Sordid, tacky, publicity hound--and that's just the mistress!

John Edwards. Wow. I'm so glad he didn't go any further in his quest for the White House. I'm not thrilled with the current occupant, but he's head and shoulders above this mess of dandruff.

'Johnny' to testify in Hunter trial | Washington Examiner

A carefully crafted immigration law in Arizona

"Has anyone actually read the law? Contrary to the talk, it is a reasonable, limited, carefully-crafted measure designed to help law enforcement deal with a serious problem in Arizona. Its authors anticipated criticism and went to great lengths to make sure it is constitutional and will hold up in court. It is the criticism of the law that is over the top, not the law itself.

The law requires police to check with federal authorities on a person's immigration status, if officers have stopped that person for some legitimate reason and come to suspect that he or she might be in the U.S. illegally. The heart of the law is this provision: "For any lawful contact made by a law enforcement official or a law enforcement agency…where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States, a reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine the immigration status of the person…" "

Byron York, A carefully crafted immigration law in Arizona | Washington Examiner

About that last 10 pounds

It's apparently good for you, ladies. But not more than that. Combine that with the 60 minutes a day exercise, and all the sunscreen you can slather on, and we're good to go! Today's WSJ in the side bar:

How a Little Fat Can Help
Some new research shows that being a little overweight doesn't increase health risks. And there may be some benefits. Recent findings include


1. Overweight people are no more likely than those of normal weight to die from cancer or cardiovascular disease.
2. During a 10-year time span, there was a reduced risk of dying for people in their 70s who were overweight compared to those of normal weight.
3. Doctors who study osteoporosis say a little extra weight may help strengthen bones.
4. As they age, women who are overweight often look younger than other women.
Why Carrying an Extra 10 Pounds Might Not Hurt - WSJ.com

There was also an article about sunscreen, something I rarely use. I think my last suntan was in 1985 in Hawaii, and my last burn was in college. I just hate to sit in the sun and sweat. I do like Oil of Olay sunscreen however--it's a great moisturizer, too.

Young ladies. Listen up and lighten up. Great-grandma was right! Protect your skin while in the garden, yard or at the beach. Otherwise you end up with wrinkled, blotchy brown leather. Take a Vitamin D supplement.

What did Governor Strickland Know About Eric McFadden

So what ever happened to Eric McFadden, Governor Strickland's $75,000 a year head of "Faith based and Community Initiatives?" He was arrested and charged with 7 felonies involving prostitution in January 2009. The 46-year-old Dublin resident began serving a one-year prison sentence last August 25 at the Madison Correctional Institution for posting photos of a 17 year old girl on the internet and offering her for sex. He is slated to be freed August 8, 2010 according to the state department of corrections. Seems like an awfully light sentence, but then he does have good friends among the Democrats. In fact, not much was written about this so will anyone notice when he gets out and registers as a sex offender? Or will his Democrat cronies take care of him again? Looks like the Guv didn't do a very good background check.

As I was searching for information on the outcome, I came across a pro-life blogger, Carol McKinley, who says she had a lot of trouble with him and reported him to the Catholic group who employed him.

"For instance, starting somewhere in 2005, I endured an 18 month round. I employed various strategies on my own trying to get McFadden to stop. Somewhere in late 2006, McFadden started sending his kooky messages signing his name as "Eamon". Then, McFadden put up a blog named "Eamon". In my ignorance of who and what "Eamon" was, I did a google search using the name "Eamon". Eamon is a musician who speaks about women in sexually charged, violent vulgar and degrading lyrics - including, you guessed it, pimping women. I'll post a link to his lyrics with the caveat you read them at your own risk as the vulgarity and sexual nature is grotesque. [see her site for link] Since the lyrics were similar to McFadden's meme in leaving comments and sending emails, I naturally connected the dots and thought to myself, I best be escalating protecting myself and my family.

I subsequently called Alexia Kelley and Chris Korzen, who were at the time employing and empowering McFadden and notified them in writing of specific McFadden's activities and asking them to intercede. . . Alexia Kelley, Chris Korzen and their attorney responded by threatening me with a lawsuit. So much for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good." McKinley's Blog

This was before Strickland was elected, and obviously Kelley and Korzen didn't mention those charges if they recommended him and he became one of the governor's appointees. Kelley co-founded Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG) in 2005 and co-authored with Chris Korzen, "A Nation for All: How the Catholic Vision of the Common Good Can Save America from the Politics of Division." She's been rewarded for her staunch support of Obama with a plum job in Washington. McFadden had been very active in Central Ohio Catholic Democrat party efforts like Catholics for Kerry and Catholics for Clinton in addition to the "Common Good" group. Seems we need to look a bit further than just peeking under the priests' robes for perverts. McKinley is continuing to look for the paper trail that led from McFadden's employers to Strickland's office.

Digital Preservation: An Unsolved Problem

Recently I purchased three paperback books. "A Patriot's History of the United States" by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen ($25); "The reason for God" by Timothy Keller ($16); and "The Lutherans in North America" (2d ed., used $10). It takes my breath away to pay that much for a pb, but I think these books will last longer than anything on my computer, or access to their scanned versions on some future computer. They still don't know how to save a book on bits.

"For digital preservationists, a prime concern is that data might be kept perfectly secure and complete, but still be unreadable by machines and programs in the future. A New Yorker cover depicting an alien, come to post-apocalyptic Earth, sitting amid the detritus of modern civilization—discarded CDs, tapes, and computers—illustrates the point: the alien is reading a book, the only thing that still “works.” "

And to think some agency is trying to archive Twitter and Facebook! Who will do the upgrade that will be able to read all those expletives and English reduced to text message skrinkage 4 U. K?

Digital Preservation: An Unsolved Problem | Harvard Magazine May-Jun 2010

Double standard for protests

Where are the media and White House representatives like Gibbsy and Rahm decrying the violence and out of control crowds protesting Arizona's governor? What could be more racist than calling your organization "The Race" (La Raza) the group urging disobedience? And smearing refried beans in protest? Imagine if Tea Party people, whom the head of ACORN Bertha Lewis had called a "bowel movement" to young socialists had smeared something!

Arizona has an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants and is the state with the most illegal border crossings, with the harsh, remote desert serving as the gateway for thousands of Mexicans and Central Americans. The law toughens restrictions on hiring illegal immigrants for day labor and knowingly transporting them.

Since it is illegal to enter the country this way, why is Obama fomenting trouble by condemning Arizona for passing a law that supports U.S. laws? Why doesn't he want help in stopping the illegal transportation of illegals, many underage women?

It's about voters! Democrats are in trouble. Obama will play the race card--he's losing every day. But he didn't win with the race vote, he won with the independents and moderates of both parties wanting to flee from their guilty past. I think they've wised up by now to look at his poll numbers.

Getting by with too much help from their friends

When the whole IT and computer thing really kicked in with 20-somethings making money in start ups I thought young women were well positioned to go right to the top. They'd had special math and science boosts since the beginning of the 70s, workshops, summer camps, special tutoring, all manner of "leadership training" from supervisors and teachers and professors. The government went after them with Title 9 (1972). But thud. What a dud. It hasn't happened according to this article. Back in the 90s when I was still reading Wired regularly (dropped my subscription went it became mostly about hi-tech bikes and apps on phony baloney stuff) I'd look over the photos of the geekdom, or the lists of names, and really didn't see many women even though they could work from anywhere and any hours they wanted and you didn't need to worry about the good-old boys network and playing golf or tennis. Nope. Didn't happen. So now--more of the same.

"Women comprise a mere 30 percent of the information technology workforce, hold fewer than 7 percent of all IT patents and underperform in just about every measure of entrepreneurial activity in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines."

If being "risk averse" is a problem, maybe part of success is struggle--figuring out what to do on your own when it's your passion? Maybe the women who would have gone to the top have been stuck in two-fer jobs to make the masthead look good to suit all the laws and regulations? You know, vice-president for IT, just like blacks got shoehorned into vice-president for human resources.

Getting by with a little help from their friends : Ohio State onCampus

Don't look at me. I never liked math and science, and no amount of luring me into summer camp would have changed that. I sat in high school algebra II for two weeks and transferred. I'm just telling you what I observed in the last 40 years (women's movement aka modern feminism). I loved my career, lowest of the low paid (library science). And my advice to women starting out is: "You can have it all, you just can't have it all at the same time."

A note in today's e-mail from Bill

Remember when Ronald Reagan was president, we also had Bob Hope and Johnny Cash still with us...

Now we have Obama ... and NO Hope ... and NO Cash !

Do astronomers buy into AGW?

Why would they when they can look at and understand (I don't) the information at the Hubble site? Our earth is part of the Milky Way Galaxy which has over 100 billion stars, our sun being just one. But there are over 100 billion galaxies in the visible universe--imagine what isn't visible. However, those deeply interested in space, technology and distant galaxies should be very worried. Look at this photo that appeared at Space Desk (Wired Science). . . it's a screen shot using a photo from Hubble, but the accoutrements of modern life are the reality of the sender's life. Cap and Trade, the hoax encapsulating a hoax, will change all that.



"April 22, 2010: NASA's best-recognized, longest-lived, and most prolific space observatory zooms past a threshold of 20 years of operation this month. On April 24, 1990, the space shuttle and crew of STS-31 were launched to deploy the Hubble Space Telescope into a low Earth orbit. What followed was one of the most remarkable sagas of the space age. Hubble's unprecedented capabilities made it one of the most powerful science instruments ever conceived by humans, and certainly the one most embraced by the public. Hubble discoveries revolutionized nearly all areas of current astronomical research, from planetary science to cosmology. And, its pictures were unmistakably out of this world. This brand new Hubble photo is of a small portion of one of the largest seen star-birth regions in the galaxy, the Carina Nebula. Towers of cool hydrogen laced with dust rise from the wall of the nebula. The scene is reminiscent of Hubble's classic "Pillars of Creation" photo from 1995, but is even more striking in appearance. The image captures the top of a three-light-year-tall pillar of gas and dust that is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby bright stars. The pillar is also being pushed apart from within, as infant stars buried inside it fire off jets of gas that can be seen streaming from towering peaks like arrows sailing through the air." Link to celebrate 20 years"

No need to explain the styrofoam, glass, vinyl, plastic, acrylic, cardboard, fan, book, coffee cup, or even the paint on the wall of the built enviroment. It's all going to cost you much, much more. That you can understand.

There are some things that I believe the government does better than private industry. And it's not salt in my food, or my light bulbs in my home. It's not my relationship with my doctor. Space exploration and security of the nation, for instance, the government does bestter. They are linked. Obama's plans for NASA are just one more way for him to down play the importance of our nation.

Paul Ryan leading us away from the welfare state

They missed the budget deadline (April 15)--you try missing that one! The budget the president sent Congress has $2 trillion in higher taxes, doubles the debt in five years, triples the debt in 10 years. He’s accelerating the tipping point, says Congressman Ryan, the guy who would get my vote for President were he running now. He says he’s not running, but we could sure use him--he believes it’s not too late for our country. http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid14599856001?bctid=79427084001


Paul Ryan: Obama Leading America on ‘Dangerous Path’ to Welfare State

Friday Family Photo--the 80s

Beautiful, but I wouldn't go back for all the money in the world! Christmas 1985. Big hair, big shoulders, big teen-agers.

Morphing Agnew into Obama

Since 1960 when I became voting age (21 then) I've heard and seen a lot of politicians. I've been trying to remember what president has been as condescending, whiny, hostile, insincere, two-faced, arrogant, flippant, contemptuous of other viewpoints, and such a bald faced liar about transparency as our current White House resident during this period in our history. And I think I’ve found him at Old Hickory’s Weblog description and remembrance of good old Spiro Agnew, President Nixon's first vice president who resigned in disgrace.

Thanks, Old Hickory, for the stern finger pointing photo and this phrase: "bullying, faux-populist tone" because I've been trying to come up with a phrase to describe his chastising, eye-flashing, finger wagging mannerisms, and after reading through your Agnew piece, I’ve found just the right essay. And with just a few strike throughs, you have other phrases I can use.

"throws out a standard article of Party doctrine"

"today's bipartisanship means that some Democrats Republicans do what the Republicans Democrats all want"

"he used that race as his segway for talking about race that"

"This is the Vice President talking about the government his Party heads as though it were some alien force that the Republican President was struggling to control"


"Then he takes his audience into the heart of darkness in their worldview, to the evil doings of The Liberals capitalists"

"The first thing that strikes a former Mississippian liberal like me is the astonishing amount of projection of unpleasant and antisocial traits onto The Liberals The Conservatives. These descriptions applied to the everyday behavior and attitudes of the segregationists wealthy of the day today."

That last sentence is enigmatic. He's accusing the Evil Ones of wanting to excuse crimes committed by the disadvantages Wall Street, again without actually naming any of these risible liberals conservatives who supposedly think that.

Agnew's Obama's speeches are significant because they show what came to be the dominant authoritarian sentiment of today's Republican Democratic Party at a time when "the Sixties" were are still happening. Agnew Obama was is the darling of the conservative leftist culture warriors in of 1969. [Bill Ayers, Days of rage, etc.]

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.