Another one who has read the HR 3200 bill

Letter from Edward Lynch, candidate for Congress from FL.

Dear Friend,

As you know, President Obama has been pushing his “Universal healthcare” plan. There have been a lot of people saying many different things about this new healthcare plan. Therefore, I felt the need to do what our congressmen and women have not done and read all of the healthcare plans out there. Let me tell you, as you can imagine, it was not easy reading. I wanted to be able to give you the ammunition (facts) to reply to those that want to know why we oppose the plan.

First, let me state that I do believe that we need to make sure that every LEGAL American citizen has access to the best healthcare system in the world and that it is affordable for everyone. Let me also state that, after reading the bills that are being considered, if the healthcare plan was a good plan, I would let you know that. That being said, the proposals set forth in the house (H.R. 3200)and in the senate are very bad for America for the following reasons:

1. We simply can not afford it. The Congressional Budget Office states that even with higher taxes on high income earners and penalties on employers who don’t provide coverage, the plan will fall $239 billion short of covering its cost of over $1 trillion. That is their best case scenario without the bill being completely scored.

2. It will not cover everyone. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that over 17 million people would remain uninsured AFTER this plan is implemented.

3. You will not be able to shop for or obtain private insurance if you do not have private insurance prior to the bill being passed. This is somewhat clearly stated on pgs. 16 and 17 in section 102(a)(1)(A).

4. After a 5 year grace period, all private insurers that are still in business will be required to offer a “qualified health benefits” plan based on government standards. The problem is whether or not the “government standards” will exclude private insurers. This on page 17, section 102(b)(1)(A).

5. No new policies will be allowed to be written by a private insurer after the public option becomes law. Also page 17.

6. Every five years, the elderly will have to attend a mandatory “advanced care planning consultation” for an “explanation by the practitioner of the continuum of end of life services.” The consultation will be conducted more frequently if a significant change in health condition; including diagnosis of a chronic, progressive, life limiting disease, terminal diagnosis, life threatening injury or upon admission to a skilled nursing or long term care facility. In other words, if you are old, you will be consulted about what your options will be if you get sick, if healthcare would not be an option (see #7). This starts on page 425.

7. Page 501 of the bill starts a section that indicates that $1 billion will be spent on “comparative effectiveness research” which is how the government evaluates relative merits of various treatments. In other words, rationing. This is tantamount to the government determining whether or not you are worth getting a particular treatment depending on your prognosis or age. Sec. 1401 Part D

8. This plan would allow for government funded abortions. Since this bill would cover all procedures, abortion is included. There is no exception for abortion.

9. Members of congress and unions would be exempt from this plan and not have to be a part of the healthcare plan. Recently, John Fleming, introduced H.R. 615 that stated that members that vote in favor of a government run healthcare must enroll under the public option. No democrat would sign on. If it is not good enough for congress, it is not good enough for us! This is section 3116.

10. $500 billion will be cut from senior healthcare to help pay for this bill. This will weaken Medicare, an organization already in trouble due to insufficient funds.

11. Hospitals and private healthcare facilities will not be able to collect money from the government plan unless they are “public” facilities.

12. Businesses will be fined over 8% of an employee’s salary if they do not provide healthcare insurance for their employees. Sec. 313.

13. Individuals that do not have health insurance will be fined an amount that will encourage them to purchase the government plan. Sec 401 Part VIII Subpart A Sec. 59B.

14. All “people,” legal or not, will be covered under this plan and identification cards will be issued. These identification cards will not be based on social security numbers.

These are some of the proven reasons why I could never support a bill like this. These are irrefutable facts, things that our present government does not want our citizens to be aware of, which is why they are trying to pass this bill as quickly as possible. The more we find out about the bill, the worse it gets. As I stated above, we need to reform our healthcare system, but this is not the way. In this case, doing nothing is better than passing this bill. It will hurt seniors, businesses and families.

When the left does something stupid

they can always blame talk radio. Like that end of life counseling.

Lakeside Cottage architecture, pt. 5

The Ross Hips, pt. 1

A hip roof, if the house were square, would look like this. A hip roof is practical and solid, ideal for stormy, windy, rainy areas and hurricane alleys. Also their overhangs can provide a lot of shade. Usually, the early 20th century hip roof, two story houses in Lakeside have a triangle shape to the street (the width), and a trapezoid shape for the length, the lots being much deeper than they were wide. On the east end of Lakeside which is some 30-40 years younger than the west end, there are 20 houses I'm calling them "Ross Hips" because W.D. Ross of Fremont, Ohio, built them beginning around 1907, maintaining them as rentals until his death in the 1940s. At that time they passed to his sons until sometime in the 1950s. One son, Harry Ross, wrote the book "Lake Erie and its Islands."

I think for the era in which they were built, and the general modesty, culture and goals of Lakeside, they were really quite magnificent. All have been remodeled, reshaped and most covered in vinyl siding during the last 90-100 years, but if you look at the roof and the lines you can still see what Lakesiders experienced for many years.

William DeWitt (W.D.) Ross was a teacher and superintendent of schools in Fremont, following in the footsteps of his father, William Ross, the longest serving superintendent (until 1906) and for whom Ross High school is named (Port Clinton News Herald, Aug. 30, 2006). He was a graduate of Oberlin and attended the University of Chicago. He gave up teaching after 10 years due to illness and began developing the east end of Lakeside around 1907. In the archive records (a big thank you to Jan Stephenson who found his obituary and the lot transfer records for me) are recorded the various lot sales and the advertisements for Ross Cottages, each of which had its own name. An obituary for W.D. reports that he died in October 1943, and within 5 hours of his death, his wife Evalyn also died. The properties passed to his sons, and then in the later 1940s and 1950s, were sold outside the family. However, some of the early transfers were also recorded in the name of his mother, his wife and his sister-in-law.

The houses on Plum and Ross Court facing Perry Park and the tennis courts down to the lakefront were apparently some of the earliest built. They had wonderful open porches with an angled window on the first floor to take advantage of the view. There had been a power plant on this site and there are no lot numbers recorded when he purchased the large tract. At some point there had been a bicycle racing track on this land.


From the clothing in this undated photo, I'd guess this is pre-WWI.


And here they are 100 years later.



The second house from the left has a gable roof and is not a Ross house. Notice the angled windows--many Ross houses even south of 2nd had these to provide a lake view. These houses all had a bathroom and kitchen, fireplace, electric lights, plastered walls, and were furnished to sleep 8-10, with living room and dining room and kitchen equipment. Quite different from "old" Lakeside where some homes had no interior walls, no indoor bathrooms, and resembled "wooden tents."


Except for having its porch enclosed, "The Noreaster" facing the lake still looks much the same today. The one next to it has had a gabled 2nd floor porch added which really changes its look. Shutters, of course, were never original to this style of architecture, but are a common "update." All the houses have had the porches enclosed, some more successfully than others. Many have managed to save the angled window, although sometimes if the porch was extended, it now resides inside the porch or was cut down to peek hole. Wood steps rotted, so most Lakeside homes now have concrete steps, which shift and move, or begin lifting the porch as tree roots get under them.

When we bought our 1943 cottage in 1988 thinking we'd remove the inappropriate 1980s factory built porch, we learned the previous owner had a variance, and we wouldn't be able to replace it if we removed it. So sometimes you have to stay with a remodel or do-over due to code changes.

Cottage cheese

No, I'm not going to write about women my age wearing shorts. I mean the edible kind. My daughter left a carton of cottage cheese here--no room in the cooler. So I opened it the other day; then my eye fell on the list of ingredients--looked like a high school chemistry lab experiment.

cultured non fat milk
nonfat milk
cream
salt
whey
food starch (corn)
guar gum
sorbic acid (to prevent mold)
citric acid
carrageehan
natural and artificial flavor
locust bean gum
tetrasodium pyrophosphate
monopotassium phosphate
enzymes

but it is
Gluten free!

When I was a child, a blob of cottage cheese with a piece of fruit was about the only salad that appeared on our table. And I'd watched my grandmother make it, although by that time I don't think they had a cow. When they did there was always a recipe around to use up the cream. It was when I met my mother-in-law that I learned what a tossed salad with lots of veggies, olives and tomatoes was all about. But I want to get more calcium in my diet, and dairy products are certainly a good source, so today I bought Daisy brand 2% (milk) cottage cheese.

cultured skim milk
cream
salt
Vitamin A palmate

Which brand would you want to put in your waiting tummy to strengthen your bones?

Now they’ve gone too far in bashing the Bushes

Laura was always fresh faced and lovely in my eyes. Remember all the Hillary hair internet sites? Seems her hair dresser doesn't enjoy being left out.

"It took Laura Bush four years to finally look good. It's taken Michelle Obama two months. She wears fake eyelashes that are beautiful. She can't do those herself." (Hillary’s former hair dresser.) Meow.

Paul L. Williams writes for the Canadian Free Press and he‘s one of those talking heads experts called in on the various cable and broakcast chatty news shows. He lists TWENTY TWO (22) personal assistants, secretaries, coordinators, and deputy-whatevers and their salaries here. Considering the economic times and her non-office, she certainly is a big spender--and I don’t think the gardener or make-up artist were even on that list.

The Obama handlers seem to be keeping Michelle under wraps so she doesn’t behave stupidly, like someone close to her, and mess up plans for legislation with falling poll numbers. Maybe all this staff is a pay-off for keeping quiet? She knows how rough those Chicago handlers can get. Look what they're doing to the Blue Dogs!

Michelle Obama is the first First Lady to hire a full-time makeup artist. Ingrid Grimes-Miles travels with her and is credited with making her eyebrows look less "angry,” but an Obama spokesman is quick to point out this salary is out of their personal funds. ?? Does that mean what supporters have donated instead of the ordinary taxpayer?

The Lakeside-Mt. Morris connection

One of the most famous Lakesiders has a connection to Mt. Morris, Illinois, where I graduated from high school, and my parents, paternal grandparents and great grandparents lived most of their lives, and where my parents and maternal grandparents attended college. John Heyl Vincent, one of the founders of the Chautauqua Movement (adult education, Sunday school teacher education), a Methodist bishop and author of many books, was once the pastor of the Methodist church in Mt. Morris, and attended the Methodist Rock River Seminary, which was located in Mt. Morris (later changed hands and became Mt. Morris College, a Church of the Brethren school when the Methodists established Northwestern). He and his wife began their married life in Mt. Morris shortly before the Civil War.

"John Heyl Vincinet was born 23 February 1832. He was educated at academies in Milton and Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, began to preach at the age of eighteen, completed his training for the ministry at Wesleyan institute, Newark, New Jersey, and in the four years' theological course of the New Jersey conference, into which he was received in 1853. He was ordained deacon in 1855 and elder in 1857, when he was transferred to the Rock River conference, serving as pastor in Chicago, Galena [President Grant attended his church], and elsewhere [that would be little Mt. Morris] till 1865. In that year he established the "Northwest Sunday-School Quarterly," and in 1866 the "Sunday-School Teacher." He was appointed general agent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday-school union, and in 1868 was elected by the general conference corresponding secretary both of the union and of the tract society, in which posts he was continued till 1884. He was the editor of the Sunday-school publications of his denomination, conducting the "Sunday-School Journal," published in New York city, with such success that its circulation rose from 16,500 to 160,000, while that of his lesson-books has been nearly 2,500,000 copies. In 1873, with Lewis Miller, of Akron, Ohio, he projected a Sunday-school teachers' institute for the purpose of preparing teachers for their work by means of lectures and drills. The institute first met at Chautauqua, New York, in August, 1874, and has since assembled each year in the same place. It has extended beyond the limits of its original design, and given rise to allied institutions, which, as well as the Sunday-school assemblies and the international lessons, extend their benefits to members of all Christian bodies. The Chautauqua literary and scientific circle, which prescribes courses of reading for all classes of people, was founded in 1878, and within a few years had 100,000 students on its rolls. In connection with this the Chautauqua university was established, a summer school in which lectures on most of the arts and sciences are given, and of which Dr. Vincent, who received the degree of D. D. from Ohio Wesleyan university in 1870, and that of LL. D. from Washington and Jefferson in 1885, has been chancellor from the beginning. At the general conference of 1888 he was elected a bishop. Among his published works are "Little Footprints in Bible Lands" (New York, 1861); "The Chautauqua Movement" (1886)" "The Home Book" (1886)" " The Modern Sunday-School" (1887); and "Better Not" (1887)." Appleton’s Encyclopedia (on-line)

Lakeside was established a year before Chautauqua NY, but the name of the movement to provide a cultural, moral and spiritual education for adults comes from that camp meeting. In Vincent's 1886 book he listed 38 "other Chautauquas," some former camp meetings like Lakeside, and some formed expressly for that purpose. So the movement grew very quickly, although it had no central organization and each location was independent. By 1891 there were 51 independent Chautauquas and by 1907 there were 97. (Figures from David T. Glick, "The Independent Chautauquas then and now" Herald, V. 13, no. 2, 1984). John Heyl Vincent's brother, BT Vincent, was the Superintendent of Instruction at Lakeside.

When my parents were young, traveling Chautauquas were popular, and there were tent Chautauquas in both Franklin Grove and Dixon, Illinois which provided plays, operas, monologues, speeches, and music for several weeks in the summer for rural people. Movies, radio and the Great Depression pretty much killed the tent Chautauquas. Today there are 12 permanent Chautauqua communities.

The other Chautauquas

Andrews, North Carolina
Bay View, Michigan
Chautauqua, New York
Colorado Chautauqua Association
DeFuniak, Florida
Monteagle, Tennessee
Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania
Ocean Grove, New Jersey
Ocean Park, Maine
The Florida Chautauqua
Waxahachie, Texas

Democrats didn't read it; Republicans did

The House Republican Conference has compiled a list of the new boards, bureaucracies, commissions, and programs created in H.R. 3200, “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act.” These bureaucrats will control every aspect of our nation’s health care system – and these bureaucrats will destroy the best health care system in the world. Here is what the Democrat’s health care bill monstrosity will create (HT Traditional Values Coalition):

53 new federal bureaucracies

Health Benefits Advisory Committee (Section 123, p. 30)
Health Choices Administration (Section 141, p. 41)
Qualified Health Benefits Plan Ombudsman (Section 144, p. 47)
Program of administrative simplification (Section 163, p. 57)
Retiree Reserve Trust Fund (Section 164(d), p. 70)
Health Insurance Exchange (Section 201, p. 72)
Mechanism for insurance risk pooling to be established by Health Choices Administration Commissioner (Section 206(b), p. 106)
Special Inspector General for the Health Insurance Exchange (Section 206(c), p. 107)
Health Insurance Exchange Trust Fund (Section 207, p. 109)
State-based Health Insurance Exchanges (Section 208, p. 111)
“Public Health Insurance Option” (Section 221, p. 116)
Ombudsman for “Public Health Insurance Option” (Section 221(d), p. 117)
Account for receipts and disbursements for “Public Health Insurance Option” (Section 222(b), p. 119)
Telehealth Advisory Committee (Section 1191, p. 380)
Demonstration program providing reimbursement for “culturally and linguistically appropriate services” (Section 1222, p. 405)
Demonstration program for shared decision making using patient decision aids (Section 1236, p. 438)
Accountable Care Organization pilot program (Section 1301, p. 443)
Independent patient-centered medical home pilot program under Medicare (Section 1302, p. 462)
Community-based medical home pilot program under Medicare (Section 1302(d), p. 468)
Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research (Section 1401(a), p. 502)
Comparative Effectiveness Research Commission (Section 1401(a), p. 505)
Patient ombudsman for comparative effectiveness research (Section 1401(a), p. 519)
Quality assurance and performance improvement program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 1412(b)(1), p. 546)
Quality assurance and performance improvement program for nursing facilities (Section 1412 (b)(2), p. 548)
Special focus facility program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 1413(a)(3), p. 559)
Special focus facility program for nursing facilities (Section 1413(b)(3), p. 565)
National independent monitor pilot program for skilled nursing facilities and nursing facilities (Section 1422, p. 607)
Demonstration program for approved teaching health centers with respect to Medicare GME (Section 1502(d), p. 674)
Pilot program to develop anti-fraud compliance systems for Medicare providers (Section 1635, p. 716)
Medical home pilot program under Medicaid (Section 1722, p. 780)
Comparative Effectiveness Research Trust Fund (Section 1802, p. 824)
“Identifiable office or program” within CMS to “provide for improved coordination between Medicare and Medicaid in the case of dual eligibles” (Section 1905, p. 852)
Public Health Investment Fund (Section 2002, p. 859)
Scholarships for service in health professional needs areas (Section 2211, p. 870)
Loan repayment program for service in health professional needs areas (Section 2211, p. 873)
Program for training medical residents in community-based settings (Section 2214, p. 882)
Grant program for training in dentistry programs (Section 2215, p. 887)
Public Health Workforce Corps (Section 2231, p. 898)
Public health workforce scholarship program (Section 2231, p. 900)
Public health workforce loan forgiveness program (Section 2231, p. 904)
Grant program for innovations in interdisciplinary care (Section 2252, p 917)
Advisory Committee on Health Workforce Evaluation and Assessment (Section 2261, p. 920)
Prevention and Wellness Trust (Section 2301, p. 932)
Clinical Prevention Stakeholders Board (Section 2301, p. 941)
Community Prevention Stakeholders Board (Section 2301, p. 947)
Grant program for community prevention and wellness research (Section 2301, p. 950)
Grant program for community prevention and wellness services (Section 2301, p. 951)
Grant program for public health infrastructure (Section 2301, p. 955)
Center for Quality Improvement (Section 2401, p. 965)
Assistant Secretary for Health Information (Section 2402, p. 972)
Grant program to support the operation of school-based health clinics (Section 2511, p. 993)
National Medical Device Registry (Section 2521, p. 1001)
Grants for labor-management programs for nursing training (Section 2531, p. 1008)

Note from Norma: GW Bush was certainly no slouch when it came to expanding the federal government, but Obama's current cycle makes him look like he was in training wheels. Have you ever wondered why, if the government can deliver such great health care at a reasonable cost that 1) Congress and the White House aren't going to use it; and 2) why is Medicare and Medicare which are gov't plans are in such terrible financial shape?

Friday family photo--reunion at the Pines

If you know my family, you'll know who these people are. And if you don't, well, you probably don't care. L to R: Gene, Joyce, Janet, Stan and Lois.

What's the proper greeting?

Bill, a senior citizen who grew up where I did, asks in an e-mail list, some I know, some I don't

"All the noise by the public has delayed Washington's direction and activity on the health care bill. They are now starting to horse trade to get something acceptable to get this passed. The democrats have offered to soften the impact on small business in hopes of satisfying the republicans. And there are other offerings as well.

HOWEVER, have you noticed there is no mention of softening the impact on the seniors. Obama still stutters when people question this issue. The seniors are still going to take it on the chin with health care rationing and politician control of services offered. They cannot change this as this is where the big cost savings are hidden to support the expansion of services to others.

The senate and house members are about to go home for their summer vacation. This means they will be in their local offices a great deal. They are going to get an ear full. Very little will be positive toward doing any thing to make changes. Now here is my point.

Today every correspondence and communication by most has been fairly positive and non threatening, just stating one's opinion. We are about to take the gloves off and get very nasty. The politicians who are for this bill and pushing (Mostly Democrats) are well known. Those who oppose (mostly Republicans) are also well known. The next attacks after their summer holiday must be toward those who are for and are pushing; even if they do not directly represent you in your state. These folks must get a big picture of the size of the back lash which all politicians will feel as a result of this health care proposal. My problem is I am struggling to come up with a greeting line to address them on written letters that sets the tone."

What sort of a greeting would you use in advising a Blue Dog Democrat or a moderate what you think of Obama's treatment plan for seniors?

Dear . . . .fill in the blank. Bill suggests "Dear Senior slayer" or" Dear death deliverer". But Rusty chimes in with "Dear Asshole." And Richard agrees with Rusty.

Clunker cars

Do you suppose this Bentley loves Obama gets 18 mpg? Could the owner qualify for a tax break from me who drives a 2002 Dodge Van that gets 26 mpg on the road, is a real workhorse, and doesn't hurt my back? (As near as I can tell from the model, this one gets about 10 in the city, 17 on the road).

Clunker schools?

Now that we're getting all those "clunker" cars off the road (destroying their engines so that the young, poor and entrepreneurial will not be able to use them, many of them newer than what I and millions of Americans drive everyday), to meet a specific social agenda of the Obama administration, what else can be declared a "clunker" so that we tax payers can bail out a specific industry, class, union, lobbyist group, or academic field and sink deeper in debt? How about schools?

"In February, the AIA [American Institute of Architects] led a coalition of more than 80 organizations and companies to press Congress to include funding for green, high-performance schools in the stimulus bill, and the AIA has advocated for legislation that passed the U.S. House to invest in school facilities." The Angle, July 30, 2009

Priorities for swine flu vaccine

Usually the elderly are told to get flu vaccines. Maybe we're at no risk for this one--after all, older people die in great numbers in any year from the flu and no one except the family gets too concerned, certainly not the media. However, the Obama health care plan promoted for older Americans pretty much writes them off as not worth anything. At least as recently as 2003 JAMA reported that vaccinating those over 65 was a high priority because it was so successful in reducing morbidity and mortality. Oh well, those were the Bush years and values were different. People mattered. (In 2009, CDC published additional estimates of flu-related deaths comparing different methods, including the methods used in the 2003 JAMA study. The seasons studied included the 1993-94 through the 2002-03 flu seasons. Results from this study showed that during this time period, 36,171 flu-related deaths occurred per year, on average. CDC

"A CDC vaccine advisory panel on Wednesday recommended that first shots should go to pregnant women, household contacts of infants younger than 6 months, health care workers, young people ages 6 months to 24 years and non-elderly adults at high risk for the flu."

Young ladies protest Obama and health plan

From left to right

Reverend Wright told you wrong. We love this Christian nation Obama.

Always proud of my country, Michelle. First time to be dumbfounded by the President.

Love my country? You betcha!

Obama's nuts (with ACORN logo).

Tarhill Pundit says, "I spoke to these ladies for a bit until we got seperated. They are big Sarah Palin fans, like myself, and were very educated on the issues. Some might call them radicals but I prefer to call them realists. . . Planned Parenthood was out in full force, petitioning for “Women’s Health Care Rights.” Because unlike preventive screening for cervical cancer, breast cancer, and STDs we just can’t get enough abortions these days!"

Lakeside Cottage architecture, pt. 4

Side gable houses with shed dormer to the street, pt. 3

I'll wrap up this topic about shed dormers on cottages at Lakeside with a few more photographs. This by no means finishes the topic, but here's a few that have had several second and third chances or do-overs in their 70-80 year life near Lake Erie.

This house on 2nd street faces Central Park and when built probably had a fabulous view of the lake. Now with all the mature trees, you would only see it in the off seasons. It has so many additions, roof styles, and replaced windows I'd probably need a photo to figure out how it began. I noticed at least one old window that hints it may have even been a traditional 19th cottage in it's embryonic stage.

Update: I checked with a man who had remodeled this cottage about 15 years ago, and he estimates it was built around 1880 and has had multiple updates. So the shed dormers were probably an early 20th century update to make it look "modern."

I think this one is for sale. I've attended a yard sale here--looks like it is in good condition with the usual 3/4 century updates and add ons. I think there is a garage on the other side and a decent yard, unusual for this little town of summer residents.

I like this photo because it shows 3 distinct cottage styles all in a row. On the left a cross gable with a wrap around porch, which is highly valued now, but many were so remodeled in the 40s and 50s they are hardly recognizable. The front windows appear to be remodeling ideas of about 50 years ago--remember when people were putting "picture" windows everywhere? The shed gable style in the middle would be more attractive with the porch restored, but like many Lakeside houses, most additions and remodelings are just folded into the next era or skills of the local homebuilders. Also, the Lake Erie storms can be brutal. On the right is one of the many hip roof, double porch styles which I wish had a shorter name, because they are ubiquitous here. This one has had the top sleeping porch filled in with small windows. These cottages face the lake--one of the best views in town.

Someone or ones loved this one to death. The worst of the 50s updates--aluminum siding and jalousie porch windows--the gal wearing her cheerleading outfit to the nursing home. And bushes out of control to cover the sins of the past.

I think this cottage could be a show piece. My husband and I disagree on what is original--I've looked very closely at the roof line of the side portico, and I think it fits, although it is sagging badly and looks like the front screen door might not open. If it mattered, I'd go to the archives and check. There might even be an old photo. He's the one paid to redo these cottages, not me. Those concrete molded blocks haven't been used in many years. There's a tiny little "house" added to the back with some creative trim and woodworking--probably not original, but someone tried to make it work. With the thick, stubby columns, and windows in three, it definitely wants to be a real arts and crafts bungalow, even if someone's messed it up a bit over the years.

But I have been to the archives and checked on my next topic, which will be the "Ross Hips" at the east end of Lakeside.

Lakeside cottage architecture, part 1

Lakeside cottage architecture, part 2

Lakeside cottage architecture, part 3

Eight reasons to just say NO

Some people have a problem saying or hearing the word NO. I think it is the first word children say, either because they hear it so often or because it is short and easy to say. So why is it, that people have such a problem with it later in life? My mother, God bless her, had a problem with that word. Her favorite phrase was, "We'll see." That just put off the inevitable, but she didn't get into trouble with it. I didn't follow her example. In fact, it drives me crazy when people aren't honest about wanting to say NO, so they just lead you on until it is too late to make other plans, or you've moved on only to find out later something else was about to happen.



So here's how I'd do it--how to say NO, a rerun from a blog of two years ago.

1. To a request to bake a cake for a fund raiser/good cause. I say, "NO, if you needed a pie, I'd gladly help out, but I don't do cakes. If you'll accept store-bought or bakery, I'll do it." I never say, "Let me get back to you on that." I'm 67 years old and I think I should know the answer to this one--you'll love my pie, and pass on my cake. Update: I've been asked to donate a cake for the hotel ice cream social this coming Sunday, and I asked if I could purchase one. "Of course," the volunteer said. See? I didn't even have to say NO.

2. To a request to join yet another organization. I say, "NO, I already belong to two small groups and that's about my limit. I don't want to add anything else to my calendar." However, I do say YES if it's a short term task with a beginning and end in sight, but that has to be clarified. Also, I can spot "empire building" from 50 yards, so don't even ask if that's your intent.

3. To a request for a dinner date with my husband for Thursday if we already have plans for Friday and Sunday. I say "NO, sweety, those extra calories don't bother you one bit, but I don't want them." I'm probably the only wife who says NO to a dinner out, but you gotta do what you gotta do, or else walk an extra 5 miles a day! Update: These days, I have to say NO if we've eaten out anytime during the week.

4. To a request for a donation. I say, "NO, we tithe to our church and contribute to several community organizations we believe in. We have met our limit for this year." Update: After listening to 3 presentations from the Great Lakes Historical Society this week and hearing they've had all their state money ($100,000) cut, I've decided to join. They do good work.

5. To a request to help in my professional area of expertise. I say "NO, I believe that level of support deserves an employee and not a volunteer. Have you considered hiring someone?"

6. To a request to join a committee. I usually say NO, but there are exceptions. You don't ever want to appoint me Chair, because I'll dissolve the committee. Update: I'm removing myself from a committee of 10 years.

7. To a request to borrow money. Usually this is NO, but we have helped out our children occasionally, and other relatives if we know they haven't been irresponsible. My parents loaned us the downpayment for our first house, loaned me money to finish college and financed a car for us, so I had help, too--in my early 20s. Dad would set up payments with interest. However, don't ever loan money that you can't offer as a gift, or you might be disappointed and don't use it as a means to control behavior. The relationship is more important than the money. You just create hard feelings by making people indebted to you. Once we gave money to one of my husband's relatives because we knew a loan was out of the questions--he would have never paid it back.

8. To a request to babysit or help in the church nursery. Can't think that any one would ask this today, but in the past, I always caught a cold. Babies and toddlers are crawling with germs for which I have no immunity. Wording this NO is tricky, however, or you do sound like a meany. Honesty would be best so they can call the next name on the list.

My mother did give me some advice on saying NO, although I don't usually follow it. She suggested, in her dear, nonconfrontational way, that I at least look like I'm thinking about the request before I say NO.

When my daughter was in elementary school, the teacher sent home a grade report that said something to the effect that she had an overdeveloped sense of NO. Good girl. A woman after my own heart.

Anything going on with illegal immigration?

If we had to rely on the press for accurate reporting about illegals coming here to work, we'd be hard pressed. The war in Iraq (Bush's war) has dropped out of sight so they can cover Obama's war in Afghanistan, and the only thing I've read is about how poor villages in Mexico are suffering from our unemployment, since less money is being sent home. Around here, I see many local Ohioans/Americans doing those jobs they used to tell us Americans didn't want--housekeeping, maintenance and groundskeeping. President Bush lost a huge amount of support from conservatives with his "guest worker" nonsense. No one believed Congress would come up with anything that didn't import millions more for the rolls of our social programs along with many willing hard workers. Here's what I wrote about illegal immigration three plus years ago when Bush was fast unraveling the Republican party, never to get it back.

Today I asked the Pakistani clerk at the grocery store and the Ghanian clerk at the department store, both of whom are here legally, have become citizens, and have relatives back home waiting on quotas, what they thought of this. "United States of Mexico" said the one; the other just rolled her eyes.

I am first and most mad at our do nothing Congress who can think no further than the next election. And then the President. What idiots. How can we fight insurgents in Iraq when we can't even keep out 11,000,000 "labor insurgents" in our own country? What must our brave service men and women be thinking? Particularly those who have shortened their residency requirements to become citizens by joining up to defend and protect us. Now they're being asked to defend a group large enough to be a 51st state who are illegal aliens?

Secondly, I'm angry at the American businesses who would employ these people because they are cheap and will work without benefits. It's like prostitution. It doesn't exist if only one group participates.

Third, I'm angry at the socialist/communist/progressive coalition who is gleefully rubbing their hands together, organizing "spontaneous" demonstrations and illegally registering these people to vote so they can tie up our next election in law suits. I heard them recruiting on a local call in radio show Saturday. The guy was so excited I thought he'd wet himself.

Fourth, I'm disappointed that the Democrats don't even see that #3 is stealing their party right out from under them.

Fifth, I'm furious at the Republicans because in a tight situation when leadership is called for they can only dither, wring their hands, wimp out, wet a finger and see if the wind is blowing their way.

Sixth, the border states' governments can't be absolved of responsibility. These millions of illegals didn't show up last year, or even the last decade. On a local radio show I heard a man who formerly worked in Arizona say illegals were given one-way bus tickets to northern states, which might explain why all our Ohio construction firms, landscape crews and restaurant kitchens speak only Spanish. So why a ticket north? It's too expensive (involving the INS, housing them, retaining them, food and medical care, to keep them in the border states until they can be returned to Mexico).

Seventh, our schools aren't doing such a hot job if these people don't know their history or ours and think our border states were once are part of Mexico. (Spain maybe, but never just a blip in time, Mexico.)

Eighth, I think it stinks that there are a lot of Americans who want a permanent underclass of maids to clean toilets and Pedros to pick tomatoes so they can vote Democratic in hopes of getting perks.

Ninth, the Mexican government and Mexico's wealthy, light-skinned, European power class can be blamed for not wanting to create wealth for their own darker skinned, mixed race poor. This mess could be resolved on the other side of the border through a few political improvements (maybe we could send them a Kennedy/Pelosi dog and pony show?)

Tenth, schools and businesses that have given their students and employees a pass to participate [in demonstrations] should be ashamed and don't deserve their position of responsibilty. The school administrators should be put on leave or fired; the businesses should be boycotted. They are stealing the American dream right out from under the very people they think they are helping.

April 2006 blog about immigration

The government and obesity

Here's what the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) has written about our expanding girth in this country:

"American society has become 'obesogenic,' characterized by environments that promote increased food intake, nonhealthful foods, and physical inactivity. Policy and environmental change initiatives that make healthy choices in nutrition and physical activity available, affordable, and easy will likely prove most effective in combating obesity."

Notice which comes first; not our choices, not our habits, not our genes, but policy and environmental changes. In other words, inviting more government bureaucrats and regulations into our restaurants, our schools, and our dining rooms and kitchens. This is not new to the current administration. You can go back into the early 90s and read things from the CDC on this fact. And it was always alarming.

If there were a model community for losing weight and being fit, I'm here and blogging about it. Lakeside, Ohio. I'm here most of the summer this year, and even if I only lost one pound a week of the weight I've picked up in my interesting travels since September 2007 [Ireland (3 lbs.), Italy (3 lbs.), Greece, Israel, and Egypt, 3 lbs.], I'd be thrilled. But this morning I weighed exactly what I weighed six weeks ago. I buy at the local farmers' market and small grocery store in town; I walk 4-6 miles a day; I ride my bicycle; if we eat out (rare) there are no "fast food" restaurants; I eat 5-6 servings a day of freshly prepared fruits and vegetables--mostly raw; I eat nuts and yogurt; my brain is engaged everyday in interesting seminars, classes, art instruction and music programs. There's not a reason in the world why I shouldn't be able to get into the size 6-8 slacks I wore two years ago. Except my age, my metabolism, and my genes. My desires, my tastes, and my lack of will power. My delicious rhubarb pies, my crackers layered with butter, peanut butter and cheddar cheese, my glass of red wine with dinner, my pancake with real syrup at the Patio Restaurant on Sunday after church.

Yes, it's all becoming clear to me. No matter what the federal, state and local governments do at the policy and environmental level to make my life easy, active and low calorie, they will still have to deal with me.

So I'm wearing size 10 this summer, the CDC be damned.

If you would prefer the CDC telling you all this instead of me, go here to hear.

The Cambridge Police

Officers white and black, male and female, stand behind Crowley. There was no racism.

"He [Obama] should have recused himself."

Remembering Gates' book: "I'm praying fervently that we will be spared a national Teachable Moment arising from the Gates Affair. But at least one good thing (for me, at any rate) has come out of the brouhaha: it prompted me to go to my bookshelves for the first book I read by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism, published by Oxford University Press in 1988. Whether or not Professor Gates said to Officer Crowley "I'll see your mama outside" (as Crowley insists he did, and Gates denies), there's no mistaking Gates' relish for "Signifyin(g)" as a "pervasive mode of language use" among African Americans. What I found most interesting when I first read the book (probably the only one in my library that features a conjunction of blurbs by Jacques Derrida and Ishmael Reed) was its insights into parody in black literature. Those insights are still worth pondering, despite the high proportion of sentences like this one: "It is indeterminacy, the sheer plurality of meaning, the very play of the signifier itself, which [Reed's novel] Mumbo Jumbo celebrates." Did someone mention parody?" John Wilson, Editor, Books & Culture

The tapes are being released. Looks like Gates was in the wrong all the way around, from his posturing, pomposity, and prejudging the Cambridge police to blowing everything out of proportion, to bringing one more disaster to the White House.

How we got here

Speed, ignorance, and power. Or why no one bothers to read the bill.

"Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich offered lessons from past presidents on pushing health reform. “First, move very fast. . . The honeymoon will be over and the gravitational pull of the midterm elections will be too great. Second, leave the details to Congress … up to a point. And override your economic advisers. Every time health reform has come up, they have always been skeptical or said no.” at the American Hospital Association Summit in San Francisco last week." AHA Vantage Point

Well, I guess there's hope, if we can just slow them down until the midterm elections, even then we're just nibbling around the edges. Until Obama, no President had spent more on social programs than George Bush. Obama makes him look like a beginner in throwing money around.

A few more things in week 6

Tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. is the bird walk and Wednesday morning at 8:30 is the herb class and the topic will be camomille. During the last birding event I learned that Europeans are anxious to see our cardinals and blue jays, which we hardly notice, because they aren't native to those areas. I'm still trying to find a time to get to the archives to research some of the cottages that I write about. It was closed today. Tuesday and Thursday evening the community theater group is doing Cheaper by the Dozen, and we've got tickets for Thursday. The play almost had to be cancelled because they didn't have a "father," and obviously, he's a key player. But Joe Day came to the rescue. He was supposed to be in South America this summer, but his backpack with his passport and plane ticket was stolen, so he's spending the summer with his parents, and the talented young man was available to take on the challenge. Some of the kid-actors were hawking tickets the other night--really cute. On Friday I may skip the Great Lakes lecture and instead do the tree walk with our neighbor Bill.

Today was the first watercolor class of five with Bob Moyer. He'll be doing a fall watercolor workshop on Tuesday and Wednesday September 22-23, 2009 at the Idlewyld Bed and Breakfast. The Workshop with lodging and Wednesday breakfast is $140. Although I've never stayed there, it's a lovely B&B. The hosts are Dan and Joan Barris. (Don't miss the recipes on their site.)

Here's today's class work, an iris. Bob did a demo, and then we dabbed around and copied what he did. Everyone in the class took home a good first effort.


A few minutes into the class, I became aware of a really irritating sound that just wouldn't stop. I said, "What's that awful noise?" "Oh, that's the children's rhythm and drumming class." And it went on, and on, and on, and on, for about an hour and a half. Glad we don't live close to the Rhein Center!