A child upstages the President

Damon is a cute little guy interviewing President Obama, his dream, on all the major networks this morning, but I changed channels after about 20 seconds. Same old, same old. The President blaming someone else, never his own generation or group, instead of inspiring a child to greatness. Here we are in 2009 with two minorities (and four Catholics?) on the highest court in the land, a biracial, out of wedlock son of a Kenyan in the White House, and all the President can do is dump on the American culture when a child asks him about poverty in his school district. Can you imagine Justice Clarence Thomas responding as Obama did? But it was Thomas who really experienced poverty. Obama was the proverbial silver-spoon-rich kid whose own children have always attended private schools. Compared to Thomas who was raised on a share cropper’s farm by his grandparents, he knows nothing about which he speaks from personal experience. Justice Sotomayor may call herself a wise Latina, but even she’s a born in the city, raised in the projects by an educated mother, child who despite what she sees as racism and discrimination, has managed also to make her way to the top. Democrats never see this as a success story--they seem to be embarrassed that America is the land of opportunity and are currently engaged in a war to bring everyone down to the projects-level standard of living.

Obama could have begun his halting and stammering (where is the teleprompter?) with pointing out to this smart, gutsy child, that he was well on his way like Thomas and Sotomayor, but instead, chose his words to remind everyone, not that we’ve come a long way, but that we have even further to go.

Thanks for nothing, O Great One.

Traveling the Holy Land with AD Wenger

As I noted 2 weeks ago, I bought a book recently for ten cents, “Six months in Bible Lands” by Amos Daniel Wenger (doesn't seem to be one of "my" Wengers), an account of his 14 months traveling through Europe, the Holy Land, and Asia in 1899-1900. Because we were on a “Steps of Paul” tour in March 2009, in Ireland and Italy in 2007 and 2008, in Finland and Russia in 2006, and Germany and Austria in 2005, many of his stops and descriptions whether of cathedrals in Europe or the waters of the Jordan are quite vivid, even though he experienced them 110 years ago.

My questions to AD and travelers of the 1890s are quite practical: first of all toilets, then shoes, clothing, traveling companions, arrangements for money and translators, food, medical care, suitcases, etc. But just as we know that there used to be a two-story outhouse attached to the hotel here at Lakeside (for men only) a hundred years ago, there is no photo of it in existence, because those necessities were just a way of life, and usually not recorded in guide books. So we are left to wonder what the women used, or who were the poor servant staff who emptied chamber pots from the hotel rooms of 19th century Methodists.

In our diversity-obsessed and PC academic culture, some academics or liberal Christians might find his descriptions of the people he meets and cultures he experiences “ethnocentric” or “xenophobic,” but I found his honesty and true compassion and love quite refreshing. When he sees a fierce, dark skinned, armed Bedouin he mentions his fear, but also is firm in his unwillingness to arm himself or even travel with an armed guard, because he is a “nonresistant” Mennonite. He thinks that nonresistant missionaries (I don’t think he uses the word pacifist) who hire armed guards are hypocrites. When he sees women doing the work of pack animals, he mentions how much better off and respected are women in America. When he observes lascivious, drunk women on the train in France, he makes note. When he compares the differences among the Turks (area was controlled by the Ottoman Empire), the Arabs, the native Palestinian tribes, Druses, native Christian groups, Palestinian Jews, European Jews and various European and American travelers either guides or missionaries who live and work there, it is with the eye of a Christian, American Mennonite evangelist who believes the living water of the gospel of Jesus more important than digging a local well for fresh water and moving on. And he is quite distressed and saves his harshest words for squabbling Christian sects.

He observes the irony and pain, as did we, of the various Christian sects--Armenians, Greeks, Roman Catholics and others--sharing worship space in churches build over holy places, such as the Church of the Holy Sepulcre, and the Church of the nativity in Bethlehem. These places then and now are controlled by Moslems, and they, not the Christians who squabble and refuse to worship together, keep the peace. When AD was at these sites, he was told of killings and fightings among the Christians going back to the times of the Crusades, and he grieves that this is such a poor witness to both Jews and Moslems. I'm sure the Mennonites' squabbles back home over whether to use a pulpit or table, or whether Sunday Schools are an evil concession to the larger culture, paled by comparison, because he never mentions them.

His experience inside these holy shrines sounds very similar to ours. For instance, in Bethlehem:

“We went beneath the floor of the church into a chamber in the natural rock. A silver star is pointed out as the place of the birth, and a stone manger is shown, but it seems painful to see it all so changed and embellished by the hands of idolizing sects. It seems more painful however that the Christianity of the land has so degenerated since the Pentecostal shower of heavenly grace that Mohammedan soldiers must be kept on the spot to keep peace among the Christians--to keep even priests from flying at each other’s throats.” (p. 122)

Of course, you don’t have to read far into Paul’s letters to the New Testament churches to see the first thing Christians did was to start creating factions and disagreements, even in the first century. There is a 2,000 year history of squabbling over baptism, food, times of worship, end times prophecies, which holy days to observe, whether to marry or tarry, etc. And dear brother Wenger spends more than a few pages showing his readers why the Mennonites have the proper way to use water in baptism, using Scripture, archeology and his own observations.

The Obamacare Dog and Pony Show

We need a lot of pooper scoopers to keep up with the Obama machine the last few days. For awhile he seemed to be sleep walking, letting his underlings handle it. But once Sarah Palin weighed in, WOW, he and millions of Democrats rushed to the rescue of the beaten and bloody health care bill. Misnamed, "America’s Affordable Health Choices Act" (HR 3200) Health Care Blog:

"As more Americans delve into the disturbing details of the nationalized health care plan that the current administration is rushing through Congress, our collective jaw is dropping, and we’re saying not just no, but hell no.

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Health care by definition involves life and death decisions. Human rights and human dignity must be at the center of any health care discussion.

Rep. Michele Bachmann highlighted the Orwellian thinking of the president’s health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of the White House chief of staff, in a floor speech to the House of Representatives. I commend her for being a voice for the most precious members of our society, our children and our seniors.

We must step up and engage in this most crucial debate. Nationalizing our health care system is a point of no return for government interference in the lives of its citizens. If we go down this path, there will be no turning back. Ronald Reagan once wrote, “Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth.” Let’s stop and think and make our voices heard before it’s too late."

- Sarah Palin

You may not like her, you may be afraid of strong women who don't ride their husband's coat tails, but Sarah Palin speaks for millions on this issue. As the mother of a special needs child I'm sure she'd opt for the government plan if she thought he'd be better served. But in the back of her mind is probably that pro-choice president and the 93% death rate of pre-born babies with Down Syndrome. Why would he feel any different about those who got out alive? I've read Dr. Emmanuel's stuff, and he's one scary dude, brother of Obama's chief advisor.

Will the real Obama please stand up?

No, I'm not referring to his birth place, Kenya or Hawaii, to a teen-age mother. Birthers are wasting their time. Now this on the other hand--Single payer health insurance.

Obama in 2003: ‘I Happen to be a Proponent of a Single-Payer Universal Health Care Plan;' Obama in 2009: ‘I Have Not Said That I Was a Single-Payer Supporter’.

Dodge. Word games.

In 2003, Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama received a big round of applause for telling a gathering of the AFL-CIO, “I happen to be a proponent of single-payer, universal health care plan.”

This week, speaking at a town hall gathering in Portsmouth, N.H., President Obama said, “I have not said that I was a single-payer supporter because, frankly, we historically have had a employer-based system in this country with private insurers, and for us to transition to a system like that I believe would be too disruptive. CNSNews.com

And then in a Philadelphia Town Hall, the goons didn't get the President's latest lie.

"WHAT DO WE WANT?"
"SINGLE-PAYER!!"
"WHEN DO WE WANT IT?"
"NOW!!"
“Toward the front of the line, that's where I saw the most venom and vitriol. That's where the hardcore socialists were, the people who would gladly destroy the ingenuity and innovation inherent in our health care system for the sake of "social justice." Many, it seemed, were college students. Most, it was apparent, came in groups. I counted two people in ACORN shirts, one of which was getting an earful from an event attendee who came to protest the health care reform legislation.” Stranger in a strange land

Yes, that group was in Columbus, Ohio, in October and November--the “college students” and ACORN, innocently registering to vote, and our Secretary of State, an old softy, and a Democrat, did nothing. I think she said there wasn't time.

Biofuels consume a lot of water and hurt the environment

Now what will the Green-goes do?

"Production of bioethanol as an alternative to fossil fuels could have a much greater detrimental impact on the environment than previously thought, according to a new study from Sangwon Suh and colleagues in the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, at the University of Minnesota. Writing in Environmental Science & Technology, the team explain how bioethanol production may consume up to three times more water than earlier estimates suggested. Previous studies estimated that a gallon of corn-based bioethanol used between 263 and 784 gallons of water from farm to fuel pump. Suh's team determined that these estimates do not take into account the significant variation in regional irrigation practices. . . The results also show that as the ethanol industry expands to areas that apply more irrigated water than others, consumptive water appropriation by bioethanol in the U.S. has increased 246% from 1.9 to 6.1 trillion liters between 2005 and 2008, whereas U.S. bioethanol production has increased only 133% from 15 to 34 billion liters during the same period." Environ. Sci. Technol., 2009, 43 (8), pp 2688–2692.

Let's use the decayed plant and animal resources we already have--petroleum, coal, and natural gas. If nothing else, putting corn in gas tanks when there are hungry people should give greenies pause. We can probably live without oil; but not without water.

What are they drinking in Michigan?

Water directly from the Great Lakes? Unfiltered or non-purified? First John Dingell likens his constituents who came to the townhalls to the KKK, concerned loyal Americans who see Obama's grab for a huge sector of the economy and the pending loss of their medical choices, and now Debbie Stabenow (or Stabemlater perhaps) thinks turbulence when she flies is due to global warming. How do these people get elected year after year? Only Democrats know.

Via Morning Bell: In an interview with the Detroit News, Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow said, "Climate change is very real. Global warming creates volatility and I feel it when I’m flying. The storms are more volatile."

Thousands of feet of the Wisconsin ice sheet that once covered more than half of the North American Continent including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and down into Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio weren't melted by the hot air of Democrats plugging global warming, but I'll bet it could have been.

Communist Party wants you Democrats to take to the streets

"Within our country, the Obamajority is needed to take to the streets in support of health care with a public option paid for by reversing the obscene tax giveaways to the super rich during the Bush years. If health care reform fails, it will be a giant step backwards for the Obama administration and for working people, the labor movement, African American, Latino, Asian-Pacific Island communities, women and youth on every issue including the economy, peace and democracy. . . .

This fight for health care is a fight for the ability to win on every other issue starting with Employee Free Choice and all the way to state budget priorities. It is a fight for unity against the ultra-right. What happens at the grassroots will in large part decide what happens in Congress. Now is the time for the Obamajority to act." Communist Party USA (CPUSA)

Notice the links to all the other take-over plans. Yes, indeed, he is a Marxist.

What does HR 3200 actually say in our language

John David Lewis of Duke University isn't a lawyer or doctor, but he has analyzed the bill and put parts of it into our English.

The Health Care Bill: What HR 3200, "America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009," by John David Lewis, August 6, 2009

He addresses rationing, punishment of people who don't join the plan, what is acceptable coverage, will it destroy private health insurance, does it redistribute wealth (i.e., does it punish the successful), does the government set the fees, will the government be able to investigate the citizens, will the health czar and his/her cronies be exempt from court review (my wording, not his).

It also appears at Objective Standard, a journal of culture and politics. My friendly troll might click/hop on over there and take a look, since she seems unable to understand the government legalese in the bill and thinks that Medicare isn't struggling and Medicaid broke, so therefore we should do more of the same but for everyone, not just elders and the poor.

Walking the lakefront, week 8

The summer population is thinning--the average age it going up, perhaps. But then maybe there are more people with pre-schoolers, now that so many school age children have gone home. I've been watching some cross-country teams running the streets at dawn. Yesterday I passed a 70-something man on my walk along the lakefront. Later on my return I saw him settled into a park bench on the hotel lawn. Just then, a girls' cross country coach decided to bring her team to the lawn for sprints and squats, or whatever it's called. Here were these willowy and gorgeous young women prancing within 2 ft. of the older gentleman. I thought he'd move. He didn't. But he was smiling big.

Although they say obesity in children is on the increase, I know there were no girl athletes this thin when I was in high school 50 years ago. They certainly didn't look anorexic, however, there was no fat anywhere on these young ladies. I think there is tremendous pressure on female athletes to remain thin. The swimmers, basketball and softball players seem to be stocky and muscled, but the track, cross country, and gymnists will probably pack a few pounds when they get to college. I wasn't even an athlete and I managed to add 20 lbs my freshman year.

Today I walked behind the men's team (don't know if they are the same school, but probably are). One has been lagging behind each time I've seen them. He's certainly not over weight, but is the only one with a jiggle of fat above his waistline. Perhaps he's just joined the team, or had a growth spurt that has spread his weight around his frame. When my husband lettered in cross country in high school (enrollment 4,000+) he weighed about 125 lbs. at 5'9". Even into the 1970s I could buy some of his clothes in the boys department with a waist about 28". He still only weighs about 155, but I doubt he could run more than 2 blocks today. Imagine picking up a sack that weighs 30 lbs and trying to run!

This week I met the new owner of a home that my husband designed on Cherry Ave. a few years back. They only live about an hour from Lakeside, so it is easy to get here even for a short visit. They just love their cottage. I told her a little about what it looked like before an experienced architect who loves Lakeside got a hold of it, and she was amazed. She's never even seen a photo, nor had she met the previous owners. She began searching for a home when they sold almost as fast as they came on the market, but one day a realtor called and said "I think I have something." Of course, it was 2008 and the market was starting to go soft. I think it was only listed 3 days before they made their offer. The former owners live in a Chicago suburb and the trip to Lakeside was getting burdensome.

Other events this week is today's herb class on the lakefront, the topic is Lemongrass. The seminars are for "Interfaith" week, and there's nothing of interest to me on that list--although Eugene Swanger on Friday should be good. (Strong Lutheran with expertise on eastern faiths.) Yesterday I wasn't feeling well after my walk, so I didn't do the Tuesday bird watch. Debbie Boone's concert Saturday night was just fabulous. I can't remember when I've heard such a voice or seen such a professional performance. It was a tribute to her mother-in-law, Rosemary Clooney. Also did some Red Foley pieces, her grandfather. Her father, of course, is Pat Boone, but she didn't perform any of his hits.

I'm in an "intensive drawing" class this week, and am supposed to complete at least 12 drawings a day. Doubt if I'll get that much done; the instructor left early on Monday, and wasn't there on Tuesday, nor were the four other students from Monday! Here's one of my efforts--this one's for you Lynne, since you asked.

Oregon’s Right to Die Law

Obama says this new plan won’t have a “death panel.” We have nothing to fear. If it can happen in Oregon, it can happen in Ohio or Illinois. The Chilling Truth

"One of the great concerns about Oregon is the suggestion that the very existence of the right-to-die law means the state's health system now has less of an incentive to provide terminally-ill people with proper care.

It is something that came to blight 64-year-old Barbara Wagner's last days.

Diagnosed with lung cancer in 2005, the former bus driver vowed to fight the disease so she could spend as long as possible with her family.

Even after her doctor warned last year that she had less than six months left, she refused to give up, pinning all her hopes on a new life-prolonging treatment.

But her request, at the beginning of last year, for the £2,500-a-month drug was refused by Oregon's state-run health plan as being too expensive. Instead, she was offered lethal medication to end her life.

'It was horrible,' Barbara told reporters. 'I got a letter in the mail that basically said if you want to take the pills we will help you get them from a doctor and we will stand there and watch you die - but we won't give you the medicine to live.

'I told them: "Who do you think you are to say that you will pay for my dying, but you won't pay for me to possibly live longer?"

'I am opposed to the assisted suicide law. I haven't considered it, even at my lowest ebb.'

Hearing of her plight, pharmaceutical company Genentech decided to give her the drug, Tarceva, free for one year. Barbara died in October last year and her family believes the added stress of her brush with the state hastened her end.

'She felt totally betrayed,' her ex-husband Dennis, 65, said this week. 'It comes down to the buck. It's not about compassion and understanding. The bottom line is that it is all about money and Barbara fell into the middle of it.'"

Letter to Senator Burris

Murray got a very nice response from his Senator, Roland W. Burris, at least it sounded better than any I’ve received from Mary Jo Kilroy, my Representative, even though Burris supports Obamacare 100%. You'll remember he's the one who replaced Obama in the Senate. He got nothing from Durbin. Murray responded:

Thank you for your response on the Obama Healthcare Plan. There is no doubt that our healthcare in this country needs some reform but certainly not a complete overhaul. Besides, our Federal government has proven over and over that it cannot manage ANY program efficiently. How can you and your cohorts possible think that the faithful taxpayer in this country can accept a Healthcare Plan that forces them to join but exempts their legislators and the Unions? That in itself tells them that it stinks. Will you have to get the lipstick out again? That provision is only the tip of the iceberg. How about allowing illegals to participate and why are they even a consideration? What part of "illegal" don't you people understand ?

If you would simply put caps on mal-practice suits, stop give free medical attention to illegals plus allow Medicare to negotiate the price of drugs like the Canadians and the Veteran's Administration, it would go a long way towards reducing the cost of healthcare in this country. THIS WOULD COST THE TAXPAYER NOTHING TO IMPLEMENT! But you people WANT TO SPEND MORE TAXPAYER DOLLARS, GAIN COMPLETE CONTROL and PUT THIS COUNTRY FURTHER INTO DEBT! Your constituents don't want this....are you listening?

Mr. Burris, you could enhance you chances of remaining in office if you would vote against HR3200 or any other version of this Bill. You would gain the allegiance of the Illinois taxpayers who do not support healthcare reform. You know the bill is wrong for your constituents so it's time to do the right thing for a change!

Supporting a friend

Do you need any of these handsome artistic products? Creation Source Image. Gary has Parkinson's Disease. See Gary's story.

Using the "N" word

Nazi. Apparently, there is a rule about using the word "Nazi" to insult someone. I thought the Democrats invented it or reintroduced the rule during the Bush era (Pelosi, Reid, etc.), but Godwin's law which has a history, colloraries, and variations, was stated in 1990, according to Wikipedia, a source I don't usually cite, but hey, sounds about right.

"As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches." Mike Godwin, 1990

But even that has a history.

"You can tell when a USENET discussion is getting old when one of the participants drags out Hitler and the Nazis."[1989]

I used to be part of a USENET discussion group, and this does indeed sound like USENET. In fact, things got so nasty at the writers group, particularly some twit from Britain who hated me, I started my own blog in 2003, so I could toss the detractors into the trash on a whim or at will. And I never said a thing political.

However, using the Nazi analogy with medical costs control goes way back according to a 1949 article in NEJM:

"For instance, beginning in 1933, the Germans began killing "defectives" of various kinds, in part because they were unproductive ("useless eaters") and therefore were costly to the society. The pragmatic, cost-benefit dimension to the murders was illustrated in the widely used high school mathematics text cited by Dr. Leo Alexander. The text, Mathematics in the Service of National Political Education, included such problems, Alexander noted, as "how many new housing units could be built and how many marriage-allowance loans could be given to newly wedded couples for the amount of money it cost the state to care for the 'crippled, the criminal and insane,'" ("Medical Science Under Dictatorship," New England Journal of Medicine, July 14, 1949)."

"Daniel Callahan readily admits that he wrote Setting Limits because of the acute and inexorably increasing problem of medical care costs, particularly with regard to the elderly. He does not advocate euthanasia for people past a certain age; but by having the state--through Medicare--refuse to pay for certain expensive life-extending procedures such as coronary bypass operations once that age has been reached, the result of his design is..." see his Setting Limits: Medical Goals in an Aging Society (1987).

I wonder if now that he is turning 80 if he is changing his mind on the costs of eldercare. Is Callahan a Democrat? To judge from his contributions, yes, but he did spread it around to cover his bases. In thought, his heart belongs to Obamacare.

Regardless of who started with the Nazi words (I say the Bush haters did), it's clear that smearing the people who turn up at the town halls and calling them unAmerican when they try to protest legislation they don't like is counter productive for the Obama administration. It just makes him and his purple shirts look like a you-know-what.

The media bias

They sold out long ago to Obama, stepping over or on Hillary to do it, so this NYT account of the health care town halls is no surprise:

There is no dispute, however, that most of the shouting and mocking is coming from opponents of those plans. Many of those opponents have been encouraged to attend by conservative commentators and Web sites.

When we attended a Palin-McCain rally at Capital University last fall, we were mocked, ridiculed and shouted at from across the street. They never came inside to listen, of course. McCain was good, but Palin was outstanding.

When you go to sporting events, football, hockey or baseball, you expect the other team to NOT root for your team. When you go to a Code Pink Rally, you should expect to see anti-Bush signs about Hitler. When you go to a pro-life demonstration, don't be surprised to see posters of chopped up babies. These are life and death issues to many people.

But I visit liberal blogs and I know they were giving out addresses and times and encouraging liberals to attend these meetings. Do they really think that Democrat representatives need to hear from the party hacks and faithful? Or do they need to hear from the 84% of Americans who think we have pretty darn good health care with some glitches that need to be fixed?

In response, liberal groups and the White House have also started sending supporters instructions for countering what they say are the organized disruptions.

Well, at least they got that part right, then they continued with the Republican bashing. Obviously, they never sent a reporter to Ohio during the 2008 campaign to cover the ACORN bussers.

Eddie from Ohio

Our guest this past week-end was wearing an "Eddie from Ohio" t-shirt, and when I inquired he told me it was the name of a singing group they follow, not a person. Great sounds. I'd never heard of them.

Billoblog is back and posting

I don't know a single medical professional at any level, from doctor to nurse to office manager to medical flight owner, who thinks Obamacare is anything but a huge disaster for American health. Here's Bill's point of view. MD from Vanderbilt. Met him online about 1995. He was rather quiet for awhile, but seems to have caught a second wind.

"The Obamafascists are appalled, simply appalled, that people are asking questions and speaking up. The Great Community Organizer and his folk are now calling community organizing “political terrorism,” and beating up people who speak. Establishing tyranny is such hard work. And the little people just won’t shut up.

But some folk are saying that all of this is a good thing. Americans need to be reminded of the threat of soft despotism, and we’ve elected the man to do it.

Read the Steyn’s review."

"The all-pervasive micro-regulatory state “enervates,” but nicely, gradually, so after a while you don’t even notice. And in exchange for liberty it offers security: the “right” to health care; the “right” to housing; the “right” to a job—although who needs that once you’ve got all the others? The proposed European Constitution extends the laundry list: the constitutional right to clean water and environmental protection. Every right you could ever want, except the right to be free from undue intrusions by the state."

Sharia Law in the U.S. (Michigan)

A group of Americans at an Arab festival are assaulted, even though the booth invited them to ask questions after they were handed a pamphlet about Islam. They had already cleared their right to have a camera with the local police, but goons wearing "security" shirts assaulted them. Lessons from the Obamacare goons? Seems Islam is not quite so "peaceful" if you can't even ask a few questions when invited.



HT Bev

And now for an alternative view, the intention of the founders and promoters of the festival.

Along the lakefront, past and present

This morning it was about 6 a.m. when I started out--just a little daylight--for my morning walk. I scan our driveway and the streets pretty carefully. Skunks. In the dimness I can usually tell the two feral calico cats who stay fat and sassy on donations and small rodents from the skunk that lives under our neighbor’s porch. She comes out in the early morning hours to look for garbage that the renters have carelessly left in trash bags. I see the skunk scurrying across the road and wait. This has so many current political implications, that I think you know where I would go if I wanted to discuss health care scams in this post. In this light and distance, it is difficult to tell the smelly skunk from the wild domestic cats, except by the faint scent and past experience. The cats will come close, but run away if you try to get too friendly.

I had been hearing sirens for about 15 minutes, so I stop and ask the gateman if he knows what had happened. We have an excellent volunteer fire department here--usually you first hear the police siren, then the squad and fire trucks as the loyal, hard working locals are called to duty and many have sirens on their cars as they rush to the scene of the accident or fire. Noisy, but necessary. Again, I think of the political analogy of ordinary citizens called out of their sleep to sound the alarms that there’s been something really awful happening. This gate opens about 6 a.m., but he’s usually early. We all have plastic ID cards now. People who complain that “Lakeside isn’t what it used to be,” just might mean they can’t sneak in on someone else’s gate pass. Ah, another analogy.

Along the lakefront at the bottom of our street I see the 80-something kayaker I’ve seen every morning this summer. We’ve had delightfully cool weather all summer, and most days the lake is calm, but even on the mornings it isn’t, he stays in the protected area and pursues his course. He wears a tiny life preserver that I assume inflates if he needs it and a jacket. He is slightly stooped, but otherwise seems in excellent health--has benefited all his life from our excellent health care system, particularly public health measures (much of government health is good), from the pure drinking water, to quarantines for communicable diseases like TB and polio, to the invention of antibiotics, to vaccines, and possibly joint replacements, stints or organ transplants, so that he can enjoy a fruitful old age. There are some, usually gen-xers who don’t know him, or even their own grandparents, who think his good health and activity level are too expensive. But, this isn’t a political post, just thoughts along the lakefront.

This morning I don’t see the Canada geese that I saw last week. Then a flock of 28-30 were floating on the water, dipping their heads to pick up small items. One kept calling out to the laggards, who were floating along behind the main group maybe by a half mile. He was very bossy, but obviously they weren’t paying attention and needed someone or something to warn them of predators and people.

I pass a number of joggers who appear to only do this on vacation. My back has been bothering me since Friday, so I’m more in a strolling mode. One fellow quite trim is setting a good pace, and has a black brace on one knee. I see him later lying in the street stretching his legs to his chest--I suspect watching him limp which he wasn’t doing on the lakefront, that he has misjudged his fitness level. Another young man huffs and puffs his way past me. He is wearing a bandanna head band, cut off sleeve t-shirt and has many tattoos. Maybe this is what people mean when they say Lakeside isn’t what it used to be? I know I see young moms pushing babies in strollers with all the safety features looking like small Conestoga wagons that used to cross the prairies, moms with studs in their noses and tongues and tattoos on their arms. Truly, it is a bit of a culture shock, and I do wonder what it is about Lakeside they wish to expose their children to. Maybe they are here to visit grandparents, living on pensions, investments and Medicare, waiting for the cottage to be handed down to the next generation?

I pass a cottage we stayed in when our children were small--there’s a little boy about 6 or 7 doing trampoline jumps on the bunks on the porch that faces the lakefront. His shouts of glee can be heard by all the cottages close by. All the windows are open to catch the lake breezes, and apparently, he’s up and ready to go. Oh, I do remember those days! These days at least one or two rooms of even the oldest cottages have a window air conditioner, but this sleeping porch is open. Before the current administration’s love affair with cap and tax and environmentalist wackos, Ohio was a great producer of electricity. We do have our wind power advocates, usually with connections to the same owners of the coal fired product. People don’t become rich by being stupid or a-political! All with strong links in Washington, regardless of the party in “power.” Although they don’t want those ugly windmills in their line of view just as they didn’t have to look at the smoke stacks, either.

After 2 miles, I stop at the hotel to use the restroom, and decide to go back and do the lakefront over. It promises to be hot and muggy today, and this might be the coolest time to walk. I chat a minute with the night clerk, who will later be greeting me at the coffee shop. She graduated from college over the week-end and says she will return home and look for companies that might need some part-time help with a translator. Doesn’t sound eager to launch a career, and I suppose with the economy floundering with no change in sight for years, it’s not a bad plan. But if I had college loans, or were the parent who sacrificed, I’d be concerned by this. It’s a different generation than that which graduated in the early 80s after the big Carter recession after which the Reagan tax relief provided real hope and change.

The lakefront--past and present--and political.

Fred gets shouted down by leftists

But then it's Madison, Wisconsin, what can we expect but rude behavior? Check out this taxpayers' rally.

The failed experiment