Thursday, April 29, 2010

What violence from the left?

Clicked through a lefty blogger's entries just now--a guillotine decorated his page, Bush and Cheney's heads were on a razor blade, the Statue of Liberty holding up a cross had the international stop symbol through it, violent images abounded, lots of nasty f-ing words about conservatives, libertarians and Republicans, along with take back our Bill of Rights, yada, yada. Didn't see Sarah, but I'm sure he's recommending violence against her too, because that's just what the left does. Now, when similar nonsense appears on conservative websites, Keith Olbermann, whom this blogger seems to admire and imitate, gets all quivery and hot-crotched. I didn't leave a comment--he's entitled to his opinion and protected speech, even as he would deny it to others, and my opposite views certainly would only encourage him. Like it does here, when liberals think they know something I don't.

Georgia O’Keefe Lifetime movie now DVD

The reviewer of this blog really enjoyed the Georgia O'Keefe movie. Another I read panned it.

Joan Allen as Georgia O’Keefe in Biopic on Lifetime | Women & Hollywood

I read through the timeline at Lifetime and found it very informative. If the library ever buys it, I'll check it out. It's available also at Blockbuster, according to Jane Davis, a Columbus watercolorist.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

"The Blueprint" by Ken Blackwell

I didn't know Ken Blackwell had a new book out about the Obama Administration. I hope this doesn't make him a racist since he's a black Republican.

HughHewitt.com Blog : Hugh Hewitt : "The Blueprint" by Ken Blackwell

Chicago Carbon Exchange--the Players

"Here are the players and their roles:

Joyce Foundation – A group founded in 1948 that took a sharp turn to the left after its founder, Beatrice Joyce Kean died in 1972.

Barack Obama – President of the United States and one time Board member of the Joyce Foundation. Largely responsible for creating the Chicago Climate Exchange by funneling money to it from the Joyce Foundation.

Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) – An exchange dealing exclusively with Cap and Trade passes, techonology, etc. It was formed largely due to Obama's role as Board member on Joyce Foundation. Obama oversaw the funneling of money from that foundation to the CCX as well as to an entity headed by Bill Ayers' brother.

Valerie Jarrett – Senior advisor to Barack Obama and current Board member on the Joyce Foundation.

Al Gore – Founder of London-based Generation Investment Management (GIM). London also happens to be in the same country where climategate broke. GIM owns 10% of the CCX.

Goldman Sachs – Banking giant that, like Gore, owns 10% of the CCX. Also worthy of note is that at least six former Goldman Sachs executives work inside the Obama administration while Congress puts on a dog and pony show, publicly chastising other Goldman execs about their supposed complicity in the financial crisis.

Franklin Raines – Former head of Fannie Mae. While there, Raines used taxpayer dollars from Fannie Mae to purchase cap and trade technology."

Whether or not you like Glenn Beck, you might ask your favorite news source reporters why he is doing investigative reporting and they aren't. I think the charade going on about "punishing" Goldman Sachs is pretty clever since they're all on the same team. But it also serves a dual role of demonizing Jews, and indirectly by association, Israel, because "Wall Street fat cats" and "greedy CEOs" are just code words for Jews. Just check back into the anti-semitism of the 1930s.

CONSPIRACY REALITY: CONNECTIONS BETWEEN WHITE HOUSE, CHICAGO CLIMATE EXCHANGE AND GOLDMAN SACHS TOO BIG TO IGNORE - TheCypressTimes

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I was really bogged down in the beginning pages of May's book club selection, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society until Adrienne passionately reviewed it for me yesterday at coffee, so I've persevered and have gotten into the story--entirely written in letters (1946) about the occupation in 1940 by the German Nazis in WWII of Guernsey, a small British island. The literary society of the title began life as a pig roast when a local woman managed to hide a pig from the German soldiers and invited her nearly starving neighbors to share. My political antennae were up as I read this section on what marvelous record keepers, regulators and law makers the German occupiers were. They recorded each piglet born, gave it a birth certificate, and then the death needed to be reported too, and the Germans would issue a death certificate for the deceased animals. The Islanders saw their hard work and agricultural crops stolen from them by the occupiers, so they devised a plan, and circulated the same dead piglet amongst themselves, hiding one of the healthy one so that the count came out right when the Germans came.

And here's where I got to thinking about our own government regulations, becoming over the years ever more oppressive and anti-free market. Right now we're being treated to the dog and pony show of government employees (Congress) scolding Goldman Sach employees. One made the regulations so they could take a big cut, the other got around the regulations by risk taking and cleverness so they could keep their cut. The only difference between this and the circulating dead pig story is that Goldman Sachs employees float in and out of the government and help make the regulations so it will all work to their advantage. The Islanders of the novel didn't move back and forth among the ranks of the Germans.

Goldman Sachs is heavily into the 10 trillion valued cap and trade scheme owning, like Al Gore, a chunk of the thin as air exchange houses, such as the Chicago Carbon Exchange (CCX), in which Obama was involved (board member of the Joyce Foundation) before he came President.

Our wealth (through higher taxes) is being distributed through smoke and mirrors exchanges like the dead pig on Guernsey Island. Soon it will be no more. The patent to facilitate the new carbon exchange industry has been purchased by Franklin Raines, our illustrious attorney general, accounting fraudster and former CEO of Fannie Mae deeply involved in our housing collapse. Scott Lesmes formerly of Fannie Mae bundling mortgages to resell to investors is now in charge of the same system for carbon exchanges.

Is this analogy weak? You betcha, but it just shows you things aren't always as they seem and regulations can sometimes smell like a dead pig.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

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.

Monday, April 26, 2010

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."

Sunday, April 25, 2010

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 !

Saturday, April 24, 2010

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.

Friday, April 23, 2010

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.]

Thursday, April 22, 2010

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.