Security at the White House

It's so odd, isn't it, that the media goes crazy over Michele and Tareq Salahi who went to Obama's first state dinner without an invitation? All this hubbub from the folks who totally ignored the Climategate story (except for Fox) which is HUGE and should bring down the cap and trade scam to tax us into oblivion (but probably won't with the media's complicity), and couldn't figure out if Maj. Nadil Hasan was crazy or a terrorist. ABC was just outraged. Did it even mention the release of 10 years of e-mail and data that showed manipulation in the climate change research? At least Mrs. Salahi had on an attractive dress that covered her lovely figure as would be fitting considering the culture of the honored guests. After all, they did pass the security check--they weren't armed, or a threat, they just weren't invited. Besides, with a name like Tareq Salahi perhaps Security didn't want to be insensitive and ask questions. Look how far that attitude got Maj. Hasan in the military.

Ohio has bedbugs

And so does your town, apparently. There are bedbug task forces in New York, Columbus, Cincinnati, Chicago. I just heard about it.

And there is a chemical that is 100% effective, according to the Ohio Dept. of Agriculture.

"In tests at the University of Kentucky, the chemical killed 100 percent of the bedbugs exposed to it within 24 hours and kept on killing after eggs hatched, Beal said. That compared with a 16 percent kill rate after 72 hours for a commonly used household insecticide against one strain found in Cincinnati, and 40 percent in another strain."

The department asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Oct.23 for an emergency exemption to allow the use of Propoxur in residences according to the Dispatch. From the reading I did, that doesn't sound likely.

Huffington Post article

THANKSGIVING BLOGGING BREAK

It's a mistake at my house to ever clean out a drawer. Take yesterday. I stopped to read a 1981 invitation for a reunion of McKinley Hall (University of Illinois) residents which included married names, and found my old roommate on the Internet. I've e-mailed her, but. . .I find so many things set aside for another day. Things I could finish if I weren't blogging or researching crazy health bills or reading your blog. I am up to my mascara-free eye lashes in
dust,
clutter,
halls to deck,
unread books,
unprinted files,
shirts not ironed,
buttons not sewn,
computer glitches,
recipes not tasted,
sinks not scrubbed,
decorations to unpack,
Christmas letter labels,
notes to the ill and bereaved,
good
deeds
left
undone,

holiday money appeals to examine,
walks to take before it gets too cold,
veterinarian and doctor appointments,
and to top it all off there is mold growing in the store room!

Does anyone need a dark green baby crib
just 42 years old with a few missing pieces or
wooden poles for heavy lined drapes or
a bathtub grab bar (we have no bathtub) or
five kinds of solvent and wallpaper paste?
Update for a joke:

~ A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at the grocery store but she couldn't find one big enough for her family.

She asked a stock boy, "Do these turkeys get any bigger?"

The stock boy replied, "No ma'am, they're dead."

Just like the old days

Not a creature is stirring. It's the Ohio State-Michigan game today and all of Buckeye land is glued to their TVs. Except me. It was just like the old days of 1960 this afternoon. I stretched out on the couch and took a nap while my husband watched. He had a game plan. About 11 a.m. he prepared his lunch and set it aside. About 11:55 he came upstairs, warmed it up, and took it back to his favorite chair. This is one organized football fan.

Twiddle dum and Twiddle dee--"spending on things that matter"

Do you remember that phrase after the last election? "Now maybe we can spend money on things that matter," by rejoicing, teary Obama supporters. What a laugh. The welfare state grows no matter who is in office, sometimes more under Republicans, but definitely under the less-than-conservative two Bush presidencies. Once a human services program is in place, who controls the White House or Congress makes little difference in its growth.


"The most significant growth in Human Resources spending is attributable to Medicare and "Health Care Services," an OMB category dominated by Medicaid. Still using constant dollars, these two categories combined to account for 8% of Human Resources outlays under Kennedy and Johnson, 15% under Nixon and Ford, 17% under Carter, 21% under Reagan, 26% under George H.W. Bush, 31% under Clinton, and 34% under George W. Bush. Measure all the Human Services outlays from 1962 (the first year of more detailed OMB historical tables) through 2007 in constant dollars, and it turns out that Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security accounted for just under two-thirds of the total."

More interesting facts about the persistence of poverty and the corresponding growth of the welfare state at "Reforming Big Government."

Ohio’s HB 318

Late Wednesday, Ohio Senate Democrats rejected the latest Republican amendments to HB 318. The bill will attempt to fill the $851 million gap in the FY10-11 budget. The Senate Finance Committee has adjourned indefinitely--for time to enjoy a Thanksgiving Holiday while thinking this through. Too bad our federal Senators didn’t do the same--they could have used the T-holiday to read through 2074 pages commiting us to trillions of debt and the takeover of private businesses, all for the extremely small percentage of Americans who don't have health insurance (and that won't even change!). Then they could have enjoyed a turkey tryptophan stupor instead of gorging on this other turkey stuffed with pork and shredded taxpayers‘ investments.

Following are the provisions rolled into the substitute bill that were highlighted by Senate Finance Chairman Sen. John Carey (R-Wellston) during Wednesday evening's hearing. This information was provided by AIA Ohio which has a horse in this race, the Ohio Construction Reform Panel's recommendations which could determine how architects will do business with Ohio for the next decade. Notice the money hoped for from casino fees.

- Allows one-third of the scheduled income tax reduction to go into effect rather than freezing the full reduction. This nets the state $278.7 million in FY10 and $284.0 million in FY11.

- Creates a trigger mechanism by which an increased portion of or the full scheduled income tax rate reduction would occur if the governor moves forward on VLTs, or if excess casino revenues are generated within the biennium and could be used to offset GRF.

- Restores $25 million in FY10 and $35 million in FY11 for chartered, nonpublic schools that were disproportionately cut in the budget process.

- Transfers the casino licensure fees, approved by voters as 'State Issue 3,' into the GRF to offset current regional job program expenditures. This provides $200 million in FY11.

- Grants waivers for school districts regarding unfunded mandates for all-day kindergarten and class size reductions.

- Allows school districts to privatize transportation services if they choose to do so.

- Provides flexibility in state report cards for school districts that failed to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) in certain sub groups.

- Allows broader use of joint purchasing by education service centers and school purchasing consortia.

- Includes SB190 ROTC high school credit provisions.

- Requires DAS implement paperwork reduction/cost savings strategies. This is estimated to save $10 million/year.

- Includes comprehensive sentencing reforms. This is estimated to save $20 million in FY10 and $30 million in FY11.

- Establishes an oil and gas drilling pilot program on state-owned land at Salt Fork. This is estimated to bring in $10 million in FY11.

- Removes pay cut language as it is now contained in SB209.

- Creates a privatization commission to study state functions that could be privatized.

- Specifies that future collective bargaining contracts let by the state will coincide with the state's biennial budget time frame.

- Requires that three state agencies (natural resources, education, and transportation) undergo performance audits.

- Studies a state government restructuring plan similar to those proposed in SB52 and HB25.

- Studies potential cost savings and economic benefits to Ohio employers and injured workers by allowing private insurance companies to compete with the Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC).

- Requires the auditor of state's office to determine if BWC has adequate reserves compared to industry standards and to recommend rebates if an over-reserve is determined to exist.

- Studies cost savings that may be achieved if the state were to go to a four-day workweek.

- Transfers functions of the School Employee Health Care Board to DAS and deletes GRF appropriation in the Department of Education. This saves $800,000/year.

- Transfers $15 million per fiscal year from the liquor profits fund into the GRF.

- Transfers $15 million per fiscal year from the Housing Trust Fund into the GRF.

- Transfers $1 million per fiscal year in total from three public safety education funds (83G0, 83N0, and 8440).

- Specifies that the insurance settlement funds for the Lake Hope State Park lodge be used for the purpose of fixing that site.

- Uses half of the current scrap tire fee to provide funding to the state's soil and water districts.

- Ensures correct appropriation authority for the Department of Mental Health's 408 line item.

There are many things in here that deserve a closer look--and it's happening in all states, not just Ohio. Like that Housing Trust Fund--that's created from real estate transfer fees, but is used in conjunction with federal funds for housing programs. 20 years ago no state had this--now about 40 do. The high unemployment rate is squeezing the flood of tax money to a dribble. During the boom years, did anyone at the state or federal or local level think they should have paid down their debt instead of adding more programs?

Two Golden Ages of Television?

Peggy Noonan writes in the WSJ what she’s thankful for--the usual--friends, health, surviving. And then gets to this:

“And after that, after gratitude for friends and family, and for those who protect us, after that something small. I love TV, and the other day it occurred to me again that we are in the middle of a second golden age of television. I feel gratitude to the largely unheralded network executives and producers who gave it to us. The first golden age can be summed up with one name: "Playhouse 90." It was the 1950s and '60s, when TV was busy being born. The second can be summed up with the words "The Sopranos," "Mad Men," "The Wire," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "ER," "24," "The West Wing," "Law and Order," "30 Rock." These are classics. Some nonstars at a network made them possible. Good for them.“

Looks like I missed both golden ages. My parents didn’t have TV when I was growing up so if I ever saw Playhouse 90 (1956-1961) I don’t remember it. I was just too busy going to school, dating or working at the drug store to sit down and watch TV. And of the second group I’ve only seen Law and Order (now in its 20th season), and much of it only in reruns--miss Jerry Orbach. Hardly ever watch it these days--too predictable. The others in the second golden age I’ve never seen.

Over the years we’ve enjoyed Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966) both when it was current and later in reruns; Mary Tyler Moore (1970-1977) and the spin-offs Rhoda and Phyllis; Love Boat (1977-1986) was great for seeing all the stars not usually seen; Cheers (1982-1993); the Bill Cosby Show (1984-1992) and still laugh and identify with the family situations and love the fashions; Murder she wrote (1984-1996) with Angela Lansbury was never missed and we enjoyed it in reruns too; Golden Girls (1985-1992) although I think I saw this mostly on reruns; Murphy Brown (1988-1998)--great ensemble cast; Frasier (1993-2004) again mostly seen in reruns; Ellen (1994-1998); some of the movie channels like TNT and AMC for the movies I never saw when they were current; Third rock from the sun (1996-2001)--hard to believe Tommy is almost 30; we enjoyed Dharma and Greg (1997-2002); Monk (still current and watching it tonight); The Closer (now in the 5th season).

And remember the great variety shows--Sonny and Cher (1971-1974), Donny and Marie (1976-1979), The Captain and Tennille (1976-1977), Hee Haw (1969-1993) and now we even watch Lawrence Welk, which we never would have done in the 1950s and 1960s, as archives were dusted off with added interviews from the “Welk family” (1986- current) for its old time slot on Saturday evenings (tomorrow will be the Thanksgiving special on PBS).

The guy leading the global warming charge

If the interior of the earth is several million degrees hot, maybe that should be the cause of global warming instead of CO2 (which doesn't increase until after the temperatures rise, btw).

In explaining geothermal energy possibilities to Conan O'Brain Surgeon, Al Gore said, ". . . two kilometers or so down in most places there are these incredibly hot rocks, 'cause the interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees, and the crust of the earth is hot ..."

Close Al. Close. No one really knows how hot it is, but the experts' guesses are 4-6,000 degrees. Maybe Conan could use some of those extra Palin fact-checkers on his show. Or Al's next gig could be making up numbers for recovery.gov.

Friday Family photo--the snow horse

I'm dating these photos as the winter of 1949-1950, or 60 years ago, and I'm guessing this is before Christmas, maybe the first snow, and the horse is a bit skimpy. I did a painting from a photo of one of my snow horses with my brother and dog and I have on a lovely plaid coat, which I probably received for Christmas, plus there was a lot more snow and my ability to sculpt a horse had improved a lot. Lady the dalmatian was a replacement for Curly, a shepherd mix, son of Pretty, who had her puppies under the neighbor's porch. During the summer of 1949 Curly disappeared (I was told) while Mom, my brother and I were on a trip with my grandparents. Lady developed skin cancer after we moved to Mt. Morris and only lived a few more years.

The other little boy on the left is Buzzy Brown--the only name I ever called him--don't remember his real name. He lived down the street. I think he was an only child and his parents were rather affluent. He seems to be wearing a matching hat and coat. To show you how thrifty my mother was--I'm wearing a homemade headscarf and mittens, and the mittens were lined with my father's wool Marine uniform from WWII. The blanket on the snow horse was from my grandmother's house, and I guessing it was from her mother's house of the mid-19th century. I am wearing over-the-shoe boots, but my brother isn't--although in the photo of the other snow horse he is. Perhaps he came outside to pose after all the work was done?

He's a poor step-dad and significant other

Eighty six% of the households in the top 5% are married couple families. Only 19% in the lowest 5th are married couple families. Do you suppose this affects the income gap? You betcha! Households with two full-time workers earn five times as much as households in which nobody works. Median income for households with two full-time earners was $85,517 in 2003 compared with $15,661 for households in which nobody worked. Median income for households with one worker who worked full-time all year was $60,852, compared with $28,704 for those who worked part-time for 26 weeks or less.

Oh, the injustice of it. Two married people who work have higher incomes than people who receive government money provided by the people who work. Not only that, but the median income of working people increased by 13% from 1987 to 2003, but those who don’t work and depend on Uncle Sam only got a 1.4% increase. Indeed, marriage may actually penalize poor people while helping their children (they get fewer benefits, but studies show children do much better with married parents). Both Democrats and Republicans tossed the ball of control back and forth during that time period. And since social programs (far exceeds defense) grew faster than anything else in government during those years, especially under Republicans, do you suppose we could conclude that Uncle Sam is not only a lousy step-dad, he’s not even all that great as a lover and significant other? Source

Government acronym: CSEPP

I didn’t know we had a Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) whose mission is to “enhance existing local, installation, tribal, State, and Federal capabilities to protect the health and safety of the public, work force, and environment from the effects of a chemical accident or incident involving the U.S. Army chemical stockpile.” According to the page I read, the stockpiles are secured on seven U.S. Army installations in the continental United States. The map, which was hot linked with colored dots, had eight dots. The first location I checked said it was one of six locations in the nation where chemical weapons are stockpiled.

The chemical agents of primary concern to CSEPP are the nerve agents GB and VX and the blister agents H, HT and HD. The chemical agents are stored in three basic configurations: (1) projectiles, cartridges, mines, and rockets containing propellant and/or explosive components; (2) aircraft delivered munitions that do not contain explosive components; and (3) steel one-ton containers. Most of the stockpile (61%) is in the latter form.

So how'd you like to live in that county? So is it six, seven or eight? Did one of these guys get reassigned to recovery.gov which has bungled many of the numbers and dollars for ARRA for jobs not lost?

I also learned that in 1985 the United States Congress ordered that these weapons be eliminated in the safest manner possible. So that’s what these websites are all about, the ongoing elimination of chemical weapons. "Enhance" in government speak means "eliminate." I guess that's why the health care bill is going to enhance the lives of so many seniors. If we haven't been able to get rid of these in a quarter of a century, what's the rush on health care?

Oh Canada!

A different take on a familiar tune.

I’m proud to be in Canada, by Lee Greenwood.



and an interesting new book by a talented Canadian writer, Denise Chong. Egg on Mao. A good reminder for us, too.

“What I realized while writing this story, as I was tracking this growth and development of a moral being, is that if you don’t stand up for those rights, if you don’t stand up against the indignities that accumulate in daily life, then the very values that you’re supposed to defend—like decency, dignity, goodness, respect—they all start to lose their currency,”

Egg on Mao: The Story of an Ordinary Man Who Defaced an Icon and Unmasked a Dictatorship (Random House Canada, $32.95), by Vancouver-born author Denise Chong. It has revived interest in the moral heroism of Lu Decheng and his friends Yu Zhijian and Yu Dongyue in the 1989 pro-democracy protests. Review here.

Just 24 days

Things have changed since my first child was born in 1961. The thought then was that they needed some time to build up immunity before meeting the world and its bacteria, viruses and contaminants. When I was on my way out of the coffee shop this morning I stopped at a table and asked, "How old is your little one?" "Three and a half weeks," she said. So I looked it up at several web sites thinking perhaps there was new advice. Doesn't seem to be.

"Immediately after birth, the newborn has high levels of the mother's antibodies in the bloodstream. Babies who are breastfed continue to receive antibodies via breast milk. Breast milk contains all five types of antibodies, including immunoglobulin A (IgA), immunoglobulin D (IgD), immunoglobulin E (IgE), IgG, and immunoglobulin M (IgM). This is called passive immunity because the mother is "passing" her antibodies to her child. This helps prevent the baby from developing diseases and infections.

During the next several months, the antibodies passed from the mother to the infant steadily decrease. When healthy babies are about two to three months old, the immune system will start producing its own antibodies. During this time, the baby will experience the body's natural low point of antibodies in the bloodstream. This is because the maternal antibodies have decreased, and young children, who are making antibodies for the first time, produce them at a much slower rate than adults.
Once healthy babies reach six months of age, their antibodies are produced at a normal rate."

Add to that it is flu season; our government is hyping a pandemic; the mother might not be breastfeeding; the table where I sit always needs to be wiped down before I use it; it was noisy and confusing with strangers' voices (like mine) battering her little ears; she couldn't focus yet so was staring at the brilliant can lights above.

Maybe someday someone will investigate the increase in allergies and autism in today's children (peanut butter, gluten, pets, etc.) over those of 40 years ago and find out if they inhaled things in the built environment before their bodies were ready for the insult to their delicate systems.

On reading the new health care bill

There are 2074 pages in the Senate version of health care “reform.“ Fox News is suggesting that we not just accept the talking points of the Democrats, but that the ordinary citizen take a piece of the Senate Health Care bill, study it and send in comments. There is a template in which you can enter information you either like or don’t like. So I took the challenge. (HT Bob C.) I randomly selected a page--1896. That’s a huge mistake, I learned--you're probably better off to begin with a section that interests you. Oh well. I ended up in something called “Follow-on Biologics User Fees.” Call me crazy, but a “user fee” is a tax. Here’s a little poem to keep in mind while browsing this health care bill.

No matter who gets the fee,
it is passed on to me.
So don't be so lax,
Remember it’s a tax.
He said that he wouldn't,
We know that he shouldn't.
But we just can't win,
We've been lied to again.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t make heads nor tails out of this tax. I think a special college level course is needed in how to read a Senate or House bill. They first had to define a biological product, and to do that I had to see section 351 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 262) (as amended by
this Act) and I had to familiarize myself with section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 355) and section 3511 of title 31, U.S.C. for standards, and requirements prescribed by the Comptroller General, etc.

But I did see some very disturbing things in this unintelligible section, like dates (5 years after fiscal year 2012, for instance)--for review and audit that seemed to involve a population the size of a small city. Although the wording is “shall consult with“ not “will consult with“ so that might actually make a difference in who figures this one out and how much it will cost me in 2017. Assuming this reform hasn't seriously shortened my life expectancy, which today is somewhere in the 90s.

Eleven AP fact checkers for Palin’s book

Did AP fact check Obama's book? Just point to the article. It used 11 on Palin. She must really be a threat.

Associated Press writers Matt Apuzzo, Sharon Theimer, Tom Raum, Rita Beamish, Beth Fouhy, H. Josef Hebert, Justin D. Pritchard, Garance Burke, Dan Joling and Lewis Shaine plus Calvin Woodward all contributed to the article “fact checking” her book. Mark Steyn said that equaled about l.8333333 errors/facts per writer. Surely, if all 11 actually read it they could have found more. I find errors in books and web pages all the time. Spent some time tonight at a FEMA site and found three errors within three clicks. And the facts they disputed? Not so much. They were really flimsy--like “railed against taxpayer-financed bailouts.” Please? Most Americans on both the left and right have done that.

Has AP in 10 months of brilliant journalistic analysis even come up with 11 criticisms of Barack Obama? Like his deficit which makes George W. Bush, the biggest spender up to Jan. 20, 2009, look like a penny pinching piker? Taking over huge segments of the economy? Calling the Cambridge police stupid? Not knowing how or when to salute? Bowing to foreign leaders? Or his marxist passion to redistribute wealth? Or how about that terrorist trial he wants in New York City? Don't bother to count. It was just a rhetorical question.

Has AP ever looked so ridiculous?

If there are hungry Americans. . .

Then we have totally incompetent federal, state and local governments, because we tax payers have certainly done our part. We've given them enough money to cover the problem. $60.7 billion was the USDA's food assistance budget in 2008. Here's a tiny fraction of what went to the low income and poor, not for hunger, but for "food insecurity." Primarily, it pays the salaries of the people in the USDA "food chain," which include "public partnerships" like non-profits and churches.

Legislation
School Meals Programs
Child and Adult Care Food Program
Summer Food Service Program
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
Food Distribution Program
Women, Infants and Children

Regulations
School Meals Programs
Child and Adult Care Food Program
Summer Food Service Program
Supplemental Nutrition Asssitance Program
Food Distribution Program
Women, Infants and Children
Farmers Market Nutrition Program

Policy
School Meals
Child and Adult Care Food Program
Summer Food Service Program
Food Distribution Policy Database
Charitable Institutions & Summer Camps
Commodity Supplemental Food Program
Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations
Nutrition Services Incentive Program
Processing Policies
Schools/Child Nutrition Institutions
The Emergency Food Assistance Program

Sustainable Development is wealth redistribution

Your wealth into a giant green rat hole. I must get 3-4 items a week in my e-mail on sustainable development, buildings, products, and life style, both for my husband (architecture) and me (librarianship and news releases from OSU). As Christians, we are huge supporters of conservation and stewardship of God’s creation, but “sustainable” has become a code word for something much more sinister.

Both prophets and pundits, right and left, whether Glenn Beck, Tom DeWeese, Bill Maher or Van Jones , know "sustainability" calls for changing the infrastructure of the nation, away from private ownership and control of property to central planning first by our government, then by a world governing body--whatever entity the United Nations will evolve to. When you see the word “sustainable,“ you can safely substitute “wealth redistribution.”

We fought a few wars to defeat the centrally planned economic disasters based on the theories of Marx and Engels. You’re too young to remember millions of starving Ukrainians declared wealthy because they owned a cow or a wheat field, but the same thing has been going on for years in Communist North Korea. Those plans evolved and then failed in the USSR, its Eastern European satellites and Maoist China (which now under a cloak of capitalism owns us and is cautioning our president to cut back on his insatiable appetite for debt).

When our home grown Communist sympathizers found out that “revolution” wouldn’t work because the workers and labor unions of the USA already had too much freedom, material goods and wealth and were loyal to American ideals, they just drilled from within, driving our businesses off shore, and in 2008 we elected them (with a very long lead in from socialists and progressives in the government)! But for those who weren’t swayed at the polls or by campaign promises, there is always the great green hope and hype.

However, that hyped hope (cap and trade based on phony CO2 scare tactics) is death for the poor of developing countries. Did you see our food prices rise almost over night in 2007 when the bio-fuels fever really took over and land was being taken out of production for food and turned into bio-fuel for automobiles? We saw our price of bread, meat and milk go up a few pennies to a dollar, but in poorer nations, they were having food riots and killing each other as a shortage of wheat turned into a shortage of rice and cooking oil.

Tom DeWeese cautions us to pay attention to the language--we’ve been hearing some version of this since the 1930s--pausing only briefly as we finally dropped the cloak of protectionism after Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941

"We now have a new language invading our government at all levels. Old words with new meanings fill government policy papers. The typical city council meeting discusses "community development," "historic preservation," and "partnerships" between the city and private business.

Civic leaders organize community meetings run by "facilitators," as they outline a "vision" for the town, enforced by "consensus." No need for debate when you have consensus! People of great importance testify before congressional committees of the dire need for "social justice."

Free trade, social justice, consensus, global truth, partnerships, preservation, stakeholders, land use, environmental protection, development, diversity, visioning, open space, heritage, comprehensive planning, critical thinking, and community service are all part of our new language." Tom DeWeese

I wrote on this topic about a year ago, Prize for the most green words. Really made an architect unhappy; he thought he needed to attack me, instead of the topic at hand.

People are catching on

"Less than half the population believes that human activity is to blame for global warming, according to an exclusive poll for The Times. The revelation that ministers have failed in their campaign to persuade the public that the greenhouse effect is a serious threat requiring urgent action will make uncomfortable reading for the Government as it prepares for next month’s climate change summit in Copenhagen.

Only 41 per cent accept as an established scientific fact that global warming is taking place and is largely man-made. Almost a third (32 per cent) believe that the link is not yet proved; 8 per cent say that it is environmentalist propaganda to blame man and 15 per cent say that the world is not warming."

From First Things

Get your free download of The Skeptics Handbook

Katie Couric on the new breast guidelines

Isn't that just so odd? Katie says it's the REPUBLICANS making this into a political issue (she spoke on our local news show this evening). I guess those "women's groups" objecting and questioning the panel aren't DEMOCRATS? And it couldn't be that the DEMOCRATS have some of that transparent Pelosi tape over their mouths? Washington Wire (very liberal) at WSJ took the same tack (hmmm, almost like talking points were coming from the White House, isn't it?) Here's my favorite health writer, Tara Parker Pope

"The panel that issued the changes, the United States Preventive Services Task Force, advised doctors not to teach women to examine their own breasts, saying the self-checks led to more imaging procedures and biopsies but did not reduce cancer deaths.

Many women, particularly those of my generation, were mystified. Breast self-exams are inexpensive and noninvasive. No radiation, no fuss. You can do them in your own home, lying down in bed, in between checkups or mammograms. You don’t even need health insurance because they are free. So why not?"

Actually, the only detection that matters is your own--not the studies. Money raised for breast cancer for way too long has gone for education and detection, and not enough for research--just my opinion. That's always been my gripe about "runs" and "walks" for any disease of the week--the bulk of it goes back to support the organization doing the events, and then for education, and then a tiny portion for research.

Bernadine Healey was interviewed on Glenn Beck tonight and she said it should be between the woman and her doctor to decide. But Bernadine, there's that pesky insurance issue. . . women who have "cadillac" insurance are going to be taxed more, assuming their employer doesn't drop it, and that just might put a damper on what tests they're willing to put up with. And I know from Medicare, you don't just get any test or shot you want--it has to be one the approved schedule. If 40 year olds don't need it, maybe they'll decide 70 year olds aren't worth it either? Keep your eye on that Preventive Services Task Force once you're on the public health insurance.

Also, please read this story about Kerry Dumbaugh. I know her. She was interviewed in 2002 about a false negative mammogram, but 2 doctors could feel the lump. She was 42. Her grandmother died of cancer at 56--but her cancer had been visible for years. Kerry works for the Congressional Research Service and is an expert on China.

Now it's our turn to be Baby Jane

Baby Jane was born with spina bifida over 25 years ago. Her parents, on their doctors' advice,

"had refused both surgery to close her spine and a shunt to drain the fluid from her brain. In resisting the federal government's attempt to enforce treatment, the parents pleaded privacy.

What first piqued [Nat] Hentoff's curiosity was not so much the case itself but the press coverage. All the papers and the networks were using the same words to say the same thing, he says.

"Whenever I see that kind of story, where everybody agrees, I know there's something wrong," he says. "I finally figured out they were listening to the [parents'] lawyer."

He went after the story, later publishing it in The Atlantic as "The Awful Privacy of Baby Doe." In running it down, he found himself digging into the notorious, 2-year-old case of the first Infant Doe. That Bloomington, Ind., Down's syndrome baby died of starvation over six days when his parents, who did not want a retarded child, refused surgery for his deformed esophagus.

Then Mr. Hentoff came across the published reports of experiments in what doctors at Yale-New Haven Hospital called "early death as a management option" for infants "considered to have little or no hope of achieving meaningful 'humanhood.' " He talked with happy handicapped adults whose parents could have killed them but didn't. It changed him.” Finish the story here.

But keep in mind the slippery slope, and now fellow seniors, it’s our turn, and it's called ObamaCare.