Mainstream Media Fails Again

says Nancy Matthis at American Daughter.

"The mainstream media made no mention of the controversy surrounding Van Jones until AFTER he resigned. The usual suspects, who have shaped the news for years, -- CBS, NBC, the Washington Post, and the New York Times -- carried no news at all until the Jones affair was over. Then they reported, briefly (trying to minimize the damage to Obama), that Jones had resigned as the result of a vicious right-wing smear campaign. That is a very biased way to characterize an expose consisting entirely of video clips of the man's own speeches."

Yes, the explanation of his own midnight escape on a holiday, slow news week-end could be funny, but we haven't heard the end of Van Jones, I'm sure. He's becoming more famous by the minute and will really be raking in the honoraria for his speeches. He has never denied his own words and charges of hatred and racism against 80% of this nation. There are plenty more well off, handsome, whiny marxists in the O-Admin looking for victims to scam. Bloggers just need to peek under a few more rocks. Just look at George Soros. Well, he's not handsome or in the administration, but he's one of them as is Michael Moore, Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, etc. This line of business (taking over a country) requires a constant but small stream of unhappy people overseen by clever and well-educated organizers infiltrating the colleges, non-profits, churches, and professional organizations, and they know just which levers to pull to release the dam.

Unelected, Unconfirmed, Unaccountable

Just in case you were counting.

1. Richard Holbrooke — Afghanistan Czar
2. Jeffrey Crowley — AIDS Czar
3. Ed Montgomery — Auto Recovery Czar
4. Alan Bersin — Border Czar
5. David J. Hayes — California Water Czar
6. Ron Bloom — Car Czar (moved to Manufacturing Czar today)
7. Dennis Ross — Central Region Czar
8. Todd Stern — Climate Czar
9. Lynn Rosenthal — Domestic Violence Czar
10. Gil Kerlikowske — Drug Czar
11. Paul Volcker — Economic Czar
12. Carol Browner — Energy and Environment Czar
13. Joshua DuBois — Faith Based Czar
14. Jeffrey Zients — Government Performance Czar
15. Cameron Davis — Great Lakes Czar
16. Van Jones — Green Jobs Czar (resigned)
17. Daniel Fried — Guantanamo Closure Czar
18. Nancy-Ann DeParle — Health Czar
19. Vivek Kundra — Information Czar
20. Dennis Blair — Intelligence Czar
21. Ron Bloom — Manufacturing Czar
22. George Mitchell — Mideast Peace Czar
23. Kenneth R. Feinberg — Pay Czar
24. Cass R. Sunstein — Regulatory Czar
25. John Holdren — Science Czar
26. Earl Devaney — Stimulus Accountability Czar
27. J. Scott Gration — Sudan Czar
28. Herb Allison — TARP Czar
29. Aneesh Chopra — Technology Czar
30. John Brennan — Terrorism Czar
31. Adolfo Carrion Jr. — Urban Affairs Czar
32. Ashton Carter — Weapons Czar
33. Gary Samore — WMD Policy Czar

"The departments raided of their authority in favor of Czars include the Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Labor, Interior, Energy, Commerce, and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) — that’s the entire cabinet except for the Departments of Education, Transportation, and Veterans’ Affairs."

HT Hot Air and Belmont Club.

Google a few of these characters. It's darn scary!

"In today's world, however, the number of children in a family is a matter of profound public concern. The law regulates other highly personal matters. For example, no one may lawfully have more than one spouse at a time. Why should the law not be able to prevent a person from having more than two children?" John Holdren, Obama's Science Czar, p. 838, Ecoscience.

"Taking Machine politics nationwide was one of the great dangers of electing Barack Obama to executive office. Appointing run of the mill political actors like Valerie Jarrett, Arne Duncan, and now Cameron Davis [Great Lakes Czar] takes limited local players onto the national stage, which begs the question…is Congress and the National Press up to the task of checking the Chicagoans?" Chicago Daily Observer

Cass Sunstein, next to go?

Let's have a bit more transparency, some sunshine on the Obama appointments, the ones that need confirmation. The crazies--animal rightists, statists, marxists, and Nudge-nuts.

"Cass Sunstein is another of member of President Obama's administration. His nomination to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has been stuck in committee since June because of his extreme ideas. Sunstein is an advocate of something called libertarian paternalism, which means give people the choice to make their own decisions, but instead of just laying out the facts, control the number of choices, then use knowledge of behavioral sciences (like psychology) to guide them to do what you want. In other words treat the voters the way you treat young children." Yid with a Lid

"Cass Sunstein, President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), has advocated a policy under which the government would “presume” someone has consented to having his or her organs removed for transplantation into someone else when they die unless that person has explicitly indicated that his or her organs should not be taken.

Under such a policy, hospitals would harvest organs from people who never gave permission for this to be done." CNSNews" Should fit nicely with the death panels, right?

"Cass Sunstein, a Harvard Law professor who has been appointed to a shadowy post that will grant him powers that are merely mind-boggling, explicitly supports using the courts to impose a "chilling effect" on speech that might hurt someone's feelings. He thinks that the bloggers have been rampaging out of control and that new laws need to be written to corral them.

Advance copies of Sunstein's new book, "On Rumors: How Falsehoods Spread, Why We Believe Them, What Can Be Done," have gone out to reviewers ahead of its September publication date, but considering the prominence with which Sunstein is about to be endowed, his worrying views are fair game now. Sunstein is President Obama's choice to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. It's the bland titles that should scare you the most. . . Czar is too mild a world for what Sunstein is about to become. How about "regulator in chief"? How about "lawgiver"? He is Obama's Obama. Kyle Smith "

"Cass Sunstein says: An example of a little nudge is that Congress should enact very soon a greenhouse gas inventory, by which American citizens see who are the big contributors to the climate change problem. Amazingly, there isn’t a climate—a greenhouse gas inventory. That little nudge, there’s every reason to think, would achieve considerable good, because no company likes to see in the newspaper that it’s one of the worst contributors to the climate change problem. So information disclosure is a really simple, often costless and sometimes very effective nudge." Interview at Democracy Now! [Wow, is that name a stretch!]

Calling the school answering machine

Homosexual adoption update

About 2.5 years ago I wrote about the strange case of the heir of the IBM fortune who had adopted her lover, and then they split up.

Honest, I was looking for the amount of CO2 termites contribute to global warming, and somehow wandered into this strange story of the granddaughter of IBM founder, Thomas Watson, who adopted her adult lesbian partner, then they split, and now about 15 years later, the ex-partner is trying to get herself listed as the 19th grandchild of her ex-lover's biological mother so she can help support her own biological mother, who apparently had no objections to giving her up for adoption. Serves the greedy little twit right if she loses her suit. Serves the flaky IBM granddaughter right if she loses in court to her ex-lover. Some people give adoption a bad name. Some people give women a bad name. Some people give money lust a bad name. Some do all three.
Posted by Norma at 3/19/2007

Today I checked to see what had happened. A lot. Court rulings. Reversals by a higher court. I wonder if this will go higher?

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled on July 23 that the adoption of Patricia Spado by her then-same-sex-partner, Olive Watson, in 1991 was valid, reversing a Probate Court ruling that had threatened to derail Spado’s attempt to claim a portion of the trust established by Thomas J. Watson, Jr., son of the founder of International Business Machines (IBM). Adoption of Patricia S., 2009 WL 2195428. Full story here.

Archivist or Librarian--does anyone care?

"On July 28, President Obama announced his intent to nominate David S. Ferriero to the position of Archivist of the United States. Mr. Ferriero currently serves as the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the New York Public Libraries (NYPL). Mr. Ferriero succeeds Professor Allen Weinstein who resigned as Archivist last December." National Coalition for History

Well, he's not an archivist, and as a librarian I can tell you these are different specialties, but it's much closer than the Librarian of Congress ever came to being a librarian. And closer than the last guy, Allen Weinstein who had been a history professor, writer, editor and head of a think tank/non-profit. These position usually don't change with the administration but he has Parkinson's Disease and cited ill health. It's probably just a title and I wish him well. To the victor belongs the archives. And the appointments.

And it requires confirmation! Since none of the czars do, and they will affect our lives far more than this position, it's time to demand a little sunlight on them. There are plenty more Van Joneses in the O-Administration; besides it sounds like he's just moved on over to John Podesta's Center for American Progress Action Fund. Sandy Berger's daughter works there. He definitely had a strong NARA connection. (He's the guy who stole the documents from the Archives and stuffed them in his socks.) See Guide to the Political Left for information on CAP.

Only Americans can save the economy

Stop waiting for the President to do something. Stop applying for phony "shovel ready" stimulus money (as of yesterday less than 14% had been spent by federal agencies).

1. Go out and buy something from a local business today. Skip the internet.
2. If you are in business, put an advertisement in a local newspaper or magazine or TV channel.
3. Take the kids to the zoo or go to a movie and then out for ice cream.
4. To to the lumber yard or hardware store and buy that item to do the home repair you've been promising.
5. Leave bigger tips--bus boys pay rent too, you know.
6. Buy school supplies for a low income family at the neighborhood five and dime dollar or drug store.
7. Have a party--invite the neighbors.
8. Put $5 more in the collection plate next Sunday.
9. Buy stock in an American company whose products you know and trust.
10. And if you live in a state like Ohio that is proposing more gambling to bring in jobs, consider the fall out, the outside interests, and cost of social problems before you vote.

Off shore drilling, the rest of the story

I saw a reference to this in my cousin’s last weekly letter, and thought it quite interesting. You may not agree, but let’s agree we’re only hearing one side from the environmentalists. Offshore Oil Drilling: An Environmental Bonanza By Humberto Fontova. Excerpts:

"Environmentalists" wake up in the middle of the night sweating and whimpering about offshore oil platforms only because they've never seen what's under them. Louisiana produces almost 30 per cent of America's commercial fisheries. Only Alaska (ten times the size of the Bayou state) produces slightly more. So obviously, Louisiana's coastal waters are immensely rich and prolific in seafood. These same coastal waters contain 3,200 of the roughly 3,700 offshore production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. These oil production platforms off the Bayou state's coasts also extract 80 percent of the oil and 72 percent of the natural gas produced in the Continental U.S., without causing a single major oil spill in half a century of this process. This record stands despite dozens of hurricanes -- including the two most destructive in North American history, Camille and Katrina -- repeatedly battering the drilling and production structures. So for those interested in evidence over hysterics, by simply looking bayou-ward, a lesson in the "environmental perils" of offshore oil drilling presents itself very clearly. Fashionable Florida, on the other hand, which zealously prohibits offshore oil drilling, had its gorgeous "Emerald Coast" panhandle beaches soiled by an ugly oil spill in 1976. This spill, as almost all oil spills, resulted from the transportation of oil -- not from the extraction of oil. Assuming such as Hugo Chavez deign to keep selling us oil, we'll need increasingly more and we'll need to keep transporting it stateside -- typically to refineries in Louisiana and Texas. This path takes those tankers (as the one in 1976) smack in front of Florida's panhandle beaches. Recall the Valdez, the Cadiz, the Argo Merchant. These were all tanker spills. The production of oil is relatively clean and safe. Again, it's the transportation that presents the greatest risk. And even these spills (though hyped hysterically as environmental catastrophes) always play out as minor blips, those pictures of oil-soaked seagulls notwithstanding. To the horror and anguish of professional greenies, Alaska's Prince William Sound recovered completely. More birds get fried by landing on power lines and smashed to pulp against picture windows in one week than perished from three decades of oil spills."

But then, I never thought it was about safety, bio-diversity, wildlife, fish, etc. Did you? It's about shutting down the economy, about not using petroleum at all, for any reason.

Please sneeze in your sleeves

Alice’s e-mail from the University of Nebraska has been coming to me for well over 10 years. I don’t know if there is a “real” Alice or not, but she always has good things to say about food, nutrition, health and safety. This month she had a number of humorous videos on hand washing.

I liked this one the best. It’s from the Maine Medical Association (c2005). If you are Obamaphobic, you don’t have to worry. The sneeze in your sleeve message has been going around for a long time. But they are right--it's a difficult concept when you've been taught all your life to use your hand or a Kleenex.



Some of the videos showed proper hand washing technique, but most left the water running the whole time. Isn't that a bit wasteful? Will it be the Greenies against the germophobes? I think "passing the peace" at church will probably evolve to a shoulder or hip bump. And I'm sure many of the old time Lutherans will be happy to stop that frivolous act of fellowship. I saw in the paper the French are giving up cheek kissing, too.

With a midwestern twang

Obama stuttered through this challenge in today's Labor Day speech in Cincinnati:

"I've got a question for all these folks who say, you know, we're going to pull the plug on Grandma and this is all about illegal immigrants -- you've heard all the lies," Obama said. "I've got a question for all those folks: What are you going to do? What's your answer? What's your solution?

"And you know what? They don't have one."

An out and out lie. Only about 15 million citizens (not 47 million) are without health insurance and no one is denied access. Those trumped up numbers include illegals, people between jobs, people who could buy it but don't, and people who are already eligible for government care and are having trouble applying (which can sometimes create 4 years of documentation and expensive lawyer fees to get declared disabled). He just flat out ignores all the other possibilities, like creating more competition by allowing sales across state lines for health insurance; the tort reform that Democrats run from because of their lawyer buddies (did lawyers write all these rules and lobby for this bill?); reduction of federal mandates that few people need; and reducing fraud and waste in Medicaid and Medicare and SCHIP; kick out the lobbyists, like you promised.

Your turn Mr. President. Take the plugs out of your ears. You'll hear lots of solutions.

Finger wagging from the White House

"Changing its tactics in the health-care debate, the White House has begun stressing the moral imperative to provide health insurance to all Americans. "I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper," President Obama now argues. "And in the wealthiest nation on earth right now, we are neglecting to live up to that call." But Obama is just plain wrong that America is neglecting its obligations to the most vulnerable. The real health-care problem is not moral but structural and systemic.

We already spend hundreds of billions of dollars every year providing health care to the elderly, through Medicare, and to the poor, through Medicaid. The first of these programs—which, experts estimate, may squander up to $60 billion every year in waste, fraud, and abuse—is running a staggering, and unsustainable, long-term deficit of $38 trillion. The second is in even worse shape, with a 2006 survey finding that as many as half of all physicians have either stopped accepting new Medicaid patients or limited the number they'll see because reimbursements are so low. On paper, poor patients have great government insurance; their only problem is that they can't find a doctor." Continue reading at City Journal, It's the system.

No narrative

That's why Obama is in free fall.

"No narrative. Obama doesn't have a narrative. No, not a narrative about himself. He has a self-narrative, much of it fabricated, cleverly disguised or written by someone else. But this self-narrative is isolated and doesn't connect with us. He doesn't have an American narrative that draws upon the rest of us. All successful presidents have a narrative about the American character that intersects with their own where they display a command of history and reveal an authenticity at the core of their personality that resonates in a positive endearing way with the majority of Americans. We admire those presidents whose narratives not only touch our own, but who seem stronger, wiser, and smarter than we are. Presidents we admire are aspirational peers, even those whose politics don't align exactly with our own: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, Ike, Reagan.

But not this president. It's not so much that he's a phony, knows nothing about economics, is historically illiterate, and woefully small minded for the size of the task-- all contributory of course. It's that he's not one of us. And whatever he is, his profile is fuzzy and devoid of content, like a cardboard cutout made from delaminated corrugated paper. Moreover, he doesn't command our respect and is unable to appeal to our own common sense. His notions of right and wrong are repugnant and how things work just don't add up. They are not existential. His descriptions of the world we live in don't make sense and don't correspond with our experience." Geoffrey P. Hunt, American Thinker

Oh, he has a narrative all right. I read it all the time in editorials of professional and academic journals and see and hear it from the talking heads of the MSM. But it's not personal and doesn't connect with you and me; but does with many. It's the drumbeat narrative of the left--America suffers spiritually and psychologically under capitalism; we're like a Soros funded bad movie--a sinister influence in the world; the War on Terror is a fraud; terrorists are misunderstood freedom fighters; markets are fundamentally unjust. Americans distrust their government and authority in general; we reject universal health care because we are mean and opportunistic; we are immoral to care about the individual; we care about outcomes and investments and don't see society as a whole. Americans are bad because they rebel against their Mother--Earth. Only America and Somalia have rejected the UN convention on the Rights of Children, yada yada. A just society depends on collective wisdom. Castro is a good, kind decent man who only took property from the rich to elevate the poor workers, and it was rightfully theirs. Chavez too. Just an old sweety. The unborn and the elderly cannot contribute to the greater good and are therefore expendable. Only community should be considered, never money or financial gain for the individual (bureaucrats and politicians excepted, of course). Only national leadership in all sectors of society and morality can pull us out of our ethical cesspool of aggression and outdated biblical beliefs of right and wrong.

Oh yes, there's a narrative all right, and unfortunately Mr. Hunt, it resonates with a lot of Americans who still support him and who will insist you're talking about his race and not culture or beliefs or character.

Cap and Trade--what a nice gift for workers--lost jobs

"The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis found that, for the average year over the 2012-2035 timeline, job losses will be 1.1 million greater than without a cap and trade bill. By 2035, there is a projected 2.5 million fewer jobs below the baseline. Some of these jobs will be destroyed completely. Others will move overseas where carbon capping isn’t in their country’s agenda and therefore the cost of production is cheaper.

We’re not the only ones who project unemployment from cap and trade. The Brookings Institute, for instance, projects that cap-and-trade will increase unemployment by 0.5% in the first decade below the baseline. Using U.S. Census population projection estimates, that’s equivalent to about 1.7 million fewer jobs than without cap-and-trade. A study done by Charles River Associates prepared for the National Black Chamber of Congress projects increases in unemployment by 2.3-2.7 million jobs in each year of the policy through 2030–after accounting for “green job” creation."

Happy thoughts for Labor Day from President Reagan

As the unemployment rate soars (9.7% and some areas of Michigan and Ohio would be thrilled with that figure), and jobs are not being created, it's time to look at a stimulus that really did work. Notice. If Obama wants to improve health, he should first correct the continued downward spiral of this economy, the worst in 26 years. Job insecurity and unemployment are not good for health. If he just wants to take over more of the private sector, he should continue on his current course.

"Common sense told us that when you put a big tax on something, the people will produce less of it. So, we cut the people's tax rates, and the people produced more than ever before. The economy bloomed like a plant that had been cut back and could now grow quicker and stronger. Our economic program brought about the longest peacetime expansion in our history: real family income up, the poverty rate down, entrepreneurship booming, and an explosion in research and new technology. We're exporting more than ever because American industry became more competitive. And at the same time, we summoned the national will to knock down protectionist walls abroad instead of erecting them at home." . . .

"Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: "We the people." "We the people" tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us. "We the people" are the driver, the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the people" tell the government what it is allowed to do. "We the people" are free. This belief has been the underlying basis for everything I've tried to do these past eight years."

Ronald Reagan Farewell speech, Jan. 11, 1989.

It looks like we the people, the citizen politicians, have some work to do. Or we won't be a beacon much longer.

Using MS Paint to draw

I've done really simply lines using MS Paint, usually to figure out perspective; but this sketch of a woman (see link) is amazing. Of course, it is a big help to be a good artist to begin with, but this shows what can be done with a simple program (came with my last 3 computers). The trick is knowing when to let up on the mouse and have an extremely steady hand (I don't).

http://sketchingdrawing.com/?p=20

This artist has many instructional videos and well worth the look for all my artsy readers.

The H1N1 Pandemic?

It seems we have a pandemic because the definition of pandemic was changed?

"Before the arrival of novel A/H1N1 virus, pandemics were said to occur when a new subtype of influenza virus to which humans have no immunity enters the population, begins spreading widely, and causes severe illness . . . But the 2009 pandemic, taken as a whole, bears little resemblance to the forecasted pandemic. Pandemic A/H1N1 virus is not a new subtype but the same subtype as seasonal A/H1N1 that has been circulating since 1977. . . Experts are unsure that the 2009 pandemic—which the World Health Organization presently characterises as moderate—will be any worse than seasonal flu." from article by Peter Doshi, doctor student, MIT, BMJ 2009;339:b3471

HT Junkfood Sciene

What did you do this summer?

Almost too much to think about it--especially, since I probably missed about half of the programming! It wears me out to think of it, so I'd better blog before I forget. Last night Kevin said there had been 90 days of programming at Lakeside. Somewhere I saw a note that Rhein Center had about 6,000 signed up for classes. So here's what I did, other than the 70 sunrise walks (and 3 sunsets), and I didn't do everything there was to do--don't have that much energy. Like during Health and Wellness week I was too tired to go to the lecture on Fatigue. Also, sometimes my husband was sailing when I was at seminars or lectures:

SEMINARS

Ohio Week
Canal Craze, Randall Buchman
Ohio and Erie Canal, Randall Buchman
Miami and Erie Canal, Peter Wilheim
Milan Canal, Ken Dickson
History of Tofts Dairy, Eugene Meisler (with Moose Tracks samples)

Civil War Week
Lincoln and his Admirals, Craig Symonds
Battle of Mobile Bay, Craig Symonds
Religion and Faith in the Civil War, Fr. Robert J. Miller
God's storm troops, the Jesuits, Fr. Robert J. Miller
Civil War sketch artists, Ken Bach

American Writers and Composers
Aaron Copland
Mark Twain
Some of the evening programing fit this theme too
I had a lot of conflicts with arts classes that week

Interfaith Week--lectures on Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity
I only attended Gene Swanger's Buddhism lecture--had conflicts with arts classes. Also attended Gene's lecture on ancient Greek insights during another week. I'd go to hear him give a weather report.

Peace and Justice Week
Topics on moral theology, global issues, juvenile justice, sustainability, malnutrition, none of which I attended, as I was busy with some tours, and I think that was also the week Gretchen did her talk on Aprons

Great Lakes
Shipwrecks--Anthony Wayne and Cortland
History of Passenger Travel
U.S. Coast Guard Temporary Reserve during WWII

Hot Button Issues--didn't attend--topics were terrorism, immigration, globalization, etc.

Health and Wellness week
Integrative medicine, Laura Kunze
Health Maintenance, John Weigand
Future of Medicine, John Weigand
Exercise, Kitty Consolo
Nutrition for healthy seniors

China (M-W)--attended all lectures by Kerry Dumbaugh--I think there were five
Astronomy (W-F) attended all by Dr. Thomas Statler and wife of Ohio University, 4 or 5

Sports and Faith
Lord's Day-Eric Liddell, Greg Linville
Biblical defense of sports, Greg Linville
Coaching today's students, Sue Ramsey, women's basketball coach at Ashland U.

MUSIC, most of these were in Hoover Auditorium at 8:15, some on the lakefront on Sundays, or early evening. Hoover also has many non-music programs, like acrobats, comedians, ventriloquists, but usually I don't go to those.

Dwight Lenox--tribute to Lou Rawls
Terra College Harpist group
Barbershop Festival, 60th
Corky Siegal & Chamber Blues
Jay Ungar & Molly Mason Family Band
Johnny Knorr Orchestra
Lakeside Symphony (I think there 8 performances) included Jean Geis Stell, pianist, a Lincoln portrait (Copeland) during Civil War Week, an opera, Don Pasquale, ballet Point of Departure
Hoagy Carmichael tribute
Black Wire (strings)
Debbie Boone
Matt Dusk (Canadian singer)
Air Force Band
Von Trapp Family Singers (great grandchildren of Maria)
OSU Alumni Band
Leahy (Canadian siblings)
Melissa Manchester
Phil Keaggy and Fernando Ortega
Glenn Miller Orchestra
Lima Marimba Ensemble
Pantasia Steel Drum Band from Findley, Ohio
Kings Brass
Mike Albert--Big E--very popular Elvis impersonator
Hey Mavis--Ed Caner
Pavlo
Chapter 6
Lowe Family
Dave Bennett--in the style of Benny Goodman
Beatitudes Cantata by Mike Shirtz

REENACTORS--this is a great way to enjoy history or biography

Anthony Gibbs--U.S. Colored troops, Civil War
Eleanor Smith--Helen Noye Hoyt, Civil War nurse
Karen Vuranch--she did Pearl Buck and Clara Barton 2 different weeks
Marvin Cole--Mark Twain

ART CLASSES at the Rhein Center

Watercolor with Robert Moyer
Watercolor with John Behling
Drawing with Geddes Levenson
Pastel with Joan Garverick
and I also took at class in English sonnets, with Steve Ricard which I blogged about, at the Rhein Center

MISCELLANEOUS

Guided bird walks (4)
Herb classes (7) and events, a tea, blending and making tea, and tour of an herb farm
Walking tours with guide of Lakeside (2)
Guided tree walk (identified 36 trees, I think)
Nest egg seminar (1); there was a whole series, but usually during my nap time
Heritage Society lectures (2)
Chaplain's Hour (1)
Lakefront worship (9), Dr. Irwin Jennings
Hoover worship (1), Cantata
Antique Show, 49th
Drama, "Sword of the Spirit" about John and Mary Brown
Community theater, "Cheaper by the Dozen"
Gladiolus show
Art Show
Photography Show
Antique auto show
July 4 fireworks
Country Dance in the street
Adirondack Chair auction
Reception at home of Trustees President
Women's Club program on Aprons
Movies (3)
Tour guide for Hotel Open house
Lecture on trees of Lakeside, Bill Smith

EATING OUT!

The Garden in Port Clinton
Bruno's in Marblehead
Avery's in Marblehead
The Patio in Lakeside (9)
Hotel Lakeside Cafe
Society of Old Salts Picnic
Ice cream social and band concert at the Hotel
Breakfast at Idlewyld B & B

And I read four books (Yancey, Wenger, Lewis, Morgan) and some essays and magazines on Ohio, because I have a nice little collection of Ohio books at the lake that I don't have at home. Usually I walked 4-6 miles a day, not much biking this year. Four week-ends we had guests and that was a lot of fun since some had never been to Lakeside.

Jones is just the tip of the iceberg

How many Czars? In Russian it means Caesar. Van Jones? One black conservative blogger called him the "Watermelon Man," green on the outside and red on the inside. Besides, all that green talk hurts minorities the most. As does marxism in general where ever it's been tried.

"Not since the administration of Franklin Roosevelt has an American president appointed a known communist to such a high position in the federal government. Not only is Green Jobs Czar Jones an avowed Marxist, he has joined together with such certifiable leftist loonies as Cynthia McKinney, Ralph Nader, and Howard Zinn in signing the 9/11 Truth Statement, and expressing his belief that the 9/11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center was “an inside job,” involving a conspiracy within the administration of George W. Bush. He has acquiesced in the claim that the government response to Hurricane Katrina was a Bush conspiracy, as well, and that the levees may have been dynamited as part of some sinister plot." Thomas McAdam

"When Ronald Regan was president, he appointed 3 Czars, over 8 years. George W. Bush appointed 14 in 8 years. In his first one-half year, Obama has appointed 34 Czars. At this rate, we can anticipate 272 Czars in Obama’s fist term; and 544 Czars if he lasts two terms. Lots of grist for your Louisville City Hall Examiner’s mill. Mne nuzhna praktikovat’sa v Russkam." Also McAdam in the same article which lists all the czars' names. I think the transliteration says, I need to practice my Russian.

Update: I just read that Jones has resigned. I'm sure he'll hang around in the background, because after all, it's all just a smear campaign. Someone made up all those words and past events of his life! "On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me," Jones said in his resignation statement. "They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide."

Don't relax folks. There's more where he came from. These are the kind of people Obama has surrounded himself with his entire life--even as a child with his mother's friends. Pulling up one weed doesn't guarantee a harvest.

Why you need an independent guidance group for end times

Who would that be--the group that Obama said in April you needed to help you make decisions about end of life. Well, maybe his chief medical advisor, Ezekiel Emanuel.

"Someone like Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, health advisor to Obama, and Zeke's brother Rahm, who loves to hurl thunderbolts from Mount Olympus and bully freshman congressmen. They and their ilk will give us "guidance" about who is worthwhile, who is ready to die, who shall live a week or two longer. Zeke is a Harvard academic who is arrogant enough to believe that he can change human nature and decide the most intimate and complex of human issues -- those of life and death. The man, a bona fide MD, clearly prefers writing bushels of words about what's good or bad for society to caring for people and being responsible for suffering patients. The soft-spoken arrogance and vanity of this administration is sometimes stunning.

Dr. Emanuel thinks health care must be distributed according to the group to which an individual belongs. Valued groups include young and healthy persons, and favored racial and gender groups. Those of less value, of course, are those with medical problems and the elderly.

According to Emanuel's "Complete Life" plan, society's scarce resources should be spent mostly on those under 40 years of age. ["Unlike allocation by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination. . . . Treating 65 year olds differently because of stereotypes or falsehoods would be ageist; treating them differently because they have already had more life-years is not." Dr. Emamuel, Lancet, Jan. 31, 2009] Old folks get what's left over as determined by him and his ilk. How they will make their decisions is not at all clear." American Thinker.

Let's be nice to condemned murderers, terrorists, and abortionists. Those old timers need to go. They've lived their time. It's the liberal, caring way.

Why bother going to college?

Or getting an advanced degree, or filing a law suit when you can just lie about it? Rapper/Doctor Roxanne Shanté's house of cards collapses. If investigators can find out so much about an obscure has-been musician from the 80s, why is it so tough to get college records for politicians? But she apparently did attend some college for 3 months. Not quite the PhD she claims.