The untouchable Keith Olbermann

I'm in the same boat with those of you who refuse to watch Glenn Beck talk about the Founding Fathers or listen to Rush Limbaugh's theories of crony capitalism, but have never actually seen or heard a program. You only know you don't like them because some media filter tells you what to think. That's pretty much my story about Keith Olbermann. I don't watch MSNBC except on rare occasions, and guessing from its ratings neither do a lot of other people. I've only seen him on YouTube, usually making a fool of himself. But Donny Deutsch has learned that he dare not mention him in a story about the angry media, not even briefly. It seems it's OK for Olbermann to make himself look like an idiot, but his own colleagues are not supposed to notice. "Fair and Balanced" is a Fox motto, not MSNBC.

"Four people briefed on the matter said the cancellation of Mr. Deutsch’s weeklong show, called “America the Angry,” was the result of an unflattering mention of MSNBC’s No. 1 anchor, Keith Olbermann, on Tuesday.

On that day, in what was supposed to be the second day of a weeklong series, Mr. Deutsch included a segment about the role that the media plays in fomenting the public’s anger. Mr. Olbermann was mentioned briefly and shown in a series of clips of media figures."

MSNBC Pulls the Plug on Donny Deutsch’s Show - NYTimes.com

Comprehensive List of Obamacare's Tax Hikes

At the party at Gloria Estafan's Florida home Obama really yukked it up ridiculing concerned tax payers. Why, we all got refunds--can't imagine what this is all about! Doh! Take a look at what we will be paying just in the health care bill, and he hasn't even started on immigration reform, or cap and trade yet.

Eye Opening: a Comprehensive List of Obamacare's Tax Hikes | Red County

Individual Mandate Excise Tax (Page 324/Sec. 1501/Jan 2014)

Employer Mandate Tax (Page 348/Sec. 1513/Jan 2014)

Excise Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans (Page 1979/Sec. 9001/$149.1 bil/Jan 2013)

Hike in Medicare Payroll Tax (Page 2040/Sec. 9015/$86.8 bil/Jan 2013

Medicine Cabinet Tax (Page 1997/Sec. 9003/$5 bil/Jan 2011)

HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike (Page 1998/Sec. 9004/$1.3 bil/Jan 2011)

Flexible Spending Account Cap – aka “Special Needs Kids Tax” (Page 1999/Sec. 9005/$14 bil/Jan 2011)

Tax on Medical Device Manufacturers (Page 2020/Sec. 9009/$19.2 bil/Jan 2010)

Raise "Haircut" for Medical Itemized Deduction from 7.5% to 10% of AGI (Page 2034/Sec. 9013/$15.2 bil/Jan 2013)

Tax on Indoor Tanning Services (Page 373 of Manager’s amendment/$2.7 billion/July 1, 2010)

and many, many more.

Timothy Geithner and Bill Gates: A New Initiative to Feed the World

Tax Cheat Geithner wants to feed the world. Excuse me, if I'm not impressed.

"Today, the United States, Canada, Spain, South Korea and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are making a commitment to fight the threat of global food insecurity. Together we are launching the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, a new fund to help the world's poorest farmers grow more food and earn more than they do now so they can lift themselves out of hunger and poverty."

Timothy Geithner and Bill Gates: A New Initiative to Feed the World - WSJ.com

In one of my other lives I worked in the agricultural credit field on a US AID grant. Fascinating work. One of the most important things I learned was that there was no shortage of food, no shortage of calories. Even using outdated and non-scientific methods (although the push for the green revolution was huge in the 70s). No. It was corrupt governments and bad infrastructure that caused hunger and starvation. Crops rotting in the fields due to civil wars, or no roads, or no trucks to bring them to market or ports. Or pirates when the food stuffs did get there. And in the 70s, malaria was under control--all that has been made worse by environmentalists removing DDT from their tool box.

So if this aid is going to farmers we aren't going to see much change. In fact, there's very good evidence that foreign aid, particularly from former guilt-ridden colonial European countries has actually hurt many third world countries by ruining their markets for their own products or creating dependency on government aid.

Errands

After the mail run for church today I stopped at my doctor's office and made an appointment for a check up--seems I missed 2009; then on to the vet's to see about getting that prescription refilled because the cat has started sneezing serially again; then on to the optometrist to make an appointment. My last "new" glasses are from a 2007 exam, but I exchanged them 5 times. This time I decided to browse the frames display so as not to make another mistake. I overheard the man behind me tell the manager, "Thems look like ol' lady glasses ta me." His belly took up his chair plus part of the table, he hadn't taken off his baseball cap in a month of Sundays, and he was wearing muddy work boots. Ah, youth.

The one mile of sidewalk being built with ARRA funds on our street (banner and sign announces this) is just about finished. A little grass seed and it will look great. I'll soon be able to walk to the coffee shop. Of course, it looks like they were drunk when they laid it out--goes around sewer covers and utility boxes. Thank you, America. I'm sure we in Upper Arlington wouldn't have been able to swing this on our own tax money.

The story of Jack and John

Jack Booket knows a get-rich scheme when he sees one, and he holds no grudge against John Paulson, the hedge-fund manager who made bets on his ability to pay his mortgage. Jack lost; John won. The story is in today's Wall Street Journal. Paulson did nothing to affect Booket's choices. Booket chose to refinance his mortgage in 2006 and a few months later was hit by a car on his motorcycle returning home from a "late-night party." It wasn't his first accident. The writers discreetly don't say alcohol was involved, but it usually is in the a.m. hours of vehicle accidents regardless of who is at fault. Two years later he stopped making payments on his $300,000+ refinanced mortgage. Jack Booket gambled and lost.

John Paulson also gambled, but with a little help. Those mortgages he bet on weren't drawn from a hat. They were matched with court records, foreclosure listings, title records and loan servicing reports. In other words, there was a pretty good chance even before his 2006 motorcycle accident that Jack was overstepping his reach. Paulson gambled that Jack would continue his prior behavior, and he won.

Let's move off the "evil" hedge fund manager who gambled and won, and instead look at the gamble our own government is making on housing, despite knowing what happened in 2007 with non-credit worthy home buyers, and speculators ready to pounce. Through the USDA rural home loans you can still get 100% financing, have a poor credit rating, pay no mortgage insurance, and get tax credits to help you pay the mortgage. I'm not sure you even need to be green, but you could probably qualify for more credits if you replaced a few appliances or windows. And it isn't just for single family homes--you could work up something really sweet with old uncle Sam, walk away if it doesn't work, and leave me with the bill! The only requirement I saw was that you have at least Internet Explorer 5 to fill out the application.

Joe Klein--"Anonymous" author of Primary Colors

Excuse me, Joe Klein, if your observations sound a bit trite--like perhaps you haven't actually covered a tea party rally as closely as you did the Clinton campaign. "I did a little bit of research just before this show - it's on this little napkin here." And he's decided, not in favor of the First Amendment which guarantees freedom of speech and the right of assembly, and the right for a redress of grievances. Oh no, now it's sedition when Tea Parties disagree with the President's take-overs of car companies and health care industry. Remember, Joe, that pesky First Amendment is also what gives the press its freedom. Take away ours with your careless snide charges scribbled boldly on napkins, and you just might lose yours too.

This has a familiar ring--Marxism

My job in graduate school nearly 50 years ago was to translate Soviet (Russian) newspapers for a Professor of Sociology. I must say, this passage today from “Bolivia Rising" (a blog) certainly has the language down. Those Marxists need to get a new thesaurus.

"The World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, Apr. 19-22, convened by Bolivia's President Evo Morales, has brought together some 12,000 people from 130 countries, including international personalities, representatives from citizen groups and government officials.

The bulk of the debate will be led by civil society, which tends to oppose the market-based mechanisms proposed by most of the governments to fight climate change, and this is fuelling doubts about just how much impact the Bolivian forum will have on the official climate talks taking place within the United Nations."

Not only is Morales a left wing kook but he’s also certifiably a homophobe--he thinks bad diets cause baldness and homosexuality! I kid you not. Look it up. Trying to control the climate, it seems, isn’t his only problem.

“The chicken that we eat is full of female hormones. Because of this the men who eat this chicken have deviations in their being as men,” he said at the opening of a conference on climate change in Bolivia on Tuesday.

He also blamed widespread baldness in Europe, which he labelled a “sickness”, on the diet of Europeans. “They are almost all bald and this is because of the things they eat, while among the indigenous peoples there are no bald people because we eat other things,” said the president, a lustrously haired Aymara Indian. IrishTimes.com

So we can assume he's not only hairy but virile? No chicken hormones for the prez.

Petty Jon on his low ratings

Comedian Jon Stewart Tuesday responded to Bernie Goldberg's criticism of "The Daily Show" host [Stewart started it by criticizing Bernie and Fox] by performing a Gospel tune with the lyrics "Go f--k yourselves." As a little background, Stewart last week went after Fox News and Goldberg ending the segment, "I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Go f--k yourselves." (Breitbart TV). Potty mouth aside, I think the reason Jon Stewart loves the F-word so much and would be lost without it is because his audience is smaller than his penis. He can get them to giggle if he throws out a few F-bombs. Makes him feel edgy and hip. How juvenile. Bernie should ignore him. It's boring when news commentators and comedians use spats to hike their ratings.

Planes will start flying again; stupidy will linger

The same people who were hysterical over the cost of "Bush's Wars" are oddly silent on the cost of "Obama's Wars," both the ones in the middle east and the one on our economy. These are often the same people who believe passionately in anthropogenic global warming (AGW), even though they've just had a brilliant display of how little we control and how commerce and climate can both cool with just a few burps of a volcano through a glacier. For some reason they are willing to spend mega-trillions attempting to control the climate at some unknown future date by a degree or two, when a few hundred million could insure every African would have safe water and control malaria in this decade.

Do people actually fall for these e-mail scams?

Yes, they do. I must get 10 or so a week through my university account and if no one answered the door, they'd stop sending them. Road Runner (my other account) seems to have a better screening device. Something for nothing must be the name of the game on the receiver's end. Here's one of today's which goes on to request all my personal identifying information so large sums can be credited to my bank account.

"Your contact / Your Payment File was given to this office in respect of your total inherited/10.5M British Pounds (TEN Million, Five Hundred Thousand British Pounds Sterling owed to you which you have Failed to claim because of either non-compliance of official processes or Because of your not believing reality of your genuine payment.

We wish to bring to you the solution to this problem. Right now we have arranged your payment through our Swift Card Payment Centers, That is the latest instruction from Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS)."

Usually I delete without opening. Today I looked at it and wondered who are the "something for nothing" wannabees that fall for this?

American independents and moderates are probably too well educated and savvy to fall for THIS scheme, but they sure bought into "hope and change" without any investigation of the current president's qualifications, background or communist cronies. If every registered Democrat and African-American of either party had voted for Obama, that still wouldn't have put him in the White House. No, it took all those people who put their investigative powers on the shelf, who were angry with Bush because of wars on two fronts, ridiculous spending on domestic programs, or because they thought he talked funny--those are the people who opened the alluring package and thought, here's a chance for something different. What they now have are Obama's wars on two fronts, double the ridiculous spending in one year that Bush ran up in eight, and a President that talks funny when not on the teleprompter.

Gee guys, thanks a bunch.

Coffee Frappe

I don't care for cold coffee, and rarely make coffee at home, but this one I might try. It's from my new Desperate Housewives Cookbook, p. 200.

If you have left over coffee, pour it into ice cube trays and freeze. Transfer the frozen cubes to a sealable bag and keep in the freezer.

3 coffee ice cubes
1/2 cup milk (or soy milk or skim milk)
1/4 cup reduced-fat evaporated milk
1 packet artificial sweetener or 1 tablespoon superfine sugar

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and run at high speed until smooth. Pour into a tall chilled glass.

The story in the book is that Lynette seems to have a caffeine addiction.

Items too short for a blog

Today I replaced my 50 year old glass measuring cups and 2 qt. casserole. I couldn't read the marks on the cups, and the lid broke about 40 years ago for the casserole. Unless they break, these will probably last the rest of my life.

My husband thinks my smocked, loose t-shirt looks like a maternity top, but pregnant women these days wear tight form fitting body shirts. Besides, at 70, I doubt that I'm confusing anyone.

The cat is coughing, snorting, gagging and sneezing less--down to about once a day--so should I risk not getting a refill of the antibiotic?

Can I finish reading Dearest Friend; a life of Abigail Adams in time to recommend it for the 2010-2011 reading cycle? It's a rule--we can't recommend a book unless we've read it.

It really irritates me that I can't find Palmolive hand soap anywhere. It's probably still made, but I haven't seen it in years. It's far superior to all the other green bar soaps. Meijer's used to have a knock off, but can't even get that.

A friend of mine has written a book about our home town, and I'm really learning a lot. I've bought 2 more copies to give my siblings.

I don't like this month's book selection, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I suppose I shouldn't read it in the evening. I think I have Sundowner's.

Good news about vitamin supplements, especially calcium, decreasing the breast cancer risk. And only 4 years after they warned us they might increase the risk of cancer. I love research, don't you?

There's a guy on death row here in Ohio fighting execution because he says he has allergies to the injection material. So. . . what's the worst that could happen? He might die?

It appears I've sold my one little piece of Teco for $500. I had a blog entry about it. I went online and looked at another piece at Treadway in Cincinnati, about twice the size and a bit more complex. It was $74,000. We plan to use the money for Haiti.

Abigail's Tea Room at Lakeside was auctioned Saturday. Cold, windy day. We loved going there the last 30 years or so (until 2008). Very sad day for all of us. The Association didn't get it.

I've volunteered to help with English conversation class at our church, but orientation has been cancelled for the third week. Maybe I'll start in the fall. Hardly seems worth it for the spring since we're gone in the summer.

Got a wonderful new notebook for blogging. More expensive than I usually pay, but more pages. "Ebony and Ivory" by Drew Strouble.

The seven syllable volcano

A new burst of ash yesterday has halted the return to service of some European airports according to the NYT. Nasty stuff. Millions lost in commerce and leisure industries. Thousands of people stranded or inconvenienced. Ash and lava and poisonous gases in the air people breathe. Britain is sending ships to rescue its 150,000 citizens stranded abroad. Just imagine what volcanic ash clouds perhaps from a Pacific Island would do in the long run to wind turbines in the prairies, or solar panels on desert rooftops, and the nuclear plants sprinkled around the midwest--those energy sources so touted by the environmentalists as superior to fossil fuel. Talk all you want about "locally grown" or "sustainable," but block the sun for a growing season with an ash cloud in California and you'd find out quickly just what "food insecurity" really means. True, that nasty stuff in the clouds can shut down airports because jet fuel engines don't like it either, and there's no way to safely circulate the air, but other forms of heating and cooling that stored the sun's energy eons ago through rotting vegetation and animal matter aren't as affected. It's almost as if God is sending a reminder that he is still in charge and the cult of AGW better hang up its robes.

Job 38
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
7 when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,
9 when I made clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10 and prescribed limits for it
and set bars and doors,
11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

Why Men's Friendships Are Different

"Studies show that in their late 20s and 30s, women have a harder time staying in touch with old friends. Those are the years when they're busy starting careers and raising children, so they don't have time to gather for reunions. Money is tighter, too. But around age 40, women start reconnecting. Before the 1990s, researchers assumed this was because they had more time for friendship in their 40s, as their children became self-sufficient. But now researchers consider this middle-aged focus on friendship to be a life stage; as women plan the next chapter of their lives, they turn to friends for guidance and empathy.

Men, meanwhile, tend to build friendships until about age 30, but there's often a falloff after that. Among the reasons: Their friendships are more apt to be hurt by geographical moves and differences in career trajectories. Recent studies, however, are now finding that men in their late 40s are turning to what Dr. Grief calls "rusted" friends—longtime pals they knew when they were younger. The Internet is making it easier for them to make contact with one another."

Why Men's Friendships Are Different - WSJ.com

The front fell off

Abortionist Loses License for Killing the Wrong Twin

Didn't Obama warn us, when trumpeting his health care take over, that evil doctors make mistakes, and perform unnecessary procedures? Lookee here. The guy aborted the wrong baby! He left the one that had Down Syndrome. Obama was right!

Abortionist Loses License for Killing the Wrong Twin » First Thoughts | A First Things Blog

Clinton blames peaceful protesters not his actions at Waco for Oklahoma City

It's the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombings when Timothy McVeigh, a wacko enraged by the Waco incident two years before, decided to kill the way the government under Janet Reno had killed at Waco. Now Clinton chooses the anniversary of the Murrah Building bombing to absolve himself of any blame and to caution today's peaceful protestors. It's either convoluted thinking, or just thinking like a Democrat.

With the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing approaching, former President Bill Clinton on Thursday drew parallels between the antigovernment tone that preceded that devastating attack and the political tumult of today, saying government critics must be mindful that angry words can stir violent actions.

Recalling ’95 Bombing, Clinton Sees Parallels - NYTimes.com

The Clintons and our current President all participated in not-so-peaceful protests; in fact, Obama's friend Bill Ayers who helped launch his career in Chicago is a domestic terrorist who bombed buildings in the 60s, and his UCC Chicago pastor preached inflamatory, racist, and anti-semitic sermons, but he stayed in the church year after year. So why can one group listen to all this anti-government language, but others can not? What are they afraid of? That it might work? A conservative takeover? Why wasn't Clinton chastising the SEIU protestors who actually got arrested in their protests on Tax Day?

Cleaning up the cat hair

On the one hand, we have more time these days, and on the other, I seem to be less interested in cleaning. But we were going out Friday night with relatively new friends--my husband knows her through their artsy groupsy stuff and their common interest in Haiti. So we went out to eat at our favorite spot, with plans to come back here for dessert and to watch a DVD my husband had made of his last trip to Haiti. Having company is the best reason I know to clean--sometimes I'll invite someone just for that incentive. The plant we got for Valentine's Day had died (I forgot to water it), so that was probably my last big event. And we have a small cat--she's under 7 lbs, but loses about 10 lbs. of hair a week. So I really went over the furniture with my wide 2" painter's tape so they wouldn't go home covered with hair.

As I said, we really didn't know these people well. I had no idea they had seven dogs--six Goldens and one Lab. All house pets. I guess I needn't have worried about a little cat hair.

A fun cookbook--Desperate Housewives

Yesterday at Marc's I found this cookbook for $2.00. I glanced through it wondering why in the world I needed yet another cookbook I probably wouldn't use, and then saw two pudding recipes! That's all it took.

I think I've only seen this show once, but I think I got a hint of the story line by following the different chapters with the characters and their recipes in this 2007 title.

Bree: Basil Purée Soup, Braised Duck, and Chicken Cutlets Saltimbocca. Lynette: French Toast for Breakfast (or Dinner) with Blueberry Syrup; Warm Turkey, Muenster, and Coleslaw Wraps; and Potato Casserole. Susan: a Salad of Roasted Peppers, Fresh Mozzarella, and Arugula; Foolproof Macaroni and Cheese; Chocolate Butterscotch Bars; and Garlic Mashed Potatoes. Gabrielle: Shrimp with Chorizo and Red Pepper, Guacamole with Warm Chips, and Pineapple-Peach Smoothies. Edie: Oysters Poached in Champagne and Cream, Sausage Puttanesca, and Ambrosia.

Then there's also recipes by the neighbors like Mike, Felicia and Mrs. Huber. The formatting is elegant, the text delightful, and the recipes look devine. The recipes are by Christopher Styler and the text by Scott S. Tobis. The final section tells how food is presented on TV by April Falzone Garen, a food stylist, and Melody Miller-Melton, the property master. And for the character (Susan) who is a bad cook, they actually have to simulate poorly prepared or burned food!

For those of you who live in towns that don't have a Marc's, well, too bad. It's such a fun store.

How to raise taxes on everyone--

particularly those making less than $250,000 a year--one of the many, many campaign promises Obama intends to break. The first tax on the poor he imposed was the cigarette tax. The European style value-added-tax is really an oxymoron, of course, because it doesn't add a thing--it just hides it. It's not the same as a flat tax, or a fair tax that conservatives and libertarians are suggesting as a replacement for the income tax, the death tax, or the capital gains tax. We get to keep all those and add more with a VAT. It just takes your money and creates another fund for government to waste. It's a tax at every stage of the production process.

And of course, it's all George W. Bush's fault. If it hadn't been for his tax cuts pulling us out of the last recession, there wouldn't have been huge sums of tax money funnelled into the government coffers creating a lust for more programs from both parties. . . Well, whatever the reason we need this, it certainly couldn't be Obama doubling the deficit or his hasty, ill-thought out health care take-over.

Did you hear him ridiculing the peaceful Tea Party gatherings on Tax Day? (But not the SEIU protesters who actually got arrested?) He can't imagine why they aren't grateful to have the future of their children and grandchildren stolen. Such ingrates!! Sixty-two percent of Americans call themselves conservatives. Some of them helped elect him. No more. Let the liberals act like the long abused wife who is afraid to stand up and say NO. I think conservatives have learned a lesson.

Obama insiders buzz over possible Value-Added Tax