.

An Inspector General may be removed from office by the President, and must communicate the reasons for any such removal to both Houses of Congress, as outlined in Section 3(b) of the Inspector General Act of 1978.

If you ever need to draft a mission statement, be sure to read theirs. But only after you watch her testimony. It's good for a laugh.