A trifecta blog incident

People say how can you have so many blogs? How do you have the time? Bob C. asked me that yesterday (we went to high school together) and he has the same 24 hour days I do, just different hobbies. Anyway, today I have an item for 3 of my 12 blogs--Coffee Spills, about people I meet in coffee shops, In the beginning, about my first issue hobby, and this one, Collecting my thoughts--and maybe 4 if I can rework it for my retirement blog, Growth Industry, or food and health blog, Hugging and Chalking.

I'm in a book group that meets at Panera's and a very sweet school teacher was in our spot by the fireplace (no school because of MLK day). I watched and as he got up to leave I saw a handsome young woman come through the door, and I thought I saw her glance at the coveted seat. I grabbed my books and slammed them down on that table faster than you can say "crazy old lady."

After I'd settled in with my coat, purse, books, etc., I peeked around and saw she was sitting within 4 inches of me where I had been sitting. And then I saw it. "Edible Columbus." "Is that a new magazine?" I asked. "Yes, but it isn't out yet; I'm the publisher." I thought I'd swoon. I'm a first issue collector and here I was about to see a birthing! [No website yet, try this for Edible Brooklyn.]

So we chatted a bit--she's a former New York chef who discovered a "series" of Edible. . [insert name of city or region] magazines and she bought the rights for Columbus. She explained the concept--it will focus on locally grown, sustainable sources with seasonable eatables, great traditions, recipes, related items like gadgets and ingredients, day trips, and events. Some of these events will be held in her mother's newly opened tea room which has room for classes! Right here in Upper Arlington. Swoon twice--a new place to go for coffee or lunch. This will start as a "free-circ" and I suggested she get it in the local public libraries as part of the serial collection to be sure it gets cataloged.

As my group started to arrive and her friend sat down, she asked me my name. When I told her, she said, "We live in your former house!" Small, small world. I don't like what the previous owner (from whom she bought it) did to the kitchen, but it will be great for a chef.

Massachusetts and Scott Brown

President Nixon’s meeting with Elvis

C-span 3 had a very interesting interview with Presley’s friend Jerry Schilling and Nixon’s aide, Bud Krogh who were there when Elvis decided he wanted a badge and got in to see the President. See the whole show here, hosted by Timothy Naftali of the Nixon Library. Quite charming, showing the very human side of both the President and the King. I think it aired about 2 weeks ago.

Also watched Book-TV with Michael Medved, the Five Big Lies about American Business. He appeared at a forum of Heritage Foundation on Dec. 9.

Lutheran seminarian killed in earthquake

Ben Larson, a cousin of our senior pastor, was killed in the earthquake in Haiti, where he was on a short term mission with his wife and other relatives. Story here. The other members of the team survived and have returned to the states.

We also learned that the emergency bus and truck load of food, water and medical supplies from Ouanaminthe to Port au Prince made it and returned safely with about 100 people from Ouanaminthe, including the four nursing students from the school in Leogane west of Port au Prince with 80% of the buildings destroyed. Of their four other students, 2 haven't been located, one had a foot amputated to get her out of the rubble, and another is safe. Those four had gone into PP. Our UALC pastor, Dave Mann, who lives and works in Ouanaminthe says of the return trip,

"The pick-up was stuffed inside and out. The bus was full both inside and on the roof. Many other vehicles were headed north with similar overloading.

Mèt Arne, our high school assistant principal, discovered that his wife is okay, but his 15-year old daughter along with many other students in her school died.

Dr. Riccardo, former employee of UMC [this might refer to their clinic, not sure], and his mother died in the quake.

The government’s Northeast Department director of education died. Several senators, other top governmental officials, heads of police stations, and many U.N. personnel died – and untold tens of thousands more. I don’t know if we ever will have an accurate count of the dead. Estimates range from 50,000 to 500,000. Some bodies have already been covered in mass graves and many are uncounted under the rubble. But still many, many corpses are lying exposed, bloated, and stinking."

Garage Slab--Winter issue is now out

You may recall my enthusiasm for garages--I did a little photo essay on Lakeside's garages this past summer because garage architectural history is a few years younger than the automobile, which at first shared space with the horses in the stable. Lakeside cottage owners constantly remodel, but some have let the ivy grow over the garage listing in the back yard, so it's fun to investigate their styles. I didn't finish that theme and still have some photos on my laptop waiting for my brilliant critique. But in the meantime, I found Garage Slab, a new publication for garage lovers published right here in Columbus, or rather, Bexley. The winter issue is out, and I'm going to have a few copies to distribute. As I said in November (and I think it is still true),

"Attractive design; clever theme; humor; great photography; good quality paper; nice graphics and layout; an abundance of advertisers; published and printed in Columbus by Greasy Shirt Publishing, but available in 11 other states."

It's a long, long line

A catchy tune, great lyrics. The long, long line.

Do you need an MRI?
Get in the long, long line.
Do you feel like you're gonna die?
Get in the long, long line.
'Cuz health care from the state
Will cause an endless wait.
I hope it's not too late.
Get in the long, long line.

Brother and sister team, Steve Jones wrote the lyrics, and the music and singing is by Kathleen Stewart. Here's an article about them in the Midland Daily News (MI). Kathleen has a CD, "Take Back America." You can download "It ain't your money to spend."

"You started a spending orgy and then,
You made me long for Georgie again."

Sorry, Senator Sherrod Brown

You're toast. You're history. You and yours need to go down in a pit of shame for passing this ridiculous piece of legislation which will increase taxes on everyone and raise costs for everyone while rationing care for the elderly. If I've ever seen a piece of legislation misnamed, it would be "Patient Protection and Accordable Care."

Dear Norma,

Last month the Senate voted to pass the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the most meaningful improvement to our health care system since enactment of Medicare and Medicaid four and a half decades ago.

The Senate and House of Representatives are now merging their respective bills and expect to deliver a final piece of legislation to President Obama in the coming weeks. While the negotiations continue, I wanted to provide an update on how health reform would help Ohioans. . ." and more lies too numerous to catalog here.

Let's hope that Scott Brown of Massachusetts wins against Martha Coakley and helps bring a little santiy to Washington.

For sale--TECO pottery--for Haiti earthquake relief

TECO Pottery was modern before it's time. I do not collect TECO (the little green one between 2 pieces of Hull), but I have one piece, Pogoda style, small, green matte finish. This is not a reproduction.

TECO (an abbreviation of TErra COtta) art pottery was originally produced from 1899 through 1920 by the American Terra Cotta and Ceramics Company, located in Terra Cotta, Illinois by that other Bill Gates, William D. Gates. If you're into Prairie style, arts and crafts, you just must own a piece of TECO.

When produced in the early 20th century they were inexpensive. Even Frank Lloyd Wright got in the act as a designer. Now quite dear. Make an offer. Help yourself and others.

William Gates came up with the Teco name from the “Te” in Terra and the “co” in Cotta. Soon thereafter Gates and his chemists developed the highly sought after “Teco matte green” for which the company is famous. After mastering the matte green color, Gates continued to experiment with new arts and crafts shapes for his vases.

It was always Gates' desire with Teco to produce pottery with appeal from shape and color rather than elaborate decoration. The expanding arts and crafts movement and the Prairie School provided Gates an approach to architectural ceramic design and a customer base for Teco pottery. Teco, possibly more so than any other arts and crafts pottery from its time, seems particularly at home in arts and crafts bungalows and houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and other Prairie style architects. Art Pottery Blog

Why we should care about Haiti

Let's not forget this tragedy when the news cameras leave for the next big story. This was my site meter record for the last 30 days--people care about Haiti. The peak day was the 13th. When I posted a USGS map of the earthquake area of January 12, I got 36 hits on that entry the first hour--and most people stopped to read and click through to the source.


Page Views Dec. 16-Jan. 16

Total ...................... 456,967 (5+ years of blogging)
Average per Day ................ 438
Average per Visit .............. 1.4
This Week .................... 3,068

People care for the humanitarian reasons and terrible tragedies of families torn apart; hits came from all over the world. Also, we have a very large Haitian American population in the United States. They are restaurant owners, house painters, hospital staff, college students, academics, athletes, artists, musicians, etc. They are ambitious, driven-to-succeed people, and I'm guessing few are on welfare. We even have a community here in Columbus. There may be over 10,000 church and non-profit organizations with missions and aid societies in that tiny half-an-island nation, no bigger than Maryland. My guess (and that's all it is) is the combined resources of those groups and the Haitian immigrant communities sending money home exceed the federal government's aid--and the U.S. has poured more aid into Haiti's corrupt dictatorships and governments over the years than any other third world country. Each person who is on staff there or who has served on a mission team, like my husband, has talked about it and made other people care about Haiti. In two days, we personally got at least 10 inquiries from friends and relatives--first wanting to know if my husband was there, and second wanting to know if Ouanaminthe was hit. We had calls from Florida, Illinois, Texas, Ohio and one from a friend we hadn't heard from in 5 years.

However, we need to pay very close attention to the Haiti that existed before the earthquake and why there are so many pockets of aid. Haiti has no infrastructure--and that responsibility belongs to federal and local governments, whether elected, appointed or placed by outside forces. No road system, no public utilities for electric, water and sanitation, no army, no police force, no building codes, no zoning, no food inspection system, no banks and credit unions for the people, no public health system to vaccinate, floridate, or compensate, no middle class, no forests, no commercial farms, a public school system with an average of 100 students per class, no public library system, and no hope and change regardless of generations of black leaders. Top all that off with a powerful belief system in Voodoo which undergirds even the Christians. Think on that one as you holier than thou liberals tsk-tsk over what Pat Robertson said about a pact with the devil.

Conservatives and libertarians need to pay close attention, because right now they are the ones most critical of our government. (From 2001-2008 it was the liberals and progressives who were most critical--but nothing much has changed.) What part of this mess do you want to claim so that we can go back to lead in house paint, tainted meat, no vaccines, dirty water, rivers that catch on fire, dead zones in our lakes and rivers from chemical dumping, no programs for mentally ill and retarded children in the public schools, choking on cigarette smoke everywhere you went, cars that crumbled like paper at a 5 mph crash and no seat belts, no minorities or women in any position of authority, lack of career tracks for your daughters and sisters above secretary and school teacher, no protection for pensions, no Social Security, no unemployment benefits, no workers' compensation, no federal aid for disasters, no freedom to organize workers, no right to work without unions, no standards for your neighbor keeping up his property so yours doesn't deteriorate, etc.

And you liberals and progressives (no point addressing Marxists and Anarchists--you have a different agenda). Take a good look at what happens when you have an entire country where entreprenuership and free markets are completely discouraged through vicious tax laws that punish the poor and rich alike, but especially drive out the best and brightest. Take a look at a country where the ambitious and educated have to go elsewhere to even have a chance to support their families and enjoy a few of the benefits you take for granted. Take a look at a system built on who you know and who your family is. The ultimate of cronyism--and our Chicago crowd in DC is far worse now than the Texas cronyism during the Bush years in only 1/8 of the time. Look at a society where everyone has their hand out because that's the only way you can survive. Look at a country where nothing gets done without handsome bribes--not even unloading a container of desperately needed supplies for your medical mission--and then look at the Christmas Eve vote pushed through by Harry Reid and Barack Obama. It was impossible to pass that extremely unpopular health care bill without bribing a U.S. Senator! And we'll see the same thing with cap and trade over an equally phony AGW. Lies and Bribes. Do we want that? Look at style over substance the next time you are giddy over [using the words of Biden and Reid] a "light skinned, clean Negro" reading from a teleprompter. Have you ever browsed a photo gallery of Haiti's former leaders? My Goodness, a really smart stylish group of losers in big hats and fancy uniforms. Spoke pretty too--in four languages. Gave great parties. It means nothing. Wake up liberals, before you turn us into a third rate country with a glorious past.

Yes, we all have a lot to learn from Haiti, and yes, this tragedy will be politicized. The media who placed Obama in the White House are already trying to compare this aid to Katrina--another natural disaster made worse by ineffective government services at the city, state and federal levels. Let's wake up and get smart before it's too late.

ObamaCare Shocker

by Jay Printz at American Daughter, used with permission. See original for all hot links.

Recently decided tenth amendment cases support constitutional challenges to ObamaCare. Here is evidence that my battle in Printz v. United States was not in vain, as so many liberals would have you believe!


From FOXNews -- An Obamacare Shocker:

....there's another key provision in Obamacare that probably violates the Tenth Amendment: the state exchanges.

The Tenth Amendment went for so many years without being used to strike down any law that it came to be regarded as what is called a dead letter in the Constitution, meaning a provision that says some sort of obvious statement, but that isn't actually used by the courts for anything.

Then, in the 1990s, the Supreme Court shocked the legal world by striking down two laws for violating the Tenth Amendment. The first was New York v. United States in 1992, where the Court struck down a federal law requiring states to pass state laws for the disposal of radioactive waste, and to issue regulations for implementing those laws. Then in Printz v. United States in 1997, the Court struck down a provision of the Brady Act--a federal gun-control law--that required state and local law enforcement to run background checks on handgun purchasers.

From these two cases emerged the anti-commandeering principle, holding that the Tenth Amendment forbids the federal government from commandeering--or ordering--any branch of state government to do anything. The states are sovereign and answer only to their voters, not to Washington, D.C.

Therein lies the problem for the Senate's Obamacare bill. It requires each state to pass laws setting up a statewide non-profit insurance exchanges. It then requires the states to pass regulations for implementing those laws. And it further requires the states to dedicate staff and spend state money to administer those programs.

In most respects, this is a straight-out repeat of those 1992 and 1997 cases. The main difference is that Obamacare violates the anti-commandeering principle in a far more severe and egregious way than those previous laws ever did.

This is really stunning. If New York and Printz had been decided as far back as 1910, then maybe you could imagine Congress deciding to roll the dice with a completely new Supreme Court a century later. But these are recent cases with conservative outcomes, and the only difference is that the Court has become a bit more conservative then it was in the 1990s when it decided those two cases....

The only way the Dems can get around this is to drag out the constitutional challenges until Obama, in a second term as president, may have a chance to replace two conservative Supreme Court justices with liberals.

The American public must deny Obama a second term, and the certain destruction of states' rights.

[Jay Printz retired in 1999 after 26 years as a Montana Sheriff; he is a U.S. Marine and Vietnam combat veteran. He served in 2004-2005 as an advisor to Iraqi national security forces. He brought a successful U.S. Supreme Court challenge against the "Brady Law" in the landmark case, Printz v. United States. Printz is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association.]

Friday Family Photo--The Weybrights

This is a very clever way to display as many people in a family tree as possible. Line the photos up on the cover. The woman who compiled this list, Elizabeth Miller Lane, wasn't even related--she just enjoyed doing genealogy and must have found all her own family! The fellow in the upper right hand corner, Jesse P. Weybright, is the one who got me interested in genealogy. He wrote a small book, "Genealogy of Martin Weybrecht; Weybright Waybright also Martin Waybright Highland County, Virginia 1800" in the mid-1930s and I inherited a copy from my grandmother, who had purchased a copy for each of her children. I was never able to figure out the numbering system of the generations, but fortunately, grandma made a few notes around 1938 before I was born--because her family was left out and she wrote them in. (I suspect grandpa got the inquiry from his cousin Jesse and he just tossed it--as 2nd cousin once removed James says, it's usually the women who keep track of these things.) If we were there, we'd be on p. 48, Vol. 2 Book II. Chapter 7, v. 7, sect. 8.

Do you hear it?

Today at Coffee Spills I blogged about a young man I thought must be watching Mad Men on TV. I don't watch the show, but it's making an impact on men's fashion.

Mad Men theme and Autumn Leaves.

How are your kidneys?

"House and Senate Democrat leaders, and President Obama, argue that they can "pay for" health insurance "reform" by cutting $500 billion from Medicare spending over the next decade—largely through arbitrary reimbursement cuts,— without reducing the quality of care delivered to beneficiaries.

Yet, in January, 2011, Medicare will implement a new payment system for patients receiving dialysis for end stage kidney disease that will severely ration care to this vulnerable (and largely minority) population based on equally arbitrary payment reductions. These patients will be the unfortunate canary in the Medicare coal mine: "reform" legislation will expose millions of Medicare patients to rationing and reduced quality of care." Read the whole story at Medical Progress Today.

But bring out the violins for illegal aliens who need dialysis back in Mexico! NYT story. If you read far enough, you'll see Mexico's present (lower costs, but private pay) is our future.

Style vs. Substance

Although I think even his most ardent supporters are tiring of his whining, finger pointing, and stalling this item on style vs. substance is still important.

Rasmussen Reports (Michael Barone) - "The Obama enthusiasts who dominated so much of the 2008 campaign cycle were motivated by style. The tea party protesters who dominated so much of 2009 were motivated by substance. Obama enthusiasts seem to have been motivated by a yearning for a rapturous, nuanced leader. Send that terrible tyrant with his tortured sentences and moral certitude back to Texas and install The One in the White House, and all would be well.

"In contrast, the tea party protesters, many of them as fractious and loudmouthed as [New York Times Columnist David] Brooks thinks, are interested in substantive political issues. They decry the dangers of expanding the national debt, increasing government spending and putting government in command of the health care sector." Barone's article here

I can't remember a time when Democrats weren't contemptuous of Republican leaders--I certainly believed Ronald Reagan was just a dumb movie star who read lines when I was a Democrat. That's all I heard from the media and my colleagues. And how many times did you see Bush portrayed as a knuckle dragging, cowboy cartoon with huge ears? And unfortunately, like small children who are abused and grow up doubting their abilities, many RINOs behave as they are told they believe. The Harry Reid racism flap is just the latest of letting the Democrats set the agenda. Everyone in both parties knows he isn't a racist, but they also know there's a double standard for what can be said, thought or acted upon. Without a moment's reflection, our President can blast the Cambridge police as racist, but waits 3 days to say anything about terrorists. The time to wring the Reid comment out and hang it out to dry is the next time a Republican says macaca or water buffalo and the Democrats scream RACIST! Then rally the troops. Go after speech codes that do nothing but divide. Reid should go down in history for the comfort he gave our enemies during time of war not for using the word "Negro," which many people still use, or calling Obama light skinned, which he is because his mother was white teenager impregnated by an older married man and who didn't have an abortion.

When women use steroids

they look like men in drag. Those are not natural female faces. They look like sextuplets. Same long jaws, high foreheads, elongated noses--and probably the ears too if we could see them. The breasts look like soccer balls. My husband said, "Who would want to come home to that?" Nice shoes, though.

Latest map on Haiti Earthquake

Click to enlarge. USGS M7 Haiti Earthquake of January 12. Shows earthquakes of the last 100 years, and historic earthquakes and tsunamis since 1492.

Earthquake glossary

HT Mary Scott, Geology Library, OSU

Thursday Thirteen--Thrift shop buys

Today's Wall Street Journal has an article on Alicia Kan giving up her executive look wardrobe for a more relaxed look. She sold her designer clothes and reinvented herself. Three years ago I lost 20 lbs. and since I already had an old wardrobe (retired in 2000) and didn't need anything new, I discovered The Discovery Shop, a resale thrift shop that supports cancer research. I found much more than clothing. Here are some of my favorite buys:

1) Silverplate flatware, Reed and Barton 1776, service for 8, with all the serving pieces, $35. I use this set for every day and thoroughly enjoy it.

2) Soup bowls to match my fine china. Not the exact pattern, but close enough that I won't have to pay $50.00 a piece to buy them. I have Countess pattern in Syracuse China, and the bowls are King's Court, Wedding Band pattern. $4.00 each.



3) A CD of Urbie Green and Umpteen Trombones. I used to play trombone and this CD is fabulous! $1.00




4) Two beautiful Christmas cups, $1.00 each. Dunoon Stoneware Scotland, Jane Brookshaw (she has a series).

5) At least 5 pair of dress khaki slacks for my son to wear to work, $4 each. All name brands and in good condition.

6) Jeans and cotton slacks for my husband to wear for Haiti mission work; then they leave their clothes there. Some were better than his own. $3-5.00 each.

7) Numerous pairs of lined wool slacks, made in USA, with natural waist fit, already professionally shortened with dry cleaning tags still attached. Various sizes as my weight changed. Average cost $5.00 each.

8) Pendleton pants suit, tan tweed, short jacket, fitted waist, lined slacks. $25.

9) London Fog raincoat, zip liner, $10.

10) White dress pants suit, summer. $25.

11) Coleman, light weight zip front jacket, blue and gray, for my husband. $5.

12) Cat's Meow buildings, 2 bookstores and a library, $3 each.

13) Talbot and Coldwater Creek jeans--black velveteen, pink, red, charcoal gray, olive, burgundy, all new with tags. Natural waist, some with a bit of lycra or little extra fabric for eased fit in hips and legs for the "mature" woman. Average price $4-5. Anyone need red size 8 jeans? Too tight now. Won't zip. Can't sit.
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Coakley and Obama's fat cats and special interests

An editorial in today's WSJ points out how cozy Democrats are with Big Health. They occasionally appear for whip lashing by the Administration, but right now they are needed to "fill Teddy's seat." This Massachusetts race is certainly getting strange. I'm for Brown. I'm part of the right wing rich fat cat conspiracy (DNC ads) that sent him money.

"Amid a Beltway panic, the health lobby is riding to the rescue of the Massachusetts liberal, whose defeat in the special Senate race next Tuesday could deny Democrats the 60th vote for ObamaCare and thus maybe spare the U.S. health system from the coming damage.

As first reported by Timothy Carney of the Washington Examiner, the host committee for the fundraiser at Pennsylvania Avenue's Sonoma Restaurant includes lobbyists for Pfizer, Merck, Eli Lilly, Novartis and sundry other drug companies that have been among the biggest of ObamaCare's corporate sponsors. Other hosts—who have raised at least $10,000 for Ms. Coakley—include representatives from UnitedHealthcare, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Humana and other insurers. As far as we can tell, the insurance industry claims to oppose ObamaCare's current incarnation.

Naturally, lobbyists from America's Health Insurance Plans and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the major trade groups, were on hand too. Money follows power in Washington, obviously, though this example seems especially inexplicable given that Ms. Coakley's GOP opponent, state senator Scott Brown, may be the last chance to defuse the health-care doomsday machine. But maybe someone in the press corps will bother to mention this episode the next time President Obama takes aim at the "special interests" he claims are opposing his agenda."

Does he have anything to say about dark skinned Muslims who shoot up military bases and hide bombs in their underwear?

It seems the Obama Administration is fearful of the word "terrorist," unless it's not connected with Muslims or non-white ethnic groups. This may be the most racist appointee yet. Obama thought the power of his charisma and personality would calm things down--even the Norwegians thought so--gave him a useless peace prize for doing nothing. But he continues to appoint crooks, cheats, marxists, losers and racists. This guy Southers used his FBI position to snoop on his ex-wife. I'd put that in the Geithner tax cheating category. It would certainly have stopped a Bush appointee.

I was looking at the "World News" section of the paper yesterday. . .

1) Militants attack crude oil pipe line in Africa
2) Togolese soccer squad attacked and killed in Angola
3) Afghan blast kills U.K. journalist and U.S. Marines and photographer injured.
4) Chavez devaluing their currency--dismantling the middle class.
5) Argentin constitutional crisis threatens Central banks--ripple effect at our Fed.
6) Merkel leadership under attack
7) Northern Ireland rocked by sex + money scandal.
8) 3 Palestinian militants were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.
9) Australians are in trouble in China for commercial crimes and in Vietnam for fuel-hedging trades.
10) Beijing cracking down on dissidents who are using the Internet.

No, the world hasn't changed yet. Not much hope either.

Miss me yet?

From John Hawkins at RightWing News.

Yet, horrible approval rating and terrible messaging aside, Bush was a much better, more competent, and skilled President than Obama. That's even the case if you set aside ideological issues.

Bush was more transparent, worked better with the other side, was a much more skilled diplomat, had a much better idea of what government could accomplish, and was several orders of magnitude more honest.

Bush was not a great President. On the domestic front, he wasn't even a good one. He also did great damage to the Republican Party by being so stubborn, obtuse, and by making so little effort to get his message out.

But, all that said: When you get beyond the hyperbole and polling data, it's Obama, not Bush, who suffers when the two men are compared.

He lost support of his party because of amnesty, and caving on AGW, and spending like a drunken Democrat, but he'll go down in history as a much better President.