Faisial Shahzad Planned More Attacks

Coleman bans city-funded travel to Arizona

Add Mayor Coleman to the list of officials who haven't read SB1070. Who is he in hock to? Probably the unions. They're helping with the Arizona boycott.

Coleman bans city-funded travel to Arizona | The Columbus Dispatch

Seth ponders what makes the elites

At Seth's Blog I read:

“In more and more societies, though (including my country and probably yours [and I'm including virtually the entire planet here, except perhaps North Korea] ), I'd argue that there's a different dividing line. This is the line between people who are actively engaged in new ideas, actively seeking out change, actively engaging--and people who accept what's given and slog along. It starts in school, of course, and then the difference accelerates as we get older. Some people make the effort to encounter new challenges or to grapple with things they disagree with. They seek out new people and new opportunities and relish the discomfort that comes from being challenged to grow (and challenging others to do the same).” Seth Godin (marketing guru).

In this country, in my opinion, the libertarians and conservatives are the ones doing the challenging and growing. The leftists, socialists, progressives, Marxists, etc. are lemmings, doing the same old same old that led to the enslavement and often murder of millions in the 20th century. By discouraging investment in new ideas, whether energy, education or money, they hope to retain power and squash individualism. Do they want to help the poor? Sure--until he gets to that 4th or 5th quintile and votes Republican. Then they demonize him. They haven’t had a new idea in over 100 years--it’s always, let the government do that. They don’t know how to harness the thousands of new ideas out there because it is so threatening to their political views.

The fight over Arizona's illegal immigrant law escalates to the power grid | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

Isn't it just wonderful how Obama has brought everyone together in this country as he chases after approval from foreign governments, like Mexico which has much more stringent laws than we have and deports more illegal aliens than we do? If Obama had been prudent instead of blabbing without reading SB1070, perhaps none of the state squabbles would have happened.

"President Obama, his Cabinet and other nongovernmental groups have strongly criticized the law, which takes effect in midsummer. They've threatened economic boycotts and canceled trips . . . The Los Angeles City Council voted 13-2 to boycott Arizona, . . .Now comes some hardball from a statewide elected Arizonan named Gary Pierce. He's a commissioner of the Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities there. So what? you say. Well, as our beloved buddy Ed Morrissey points out over at HotAir, it seems that Arizona's power plants generate about 25% of the electricity that runs what Briton Eddie Izzard calls the City of Angles."

What do you think? Is it time for the President to read the bill and call for beer for all?

The fight over Arizona's illegal immigrant law escalates to the power grid | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

I've now read Arizona SB1070--have you?

The President hasn't. Eric Holder hasn't. Janet Napolitano hasn't. The governor of California hasn't. The principal of Highland High School in Illinois hasn't. Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner hasn't. But it was read aloud on the Glenn Beck Show today. Now millions and millions know what our federal, state and local officials don't--that it cites and follows the U.S. Code, that it prohibits profiling, that it comes down very heavily on human smuggling. Too bad our president is so quick to speak without knowing anything on the topic. Maybe he can have another beer party, this time with the governor of Arizona, to thrash this out?

Pimping the poor

Somewhere I read that 12% of Ohio's population were poor by the government's designation, but that no one can live on that amount. I think quintiles work better--so I'd put it at the bottom one fifth. A designation of poverty is a little squishy by any agency's rule book--I know a 40 year old man living on disability, unemployment and Medicaid whose "income" is higher than mine because of all the government programs for which he's eligible. It allows him to build up his 401-k, because he is allowed income from part time employment without losing his benefits. Being disabled doesn't mean he's stupid--even if he could work full time (and I don't think he is able), it wouldn't pay.

I began browsing through some of the non-profits, foundations, government agencies, faith-based organizations and community organizations that assist those we used to call "the down and out" with food and nutrition needs. That could be the poor, children, elderly, disabled, homeless, and anyone with a special health problem whether gluten sensitivity, diabetes, HIV, TB, etc. All social programs are intertwined since poverty is never simple, so it's not long before you're into the medical and educational and post-prison programs, too.

In the process I came across a jumbled alphabet soup of acronyms of government agencies and programs, like TANF, TEFAP, SFPP, SNAP, and OASHF. Then I realized that those groups, programs and agencies which all had directors, assistant directors, marketers, data gatherers, IT support, boards and researchers were yet again bundled into coalitions and super-organizations which also have directors, assistant directors, boards, etc.

I'll just highlight one coalition/organization because it had four name changes in seven years, The Coalition to Protect Ohio's Future, beginning in 2003 as The Emergency Campaign to Protect Ohio's Future. But after browsing the list of 127 agencies which supported it, and looking through their lists of staff and boards and community partners, I concluded that the ratio of poverty staffer to needy recipient must be about 1:1. Another thing I noticed was that many of these coalitions and non-profits organized themselves in the early 2000s. I suspected that had something to do with the change in the Welfare law of 1996; that instead of the check going to welfare mothers it was going into the accounts of middle class social workers, researchers, and academics who run these organizations. I didn't have to look too far because one of these organizations had in fact hired another sister organization (they are very good at recycling government grants to other agencies) to research why the poor were staying poor.

"In 1996, Congress transformed the nation’s welfare system to mandate higher workforce participation by program participants. The new program, named Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), imposed a maximum five-year limit for receiving cash benefits, but also permitted states to use federal funds for many types of assistance intended to aid a person in finding and keeping a job. Such assistance can include training, transportation, and child support functions." Staying Employed: Trends in Medicaid, Child Care, and Head Start in Ohio

I also realized that I couldn't tell what these groups/agencies/coalitions actually did even by carefully parsing their vision and mission statements! Here's the mission statement for The Coalition to Protect Ohio's Future:

"To ensure support from the public, the legislature and the administration for governmental services and government funded services that support health, human services and early care in Ohio."

It sounds to me like it exists solely to make sure their supporting agencies have a funding stream, to get money, a slice of which would go to the Coalition and keep it moving on into "Ohio's future." Not a word about ending poverty or hunger, or healing the sick, or anything as grandiose as those movie star challenges on TV. And what in the world is "early care," anyway?

And one last thing. No matter the date on the study or report, it was always "in these difficult times," or "during this economic downturn," or "in this time of growing need." Virtually all these reports were written during the Bush eight years, and until Obama came along, no administration had spent more on domestic social programs than George W. Bush. These programs had enormous growth under him, and because his tax programs brought in more money to the government coffers and even the state budgets were flush with full employment tax money, it was like fertilizer for the poverty gardeners (mixing my metaphors here).

Obama Signs Daniel Pearl Press Act--protects journalistic freedom elsewhere

Oh the irony. The president who has done more to target and malign freedom of speech, print, and internet (the press) in my memory, attacking Fox News as not being "a real news organization" and has his lackies and attack dogs going after the sponsors of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, signs the Daniel Pearl Press Act, requiring "the State Department to expand its scrutiny of news media restrictions and intimidation as part of its annual review of human rights in each country. Among other considerations, the department will be required to determine whether foreign governments participate in or condone violations of press freedom."

Obama Signs Daniel Pearl Law Backing Press Freedom - NYTimes.com

And it wasn't enough that he had every major cable and broadcast company and news organization under his control carrying his water and getting him elected--he's created yet another White House news company for sanitizing his activities even more than WaPo, NYT or Katie would do for him. I guess they didn't believe Glenn when he told them they would be next after he got done marginalizing Fox.

"The White House's media management practices have drawn quiet criticism from journalists in the past few weeks. Despite Obama's campaign pledge to be open with the media, members of the White House Correspondents' Association met with Gibbs recently to complain about limitations on their access. The group is mainly upset about the relatively few informal question-and-answer sessions Obama has held since taking office. Obama had 46 such encounters with the press during his first year, far fewer than Presidents George W. Bush (147) and Clinton (252) during their first years, according to Martha Joynt Kumar, a political science professor at Towson University. However, Obama gave many more media interviews (161) compared with Bush (50) and Clinton (53) in their first years. Kumar said Obama gave more formal news conferences in his first year (27) than Bush (19), but far fewer than Clinton (45)." WaPo.

More on the message machinery and spin.

White House message machinery spinning faster than ever - McClatchy

Obama doesn't point fingers at government or environmentalists

If you Google, "blame environmentalists for oil spill" you'll get a bunch of articles, essays, blogs, and whiners on the left bad mouthing Rush Limbaugh (as though he had an elected office or owned an oil company) and someone I've never heard of, for suggesting that there would be no deep water drilling if it weren't for the environmentalists. Oh, are they outraged. But they really don't have a good answer, because it's true. Nor does Obama, whose government agencies handle all the safety and regulation of this very risky (but rarely failing) operation. He, the master of the blame game, continues to blame every thing and everyone except his own administration.

They used to drill for natural gas in Ohio and oil in Pennsylvania. No deep water spills then. Maybe if they'd listened to Sarah Palin . . .?

The Gulf oil spill blame game - How the World Works - Salon.com

Limbaugh, Environmentalists Square Off on Who is to Blame for Oil Leak - ABC News

Book Club List 2010-2011

Each May our book club selects the titles for the next September through May book year. Our rules are you have to have read your nominated title, lobby for it for 1 minute, and agree to lead the discussion. Those who don't have a title, either contribute dessert, or host an event. This year's selections are:

September: The help, by Kathryn Stockett

October: American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, by Jon Meacham

November: Jungle Jack: my wild life, by Jack Hanna

December: People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks

January: Cranford, by Elizabeth Gaskell

February: The Glass Castle: a memoir, by Jeannette Walls

March: Animal, vegetable, miracle; a year of food life, by Barbara Kingsolver

April: The inextinguisable symphony by Martin Goldsmith

May: The year of living Biblically: one man's humble quest to follow the Bible as literally as possible, by A.J. Jacobs

Chick flicks and pop corn

My daughter and son-in-law are big movie fans. They both see them in theaters and also buy them. I still have many movies for VCR that were hers that I've never opened. So today after Sunday brunch, they sent us home with "The blind side" with Sandra Bullock, and "It's complicated," with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. I'd intended to see both when they got to the dollar theater, but I think I missed them. SIL says I'll need a few hankies for the Bullock movie.

Why Wonder Bread can save the world

Tonight for dinner we’re having home made broccoli soup and bread baked by my son last Sunday and put in the freezer (we’ve already eaten half of it). I found this wonderful message about being grateful for our food on Ted Talks.

Ted.Com is a wonderful website where you can find speeches by experts on anything and everything. (Except Glenn Beck--he lectures 40 minutes a day, 5 days a week on everything from Crime Inc. to George Washington to Miranda rights, employs a number of researchers, has written best sellers and speaks at many special events, so he would be overlooked by the organizers of Ted as too commercial.) Nevertheless, you can find others who don't have audiences of 30,000,000.

This lecture by Louise Fresco (Dutch) is no different than what I knew back in the 1970s when I worked in the Agriculture Library. But the ordinary person is even further removed from knowledge of food today than they were then. It's hard to know who is more naive--the kids who thinks meat comes in Styrofoam, or the college professor who thinks oranges are "locally grown." She provides a fresh, non-confrontational explanation about the important of modern agriculture. She talks about why the much maligned white Wonder Bread is the solution to world hunger, not locally grown, sustainable farmers markets. The mythical image of life in the rural past that rich Westerners have (particularly western USAns aka Californians) is false and will condemn millions to hard poverty if they succeed in returning us (particularly women) to that era.

I would just make one correction--although yes, there are very few farmers today (in industrialized nations), there are still many millions employed in the food industy, from production of inputs, equipment, buildings, transportation, processing, packaging, marketing, merchandising, kitchen equipment and on to restaurants and fast food, all the way to bus boy and dishwasher at the Rusty Bucket where we go every Friday night. They are all part of our food chain. As Ms. Fresco takes her bread out of the oven she encourages her audience to think about their own food chain beginning with the farmer and the wheat.

How to kill jobs the Obama way

Greyson Chance sings "Stars"

He's the 6th grader who's had 15 million uploads of his Lady GaGa song. This is one of his original compositions and it's about a woman who dies of cancer. He's obviously got talent. Hope the voice makes it through the male change.



YouTube - greyson97's Channel#p/a/u/0/emblM4a76jg

What's happening to teachers?

Are they going around the bend? Brain washed skulls of nothingness? We've got coaches in Highland, IL playing politics by deciding that Arizona is unsafe because the drug runners might be stopped; there was a teacher who beat up a student and was caught on cell phone video (both were black so at least we're being spared the whole media circus on that issue); and now a teacher tells a student who draws an American flag that "it's offensive" and she won't give a reason or apologize?

US agency admits lax enforcement of oil drilling

Let's ignore for a moment that we have a government regulatory agency watchdog (MMS) that is supposed to be keeping this method safe, and that we (humans) would be much safer if the drilling were on land, the fact remains we are still dependent on oil. It is the left that is keeping us unsafe. Their only aim is to destroy the industry, the faster the better. And it's working. Obama needs to stop wagging his finger at others and man up. It's absurd for him to complain about others passing blame when all he does is blame Bush for everything.

US agency admits lax enforcement of oil drilling - Yahoo! News

NASA Shuttle Program Winds Down

We watched the 32nd and final voyage of Atlantis today. Isn't it amazing what Obama's been able to do to take this country down down down in such a short time? Don't expect any analysis in this puff piece from ABC, however. But the photos are good.

Space Shuttle Atlantis: On Florida's Space Coast, Sadness and Anger as NASA Shuttle Program Winds Down - ABC News

President Obama, who wants to own General Motors and all your medical records as well as all media sources, has decided private companies can take over carrying astronauts to the space station so NASA can focus on getting astronauts to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars by 2035. President George Bush, in 2004, had set NASA’s sights on the moon. But Obama axed that program — seemed too small I guess. Isn't that just like Mr. No Experience in Anything? Dump a government program which does require massive amounts of money and support and build national recognition so the gummit has enough to take over private industries like health care or automobiles which really don't need the government at all.

SPACE.com -- Neil Armstrong: Obama's New Space Plan "Poorly Advised"

Holder hasn't read the Arizona law

So why all the hype from the media? How can Holder "be concerned" if he hasn't read it?  He's only "gleaned" ideas from reading newspaper accounts. And this man is making judgements that will affect all of us. Do you suppose this has led to a lot of misunderstanding, like from Highland IL high school administrators not allowing athletes to go there (although they can go to Communist China), and the governor of California and our own President making jokes about it at the expense of Arizonans?

Sue Bock

This morning at 11 we'll be gathering again with UALC family and friends -- second time this week -- to say good-bye. Sue and I hadn't been friends a long time, maybe 5 yeyears, but she was the kind of person you always wanted to be with more. She loved people and was a very special friend and volunteer for shut-ins and the elderly, and just a really enjoyable person to be around. We had a lunch date planned for next week. Now we'll have to wait for the resurrection.

From the Dispatch: BOCK (LAMBERT) Susan Lambert Bock, age 70, passed away on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at home. She was a graduate of St. Joseph Academy and attended The Ohio State University. Susan retired from the insurance industry as a case manager. She was a long time member of the Upper Arlington Lutheran Church. Susan is preceded in death by her parents Edward and Rosemary Putnam Lambert. She is survived by her only child, Lisa Bock married to Pete Estler and grandchildren, Ty and Cole Estler. A Memorial Service will be held at 11 a.m. on FRIDAY, May 14, 2010 at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, 2300 Lytham Road. Pastor John Stolzenbach, Officiating. Private family interment at Green Lawn Cemetery.

The GM spoof that tells the troof

A patriot's history of the United States

History hasn’t been this interesting since 5th-6th grade in Miss Michael’s class in little Forreston, Illinois. My husband and I are thoroughly enjoying A patriot’s history of the United States by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen. And I’m still in the pre-USA days of New Spain, New France and New England, a period longer than our post-revolution years. An excellent reminder of how the colonial powers that searched for wealth and sent settlers all had very different systems. I love becoming reacquainted with all those names of the conquistadores we had to memorize and their incredible explorations, visions and dreams of wealth that lead them nowhere. Even the Italian Columbus died in poverty.

Spain stole gold mined by the Indians for their rulers and kept it all in the hands of the government. Spain was vastly outnumbered by the Indians, but it was able to defeat them through advanced technology and a superior social/cultural/political system which wasn‘t dependent of a rigid hierarchy of power. France too searched for a passage to wealth, but ended up bartering with the Indians for another kind, furs--so apparently even Indians could be influenced by greed (shock and awe!)--but didn’t do the hard work except for exploration and founding a few outposts along rivers. Also, France’s peasants were better off than those in England or Spain, so they had little interest in relocating to the unknown, difficult wilds of New France.  The few French Protestants that crossed seeking religious freedom were slaughtered by the Spanish even after founding colonies.

England got in the game late, and English pirates (I think in school these were called by the nicer term “privateers”) stole from the Spanish what they’d already stolen from the Indians. The authors don’t say it that way--that’s my interpretation. But the English had a different idea of wealth than the Spanish--grow it. They only of the colonial powers understood that wealth could be increased and developed, that it wasn’t a fixed commodity to be hoarded by the royal family. Hmm. Isn’t that interesting. Everyone’s wealth belongs to the government and don‘t take risks--a failed colonial (European) system except for a tiny island of entrepreneurs and investors that saw wealth differently.

From the publisher‘s page: “For at least thirty years, high school and college students have been taught to be embarrassed by American history. Required readings have become skewed toward a relentless focus on our country’s darkest moments, from slavery to McCarthyism. As a result, many history books devote more space to Harriet Tubman than to Abraham Lincoln; more to My Lai than to the American Revolution; more to the internment of Japanese Americans than to the liberation of Europe in World War II.”

Yes, since the 1970s when the homegrown, anti-American faculty wonks began to take over the college humanities and social science departments with the media and entertainment culture of TV and movies adding the icing, U.S. young people have been fed a steady diet of guilt, shame and lies. Marxists and socialists had been down this road in the 1930s and had to pause to fight the common enemy in WWII to save the Soviet Union.  But they had a vision, and it's coming to fruition today.  No wonder this book is a best seller and used by home-schooling parents whose children go on to out perform public school graduates. It’s a breath of fresh air.