New shoes for walking

I bought a pair of Danskin athletic shoes at Wal-Mart yesterday called Lindsey (also the name of the granddaughter we lost in the divorce). I doubt that having the closers (shoe laces?) of elastic and Velcro is a good idea. Too much stretch and not enough support. But we'll see. I broke them in yesterday with a two mile walk along the lake front. Because I have a narrow foot, buying any shoe these days is tricky. The obesity problem seems to have spread to the foot, so the manufacturers design and sell for the consumer with a wider foot. Occasionally I can find a New Balance in a narrow, but not often. These are $22 at Wal-Mart and $17 on e-Bay with a shipping charge. I would never buy shoes I couldn' try on first because every manufacturer seems to use a different template for toes, arch and heel. I love the Nikes I bought right before our Middle East cruise in March, but I can't wear them every day, or even for every walk. Now that we're at Lakeside, I'm getting 5-6 miles a day in, 4 planned, and 1-2 just walking to lectures and programs. At home I like to do bare foot walking on the condo grounds, but here, there are just too many dogs and too few careful dog walkers with baggies.

Yes and Yes

Why do they need to waste more money on an investigation? His salary comes from the taxes of the people of South Carolina, so he used taxpayer money because it was on their time. If the lieutenant governor knew where he was, then he lied, and he should go too. Any money Sanford uses to "pay it back" also belongs to his wife, who helped get him where he is today--the governor's mansion. If I were her I'd clamp that bank account, safe deposit box, automobile, real estate, stock ownership and house shut like yesterday. She and the children should not have to pay for his catting around and it's expensive to raise children through college when you've just lost your job. She should learn from Mrs. Edwards' example.

"Democratic leaders want an investigation into Sanford's use of state money to help pay for an earlier South America trip. Others are questioning whether the governor broke laws by leaving without giving the lieutenant governor control." AP report

More on media bias

At least "Media Bias" was the title of the following piece. Actually, we knew Obama would do this, because he promised during his campaign, so I don't think the media can take all the credit/blame--unless of course, you see them as a doormat under his feet, which I do.

The Public Broadcasting Service recently announced it will not allow new religious programming on their taxpayer-subsidized airwaves. The handful of stations that have shown a Catholic Mass or Mormon devotions will be allowed to continue, but the other 300-plus stations have been instructed to avoid any kind of evangelism. Welcome to Barack Obama’s new world order. News reports explained that the PBS station services committee insisted on applying a 1985 rule that all PBS shows must be "noncommercial, nonpartisan and nonsectarian." To everyone who’s watched a pledge drive or contemplated a toy store stuffed with "Sesame Street" toys, the idea that PBS is following any "noncommercial" policy is absurd. To everyone who’s watched two minutes of "Bill Moyers Journal," with its panels unanimously screaming for Bush’s impeachment, or more recently, for a single-payer socialist health-care system, the idea of PBS being devoted to a "nonpartisan" stance is several miles removed from ridiculous. But the atheists and secularists who want all traces of sectarian "proselytizing" for Jesus banned from PBS do have something to say about PBS public-affairs programming. Read the rest of the story.

Since you can't keep PBS out of the tax coffers, at least don't make a donation. I've always thought Bill Moyers, the left's biggest shill, was the best reason to turn off those fund drives (notice they play the doo-wop and Irish dancing lasses shows for the drives, not Bill Moyers) and drop an extra $10 or $20 in the collection plate next Sunday.

The Jackson Cover-up

While people lit candles and brought flowers, the Democrats in Congress were rubbing their hands with glee--wow, who could have planned it better? Pelosi vowed to have it passed by July 4--anyone checking out her whereabouts Thursday? Everyone was looking the other way, not paying attention. The ever non-vigilant obamedia were self absorbed and weepy, scurrying around for any story thread or film clip whether it was twitter or Perez. With some Democrats voting against it and a smattering of RINOs for it, the Climate Change bill passed.

“I’m in a tough spot. I really am,” Rep. John Salazar (D-Colo.), one of the Democrats who opposed the bill, said before the vote, citing his fears the legislation could raise energy costs and hurt the coal industry in his low-income, rural district. “Either way I’m going to get creamed.” Politico.com

We know just how you feel, Mr. Salazar. We're all screwed. This country runs on energy. It's not about putting Ohio, Indiana, W. Va., Illinois, Kentucky and Pennsylvania coal miners out of work--although they will be. But if you use electricity in any form, or any product made from petroleum, from house paint to wind shield wipers to carpeting, or eat anything that's been prepared or grown in this country, you are about to see your job and life style disappear and your taxes go to the moon. If you've ever been transported from point A to B by plane, train, truck, car, bicycle or boat, you're now a very permanent resident where you are. The cap and trade boys, including Al Gore, will get very rich at your expense. And they'll be as successful at stopping weather change as the SEC was at stopping Bernie Madoff's scam with all their rules, boards and regulations.

We Americans bought the myth that we are "dependent" on foreign energy sources--we are because the government made us that way. It made our own coal, gas and oil so expensive through regulation and taxes, the investors and producers went elsewhere and just shipped it here for business as usual. Well, now that you bought into that big lie, it's a short stretch to part 2, alternative energy sources. Meanwhile, all those American businesses can just go elsewhere, like China and India and Southeast Asia, or Africa or the Phillipines--anywhere but here. If it's one thing we know about a good capitalist, he goes where the money can be made, and it sure won't be here.

The picture of modern American, energy dependent society and economy is not the smoke stack that the LA Times prints with its article. The picture is your house, car, clothing, church, yard, leisure, hobby, your clean water. It's a picture of your freedom. I'm cooking collard greens with onions and bacon this morning, but all of it was grown somewhere else and trucked to Ohio--I don't have a garden and there is no livestock roaming the back 40. It's cooking on an electric stove standing on a linoleum floor in an enameled pan with a plastic trash bin next to the stove while I write on the internet.

Actually, I suppose it is fitting that Jackson's death covered up the final vote--he was about 400,000,000 in debt, broke, and has a bunch of kids from different women that don't look like him. His business life was far more complex than his personal life, and that's pretty bad.

Obama has no intention of either saving the earth or the economy. He is well on his way to destroying the United States, and if you voted for him, you helped.

Anal cancer

Before Michael Jackson's death wiped the topic clean, the media were preparing for another slow news day of not being honest about Obamacare with wall to wall coverage of Farrah Fawcett's death, a woman who had both insurance and personal wealth. From Michael's death we'll hear all about drugs (all speculation since the toxicology reports take a long time); from her death we might find out something we don't hear much about--anal cancer.

So I looked it up. This is a topic even the medical sites treat pretty delicately. I'm not sure, but they seem to be afraid of offending someone or some group. But what I gathered was, don't have anal sex. Gay guys don't have much choice. But women can say NO--there is an alternative.

Anal cancer is one of those cancers no one likes to talk about because it's, well, anal cancer. But we really should discuss it as much as, say, cervical cancer. Both are predominately caused by the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus. In fact, a 2004 study of 6,000 anal cancer patients (the majority of whom were women) found that 73 percent of the patients tested positive for the strain HPV-16, one of the strains that the Gardasil vaccine protects against.

What's worrisome is that unlike cervical cancer, which has dropped dramatically since the advent of the Pap smear, anal cancer is on the rise. Incidence rates over the past 30 years have jumped by 78 percent in women and 160 percent in men, probably because more people now have more sexual partners and more people have anal sex (both among heterosexuals and gay men), says Lisa Johnson, a cancer epidemiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle who led the 2004 study. "What Farrah Fawcett can teach us about anal cancer"

It's not just a convenient way to avoid a pregnancy or some new experience to be talked into; it's just a way to have sex with a guy who'd probably prefer to be with another guy and you're the convenient cover and the repository for a sexually transmitted disease. That's just my opinion, of course. The anus is for waste removal, not sex. It's also rather delicate and tears easily.

The good news is this is treatable.

Treatment for most cases of anal cancer is very effective. There are 3 basic types of treatment used for anal cancer:
surgery – an operation to remove the cancer
radiation therapy – high-dose x-rays to kill cancer cells, and
chemotherapy – giving drugs to kill cancer cells. Link.

James Line at OSU on anal cancer.

Now here's a romantic slide to think on the next time.

Should Governor Sanford resign?

Yes. This is a no brainer. He was willing to throw his career and trust away for a sex fling, so why not throw it away for a principle? If he's willing to cheat on his wife, throw his four sons overboard, lie to his staff, and make fools of his closest friends and advisors, why in the world should the people of South Carolina, who are complete strangers and know him only from TV and personal appearances trust him? This is not a matter of forgiveness. Yes, they should forgive him, but they deserve better. The man has a proven record of deception and also misusing his office and the tax payers' money. Show him the door!

To say nothing about his naivete of putting his smarmy love life in e-mail. So add stupidity and technologically challenged to the list.

Jackson coverage way overdone

It makes you wonder what's going on in Congress and the White House that isn't getting coverage since the press is doing nothing but the Jackson death. The President is throwing the kitchen sink at us, just as in the plan book to bring the country to its knees, so when we don't hear of any major take-over--major industry, energy, media, health, military, etc.--for 24 hours, I start to wonder. I made the mistake of googling "media overdoes Jackson death," and it tried to change it to "overdose." Even the overload of Twitter became a story. No! I mean hasn't anything else happened on the globe? For once I found myself agreeing with Gibbs:

"White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that Obama sent his condolences to the Jackson family and fans. When asked why a formal statement would not be released, Gibbs said, "Because I just said it." "

And how many days before Obama sent condolences to the family of the recruiter, William Long, one of his soldiers, murdered by Muslim terrorist? Three. Will he need to note every entertainer who dies? What about Farrah?

Also, let's not forget how the media reported on Jackson in the past for all the cosmetic surgery, child abuse charges, etc. when he was no longer a cute, youthful performer. Since they blamed the rest of us for the deaths of everyone from George Tiller to John F. Kennedy, will they now take the blame?

When they come up for air, they report on Gov. Sanford.

Remembering the taste of an egg

It goes way back. We had chickens when we lived on Hannah Ave. in Mt. Morris. Mom use to say, without a smile, the eggs cost about $1 a piece, which in the early 50s was a chunk of change. She bought special feed, and shell hardener, and equipment to keep them safe from predators. They would drop their feathers, look peaked with half closed eyes, and fall over and die. It never paid off the way the garden did. Nor do I remember what a fresh egg tastes like. Until today. I learned.


I stopped at the Farmers Market today and picked from a basket a dozen eggs retrieved from the nest yesterday. The lady sitting next to me in the Greek Civilization class said she had lived in the Dominican Republic for 22 months, and there fresh eggs would last about 30 days, longer than refrigerated eggs.

I fixed my husband and me fried egg sandwiches for lunch (his had ham salad too, which affected the taste) and then took my treasure to the basement just in case they need to be cool. However, these will never last 30 days, because this was just about the most heavenly sandwich I'd ever tasted. No wonder Mom was willing to put up with that mess in the back yard and why my Dad kept fixing himself a fried egg sandwich the last years of his life. Looking for the good old days, I think.

It's not poverty, it's income gap

That's about all we hear today. What about the gap between Michelle's salary and that of most working women? Not bad for a part time job that doesn't need to be filled when you move on. I don't have the source for this, it was passed along by Bill L. in an e-mail.

Replacing Michelle in Chicago (UNCLASSIFIED)

At the top right hand corner of Page 17 of the New York Post of January 24th, 2009, was a short column entitled "Replacing Michelle" in the National Review "The Week" column. Here it is, word for word, as it appeared: Some employees are simply irreplaceable. Take Michelle Obama: The University of Chicago Medical center hired her in 2002 to run "programs for community relations, neighborhood outreach, volunteer recruitment, staff diversity and minority contracting".

In 2005, the hospital raised her salary from $120,000 to $317, 000 nearly twice what her husband made as a Senator.

Oh, did we mention that her husband had just become a US Senator? He sure had. And that he immediately requested a $1 million earmark for the UC Medical Center, in fact?... You betcha by golly... He surely did... Way to network Michelle!

But now that Mrs. Obama has resigned, the hospital says her position will remain unfilled. How can that possibly be??? Especially if the work she did was vital enough to be worth $317,000?

Oh, by the way, let me add that Michelle's position was a part time, 20 hour week job at $317,000.00 per year !! And to think they were critical of Blagojevich's wife for taking $100,000 in fuzzy real estate commission.

Question is.. How did this bit of quid pro quo corruption escape the sharp reporters that dug through Sarah Palin's garbage and kindergarten files?

And to think how she whined in her way through those Ohio campaign appearances before unionist and pink collar workers--oh! the pain of paying off college loans and paying for private school and piano lessons for the girls. Fer sure, fer shame.

And the liberal Annenberg Fact Check really takes this one apart--the salary was lower, she worked part time only after 2007, etc. etc. Her husband's position wasn't a factor, yada yada yad. Oh yeah. I'm guessing nepotism is alive and well even at Annenberg--it certainly was at OSU where I worked.

Perspective class at the Rhein Center

These are the projects my husband's class has been working on this week. The first week population is low, but he says teaching a smaller class is easier. These are his demos (does them in class) of one point, two point, and using shadow and shade for perspective. The painting over the mantel is not his; it was done by Ned Moore of us on the beach in 1974.

This class will be offered again during the 3rd week of the season.

For Democrats, hypocrisy is the biggest sin of all

The mess the S.C. governor has made of his family life, marriage, and career is for the liberal media a mud puddle to play in. Why? It's not that their team doesn't commit adultery, fornication, steal from the office kitty, have dangerous sex with leather and various objects in a variety of body openings or bring gay lovers into prominent government positions. No. When Democrats are caught, it's "Oh well," boys will be boys. Or almost-a-boy will be a boy. If Chastity becomes Charles, she's just finding her true self. Never you mind that you watched her grow up in frilly dresses on TV in the 1970s. What I found very interesting listening to Harry Smith yesterday was to hear him call Sanford "a rising star," as though he would have had laudatory comments like that before the star crashed and burned. Today's ABC website shows mostly photos of Republicans, flanking one Democrat, the former presidential candidate, John Edwards. Now that, dear readers, is the picture of hypocrisy.

Skipping the wind energy program at Lakeside

Today's afternoon seminar was "Building advanced energy economy with off-shore wind power; Great Lakes wind energy" by the exec dir. of the Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force. Lakeside is a Chautauqua community with wonderful educational programs, but they do list to the left like a water logged boat. About 1 p.m. my husband went down to sail, came back in 10 minutes. No wind. I went down to the lakefront about 2 p.m., sought out every piece of shade I could, but the lake was like glass. So I came back to the air conditioned cottage, powered by coal.

This is the picture of wind energy--now you see it now you don't; you can't store it; you can't depend on it. God created the forces, such as temperature change that create wind, but he also created all the stored energy in coal from rotting vegetation. God had the original recycling program, but the pantheist greenies don't want it. What God hasn't provided is more tax money to throw money at these projects labeled "task force" or "feasibility study" or "potential proposal" or Obamanomics. The American people have heavily invested through government perks and tax breaks in the system we already have; now many of the same energy investors want even more gov't money to start from scratch. These guys didn't get rich by not spotting a good deal. However, down the road, President Obama may have a surprise for them--his intentions are to destroy, not to build.

Wind generates about 1% of our energy needs. Coal does the heavy lifting. Coal is at the heart of Ohio's economy (like farming), a state where the governor is closing libraries and parks while crying in his beer. As American politicians, regulators and CEOs dabble and tinkle on the energy problem, repeating every lie they can think of several hundred times a day about economy of scale, China and India will continue to use coal. Whatever the pollution they create, I'm sure the friendly wind will bring it our way.

What do you want to bet that Michelle and Barry, Barney and Nancy, Ted and Harry won't want this view from their back yard or yacht? Just like they won't want the health care coverage they expect you to take?

Don't follow me home

I told the friendly guy at the grocery check-out yesterday. I was kidding, of course, but he was certainly interested, not in me, but in the rhubarb pie I had discussed with the owner when I came in to buy oil and flour. The young man had heard about it several aisles away. But then, he was also buying vodka and it was only noonish.


How many circles can you count--I got at least 28, assuming you don't count the spaces between the burner coils. It was still in the 90s last evening so I frozen the filling in the shape of the pie pan, and made the pie this morning when it was cooler. Even then a kitchen at 450 for 30 minutes makes the AC work harder.

Jim and Marion are coming over tonight to help us eat this rhubarb pie with Cool Whip. It's all sugar free, but certainly not calorie free. I might have to add another round to my daily walks which are now up to about 6 miles. She is also a retired librarian and he and my husband sail together in the "Society of Old Salts."

The Obamacare Infomercial

ABC really looked foolish. What was apparent during the 2008 campaign is now chiseled in stone--we have no free broadcast press in this country anymore than they do in Muslim countries. And the other sources like cable and talk are under great pressure through regulatory agencies run by Obamaclones to preach and teach the Obamadminews. Wonder what the ratings were? Saying "others disagree," is hardly giving 2 or 3 sides to the debate. So, what are our TV choices here: sitcoms with snarky, skimpily clad, jiggly women with few lines, law and crime investigative shows where plots involve cops or priests who are crooked, PBS green-go-only shows, or "news" media falling at the feet of the President. I may have to start watching football.

It finally feels like summer

It might hit the low 90s today. The weather has held--no rain, and cooler than northern Illinois or central Ohio, but the lake is very still today which means more heat. I've been able to add a street each day to my west end to east end walk--all the way east along the lakefront, then Monday I returned on 3rd, Tuesday on 4th, and today, Wednesday on 5th. Fifth is a bit of challenge in that there is a hill between 4th and 5th. But it's interesting to see the changes from year to year--although there are more houses for sale than I realized. Yesterday I saw a huron sillouetted against the sunrise but didn't have my camera. Today I took the camera, but he/she saw me first and flew off. The only wildlife I caught was this very shy calico (she's feral but gets food from all the neighbors).


Usually, I can get 2-6 more short walks in to equal 1-2 additional miles. Today it was to the coffee shop, then the herb class, then to the sports class then to the grocery story to buy oil for the rhubarb pie crust.

Sports and Faith and Herbs and Pastels

Week One of the Lakeside 2009 season has been a bunch of Firsts for me. I've been attending Greg Linville's class on Sports and Faith in the morning. It has been outstanding. If you ever get a chance to take one of his classes at Malone University in Canton (Evangelical Friends related church school) or hear him at a conference, be sure to do it. I'm a complete non-athlete--have never even played golf, which Murray says has deprived me of one of the two best pleasures in life--the other being beer, which I've never tasted. Linville has opened up scripture in many areas, particularly in his lecture about Eric Liddell, the missionary to China, who ran in the Olympics (Chariots of Fire movie).

Then Monday and Tuesday I took a pastel class at the Rhein Center, and both efforts were total failures, but you never know you have no talent for a particular medium unless you try! My record is at my new blog, called Norma's Art.

This morning was the big--huge--stretch. The herb class led by Jan Hilty. It was so interesting I even signed up for the trip to Mulberry Creek Herb Farm in 2 weeks. I learned that this is the year of the bay, according to the Herb Society of America. It seems everyone but me knows you can keep bugs away with bay leaves. In your cupboard, just lay it on the shelves, or inside a pastry cloth, to keep those pesky visitors away. Our instructor said it is great for slow cooking, fresh or dry, although she prefers dry. It has a pleasant balsamic aroma and is good with heavy, fatty meats. It can also be added to sweet dessert dishes. We received some recipes, then walked over to Lakeside's herb garden where Jan went over the details of what was growing there. I'm sure for the old thymers it was well worn material, but it was all new to me and I came home with some freshly cut chives.



Jan cut various herbs and we all smelled them; some people took home various kinds that were ready to be harvested, but I only took the chives. I loved the lemon geraniums.

The road to nowhere, now here

The law suit about Obama's valid birth certificate will go nowhere, even if the Supreme Court were to decide to take it (it won't). The alternative media and internet discussion will be shut down, you can betcha that! You don't really think his handlers wouldn't be prepared for this, do you? The big talkers aren't touching it.

From Top News: The campaign challenging the legitimacy of Obama's 1961 birth certificate or the legality of his taking office is chronicled by WorldNetDaily, a popular, politically right-leaning site. Moreover, it appears that Peter Boyles - KHOW's morning drive time talk host - has taken up the mantle this issue; as have strong Obama opponents, like Jerome Corsi. In addition, lawyers in at least six states have argued Obama is not a natural-born citizen and cannot be president.

In an article on World Net Daily, Corsi contends that, in response to his requests for the Obama birth certificate, Linda Lingle, the Governor of Hawaii ordered the Obama birth certificate under seal, and ordered the state Health Department to refuse all press requests for the original documents.

The birth certificate on both the Obama and 'Fight the Smears' website does not reveal the name of the hospital at which Obama was born. In fact, to many it looks much more like a simple registration of birth, which Obama's mother could have applied for according to Hawaiian law, regardless of where Obama was actually born.

Joe the Lip promised us a disaster after Obama was elected

And he was right! He said we'd question his plans and results. And he was right! Biden's all over the Ohio northwestern TV stations, spreading it deep and thick. Not only has his administration taken over and destroyed what was left of the auto industry of northern Ohio by giving it to the unions with our tax money, but it is planning to destroy our energy based economy with the phony baloney cap n trade, which will benefit the same rich corporate execs (plus Al Gore) but will destroy local jobs. We've got counties up here with a 17% unemployment rate, compared to about 6% during the 2006 campaign in which Strickland and other Democrats constantly griped about "this economy." Now they want to make it even worse with green pie in the sky and kill the southern half of the state.

Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky and southern Illinois are all coal states. You know, the "dirty" stuff that has supplied about 90% of your electricity and powers the industries where you work. Now they want to clutter the prairies and lakes with windmills, a very unreliable source of energy, but 3 guesses who will own the stock and who will be trading those credits!

A graphic at Powerline today is worth looking at. It shows the state-by-state annual taxes incurred due to cap-and-trade based on EIA and CBO data. Ohio's new tax bill? $642.5 million annually, following Texas, Indiana, and West Virginia.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/06/023883.php

Ohio turns out to be the 4th biggest loser, which is fine if you're on reality TV competing with 49 other obese contestants, but this reality is lost jobs, incomes, schools, libraries, parks, highways, and it's big votes for Democrats who always promise a thousand times more than they can deliver, and people fall for it. Just like the FDR era, where they preferred WPA jobs to real jobs. Remember, the P in WPA was changed from Progress to Projects after several years of failure.

Farmer's Market Returns

Nothing tastes quite as good--fresh from the garden. This cost me $16.00. The beets are a 2-fer--I cooked and had the greens for lunch and we had the beets and half the asparagus for supper. I didn't make a pie out of the rhubarb because I was out of oil. Maybe tomorrow. That's homemade blueberry jam in the jar--a little pricey--$4.50, but it is supposed to be good on ice cream or pan cakes. Ohio strawberries are smaller and firmer than California's, but have twice the flavor.

Farmer's market produce, if local, is very good and probably more nutritious since it hasn't sat in warehouses or refrigerated cars for days. That said, the hype from the wellness folk and environmentalists that this is the way everyone should eat is completely ridiculous. Our diet in Ohio would be extremely limited and women would again be tied to the kitchen stove, to say nothing of the various industries they are trying to destroy. Everything has trade-offs and consequences. I walked 2 blocks, brought my own bags, then walked home. That isn't realistic for 99.9% of the population. Most people will need to continue to drive to supermarkets to purchase trucked in, or shipped in produced, frozen foods, or prepared packaged foods. And it's still a good buy, and if you choose carefully, it's all nutritious.

Abigail's Teas & Treasure

Last summer I wrote about the closing of the landmark restaurant, The Abigail, in Lakeside, and the reopening of it under the name Evelyn's. Well, that didn't work out and the buildings (two cottages joined) are owned by the bank, which has leased it to a local woman. She told me her name, but I've forgotten it already. I stopped in this morning to check out "Abigail's Teas & Treasure." If you've been coming here a long time (our first year was 1974), you'll be happy to see that it pretty much looks the same, with seating on the porch and in the main room. However, it is now self-serve and primarily a bakery, deli, sandwich place. Dessert menu looks terrific and it will be open from 6 a.m. until Hoover closes, so you can stop in after the program instead of lining up down the street for ice cream.

Oh yes, free wi-fi and a computer is available if you need to check your e-mail.