Retiring my Palin-Jindal pin

If she can't stand the heat and won't complete the term she was elected to, I don't want her for President of the U.S. She may have good reasons--and family and harassment from the press would certainly be enough--but that won't go away for an even tougher office and scrutiny. She is now the gal the press, both liberal and conservative, love to hate. Best would have been to get back to the job of being governor.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced Friday that she was resigning her office later this month, a stunning decision that could free her to run for president more easily but also raises questions about her political standing at home.

Palin disclosed the surprise news Friday afternoon from her home in Wasilla with her husband, Todd, and Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who the governor said would take over the state on Saturday, July 25. http://www.politico.com/

I doubt that she will even be useful stumping for other candidates and issues. She was even roundly criticized by the press for supporting an autism fund raising effort. They can make 'em, like Obama, or break 'em.

Tonight's pot luck--onion pie?

Looking through my new yard sale cookbook and the cupboards and the calendar, I see that Onion Pie might be a possibility for tonight's potluck at Juliann's house for this week's Rhein Center instructors.

The usual pie crust instructions for a one crust pie (I'll use my own). Bake 10 minutes and remember to prick the crust before baking.

"For the filling, fry 4 strips of finely diced bacon until done. Drain, and in the bacon fat cook, until they are transparent 2 large onions that have been diced very fine. Drain off fat, and mix bacon and onions with 1 egg and 1 egg yolk, previously beaten, a scant 1/2 cup sour cream, salt and pepper, some chopped chives and a sprinkling of caraway seeds. Pour into crust and bake at 350 until the filling is firm, about 20 or 25 minutes. This should be eaten warm, cut into narrow wedges that can be taken up with the hand." p. 137 "The wonderful world of cooking," (1956).

For another version with some cheese and advice try Taste and Tell.

Treating the Emerald Ash Borer

Emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, is an exotic beetle that was discovered in southeastern Michigan near Detroit in the summer of 2002. It's now in Ohio and most of the midwest and lower Canada. It's not a pretty picture. We have some here in Lakeside. I was watching the tree trimmers work on a tree that was damaged in the storm late in June--and either they are leaving a 50 ft. tall stump, or they are hoping there will be new growth.

I attended a program on Lakeside's trees about two weeks ago, and heard there is a treatment for this pest. It reminds me of Obama's stimulus plan. It costs way more than anyone can afford, lasts only a short time, and then you are left with a sick, damaged, but alive tree, which is why most states and municipalities are choosing not to treat, but to start over with another type of tree.

The idiocy of hate crime legislation

The death of Steve McNair and his 20 year old girl friend show the bizarre possibilities of hate crimes legislation. Were they killed because someone hated them for their race and ethnicity or what they were doing? Could be! Was it murder-suicide? Possibly. Crime of passion? Obviously. He was an older married man, rich and famous; she was a powerless waitress. Maybe she found out, like many star struck girls do, that the "divorce" story was a lie. Spurned 3rd party? Could be--Law and Order plot. Maybe she had more than one boyfriend. Maybe she wasn't even a girl! OMG! This is a case for the Closer--I saw an episode like that. Was it race or gender or just old fashioned sin? Both were minorities. Hate crime investigators, go for it. The current legislation is about "perception" not fact. The idiocy of all hate crime legislation is that all the crimes are covered by other laws, and only certain Americans are protected/covered by this one. And the liberals are stumped when black on black crime, or gay on gay crime (by far the majority), just have to be plain old insult, murder or mayhem.

Week three at Lakeside is Health and Wellness Week

At the last minute I signed up for English sonnets at the Rhein Center, which will pretty much wipe out the mornings, Monday through Thursday, but I'm still free to attend Integrative Medicine with Laura Kunze of OSU on Monday afternoon 1:30; health maintenance 102 with John Weigand on Tuesday at 1:30; an update on health policy with Weigand on Wednesday at 1:30; exercise as medicine with Kitty Consolo of OU at Zanesville at 1:30 on Thursday; and supplements from A-Z on Friday morning at 10:30. There's a fatigue seminar at 3:30 on Wednesday, but by then I think I'll be too tired to go. I'll miss the Wednesday sonnets class due to the herb farm excusion. Busy. Busy.

Morning walks

Everyday the sun is different. Now, we know that "sunrise" and "sunset" are not accurate terms, because we are the ones moving. But so far, no one has changed the language. I'm watching each day as the sunrise is later and later on my walks.


The lake was like glass and the sun was all but hidden in the haze.


Every day I see photographers who have left their sleeping cottages to go out and photograph as the sun pops up over the horizon. This guy was waiting for the 6 a.m. ferry to arrive in the sun's reflection.


And I thought that was a grand idea, so I took one too. This one travels between Marblehead and Kelley's Island. If we were to drive to Sandusky, I think we could get a ferry to Pelee Island, which is in Canada. But we'd need our passports.

The Wonderful World of Cooking and two mothers $12.00

Katherine Cornell said this book is enchanting. Maybe so, but for one dollar (Lakeside yard sale) it has some great recipes ala the 1950s when it was damn the cream, butter and cholesterol. Still it has enough herbs to make the 21st century cook smile. The Cream of Wild Asparaus uses fresh tarragon, a pinch of coriander, and a sprinkle of mace, served with crusty rolls and fresh berries for dessert.

Edward Harris Heth was a minor writer of the 1940s and 1950s who lived an openly gay life style in the midwest when that was somewhat unusual. At least one young man (then) thought so who met him in a writing class where he was an instructor. This book is autographed, and was given as a gift by the floral shop (Tom Jacks, Milwaukee) to a new bride in 1961. The bill for the flowers, still inside the book, is worth the $1.00: Brides bouquet, $12.50; 3 bridemaids $18.00; 2 altar bouquets, $10.00; Belssed Virgin (sic), $5.00; aisle runner, $10.00; pew bows and streamers $10.00; centerpiece, $15.00; 2 Mothers, $12.00; bouts 9, $4.50. Total for all the flowers for bride, attendants, mothers, groomsmen, tables, etc. was $97.00. So Jean Winzenburg and Steve Treacy of Wauwatosa, WI had quite a wedding.

There are some amusing stories in this cookbook, with Aunt Dell (a large woman who always seems to be in his kitchen), as well as great recipes for Onion Pie, Blueberry Pickle (uses molasses), fried green tomatoes, leaf lettuce and cream (a favorite at my Mother's table), string beans in drippings, Pregnant Soup, Salt pork with creamed new peas and potatoes. Now, aren't you hungry?

So what's a hundred million dead?

In last week's seminars at Lakeside we were fortunate to hear Kerry Dumbaugh and see some interesting film on the current social and economic challenges in China in 2009--much of it starting in 2008 just as ours did. 60,000 factories closing, 14 million migrants returning home, owners of factories fleeing without paying the workers, lack of health benefits, no retirement, and a "stimulus package" that is 18% of GDP. China's economic growth, she said, is shrinking--7.2% in 2009, which would be wonderful in the U.S., but China needs a minimum of 8%. Their migrant workers (traveling outside the region where you were born in China makes you an illegal migrant) work 11 hour days, 6 days a week at the lowest level jobs, regardless of their training and education. 23,000,000 have become unemployed since November 2008, and they have no unemployment benefits. In 2009, 6.1 million graduated from college and 3/4 have no jobs. Now this is all on top of all the older problems like no contract law, no health and safety regulations, forced abortions resulting in the former safety net of family being destroyed, and property seizures.

And so as we watched with heavy hearts this dismal collapse, there were hints that the rise of capitalism replacing communism and reverence for Mao might be at the root of the demise of the "workers paradise." More than one member of the class pondered whether democracy works everywhere, and wouldn't the Chinese be better off to go back to the socialist model where the government controlled every aspect of their lives from conception to death?

Sure. As long as you don't consider the lives of the millions and millions who died under this totalitarian form of government. Selective memory, these old folks (this is not pejorative--most were my age or older). Especially those peace advocates who believe war is the only way huge segments of civilians are killed. Communist/marxist/national socialist governments kill their own people. Democracies, with all their faults that come with the failed idealism of the voting booth which often gives us corrupt or spineless officials, don't slaughter their own populace. At least not in my life time.

Go read China's Bloody Century by R. J. Rummel for some sobering facts and stats.

"Such democide [death by government] has been far more prevalent than people have believed, even several times greater than the number killed in all of this [20th] century's wars. Just consider that alone 61,911,000 people were murdered by the Soviet Union, 38,702,000 by the Chinese communists, 10,214,000 by the Chinese Nationalists, 17,000,000 by the German Nazis, and 5,890,000 by the Japanese militarists during World War II. This does not even exhaust the list of this century's mega-murderers, which also would include the past governments of Turkey, Cambodia, Pakistan, Yugoslavia; nor does it include the lesser killers responsible for hundreds of thousands of corpses each, such as past governments of Uganda, Indonesia, Albania, Burundi, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia, Hungary, Romania, Spain, and Vietnam. Then there are the numerous third-class murders who have "only" killed in the tens of thousands. In sum well over 100,000,000 people have been murdered by their governments since 1900, several times greater than the 35,654,000 battle-dead from all the foreign and domestic wars fought in these years, including World Wars I and II.

Yes, it's pleasant to sit in a comfortable, air conditioned seminar at the lake and speculate 60 years after the Communists killed nearly 40 million of their own people, that wouldn't the Chinese people be better off with a smidgen more totalitarianism or maybe a reeducation camp or two. I mean, why should they have what we have?

And for the life of me, I don't understand why liberals want what they have struggled so desperately to leave to the point of voting one into the presidency!

Is anyone else having this problem?

When I "Save Now" or "Publish Post" I get this message "Bad Request, Your client has issued a malformed or illegal request." However, if I go to "view blog," the piece is there. I have no idea what this means, but if you're getting it too, let me know and I won't blame my recent virus attack (Thursday). If you are getting this message, ignore it, or at least check your finished work. It just might be there.

He meant Gore, Kerry and Bush

But when I read his article on the disadvantages of an elite education, I immediately thought of President and Mrs. Obama who seem hopelessly out of touch with the common man.

The first disadvantage of an elite education, as I learned in my kitchen that day [attempting to small talk with a plumber], is that it makes you incapable of talking to people who aren’t like you. Elite schools pride themselves on their diversity, but that diversity is almost entirely a matter of ethnicity and race. With respect to class, these schools are largely—indeed increasingly—homogeneous. Visit any elite campus in our great nation and you can thrill to the heartwarming spectacle of the children of white businesspeople and professionals studying and playing alongside the children of black, Asian, and Latino businesspeople and professionals. At the same time, because these schools tend to cultivate liberal attitudes, they leave their students in the paradoxical position of wanting to advocate on behalf of the working class while being unable to hold a simple conversation with anyone in it. Witness the last two Democratic presidential nominees, Al Gore and John Kerry: one each from Harvard and Yale, both earnest, decent, intelligent men, both utterly incapable of communicating with the larger electorate. William Deresiewicz

Adams and Jefferson died on July 4

Both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration in committee with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin.

Big parade for small town Lakeside

There were almost as many mommies and daddies and grandparents in the kids' parade as children! But everyone had a great time; lots of candy was thrown.






And the antique cars are now from my high school days.

Friday Family Photo--Happy July 4

Visiting for the week-end.

Down for the count!

I've picked up a virus and have no computer until I either reload the software or get it fixed. So I'm at a friendly neighbor's alerting all 5 of my readers that there will be no e-mail or blogging until this is resolved.
DON'T send photos of the reunion until you hear from me!

Jackson death is rescuing the news media

The nonstop coverage of the death of Michael Jackson is probably a shot in the arm for the TV coffers, and the reporters who are bored with the constant, blind folded building up of Team-O. There is important, critical stuff going on in Washington that will affect our lives for years, but instead of analysis or criticism or even reading the bills (God forbid the Czar of czars and the Congressional clowns should have no clothes) the coverage 24/7 is Jackson's death, his contribution to music and dance, his home, his last rehearsals, his health, his debts, his white children, his ex-wives, his lawyers, his medical team, his will, his estranged family (who suddenly miss him) and so on. I don't think anyone has interviewed his gay lovers for broadcast TV, but bloggers are talking if you care to go there. Well, there's something else dying, and that's our independent press and media. Oh, how I miss the days of scrutinizing every move and thought of George W. Bush. These folks have their jobs on the line too, and so they are grasping at anything that will increase viewship. Ghoul$.

What really caused the mortgage meltdown?

Zero money down, not subprime loans, led to the mortgage meltdown says Stan Liebowitz in today's WSJ. "The evidence from a huge national database containing millions of individual loans strongly suggests that the single most important factor is whether the homeowner has negative equity in a house -- that is, the balance of the mortgage is greater than the value of the house. This means that most government policies being discussed to remedy woes in the housing market are misdirected." Take a look at the "do you qualify" page at The Obama administration's "Making Homes Affordable" plan, and you'll see the government throwing more money after bad at homeowners with negative equity. The government is leading the way to a deeper recession with its higher taxes and poor policies.

And we thought the media couldn't go lower

Access for a price. WaPo is now WaHo according to some sources. Not only did the Washington Post admit (after the inauguration) that it had completely caved, folded and sold its soul for Obama, but now they were selling events to meet with the movers and shakers (lobbyists and administration officials). Oops. Someone messed up.

Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said today she was cancelling plans for an exclusive "salon" at her home where for as much as $250,00 The Post offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record access to "those powerful few" - Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and even the paper’s own reporters and editors.

The astonishing offer was detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he felt it was a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff." Read more

Well, I guess in "this economy" you gotta do what you gotta do. The government claims it has made a profit on TARP, but the business class is still going coach.

Why you shouldn't keep quiet even when people leave nasty comments

There is a movement to repeal the 22nd amendment--the limit of a president to two terms. There are still those confused souls out there--we call them history-challenged--who think FDR led us OUT of the Great Depression instead of extending it a decade, so they are anticipating that we will need BHO for longer than 2 terms, since he'll probably do the same. This is the worst thinking ever. Ever. Ever. I'm sure he intends to be messiah for life. After he gets rid of that pesky 2nd amendment.

Was there an April baby?

Pregnancy Decision Health Center sends me a list of people to pray for. I've learned not to click, read, file. Best to pray right then while they (mother and babe) are on the screen. Last August I wrote this about my concerns:

"Often the request on the pregnancy list is about someone who is going to have an ultrasound. This often influences decisions. This month included situations like 4 children, single mom wants abortion; doesn't know who the father is; and victim of domestic violence. Occasionally, the woman is ill or has been raped or is actually a child herself, but that's rare. Decisions were made that resulted in a baby and now there's a problem. This is the one that really puzzles me, and shows some confusion about values.

college couple (not married); 5 wks; both come from Christian homes; want abortion because they don't want their families to know they have been sexually active; refused ultrasound

It's like the guy who has an affair but doesn't use a condom because it's against his religion. Duh! If you think your parents don't want you having pre-marital sex, what will they say when they find out you aborted their grandchild?

In the 10 Commandments we are told to love God and our neighbor, but then instructed to HONOR our parents. That goes beyond love, and is a requirement even if we got parents who don't deserve any honor, who are mean, or stingy, or who will stop paying tuition. This is such an important commandment that it is the only one with a promise attached.

So this young couple are the ones I'll pray for on this list."

This is a parody--I hope

You just never know--the faux wackos are being out-wacko’d by the real wackos. I don’t know about you but drippy meat blood in a canvas bag has little appeal to me. And I'd hate to start buying bags for the kitty litter, book returns, garbage, shoes in the suitcase, etc.--do you think this is all a battle between the name brands and the unbrands? I prefer paper bags, but 25 years ago we were told to save the trees. Now what are we saving? China’s canvas bag crop?