Obama ‘Hasn’t Conveyed That He Really Cares’ About Oil Spill

And how many days without a press conference? That surprised me. The man is on TV constantly. And after all the press did for him he doesn't even take them to the dance.

"I look at it from the position of a journalist, and what I see is that, you know what, the messaging is just wrong. He's just not been fully engaged. He just hasn't conveyed that he really cares about this issue, and that he's not off to the side watching."

Breitbart.tv » NPR’s Williams: Obama ‘Hasn’t Conveyed That He Really Cares’ About Oil Spill

Obama's Memorial Day appearance in Illinois canceled by rain, thunderstorm and high winds

Torrential rain, lightning, thunder and strong winds forced President Barack Obama to cancel a Memorial Day speech he'd scheduled at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Illinois.

Obama's Memorial Day appearance in Illinois canceled by rain, thunderstorm and high winds | StarTribune.com

Remembering Uncle Clare on Memorial Day

I was looking through some old letters that were returned to the family and found this clipping about Uncle Clare's funeral in a thank you note my grandmother had written to my mother's friend Arlene. The enlistment date isn't correct as I think he enlisted in 1942, but September 1944 was when his unit joined with 40th Photographic Reconaissance Squadron, which is probably where that date mix-up came. Also my aunt's name is Dickson, not Dicks. Clare came home in October 1947, three years after his death, on the Honda Knot, a huge funeral ship bearing over 3,000 coffins. I don't think my grandparents were ever the same. I'm not sure why they chose this photo, except he looks like the farm boy he was, who had perhaps just removed his cap to squint at the growing crops, instead of handsome and suave in his Air Corps uniform.

"A navy launch approached the Honda Knot and offered another massive wreath from President Truman. Dignitaries in the audience included Army General Mark Clark, who had led American troops in Italy during the war, and the Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan, who honored these fallen heroes, many of whom had passed under the Golden Gate Bridge on ships bound for the Pacific war. Six of the 3,012 flag-draped coffins aboard the Honda Knot were removed the next day to lie in state in the rotunda of San Francisco’s city hall, where ordinary citizens of a sorrowful nation paid their last respects. The six dead represented servicemen from the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, and the Coast Guard, along with a civilian, all killed in the war. From the early morning until late that night, thousands of mourners filed by the coffins of knelt in prayer by their sides. The arrival of the Honda Knot and the Joseph V. Connolly officially initiated what one observer called the “most melancholy immigration movement in the history of man,” the return to the United States of 233,181 American dead after the end of World War II. America’s army of fallen warriors was coming home from the four corners of the earth, from Guadalcanal and Australia, from New Guinea, Japan, China, and Burma in the Pacific theater. From the Mediterranean theater men were returned from Libya, Sicily, Italy, Yugoslavia, and Romania. The bodies of men who had died in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany also came home. Most had been killed in action or had died of wounds from direct combat against the enemy." From the book Safely Rest, by David P. Colley

Nice to hear from you

When I opened my e-mail today I had a nice letter from someone who'd read my blog on the links from Joyce Foundation to President Obama to CCX to Al Gore to Goldman Sachs.  (These carbon exchanges remind me of investing in fantasy baseball.) He thanked me.  Occasionally there are comments or e-mails to balance the lefties who claim to only have my best interests at heart and want to shut me down, either on Facebook or blogspot. Either I write too much (you need to get a life, Norma) or I haven't researched it (even though I provide the links) or I'm buying into right wing conspiracies (it's not a conspiracy if they explain what they're doing) or s/he is just bossy and won't take the time to write her own stuff so they come here and complain.  The nasties just get deleted.  It's always "freedom for me and not for thee" when you're left of center. Even when Obama followers aren't transparent on purpose, they are.

How old, how young?

How old do you have to be before younger people step aside on the walking path along the lake?  It's a gorgeous day in the neighborhood--perfect for a walk heading east.  Giant tanker at the Marblehead dock, sunny day, a few clouds, and a nice breeze.  I was almost mowed down by a 20-something jogger--I stepped into the grass--and then a 40-something ran by with her big dog--and I stepped aside.  I was walking on the far right, leaving them plenty of room, but they were enjoying the great weather and not looking.

Flowers are terrific in May. As are the greens that just don't appear any other time of the year.  All the colors and blooms I remember from the days 50 years ago when most people didn't go to the nurseries to buy annuals.  Peach, pink, rose, purple, blue and white iris.  Early rose bushes.  The lilacs are finished now. Bridal wreath just about done. Later in the summer there will be hollihocks along the lakefront, and then the many types of lilies.

This morning I saw a huge hawk circling and two tiny parent birds trying to attack it to keep it away from the nest.  Parenting is never easy, and in the law of nature, only the fittest survive.  I hope my mother duck at the front door is staying close to the nest.  Her coloring is just perfect for that location, but when she gets frightened and leaves the 9 eggs (that we can see), they are so light they almost glow against the leaves and mulch.

As every Spring at Lakeside there are changes.  People scraping cottages and freshening with new paint; ripping off an old porch and adding a new; some cottages sold over the winter; others went up for sale--the biggest gap will be the 3 on our street all owned by the same couple who have relocated to New York; and some deaths.  When we only see each other a few months of the year time is so compressed.

Just heard about the death of my high school classmate Neal--I'd only seen him once or twice in the last 50 years.  He left school early to enter college and rarely came back for reunions, or else we didn't come back at the same time.  But he was a very smart kid who wrote plays for our class to perform.  It was a very small town, but the teachers all knew he was a rare one, and encouraged his unusual abilities. I'm sure everyone in the class remembers Neal, and I'm sorry for his children who have lost both parents within one year.

This year there will be restaurant service at the Hotel Lakeside again--and that is great news.  I stopped in and picked up a menu today--casual fare except for week-end evenings.  Now that Abigail's has closed there were not many choices for dining out, so people were leaving the grounds for Marblehead and Port Clinton.  And that's not good for the rest of the merchants who depend on people strolling by and impulse purchases.  I still remember sitting in the Hotel dining room in the summer of 1988 looking at the newly rebuilt pavilion and saying to Bob, "I think I'm ready to buy a cottage."  I thought he'd pass out from happiness, and he didn't say much for fear I might change my mind.  We took a different walking route on the way back to our rental, and passed this tiny cottage with a for sale sign in the yard, and the rest is history as they say.

And this blog is so long and so all over the place because I'm on the porch picking up a connection from God knows where and it won't last long--so bye, and have a great holiday week-end.

On Holiday

Can barely get a connection, so I'll probably not do much til Monday, plus my memorial day story is on my other computer.  Great weather at the lake and friends will be joining. us.

What exactly is "top priority" for President Obama? Not the economy, stupid

It certainly isn't the oil spill is it? He'll do what he always does. Create a commission and build a gallows for the CEOs. Then pounce on more green in the sky plans.

If you google "Barack Obama top priority" you'll get 444,000 matches, many duplicates, many off topic. But most will show he'll put on a happy (or defiant) face for whomever is the audience. A true politician--that behavior knows no party, kingdom or philosophy. When he was campaigning he was all over the priority map, just like today, but ECONOMY certain was a biggie--and it has worsened since he became the candidate to beat in July 2008 because he switched priorities as soon as he took office. Dates refer to the reporting, not the speech--and I've selected just a few--but it was pretty obvious, unemployment / jobs / economy certainly took a back seat to taking over segments of the economy, discouraging investment, and raising taxes during the recession.

Economy, June 10, 2008

Liberalize abortion laws, October 17, 2008

Improve image abroad, November 6, 2008

Economy, November 7, 2008

India, (date not posted, but appears to be 2008)

Health care reform, June 3, 2009

Haiti, January 14, 2010

Clean energy jobs, January 27, 2010

Jobs, January 29, 2010

Health care, January 28, 2010

Unemployment, April 2, 2010

Jobs, April 27, 2010

Oil spill, April 28, 2010

Jindal has a plan; so does Obama

The difference in the two plans is the men's character, patriotism, and world view. Bobby Jindal is a state governor, a loyal American first,who knows he is supposed to protect the people who elected him. Barack Obama is the president of all of us who believes he is a "world citizen" first, and he gives the bird to the people on the left who elected him and his backsides to those who didn't.

Obama's plan is to dawdle, form commissions, and speechify until the gulf states are so damaged they'll have no choice but to take more handouts from the federal government. Hopefully, if his plan is successful, taxes on energy will soar, so that he'll then have even more reasons to point to "green" technology to pay off all his cronies.

Bobby Jindal for President, and the sooner the better.

Jefferson officials fully support Jindal's plan to build barrier islands against oil spill NOLA.com

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Sentenced To Prison

Did anyone really believe this crook was going to pay back what he owed? At $6 a month, how long does it take to pay back a million? And Obama campaigned for him. Because I listen to Detroit radio local talk shows when we're at the lake, this is all we heard in 2008. Someone should have been listening more closely to the wealth transfer promises through health care and cap and trade of a certain candidate. That is a much bigger loss to honest taxpayers than this clown.

Epoch Times - Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Sentenced To Prison

USDA puppy mill report

All the major news sources regardless of geographic location or editorial slant (most from AP) are reporting that the USDA APHIS isn't doing its job in putting "puppy mills" out of business. If you do a Google search on "USDA puppy mill report" you get about 35,000 hits (I haven't found the original, however), but if you add in one word, "Amish" you'll get about 24,000. Ohio news sources have been reporting on the puppy mill industry by our local Amish for years. I think there have been a number of reports in recent years at the federal oversite level, at least 3 in this decade. Nothing changes. I don't think puppy mill operators have a lot of political clout or lobbyists in Washington, so something else is going on.

I'd like to point out something about the USDA and how it could have more staff and money to put these folks out of business. The USDA still offers 100% financing, no money down, home mortgage schemes, luring people, middle class and/or poor, into situations they really can't afford. Check out its "rural development" site--it's just amazing what it will do for you if you want to get out of the city. Regulating animals bred for sale is a bona fide agricultural arm of the government responsibility, in my opinion. Our security, health and welfare are directly related to the health and welfare of animals. Putting people into bad mortgages, a plan that brought us to this recession, is not.

Decisions about disclosure

The opening paragraph of an essay titled, "Disclosure" by Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky of Boston in the May 5, 2010 issue of JAMA was stunning in the author's lack of understanding her role in protecting the general public and specific individuals from serious disease. Others I'd give a break, but she had an MD and MPH after her name! The paragraph really wasn't essential to the thrust of her topic, which was about being a woman (pregnancy, motherhood) in academic medicine. Here's what she wrote:

"Early in my career, one of my patients with HIV infection, Robin, a recovering heroin addict, had re-enrolled in school and was newly engaged. Her fiance was unaware that she was HIV infected and she would not discuss using condoms, let alone her HIV infection, with him. I encouraged her to confide her infection to her fiance--for the integrity of their relationship and for the value of his health--at each of our clinical encounters. Finally, she did so. He left her. She stopped taking her antiretroviral medications and restarted using heroin. Although the fiance may have reduced his risk of infection, the consequences of my intervention were tragic for my patient. Robin's case reinforced that disclosure is a risky business because the truth can trigger an unexpected, sometimes devastating chain of reactions."

No, it wasn't unfortunate that the fiance left her; it probably saved his life, assuming he wasn't already infected. No, Rochelle Walensky's intervention as a doctor and public health official wasn't tragic--it was probably a requirement of her job! No, Robin didn't start using heroin again because her fiance left her--she was an addict and no one, not even the love of a good man could change her if she wasn't up to the tough behavior needed to kick it. No, stopping the antiretroviral meds wasn't a tragedy because she would just become reinfected as the heroin addiction took over her mind. Part of getting well is a behavior change, chastity and monogamy, something she can't do on drugs. And finally, it's just entirely possible that the fiance left her because he realized she valued his life so little, that he would never again be able to trust her.

You go girls!

When Jean Mellman, 86, Shirley Boster, 87, Harriet Korn, 93, Naomi Schottenstein, 81, Fannie Shkolnik, 92, and Shirley Yaffe, 85, were young, bat mitzvah ceremonies - the female equivalent of a boy's bar mitzvah, typically at 13 - didn't exist. Today, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist Jews offer bat mitzvahs for girls; Orthodox synagogues do, too, but the girls don't read from the Torah. In recent years, rabbis across the country have offered ceremonies to elderly women to make up for what they didn't have available when they were young. Rabbi Cary Kozberg has modified the typical Torah reading requirement of a bat mitzvah. Each woman will read a Hebrew blessing before the rabbi reads a portion of the Torah and explain the meaning in their life. And of course, the perspective will be very different than that of a 12 year old.

'Girls' to finally have bat mizvahs | The Columbus Dispatch

The Wealth Gap, Research and Policy Brief May 2010

THE RACIAL WEALTH GAP INCREASES FOUR FOLD shouts the headline of the liberal think tank at Brandeis, the Institute on Assets and Social Policy ( IASP), May 2010 report. I looked around for a definition of a "household" but couldn't find one for this wealth gap study. Nor could I find a contact to ask. Also, I haven't seen any mention in the news reports I've seen that the gap between wealthy white households and middle income white households is much bigger than between middle income whites and blacks. Someone needs to look at marriage. Even in middle class white households, children before marriage is becoming socially acceptable--but it's still financially a bad, bad idea, especially for the children. The women's movement just hates to tell women this, but "marrying up" is the best way to go for women. Postponing marriage until you're 35 and moving up the career track doesn't necessarily "create wealth." And savings rates--couldn't find anything in the summary. Also, someone needs to ask one of these think tanks on the left if all the social programs put in place since Johnson's War on Poverty have been working against minorities or have they just been buying votes.

http://iasp.brandeis.edu/pdfs/Racial-Wealth-Gap-Brief.pdf

Repurposing an old car lot

We purchased and serviced at least two Fords--maybe three--at the old Graham Ford facility at 707 West Broad just west of downtown. It closed in November 2008 and now there are plans to return it to its original "holy" purpose--servicing the poor and needy, and providing museum space for Columbus Catholics.

The Rev. Kevin Lutz, pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church, envisions "an elegant makeover. They say the church could create a Catholic cultural center to house its Jubilee Museum, have plenty of room for events and provide a new home for the Holy Family soup kitchen. "There's a lot of beauty surrounding that spot," Lutz said, recalling the work of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, who were there from about 1865 until 1965."

There will be a fund raiser on June 19--they need to raise $4 million to purchase the property. The current location of the Holy Family soup kitchen doesn't have handicap access.

Holy intentions for an old car lot The Columbus Dispatch

Google this

The search strategy "Calderone the hypocrite" brings up 67,000 matches. I'm just saying. . .

Tuesday Update: Now it's up to about 77,000--sample of some of the titles, some from blogs, but most from news agencies.

Calderon Is a Welfare-Pimping Hypocrite and Congress Out of Touch

Oblahblah and Calderone diss our Border

Althouse: Did Obama's speechwriters write Calderon's speech?

EDITORIAL: Go back to Mexico - Washington Times

Obama and Calderon: Insulting Americans together - Monday, May 24

Calderon The Hypocrite

Mexican president, Calderon: Hypocrite. - CNN iReport

Calderon's rebuke is that of a hypocrite » Opinion » Leader Call

Lavish state dinner for Mexican hypocrite

I don't know the cost of Wagyu steak, but a hamburger is $40.00 for half a pound. It's over the top that President Obama so lavishly entertains a "neighbor" who is so critical of us, when Calderone's own immigration policy is much more harsh, "anti-brown" and racist than ours.

State Dinner Menu for Mexican President Calderon: Oregon Wagyu Beef in Oaxacan Black Mole. Briefing Memo - Lynn Sweet

For example:

An immigrant who becomes a naturalized Mexican citizen can be stripped of his Mexican citizenship if he lives again in the country of his origin for more than five years, under Article 37. Mexican-born citizens risk no such loss.

Foreign-born, naturalized Mexican citizens may not become federal lawmakers (Article 55), cabinet secretaries (Article 91) or supreme court justices (Article 95).

The president of Mexico, like the president of the United States, constitutionally must be a citizen by birth, but Article 82 of the Mexican constitution mandates that the president’s parents also be Mexican-born citizens, thus according secondary status to Mexican-born citizens born of immigrants.

The Mexican constitution forbids immigrants and naturalized citizens to become members of the clergy. Article 130 says, “To practice the ministry of any denomination in the United Mexican States it is necessary to be a Mexican by birth.”

The Mexican constitution singles out “undesirable aliens.” Article 11 guarantees federal protection against “undesirable aliens resident in the country.”

The Mexican constitution provides the right of private individuals to make citizen’s arrests. Article 16 states, “in cases of flagrante delicto, any person may arrest the offender and his accomplices, turning them over without delay to the nearest authorities.” Therefore, the Mexican constitution appears to grant Mexican citizens the right to arrest illegal aliens and hand them over to police for prosecution.

The Mexican constitution states that foreigners may be expelled for any reason and without due process. According to Article 33, “the Federal Executive shall have the exclusive power to compel any foreigner whose remaining he may deem inexpedient to abandon the national territory immediately and without the necessity of previous legal action.”

http://www.c4ads.org/files/waller_csp_apr2006_mexico.pdf

Senate Judiciary Committee requests Kagan documents

Here's a shocker. The Clinton library thinks it will be too difficult to find and submit for review the Kagan documents.

Terri Garner, director of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, said in an interview Wednesday that it would be "very difficult" for her facility to meet the deadline. She said the records request is overly broad and "too general in scope" and that, under the Presidential Records Act, attorneys for both Clinton and President Obama have the right to read and review each document before it is released to the committee.

What is it with this administration and documents? Illegal aliens shouldn't have to have any, because that might mean there was proof they are illegal. President Obama hasn't released a single document about his past, the way other presidents and candidates have done--not medical, not educational--no wonder there are so many conspiracy theories. What's he hiding? And now Kagan? Her paper trail has got to be very thin, all the more reason to have the Clinton records. When I was a librarian, if the Dean needed something, we stayed until we found it.

Senate Judiciary Committee requests documents on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan - latimes.com

Tea Parties vs. Unions as protrayed in the press

Nina Easton of Fortune magazine reported on an incident in her Washington, D.C., neighborhood in which 500 screaming, placard-waving SEIU members and allies surrounded the home of Greg Baer, deputy general counsel at Bank of America, to protest bank foreclosures. Can you imagine how the press would have treated even one tea party protestor at the home of an SEIU member? Obama or Pelosi would have been on TV that night wagging fingers or weeping for the shame of it. The only reason it was reported at all is that Easton lived in the neighborhood and reported what she saw--the police when called by Baer, whose 14 year old was home alone hiding in a locked bathroom, refused to come. Are police members of unions? .

"Last Sunday, on a peaceful, sun-crisp afternoon, our toddler finally napping upstairs, my front yard exploded with 500 screaming, placard-waving strangers on a mission to intimidate my neighbor, Greg Baer. Baer is deputy general counsel for corporate law at Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), a senior executive based in Washington, D.C. And that -- in the minds of the organizers at the politically influential Service Employees International Union and a Chicago outfit called National Political Action -- makes his family fair game." Link

The liberals are turning our freedoms inside out and upside down, and those of you who claim to be "moderate Democrats" ought to see that your party has been stolen from you by near anarchists and scum bums. People are not safe in their homes when these busloads of terrorists are turned loose by the union leaders.
John Fund: Tea Parties vs. Unions in November - WSJ.com

Update on police protection--the buses had a D.C. police escort!: "According to Corporal Dan Friz, an MCPD spokesperson in Rockville, Maryland, the department received a disturbance call from one of Baer’s neighbors at 4:10 pm last Sunday. Four MCPD units arrived at Baer’s Greenville Rd. address at 4:15 pm. At least two Metropolitan Police Department units from the nearby District of Columbia were already at the scene when they arrived.

Why? Because police cars attached to the Washington MPD’s Civil Disturbance Unit had escorted the SEIU protesters’ buses to Baer’s home. Such cross-jurisdictional escort activity is not uncommon for both departments according to Friz and Metro Police Department spokesperson Officer Eric Frost. Still, the District police did not inform their colleagues of what was about to happen in one of their Maryland neighborhoods."

A hospitalist looks at socialized medicine

Erik DeLue, a hospitalist who blogs, recently had a paid 4 day visit to St. Petersburg, Russia with his wife, an art historian. Since Obamacare had recently been passed, he decided to take a quick look at state sponsored health care.

"As if vodka were a truth serum, I got an earful of reality about Russian health care. If you need basic care, and by that I do mean very basic care, everyone has access. If your health care needs are more complicated, be prepared to wait a long time or be willing to pay much more money out of pocket than most can afford.

The other option is to find healthcare in another country—again, an option available to only a select few. But Russia is an extreme example of socialized medicine gone bad, and the demise of its health care system has more to do with the country’s political history than it does with the basic tenets and structures of socialized care.

As this was an international conference, I had a chance to speak to people from many different countries, including Germany, France and England. Most of these Western Europeans were generally happy with their health care system, but all complained of longer wait times and difficulties with getting subspecialty care, at least when compared to how our current American system works. They also noted that those with money were able to move ahead in the line, hardly a surprise no matter which the nation or particular political system."

For the rest of the story, see it here.

DeLue seems to believe we are moving to the idea that health care is a right, and if that is so, we need to determine how to ration it.  Did anyone hear that during the months of debate?

Most Europeans and even most Americans don't realize that all Americans have health care, they don't all necessarily have health insurance. In fact, if they don't have insurance, they may actually get to spend more time in the hospital healing and not be sent home according to a pay formula, as I learned when my friend's son who was unemployed had an appendectomy.

 I'm really puzzled when I read that if people only had insurance they wouldn't be struggling with obesity. As if there were no fat, middle-class, well-employed white people. It's peer pressure, not insurance, that keeps people trim, exercising and eating right.

NPR's Nina Totenberg gushes over Kagan after saying federal courts could threaten Obama legacy

It's no secret that Nina Totenberg of NPR is a liberal--she doesn't attempt to disguise it. Recently she has all but gushed over Elena Kagan, Obama's pick for the Supreme Court. The only naysayers she could find to quote were people even further left than she is. Can you imagine if she were writing about a Roberts or Alito only mentioning conservative sources. I looked back to 2006 and then she was remarking (not exactly complaining) about the unanimity in the decisions of a Roberts led court. In this source, she's ginning up some fear that her precious Obamaic legacy could be thwarted.

E-net! - NPR's Nina Totenberg says federal courts could threaten Obama legacy

Well, not to fear. She's got Superwoman Kagan to the rescue. But then, it isn't called NPR (National Progressive Radio) for nothing.