Donations pouring in for Wilson

Politico reports

"A source on Rep. Joe Wilson's campaign says his fundraising has broken $1 million -- and surpassed that of his Democratic rival, Rob Miller -- since his outburst of "You lie!" during President Obama's address to Congress Wednesday.

The source said Wilson's current tally is $1,005,021 from 18,859 donations amid a high-profile campaign on the Drudge Report and elsewhere telling conservatives that Wilson is "under attack" for his willingness to take on Obama.

Wilson, who initially apologized for his words, is now riding a reaction that has surpassed the liberal backlash to his words: Miller has raised less than $900,000, according to the Democratic fundraising site ActBlue -- though still more than enough to envigorate his challenge. [this was updated later to a million for miller]

Still, Wilson's success -- despite having been criticized by Republican leaders -- represents the power of the conservative grassroots to reward politicians who confront the White House in the sharpest terms. Link.

That's a lot of small donations. Want to bet on the big guns donating to Miller like Soros, Move it over, ACLU etc.? Also, if you wish to contribute, I'd use snail mail. The wackos have hacked his site.

Notice Politico's wording and scare quotes. (Liberal site which struggles with fairness) Why is a Drudge Report called high profile, but ALL the MSM supporting Obama isn't? And Reid's calling Bush a liar and loser many times wasn't sharpest terms, but Wilson's spontaneous outburst was?

No trash day

Over at The Lonely conservative there is an interesting photo essay about the lack of trash left by the tea party folks. She has photos of the Obama inauguration compared to the 9/12 tea party. Maybe it's people who walk the talk, (the green-goes have bad manners but talk a good line), or maybe these protesters just bent over during the walk and looked for a trash receptacle. Being primarily conservatives, they've probably figured out tax dollars have to clean up trash. The photos of the trash left after the Obama event were the worst I've ever seen and apparently there wasn't a very timely pick up afterwards. Sort of a foretaste of what would happen to the economy. But just as the media has underestimated the number who attended, they'll probably over estimate the trash problem it created.

We'll try to get a first hand report from Murray when he returns.

Hispanic Pastors respond to ELCA Sexuality statement

"We have received with profound sadness the ELCA Churchwide Assembly decision of passing a Social Statement on Human Sexuality which significantly changes the historical teaching and practice of the Church on Sexuality. We have also read with great disappointment and grave concern the changing of our ministry standards, allowing non-celibate homosexual pastors, associates in ministry, diaconal ministers, and deaconesses to serve as rostered leaders in the ELCA.

We, Hispanic ELCA rostered leaders of the Florida-Bahamas Synod, REPUDIATE these new policies, declaring them to be incompatible with Christian teaching, the tradition of the Christian Church, and our consciences. As Martin Luther did in his own day, we reject the idea that ANY human being, prelate, council, or Assembly, can rightfully vote to invalidate the teachings of Holy Scripture.

It is clear to us that the ELCA has decided to stop recognizing the Authority of the Bible, presenting a different and diluted Gospel not in accordance with the teaching of the Scriptures (Galatians 1:6-10). Therefore, we RENOUNCE the decision of the Churchwide Assembly and will continue to uphold the clear Biblical standards for marriage, family, and sexuality."

From the CORE website

If you haven't been following this painful, long drawn out battle, read "How the ELCA Left the Great Tradition for Liberal Protestantism" at Christianity Today.

Right before the vote on the Social Statement a totally unexpected tornado hit the Minneapolis Conference Center where we were meeting as well as the huge Central Lutheran Church next door, knocking the cross off one of its towers. Orthodox voting members saw the work of God in the tornado's cross-toppling effects and in the vote that passed with a .666 majority. Revisionists noted that the sun came out after the vote. In response the orthodox quipped that the sun comes out almost every day, but rogue tornados are pretty rare!

H1N1 Flu

I've been looking over the suggestions at the Ohio State health site (even has a blog) and the CDC 2009 H1N1 Flu site, and it looks to me that one of the best things you can do is get the regular flu shot, because I don't really see much difference in the list of symptoms. In fact, I see no difference.

•fever greater than 100 degrees
•cough
•sore throat
•body aches
•headache
•chills and fatigue
•respiratory congestion

So if you feel crappy, at least you can partially rule out regular flu, and also, you're not in a weakened condition if exposed to the swine flu. Third, many more people have died from plain old seasonal flu than the H1N1 type. In May 2009 CDC reported "With seasonal flu, we see in the United States over 30 million cases. We see 200,000 hospitalizations and, on average, 36,000 deaths."

Also, I don't think this will help the economy much with people missing work at the first sign of a sniffle and staying home from cultural and sporting events, which in turn hurts restaurants.

I just hate, hate, hate even catching a cold, which for me usually lasts 6 weeks. So I'll really be awful if I get the flu.

And while researching this I came across the sites that think this is a conspiracy between the government and big pharma and I think the WHO (UN) is in that mix someplace. Yawn. Have you noticed evil and sin can never happen or evolve. There always has to be a committee planning it?

History repeats itself

A cartoon from the 1930s (I haven't vetted it, so if it's as phony as an ACORN registration gig, it's still true) seen at The Lonely Conserative The artist in the foreground writes "Spend spend spend, under the guise of recovery. Blame the capitalists." Stalin lurks in the background. There's even some pinkos from Harvard and Columbia enjoying the ride. Yes, change a few names and it is deja vu all over again. FDR managed to extend the Depression about a decade after Hoover's failed policies.

ACORN loses Census account

"ACORN Housing Corporation received $1.6 million to provide housing services to low-income communities in this fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, according to USASpending.gov, a federal government Web site for tracking government grants.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development Grants has given $8.2 million to ACORN in the years between 2003 and 2006, as well as $1.6million to ACORN affiliates.

HUD could not be reached for comment.

The hidden-camera videos, released this week, showed workers in two separate ACORN housing offices apparently helping a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute evade the IRS and apply for an illegal housing loan for a brothel. A 25-year-old independent filmmaker, James O'Keefe, posed as the pimp in the undercover expose, which was conceived by a friend, 20-year-old Hannah Giles, who posed as a prostitute.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the offices shown in the videos had received any of ACORN's federal grant money for housing services.

The Census Bureau notified ACORN on Friday in a letter that it is severing all ties with the group for all work having to do with the 2010 census.

"Over the last several months, through ongoing communication with our regional offices, it is clear that ACORN's affiliation with the 2010 Census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public, has indeed become a distraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 Census efforts," read a letter from Census Director Robert M. Groves to the president of ACORN.

"Unfortunately, we no longer have confidence that our national partnership agreement is being effectively managed through your many local offices. For the reasons stated, we therefore have decided to terminate the partnership," the letter said." (FoxNews.com)

ACORN, not surprisingly, is going to retaliate big time against Fox. After all, exposing the schemes that some very rich white guys think up to fool and scam minorities can get you in a peck o' trouble. When can the rest of us expect the NYT, LATimes, CNN, NBC, etc. to start doing a little homework on the side? Their main job seems to be as campaign hustlers for Obama. Still, it shows a certain shallowness when a saucy story with a pimp, prostitute and underage sex slaves gets Americans more worked up than obvious voter fraud in 2008 which helped elect the president and the corresponding crimes in 2006 and 2007 of luring bad credit risks into homes with sub-prime loans and grabbing big fees.

Geithner's on top of this tax cheat scheme

Sept. 8, 2009 "WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced that the United States and Monaco have signed an agreement to allow for the exchange of information on tax matters between the two countries. The agreement was signed by Deputy Secretary Neal Wolin and Minister Franck Biancheri in Washington.

"This Administration is wholeheartedly committed to combating offshore tax evasion," said Deputy Secretary Wolin. "We are working with countries like Monaco to ensure that the IRS has access to the information that it needs to enforce U.S. tax law. Today's agreement serves as an example for other financial centers around the world and reflects our continued efforts to end the use of offshore accounts as a tool for tax evasion." (Weekly Digest e-mail from U.S. Department of the Treasury) "

What I wrote about Timothy Geithner on January 15

Someone at IRS gave Geithner a pass Go, do not go to jail card, because he was too big to fail. It was the Obama team vetting him that found the error. The IRS let him off the hook. Another too big, too brilliant to fail, Washington insider. When will we learn? We are about to have a tax crook as head of Treasury!

There was plenty of information for Geithner to correct his own mistakes--no special laws needed--even very low level employees paid by international organizations knew what to do with that reimbursement money. But because of his position with the fed, he was above the law. So how has his appointment helped our economy?

Is there a double standard based on race? Van Jones has to go because he's a loud mouth paranoid bigot, but the white guy crook with good manners gets to be a member of the inner circle?

Forget Maytag

When we moved here in 2002 I bought a matching washer and dryer--I'd never had a matched set. My older models used to last 15-20 years, but they'd wear out on a different schedule. I'm about to go back to a mismatch. My Maytag dryer, which has been a constant frustration for seven years because it balls the clothes instead of fluff, needs a new motor, according to the repair man, to whom I gave $35 just to come and look at it. We thought it was the timer-switch, and even that was going to be about $150 with labor, but the motor is much more expensive, both in parts and labor. What a piece of crap. The repairman said he bought a rebuilt Maytag about 15 years ago, and now at 30, it's still going strong, but the new ones aren't worth piddle.

Anyone have a recent model (not Maytag) they'd recommend? The washer squeals when stopping after spin cycle, so maybe I should just start over with one of those efficient models. I have a CD coming due, and that's certainly not worth reinvesting, so maybe that's the route to go.


I'm not sure of the date of this photo, but I think it's about 1953, and my mother had her first automatic washer and dryer. Before that she used a wringer washer and we either hung the clothes in the basement (which I've been doing this week), or outside if the weather was good. These were in the downstairs 1/2 bath which in an earlier era, was a porch to the back yard, so this bathroom had four doors, one to the kitchen, one to Dad's office, one to the outside, and one to the basement. My mother was about 40-41 in the photo.

Do leftists know people are employed in the food industry?

The food industry--agribusiness, processors, packagers, designers, marketers, chemistists, nutritionists, magazine writers, etc.--will continue to be under attack by the left as we inch our way through the health care mess. Diabetes, cardiovascular problems--it's all the fault of evil capitalism, not our genes, not our personal choices.

Here's an item from today's paper that will thrill Michael Pollan. Even by suggesting in his editorial that the food industry is the next target of the Obama surrogates, he's probably killed investment.

"Marzetti Pfeiffer foods plant is to close in western New York putting 150 people out of work." Link

Oh look. The announcement came on 9/11--maybe the President could find volunteer jobs for all those people in Wilson, NY.

Back to the gardens and kitchens ladies! Drop those brief cases and get out the aprons. It's your patriotic duty.

Dear Ted Celeste

You are a nice guy. I think you are one of the few democrats I voted for. But really, today's editorial on civility was a bit one sided. One Republican yelled out in a fit of righteous anger, "You Lie," to a President who was lying to Congress and the American people, and you just fall apart. The only items you listed were failings of the Republicans. That's odd. Listen to these NO's and Boo's during Bush's important (and truthful) speech on Social Security, when Democrats were the minority party, before 2006 when they set in concrete really rude behavior--like Barney Frank's imitation of Joe McCarthy, or confirming tax cheats like Timothy Geithner and wackos like Cass Sunstein who perform as Obama surrogates.

You suggest people look in the mirror, and Ted, that's an excellent idea, especially for Democrats with a poor memory, and those who worry about "birthers" on the right but ignore "truthers" on the left, even appointing them to influential offices within government where they can continue their paranoid hate in comfort.

Bag Lady in suburbia

Bag lady you gone hurt your back
Draggin all them bags like that
I guess nobody ever told you
All you must hold on to
Is you, is you, is you

One day all them bags gone get in
You way (x4)

So pack light (x4)
Bag Lady sung by Erykah Badu


I saw a young, slender attractive "bag lady" in the coffee shop--don't know what else to call her. She had 4 or 5 large bags outside next to the window so she could keep and eye on them, and inside she was sorting compulsively through smaller bags, wallets, boxes, etc. She was dressed for cool weather. I remember seeing her about 5 or 6 years ago at Caribou when unemployment in Ohio was under 5%, so I don't think the current Obama economy is the cause of her condition. She's probably eligible for numerous programs, especially if she's disabled because of mental illness, but perhaps in her mind the social workers just want to entrap her. Or maybe she just lives in the neighborhood and enjoys carrying her worldly possessions with her. Over the years, I've seen several mentally ill regulars at local coffee shops. Once I saw one attack the manager, and he was even with his care taker, so when I see him I usually go to a different store.

Where's the splashy headlines about this killing?

On A6 of the Columbus Dispatch I read about the murder of a Michigan man--an abortion protester. The killer, according to the news account, didn't like the activist holding a sign with graphic images of a fetus in front of students. So he shot the guy in front of the students--I suppose in his twisted mind, that wouldn't disturb them. The killer then went to a business and shot another man, and was on his way to kill a third, when he was shot by the police. Apparently he wasn't a minority, because there was no mention of an investigation of the police killing an armed and dangerous man. But also, the press and the president haven't taken much notice. Remember back in May?

"The killing of abortion doctor George Tiller, who was fatally shot in his Kansas church Sunday morning, drew a flood of denunciations from President Obama along with liberal and conservative lawmakers and abortion rights groups and abortion foes. The murder occupied front pages and led news broadcasts for nearly three days."

At the same time an army recruiter William Long was killed and Quinton Ezeagwula wounded by a Muslim terrorist (homegrown) but Obama, the men's Commander in Chief, didn't even blink. Attorney General Eric Holder called for protection of abortion clinics, but ignored the killing of a U.S. soldier and ignores the attacks against U.S. military facilities since 9/11.

Some lives, matter, some don't. Abortionists and terrorists get a pass during this administration.

Julia and Michael

Recently at Lakeside's Orchestra Hall (only movie theater in Ottawa County) I enjoyed Julie and Julia, which is not just about cooking, but also marriage and blogging. It's rare you'll ever see a movie about happily married people, but this be one! So it also launched Michael Pollan, who wants the government in your kitchen, pantry and shopping list, to comment on what overstuffed pigs we all are and why after Obama takes over 1/6 of the economy with his healthcare grab he should start in on the food industry. His book was also featured in the Public Library of Cincinnati moving slide feature (which moves way too fast for my reading level).

"The imminent release of Julie & Julia has so far launched about 5,000 articles, and this weekend, Michael Pollan will bring us one more. The film has inspired Pollan to pen over 8,000 words in The New York Times Magazine about, among other thing, the rise of cooking as a spectator sport, the decline of home-cooked meals, the evils of the processed food industry, and the brilliance of Meryl Streep.

As for whether Americans can reverse the trend that's taken us away from the kitchen and towards permanent posterior indentations on the couch, one food-marketing researcher Pollan interviews isn't optimistic: "We're all looking for someone else to cook for us. The next American cook is going to be the supermarket. Takeout from the supermarket, that's the future. All we need now is the drive-through supermarket."" The village voice

I just love being able to walk two blocks at Lakeside to the Farmer's Market, but I've read enough of 19th and early 20th c. women's magazines to know that eventually the greenies and the feminists are going to be butting heads. No one embraced the processed food industry more than the women who had sweated in the sun digging potatoes, drowning bugs, canning tomatoes and meat from the butchered stock, (I gag even remembering the texture and taste of home canned meat) and selling their eggs to put junior through school. Yes, we certainly don't need 14 versions of the Ritz cracker, nor do we need the federal government telling us what to eat.

The health care bill is just the first step says Pollan who lives and performs in Berkeley. You can expect more government control after this one is done.

"All of which suggests that passing a health care reform bill, no matter how ambitious, is only the first step in solving our health care crisis. To keep from bankrupting ourselves, we will then have to get to work on improving our health — which means going to work on the American way of eating." His NYT op ed

It is always the dream of the liberal to find that next big thing--like purifying water which totally changed life expectancy in this country, or spraying mosquitoes with DDT which rid us of the scourge of malaria, or small pox vaccines, or the polio vaccine (needed because we cleaned up the water supply), or TB screening tests. I don't think changing our diets will be that, but they'll try any way, some in good faith, others for the power over our lives.

Mary Jo (my rep), asleep at the switch

Stammering cliches, garbled platitudes, lies about wellness savings. Is this what the rest of you are getting from your representatives?

OSU Library renovation declared Stupendous

It's considered a success. Link with photos. I haven't seen it yet.

New magazine, Cesar's Way

Today I bought a copy of Cesar’s Way, a first issue journal, for my collection. It promotes the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, a program I’ve watched a few times on cable. Until I glanced through it, I didn’t realize he had such a love affair with pit pulls. They are everywhere in this magazine. The photo that really disturbed me was on p. 19: Halle Berry in Miami Beach playing with a neighbor’s dog--a pit bull. The toddler in the photo appears to be her daughter, but children shouldn’t be encouraged to play with strange dogs. ALL DOGS WILL BITE--they especially will bite children whose actions they don’t understand or which appear threatening to them. If Cesar has pit bulls and trusts them, fine, but this magazine encourages their selection as pets for families, and that's dangerous for your neighborhood.

According to the Examiner.com, only Ohio has a breed specific dog law singling out pit bulls, and it is considering legislation (H.B. 79) that would keep them from being labeled inherently vicious. But in Lucas County (Toledo) where Ohio State Representative Barbara Sears, who is from suburban Toledo, introduced the bill, over 1350 pit bulls were picked up in 2007.

According to DVM360.com, other states are considering breed specific bills. In Montana, House Bill 191 seeks to prohibit the ownership, harboring, or keeping of dogs described as pit bulls. The legislation considers pit bulls to include Staffordshire Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers and "any dog that has the physical characteristics of a pit bull.

In Oregon, H.B. 2852, introduced in March, would require pit bull owners to have $1 million in insurance to cover any economic or non-economic damages that result from physical injury or any damage their dog causes to personal or real property. Of course, what insurance company would do that?

Hawaii Senate Bill 79 would prohibit the ownership, possession or sale of pit bulls in the state.

A New Mexico bill introduced in February would have automatically labeled pit bulls and Rottweilers as dangerous. Under current law there, any owner of a dog deemed to be dangerous must be spayed or neutered, microchipped and registered each year.

Many dog shelters are overrun with pit bulls. Nice pit bulls exist, says Sharon Harmon, Oregon Humane Society executive director, but "you can't escape the fact that it's a dog bred to kill."

They called Bush a liar and terrorized our soldiers with rumors

So will they stand up and apologize on the floor? No, of course not, because the biggest hypocrites in the world are the Democrats in Congress. They want Joe Wilson to apologize again for saying, "You lie." Obama was lying practically every other sentence. Who's going to make him apologize to the people? And hasn't the President used this as a wonderful teachable moment--blaming all the vitriol on the other side and not himself?

"Mr. Obama then turned to use Wilson as something of an example – making this a teachable moment, perhaps – saying that “we have to get to the point where we can have a conversation about big, important issues that matter to the American people without vitriol, without name- . . ."

Oh gag! Hot Air said it best

"That’s why you farm out the rhetoric about “evil-mongers” and “political terrorists” to halfwits like Harry Reid and Democrats in the House instead of dirtying those dainty hands of yours. But as painful as the vitriol might be to your tender Hopenchangey heart, you never open your mouth to specifically rebuke your own side, do you? A wise man once had something to say about presidents who don’t keep their surrogates in line, but never mind, I guess. Enjoy the lecture from Captain Civility."

I've been pulling weeds today on my walk. There are many, but I've selected just one--don't know its name. Small single root, with tiny leaves, and it branches out and spreads like crazy, killing everything around it; and loves the heat of the curbs. If you can find the root and give it a yank, the whole thing--about 2' in circumference--comes up. I've christened it "Obamacare."

The Wisdom of Sarah Palin

"Ezekiel Emanuel is upset. The president's health care czar sees the growing resistance to his vision, to his brave new world of government-run "communitarian" health care in which politicians and bureaucrats control one-sixth of the economy and 100% of our bodies. He doesn't quite understand how it all came apart on him, but he does know who started the unraveling: Sarah Palin. . .

Sarah Palin had done the unthinkable. She had read the health care bill. Mainstream journalists hadn't read the bill. Congress hadn't read its own bill. But Sarah Palin did. Sarah Palin! He has a medical degree and doctorate in political philosophy from Harvard. The only Harvard she's knows is the chunk of ice off Prince William Sound, Harvard Glacier.

Then she writes something on Facebook -- Facebook, for Obama's sake! -- and suddenly the president, congress, the media, and everyone who is anyone inside the beltway is scurrying for cover. Palin wrote that she wanted nothing to do with Obama's "death panel," the collection of bureaucrats who Zeke was so proudly putting together to assess the "level of productivity" that would determine individual access to medical care. . .

No, Zeke believes that those who know better, who understand morality, should make decisions for those less able to do so. Like Sarah Palin. Like Trig. Like your grandma. And this is because he cares. Just ask him." Read the whole article; this woman makes me proud!

HT Pat in North Carolina, another senior blogger paying attention

What we can learn from the plight of Pakistan’s Hindus

Will Obama be honoring them on one of their holy days?

Hugh’s comments on Jihad Watch

The percentage of Pakistan's population that is Hindu has gone from 15% at partition to 1.5% today. The percentage of Bangladesh's population that is Hindu has gone since partition from 35% to 8%. Meanwhile, the percentage of Muslims in the population of India has gone steadily up. The same kind of thing can be seen everywhere where significant non-Muslim minorities have existed. The percentage of Christians -- Copts, Maronites, Assyrians and Chaldenas, in the total population of Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq -- has gone steadily down. The same is true in North Africa, where after the French left, the screws were turned on the Christians who remained. As for the Jews, they were subject to so many attacks that the Arab lands emptied out of them, and in Iran, when the Shah fell, and under Khomeini Islam returned with a vengeance and legal (and informal) protections for Jews as for Baha'is and Christians ended, the Jewish population went way down It is the same everywhere in the Muslim-ruled lands.

Meanwhile, in Western Europe, every European country opened itself to Muslim immigrants, offered them every conceivable benefit generous welfare states could offer, and whose non-Muslim taxpayers funded. Free medical care at the Western level, free education, free or heavily subsidized housing, family allowances (and Muslims have large families), and so on, and by now there may be 20 million Muslims in Western Europe, the historic victim of Muslim attacks (in East and in West, from Poitiers to Vienna), either by armies, or by ships with Muslim raiders who for many centuries ravaged the coasts of the non-Muslim lands, even going so far as Ireland and, once, Iceland. About 1.25 million non-Muslims were kidnapped by Muslims from Western Europe. In the East, among the Circassians and Georgians, and the Slavs, there were similar Muslim raids, and seizure and then enslavement of men, women, children.

Is there nothing to be learned from this? Does the Western world, or those in it who presume to protect us, not have a duty to know this history, both in the distant and in the recent past, and to draw some conclusions from it?