Civil War speakers this week

Craig Symonds, Professor Emeritus at the U.S. Naval Academy and the author of ten previous books, including Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History, yesterday examined Lincoln’s presidency through the lens of the naval side of the Civil War, and his relationship with his Admirals. Today’s lecture we learned about a new kind of warship with iron sides and revolving gun turrets used in the Union blockade of Southern ports and the Battle of Mobile Bay. Symonds is an outstanding, lively, well-informed speaker, and he never misses a step when asked questions from the audience. If he had notes, I didn't see them. If you ever have an opportunity to hear him, don't miss it, even to just enjoy a well-prepared, articulate speaker.

Two annoyances: first, so many people don't turn off their cell phones. How many calls can grandma get? So irritating. Then there's the "other" expert in the audience--this one about 2 row behind me with an extremely deep voice, that rattled and rumbled as he pointed things out in an audible whisper to the guys he was sitting with. If he's so smart, why isn't he on the speakers' circuit, or sitting in archives researching?

Reminds me of comments at my blog.

Dear Fellow Seniors

Yes you, the classes of 1946 or 1957 or 1965 plus those earlier or later to the release from high school. What are you thinking?

First, conservatives. Some of you don't seem to realize that Medicare and Medicaid ARE socialized, government run medicine, so you sound a bit foolish with that rallying cry. You need to go back and re-read your high school text books, especially the part about the New Deal and the Great Society. It's all there in black and white.

Second, liberals. Yes, Medicare costs are out of sight, and Medicaid is bankrupt. And whose fault is that? Congress has had the power ever since the 1960s to ask the tough questions and stop the fraud and abuse, but it didn't. Guess why doctors won't take new Medicare patients? Take a look at the cash for clunkers program. How hard was it to get bottled water to Katrina victims? Hello! Once the federal government gets past clean water, quarantines and vaccines, and purple marks on beef, it's chaos in helping large numbers--like 300 million clients. State and local government agencies or non-profits or large businesses are more flexible and efficient.

Next, unhappy members of AARP. Where have you been? This is an organization formed, not to protect or represent seniors, but to sell products, particularly insurance. They don't represent you in Congress; they are a powerful lobbyist for their investors. Your elected Congressperson is supposed to represent you. I have no problem with people earning a few carefully disguised dollars, but really, I had this one figured out in their first mailing when I turned 50. And I was a Democrat who always had worked for the state.

Finally, about life expectancy and all the lies you're hearing whether Republican, Democrat, Independent or Libertarian. No, we don't have terrible health care, but we do have expensive drugs. We wouldn't have them being developed under socialism, even though the "drug programs" are. Seniors are now the cash cow for drug developers. When you get to a certain point in economic and social development, and the big killers like infant diarrhea, plague, malaria and leprosy are under control, you go after the diseases that affect people who make it through early adulthood. If you reduce auto accidents, something else jumps to the top. If you conquer cancer, another disease makes it to the nightly alarms called the broadcast news. That's why we have more years of life expectancy at age 40 or 50 than all those socialist countries. Our infant mortality rate is high because of poor, unmarried and immigrant women having babies--Europe aborts theirs, and illegal immigration is tough in Ireland, Italy and Finland. We are a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural country--this ain't no Finland or Sweden, in case you missed it. "Access" or "insurance" are just two tiny factors in what a long life or good health means. It's life style, it's genes, it's gender, it's education, it's religion, it's accidents and disasters, unforeseen.

Come on, you guys, bring those brain cells out of retirement and let's hear it for the team!

More ways to cripple the economy

You can't just look at the health care plan as this administration's blueprint to destroy the economy; don't forget The malarky filled Waxman-Taxman. The House members also didn't take the time to read that. So much for not taxing the middle class and only going after the rich. It makes the new cigarette taxes for the poor look like pennies.

"On June 26, the House of Representatives narrowly passed climate change legislation designed by Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Edward Markey (D-MA). The 1,427-page bill would restrict greenhouse gas emissions from industry, mainly carbon dioxide from the combustion of coal, oil, and natural gas.

If passed by the Senate, the bill would burden families with thousands of dollars per year in direct and indirect energy costs. According to a new study produced by Heritage's Center for Data Analysis (CDA), forecasts severe consequences—including crushing energy costs, millions of jobs lost and falling household income—if Congress enacts the so-called Waxman-Markey bill." Heritage.org, and each state is different so be sure to click to your own state. Here's some of the bad news for Ohio--your mileage and tax increases may differ.


"By 2035, Americans living in the state of Ohio will see their electricity prices rise by $1,091.47 and their gasoline prices rise by $1.40 per gallon solely because of Waxman–Markey. . . . [charts] As the economy adjusts to shrinking gross domestic product (GDP) and rising energy prices, employment will take a big hit in Ohio. Beginning in 2012, job losses will be 62,595 higher than without a cap-and-trade bill in place. And the number of jobs lost will only go up, increasing to 111,989 by 2035.

Contrary to the claims of an economic boost from green investment and green job creation and “postage stamp” costs, the Waxman–Markey climate change legislation does the complete opposite by increasing energy prices . . ."

No, it looks like none of the House members has read this one either--they're dragging us kicking and screaming back to the 1930s 10 year Depression. Must have gone to elite colleges like Harvard where they learned about evil capitalism.

Obamacare critique

A note from American Daughter

David H. Janda M.D., renowned expert on preventive health care, will critique ObamaCare on talk radio tonight. His is the author of the widely circulated article

THE OBAMA HEALTH CARE PLAN – IN ONE WORD,

which we carried a few days ago.
He will be a guest on our friends’ radio show, The Awakening, with Hanen and Arlen, which airs Monday nights from 9 to 11PM ET on Sentinel Radio.
Click here, to listen to The Awakening, tonight, Monday, 9-11pm ET.
Call-in Number: (646) 727-2652
UPDATE, 3:17 PM Dr. Janda will be on the second half of the program, at 10PM.

Throwing a bone to his leftist supporters

Torture. Terrorism. Bush. Anything to get them off his back about health care reform. They'll fall for it, too.

From James Taranto, WSJ, Aug. 24

"A backlash in the progressive base--which pushed President Obama over the top in the Democratic primary and played a major role in his general election victory--has been building for months," writes former Enron adviser Paul Krugman, the Angry Left's tribune, in the New York Times. Krugman faults the Obama administration for being insufficiently tender to terrorists and not harsh enough with bankers--but it's clear that what's brought the anger to the surface is the political failure of ObamaCare:

On the issue of health care itself, the inspiring figure progressives thought they had elected comes across, far too often, as a dry technocrat who talks of "bending the curve" but has only recently begun to make the moral case for reform. Mr. Obama's explanations of his plan have gotten clearer, but he still seems unable to settle on a simple, pithy formula; his speeches and op-eds still read as if they were written by a committee. . . .

There's a point at which realism shades over into weakness, and progressives increasingly feel that the administration is on the wrong side of that line. It seems as if there is nothing Republicans can do that will draw an administration rebuke: Senator Charles E. Grassley feeds the death panel smear, warning that reform will "pull the plug on grandma," and two days later the White House declares that it's still committed to working with him.

It's hard to avoid the sense that Mr. Obama has wasted months trying to appease people who can't be appeased, and who take every concession as a sign that he can be rolled.

As we all know, you can't appease terrorists. Oh wait, sorry--appeasing terrorists is worth a try. It's Republicans you can't appease.

A.D. Wenger writes about Europe

Earlier this month I blogged about my new book (110 years old), Six months in Bible Lands by A. D. Wenger. Wengers are in my family tree, but I think he's a different branch--Christian Wenger, and I'm descended from Hans and Hannah. I've finished it now, and thoroughly enjoyed reliving the many places we visited this spring on our "Steps of Paul" tour. I have some more notes on this book at my other, other blog just in case you've been following that story. He was a premillenialist, Mennonite pacifist evangelist, so all his writing has that filter.

Obama's war on the economy

Maybe he doesn't like the word victory in the war in the Middle East, but he can see it clearly and his aim is straight in his war on the American economy (O woe). He is following the Democrats' template of the 1930s and digging us a deeper hole.

From WaPo Aug. 22: "The nation would be forced to borrow more than $9 trillion over the next decade under President Obama's policies, the White House acknowledged late Friday, bringing their long-term budget forecast in line with independent estimates.

The new projections add approximately $2 trillion to budget deficits through 2019. Earlier this year, the administration had predicted that Obama's policies would require the government to spend $7.108 trillion more than it collects in tax revenue over the next decade.

An administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the report will not be formally released until Tuesday, said the change is due primarily to updated projections of economic growth that are far less rosy than data used when the White House released its first long-term budget outlook in February. At that time, the White House predicted the economy would shrink by 1.2 percent this year; in fact, the economy shrank at an annualized rate of 6.4 percent in the first quarter, the sharpest drop since 1980." link

Health care two years ago

When it looked like the battle would be between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Edwards and both were talking health care reform, I wrote the following in May 2007. As usual, I found holes in the left's arguments about our health care and coverage. Hillary has gone on to be neutered and banished in her role as Secretary of State, and John-Boy of the beautiful hair and loose morals is now paying for a new baby. Obama sneaked up on them by staying on task and having very smart handlers.

"Whenever government controlled health care is trotted out, the left points out miserable statistics about who isn't covered by insurance, our infant death rate, and how our per capita health care costs (government + private) are the highest in the world.

The left, particularly feminists and pols who depend on a steady supply of victims, won't point some dirty little secrets they've contributed to the problem of poverty and health care. For instance, more than one third of infants in the U.S. are born to single mothers, most never married, teens and non-white. Many of these babies are premature and will require extraordinary health care costs the rest of their lives. They will struggle in school, need special classes, and go on to have more babies. What and who has promoted removing men from the family and giving women money to do so with Uncle Sam as the absent step-father? The federal government and the programs, although well-intentioned at the beginning, have been promoted and marketed by the left. Conservatives, not wanting to be "mean" have gone along, and along and along, contributing to the problem through inaction and acquiescence. The liberals only solution to the problems they helped create is to kill the little ones before they are born and enroll in the system.

We have millions and millions of illegals in this country. Liberals encourage them to be illiterate in two languages in the failed name of diversity and multiculturalism. They are not learning English--some are afraid to leave their homes, let alone learn how to call for a squad or read a prescription. They miss or don't know about vaccinations and don't get health problems taken care of until they show up in the ER. They can't read to get a valid driver's license. They bring in diseases that have long been conquered in this country. Who is protecting and encouraging them in this unhealthy life style? Not conservatives.

Why would you compare this mess to Canada, which easily controls its borders (one being ours, one being too cold, and two being too wet) and rations health care or to Argentina which is 98% European and mono-cultural with zero diversity and strict immigration?

We already have government health care; it's called Medicaid for the poor and Medicare for the over 65. It is expensive and rationed. Why would the rest of you want it? When the new shingles vaccine became available the first thing I was told was that Medicare didn't cover it--so I paid for it because it is worth it (I've seen shingles and definitely want to avoid it). My Medigap policy is very expensive and doesn't always cover and by the time I finally get the bill that has been passed around, it is 6 months later and I've forgotten the appointment--and that's what the rest of you want?

Next time you hear Hillary or John-Boy touting universal government health care, peek under the rug and ask which universe and how much care."

One of those happy accidents

In my last post I mentioned that I'd planned to go to the 10:30 service at Hoover this morning to check out the pastor of the week, but he doesn't start until tomorrow! So on the program instead of a sermon was a Cantata based on the Beatitudes, "The Solemn Blessings" composed by Michael J. Shirtz. There was a large festival choir, guest soloists--soprano and tenor, guest flute and violin, 8 brass instruments, and the Mike Shirtz Quartet. Wow. It was fabulous. The best music program I heard this summer (I'm also more alert in the morning and usually doze once or twice in the evening), and we've had some wonderful performances. This chorale had everything from classical to romantic to jazz, blues and rock. Mr. Shirtz played the piano. And it also had a strong message. This is a young man to watch. I can't tell ages anymore, but from where I was sitting he looked under 30. There's not much about Mr. Shirtz in our newspaper, but on the internet I find he is the Director of Choral Activities & Department Coordinator at Terra Community College in Fremont, Ohio. I looked through Terra's listings and it seems to have an extensive music program with many opportunities for performing artists. Many of their performance groups are open to the community. The tenor soloist, C. Andrew Blosser was outstanding--according to the internet he is a doctoral candidate in voice at OSU and director of the Men's Chorus at Capital.

Week 10 at Lakeside, Civil War theme

Week 9 was truly spectacular--American composers and writers. Monday began a look at Aaron Copland (1900-1990) which continued through the symphony offerings at night. Monday night we had a performance by a Mark Twain actor, Marvin Cole, and then he lectured on Huckleberry Finn on Tuesday, including performing the dialog between Huck and Jim, the two runaways. He made a brief reference (with displeasure, which I share) to the current deconstruction fad, where only the sub-text, never the actual words matter, which unfortunately your children will probably be hit with in college literature class. Due to our house guests and my art class, I skipped a few that I had circled as interesting. The final performance of the symphony was spectacular. My husband's painting of the orchestra, which had won the popular vote during the art show, was given to Director Cronquist for his birthday.

This week looks busier than I probably want to be--the 6th Annual Civil War Week, plus the week's Chaplain looks good too, Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon pastor of All Saints Orthodox Church in Chicago. I skipped lakefront services this morning and am attending the 10:30 service at Hoover so I can hear him. If I like that, I'll probably attend the 9:15 week-day sermons by him. He'll also be doing vespers. He is a senior editor of Touchstone. A sample of his writings shows I may need to pay very close attention.

The week opens on Saturday and it was Corky Siegel and Chamber Blues. We thoroughly enjoyed them, and I actually stayed for the entire performance! Click here to preview. So for the lectures/seminars after the chaplain's hour I've noted: Lincoln and his admirals; U.S. Colored troops; Battle of Mobile Bay; Helen Noye, young nurse at Anapolis; Religion and faith in the Civil War; Civil war sketch artists; God's storm troopers, the Jesuit chaplains; as well as one of the evening programs, a play based on the life of abolitionist John Brown and his wife. That sounds a bit busier than I like to be, tossing in the bird walk at 8 a.m. on Tuesday and the herb class at 8:30 on Wednesday. We'll have to see. But it looks like I won't be signing up for any art classes.

Note: That's not me in the above photo, but a plein air artist. I just thought she looked a bit 19th century.

Comparing Bush and Obama

The source of this viral e-mail which also appears on many forums and blogs, is buried somewhere around early July--the two earliest I found were both African American sites. But I can't find any untruth in it, although I'm sure my loyal liberals will drag out comparisons of Bush with Clinton or Carter.

If George W. Bush had been the first President to need a teleprompter installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how he inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?

If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in NYC, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plan's holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?

If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent "Austrian language," would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?

If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current in their income taxes, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?

If George W. Bush had mis-spelled the word "advice" would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and potatoe as proof of what a dunce he is?

If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?

If George W. Bush's administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11?

If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans, would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?

If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?

If George W Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?

So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can't think of anything? Don't worry. He's done all this in 5 months -- so you'll have three years and seven months to come up with an answer.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's all in the verbs

President George W. Bush, Sept. 12, 2001
Powerful, no-nonsense, clear

"The deliberate and deadly attacks which were carried out yesterday against our country were more than acts of terror. They were acts of war. This will require our country to unite in steadfast determination and resolve. Freedom and democracy are under attack.

The American people need to know that we're facing a different enemy than we have ever faced. This enemy hides in shadows, and has no regard for human life. This is an enemy who preys on innocent and unsuspecting people, then runs for cover. But it won't be able to run for cover forever. This is an enemy that tries to hide. But it won't be able to hide forever. This is an enemy that thinks its harbors are safe. But they won't be safe forever.

This enemy attacked not just our people, but all freedom-loving people everywhere in the world. The United States of America will use all our resources to conquer this enemy. We will rally the world. We will be patient, we will be focused, and we will be steadfast in our determination.

This battle will take time and resolve. But make no mistake about it: we will win."

Colin Powell, Secretary of State, Sept. 12, 2001,
Colloquial, specific, confident

"We are undertaking a full court press diplomatically, politically, militarily, and in the course of the morning and early afternoon I have been in touch with a number of foreign leaders and international organizational leaders to coordinate the diplomatic approach to this. I have talked to Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, and I thank the United Nations for the Security Council resolution they passed and also for the statement from the Generally Assembly. And I expect the General Assembly to also work on a resolution later today.

Lord Robertson in NATO is hard at work with a resolution that is under consideration now that would tee up -- if I can put it that way -- prime Article V responsibilities. Article V of the charter says that an attack from abroad by any one against any member of the alliance is an attack against the alliance. If that resolution goes forward, that doesn't invoke Article V yet but it puts in a position to be invoked, when the United States makes a judgment about the nature of the attack and where that attack came from. And I appreciate what Lord Robertson and his colleagues are doing for us.

I have also been in touch with Foreign Minister of Belgium Louis Michel, who is also head of the presidency of the EU at this time, and High Representative Javier Solana to thank them for the strong support we have received from the European Union and the statements they have made, and their cooperation promise to us, to deal with this tragedy and to move forward.

I have also attended -- along of course, with my other colleagues -- the National Security Council meeting with the President where we reviewed all that has happened and began to make our plans for the efforts we will taking in the future, not only to bring these perpetrators to not only justice, but to the punishment that they deserve. But at the same time to undertake a worldwide effort to build a coalition against all forms of terrorism, wherever it may occur and however it rears its ugly head."

Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, Sept. 12, 2001
Speaking with the voice of memory and experience of thousands of conflicts

"We are appalled by these barbaric acts and condemn them unconditionally. These acts were an attack on our common values. We will not allow these values to be compromised by those who follow the path of violence. We pledge to undertake all efforts to combat the scourge of terrorism. We stand united in our belief that the ideals of partnership and co-operation will prevail.

EAPC Member Countries are : Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrghyz Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (2), Tadjikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan."

Congress’ Joint Resolution, Sept. 12, 2001,
Includes Kennedy, Kerry, Clinton, Reid, Edwards, and so forth. Contains the usual vague verbs of political-speak and none of the specificity of Bush and Powell, or the outrage of our allies, until you get to points 7 and 8. Sounds like distant observers who have lost touch with their constituency, but do call on others to battle in the war against terrorism, but not themselves.

"Resolved (107th CONGRESS, 1st Session, H. J. RES. 61) by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Congress--

(1) condemns in the strongest possible terms the terrorists who planned and carried out the September 11 , 2001, attacks against the United States, as well as their sponsors;
(2) extends its deepest condolences to the victims of these heinous and cowardly attacks, as well as to their families, friends, and loved ones;
(3) is certain that the people of the United States will stand united as our Nation begins the process of recovering and rebuilding in the aftermath of these tragic acts;
(4) commends the heroic actions of the rescue workers, volunteers, and State and local officials who responded to these tragic events with courage, determination, and skill;
(5) declares that these premeditated attacks struck not only at the people of America, but also at the symbols and structures of our economic and military strength, and that the United States is entitled to respond under international law;
(6) thanks those foreign leaders and individuals who have expressed solidarity with the United States in the aftermath of the attacks, and asks them to continue to stand with the United States in the war against international terrorism;
(7) commits to support increased resources in the war to eradicate terrorism;
(8) supports the determination of the President, in close consultation with Congress, to bring to justice and punish the perpetrators of these attacks as well as their sponsors; and
(9) declares that September 12, 2001, shall be a National Day of Unity and Mourning, and that when Congress adjourns today, it stands adjourned out of respect to the victims of the terrorist attacks."

Source, September 11, 2001, Yale University

Lakeside Cottage Architecture, pt. 9

Dutch Colonial Revival

The Dutch Colonial Revival style is obvious from its gambrel roof (think of a barn or the Amityville Horror movie house), with or without flared eaves, and the frequent use of dormers. It's more American than the 19th c. "victorian" style. This was a popular style in America in the 1700s--they were less expensive to build because most of the second floor walls were the roof--and the owner wasn’t taxed for a two story house. The Federal Direct Tax records of 1798 shows that gambrel-roofed houses were classified as one story. Then in the late 19th and early 20th century, there was a “revival” of this style, and there are a number of them spotted around Lakeside. Here’s what you could find in this style home according to one style page I found. http://www.antiquehome.org/Architectural-Style/dutch-colonial.htm

1½ to 2 stories
Clapboard or shingle siding, but occasionally with brick or stone facing
Typically symmetrical façades, but also found with side entries
Gable-end chimneys
Round windows in gable end
Porch under overhanging eaves
8-over-8 windows
Shed, hipped, or gable dormers
Columns for porches and entry

We have two classic examples on the lakefront--one at the end of Oak Street right on the lake that is quite elaborate with various gables, dormers and shingle siding and another at 320 Lakefront, that hasn't had as many modifications as the Oak St. house which was in an estate for years and quite run down when we first bought our cottage here, and has now been extensively remodeled twice in the last 15 years or so.

This Dutch Colonial has been extensively remodeled.

This one at 320 Lakefront is probably very close to its original intent and is a classic. The new owner caused quite a stir in wanting to demolish it and build a "victorian" cottage. For now, that hasn't been approved by the Design Review Board. Many cottages here replaced wooden porches early in the 20th century with shaped concrete block from nearby Marblehead.

There are others probably built from around 1910-1940 and they fit nicely into Lakeside’s eclectic style catalog of homes. Like many other Lakeside cottages, they reflect a hodge podge of add-ons to suit the various owners' needs over the years.











This was a 2 story barn built in 1918, and was converted in the 1980s to a cottage with added dormers, and remodeled again with a large porch to the north.

Obama Health Plan: Rationing, Higher Taxes, and Lower Quality Care

This study will explain how the health policy changes President Obama and Congressional Democrats support would cause millions of Americans to lose their choice of doctors and insurance coverage, require that access to care be strictly rationed, and cause the quality of care to deteriorate. Despite all this sacrifice, nationalizing health insurance in America would require major tax increases, slow economic growth, and increase the national debt.
Read the full report here.

The lurch to the left

I don't know who Pat Toomey is, or if he's a good man, but this assessment of what's happening in Pennsylvania from the WSJ ("Arlen Specter's Dilemma" Aug. 22) needs to happen in all the states.

At the picnic, Mr. Toomey railed against government bailouts and spending on a "breathtaking scale." He warned of coming tax increases, a pending government takeover of health care, and of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would allow unions to organize employees without secret-ballot elections. He also said that while the Obama agenda is cause for despair for conservatives, it also opens a door for Republicans.

"This lurch to the left is unacceptable to voters, including lots of Democrats and an overwhelming number of independents," he told the crowd. "This wildly ambitious agenda is their Achilles' heel—and our opportunity."

Indeed, what is different this time is that Democrats in Congress are going out of their way to provide grist for Mr. Toomey's mill—cooking up thousand-page, trillion-dollar helpings of reform and bailouts, and pushing health-care legislation that's driving independents into the GOP camp.

Many of us were not fooled

And many who were, are recovering their sanity and common sense.

"What if the first African-American president isn’t? Doesn’t that change everything? And dash some mighty big hopes? It’s not a question of skin color or mixed blood, it’s about where he places his heart and soul. And how he scooped up oceans of American benevolence toward black people and double-crossed it into a tidal wave that swept him into the White House where he has been living on so many false premises that even the mainstream media are starting to get shaky.

He fooled white people who don’t know enough about blacks to spot an imitation. He fooled black people who wanted so much to believe that they’d finally got their place in the sun that they squinted their eyes up and fell into the trap. He fooled conservative media that still today haven’t asked themselves what was wrong with the daily, weekly, monthly anti-Obama articles they hemstitched, carefully skirting the real issues. Many of his opponents are still pussyfooting. He fooled the Jews big time, but he didn’t pretend to be Jewish. Just put some of our boys in high places, did a cut rate seder, wore a kippa to Yad Vashem and reaped the benefits as sure as a token opens a turnstile." Read the entire article.

And it's not just conservatives who are catching on. The left is waking up to his scam, too. A Scandanavian blogger, Tundra Tabloids writes: So now even the Left is waking up to the reality that Obama will lie at will to suit his purposes, this time around it's doing what he said he would never do, that is, strike a deal with big drug companies for a deal that offers Obama's plan a short term gain, but to the drug companies, an even greater gain in the long run. Listen to the short broadcast.



If this is how he wheels and deals (back room deals and lying with a smile to his base supporters) in getting his health care scheme rolling, think of how he's acting in connection with the "peace process" between Israel and the Arabs. Obama shouldn't be trusted as far as one can spit.

UALC: it’s time to go

For years our huge, evangelical congregation in suburban Columbus with 3 locations and 9 services on Sunday and many ministries has been told we would leave if this happened. Let’s see if promises are kept. In April 2008 I wrote about the "Social Statement on Human Sexuality" at Digging for the Pony.

This ELCA draft does violence to our English language--verbal abuse, noun abuse, adverb abuse and adjective abuse, to say nothing of abusing our Christian faith. It is Scripture twisting and gymnastics! This draft criticizes "Lutheran historical teachings concerning homosexuality" with no footnotes (Book of Concord? Luther? Lutheran Brethren? Missouri-Synod Lutheran? Wisconsin Synod? the old ALC?). It does not analyze or reference any teaching, research or biblical criticism by known Christian homosexuals, theologians or Lutheran pastors who promote ordination and marriage for gays. It does find space to comment on and condemn children's clothing, playground bullying, consumerism, date rape, dangers of the internet, early sex education, grandparents raising grandchildren and inappropriate touching of female pastors. If you throw in the kitchen sink maybe no one will notice there is no Biblical foundation?

I checked the website today, and found out the temperature in Columbus is 63, but didn't see anything about this issue. Nor did I really expect to. ELCA (our synod) has been spiritually wandering in the wilderness and losing members ever since it was created in 1988 out of a liberal and a moderate synod whose ethnic differences had blurred over the years.

From Episcopal Life online: The 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) on August 21 approved opening the ministry of the church to pastors and other professional workers living in committed same-gender relationships.

The resolution passed by a vote of 559 to 451 and overturns previous church policy that prohibited participation of gays and lesbians in church ministries unless they were celibate.

Discussions about human sexuality have dominated the August 17-23 assembly in Minneapolis, the chief legislative authority of the 4.6 million-member denomination. More than half, or about 1,045, of the 2,000 participants are voting members at the gathering, themed "God's work. Our hands."

The assembly also approved a resolution committing the church to find ways for congregations that choose to do so to "recognize, support and hold publicly accountable life-long, monogamous, same-gender relationships." It did not use the word "marriage." It also approved, by a vote of 771-230, a resolution committing the church to respect the differences of opinions on the matter and honor the "bound consciences" of those who disagree.

In 2008 I concluded with, "I don't know what our congregation (UALC) is waiting for--it took this sexuality task force seven years to write a mish-mash and hodge podge and submit it to the people of God as a serious work. Every paragraph looks like the sentences were drawn from a hat of former reports and pasted to a page. It is an insult to our common sense and a travesty of our faith. It's time to go. It really is. These people will not back down; they'll just wear us out."

Who are those 47 million Obama says are without insurance?

First, this issue isn't about the uninsured, nor the cost of health care. That's scare tactics. This is a power grab full of lies and deception. If you've ever gone to the ER, you know there are plenty of uninsured people who have access to good treatment--maybe better than yours.

The statistic comes from the latest U.S. Census Bureau Report, “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2007,” which can be accessed through the U.S. Census official website, according to Liberty Counsel.

"On page 30 of the report, the number of “PEOPLE” who were uninsured in 2006 was 46,995,000, which actually dropped by 1.3 million in 2007 to 45,657,000. But who are these people? Of the 46 million “PEOPLE” without insurance, 10,231,000 are listed as “Not a citizen” in 2006. In 2007, this figure is 9,737,000.

Beyond the noncitizens, a large number are high-income earners. Under the “Household Income” section, the number of uninsured who make $75,000 or more is 9,283,000 in 2006 and 9,115,000 in 2007. An additional 8,459,000 in 2006 had a household income of $50,000 to $74,999. In 2007 this number was 8,488,000.

In addition, a May 2003 nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office report, “How Many People Lack Health Insurance and For How Long,” says, “It is frequently stated that about 40 million Americans lack health insurance. That estimate, however, overstates the number of people who are uninsured all year. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that between 21 million and 31 million people were uninsured for the entire year in 1998 – the most recent year for which reliable comparative data are available. Since then, the number which is uninsured all year probably has not changed substantially, given historical trends. The uninsured population is fluid, with many people gaining and losing insurance.” "

Unfortunately, Obama is actually forcing more people into uninsured status by doing everything he can to keep us in a deepening recession, from cap and trade to higher taxes which reduces investment, to demonizing the people who actually pay the bulk of the tax load.

If you refuse to read right wing think tanks, like Liberty Counsel, check out the CBO report. The stats and figures come from that report. Obama is taking a sledge hammer to swat a fly. The purpose is not to protect or help the sick and poor--that's just to get your attention--it is to take control of a large segment of the economy. If he cared about all the uninsured illegals, he could have just sent an invoice to the Mexican government. If he cared about the costs, he wouldn't have proposed all those mandates in order to bankrupt the insurance system.

Or he could have asked me a vet med librarian

I had noticed this back in the 1990s when I was writing my own articles and/or helping professors do their research. On-line didn’t mean better research, and sometimes it didn’t mean faster.

James Evans writes for Britannica Blog: “For a report published in Science (July 18, 2008), I used a database of 34 million articles, their citations (1945 to 2005) and online availability (1998 to 2005), and showed that as more journals and articles came online, the actual number of them cited in research decreased, and those that were cited tended to be of more recent vintage. This proved true for virtually all fields of science. (Note that this is not a historical trend…there are more authors and universities citing more and older articles every year, but when journals go online, references become more shallow and narrow than they would have been had they not gone online.)

Moreover, the easy online availability of sources has channeled researcher attention from the periphery to the core—to the most high-status journals. In short, searching online is more efficient, and hyperlinks quickly put researchers in touch with prevailing opinion, but they may also accelerate consensus and narrow the range of findings and ideas grappled with by scholars.”

When professors came to the library, sat down with their favorite, generalist journal on medicine, biochemistry, nutrition, or cancer, they would scan the table of contents, and couldn’t avoid seeing areas of interest outside their own, something to perk a brain cell in a new direction. On-line database searching narrows and refines, but it also imprisons the mind.

Holding my breath

This morning we're taking our house guests to the Patio Restaurants for pancakes. They love those, and it's this food critic's opinion that the Patio has the best on the peninsula. So this morning after my walk I poured my chubby legs in some linen short pants (don't know if they are Capri's) of a gorgeous aqua color and left the waist unbuttoned. They didn't fit at all in June, because I'd washed them (tag said dry clean only). However, how dumb would I have to be to pay $4 at the thrift shop, then $6 to dry clean them? I'd never buy this at a retail shop--the pants have little beads around the cuffs with a shear fabric insert. But for $4, they looked like they said, "fun in the sun."

I thought it would be easy to lose my Ireland and Italy gained weight this summer--maybe 1/2 lb a week sounded reasonable. However, even without a fast food restaurant within miles, and Abigail's Tea Room closed, I managed to find my way to the crackers and cheese and peanut butter in my own kitchen, as well as second helpings.

However, I have been walking every day, some days even 4 or 5 miles. My friend Lynne is now up to 10 miles a day--I think it's the competition from her favorite Republican slug. So although I haven't lost anything, the clothes are looser. My daughter, who was told about 6 months ago that she would need yet another medication to control her fast approaching diabetes, said NO, I'll do anything, even exercise. This is my sweet baby who smiled up from the crib the 4 hours she was awake, and then slept the rest of the time. (If you have an exceptionally "good" child who never minds going down for a nap, and sleeps 12 hours at night, Hashimoto's might be in her future.) And boy,has she exercised, dropping 4 sizes, now getting into size 10 slacks. So it can be done. Also, all her lab numbers are now normal. That's the good news--she's beautiful at any size, it's her health that's important.