At the Rhein Center this week

My husband has been teaching an "Architecture and small house design" at the Rhein Center this week, and says they kids (all teenagers) are a very talented group. They've learned basic design principles, built a model, visited a cottage, and are working in teams to design their own plan.

He also did a presentation on Haiti Monday night and had an excellent turn out, and won the Laura Werden prize in the Lakeside Art Show for best Lakeside scene.

I've been taking a watercolor class with John Behling. Today I used an old photo of the children from the late 1970s at Marblehead, and it's better than the others I did on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Harry says Republicans Want Economy To Tank So Democrats Will Be Battered In Midterms

Good old "we've lost the war" Harry, still tries to blame the Republicans for the Democrats' across-the-board failures, from slowly killing the Gulf clean-up to the ARRA funding doing diddly squat for the unemployed, to Obamacare fears that are causing doctors to flee, and cap and trade plans that are killing investment and recovery.

Where are Republicans in all this, Harry? They've been helpless as you've helped destroy a free market economy. You guys took over Congress in 2006 and have been blaming Republicans ever since. Well, it was FDR who extended the Great Depression over a decade; it was Democrat Wilson who instituted the Jim Crow laws and segregated the military; it was your beloved Byrd who got to Congress with the help of the KKK; it's Democrat mayors of the major U.S. cities that have been oppressing minorities for generations while taking block grants and urban renewal money from the federal government; it was your man Clinton who came up with "don't ask don't tell;" it's your guy Obama who thinks it's OK to dismember viable near-term babies that are inconvenient; it's Democrat controlled unions that are sending our businesses fleeing to other countries. Come on, Harry. Man up for once and accept your prize failures.

Harry Reid: Republicans Want Economy To Tank So Democrats Will Be Battered In Midterms

MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan froths and insults

I know they called Bush lots of names, including Hitler, Stalin, dumb, wimp, etc., but I don't recall the left wing media calling him "little boy." And that bend over stuff? Is that a reference to his sexuality?

MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Froths: Wall Street Frightens 'Little Boy' Obama, Makes Him 'Bend Over' | NewsBusters.org

Rush Limbaugh's "cracker" remark

A black group (New Black Panthers) threatens to kill "crackers" and "cracker babies" (cracker is a term for native Floridians which came to be used as a pejorative for all whites, just as did "redneck" which originally meant southern tenant farmer with a sunburn), and the threat is ignored by the media, the Department of Justice and the NAACP. Rush uses it to draw attention to the deliberate oversight and the irony and they are all over it. The media are sooooo slow.

I link to a Floridian librarian who calls her blog Florida Cracker--these are people proud of the name. That's the problem with pejoratives, isn't it? It used to be unacceptable to use the word black when referring to Negroes, or gay or queer in referring to homosexuals. Now black is preferred over Negro, and everyone uses gay--the word when embraced by the group, becomes acceptable. Cracker is a pejorative when the NBP uses it, but not when a Floridian refers to a Floridian.

Rush Limbaugh calls Steinbrenner a "cracker" | HardballTalk

Obama, Bush and Hitler images

Do you remember all this outrage about Hitler images and the President when George W. Bush was president? I saw it on the blogs that tracked the BDS sites, but not at AP or MSM. Here's an example of one of the Hitler-Bush pro-communist links I found from 2003:

"a paranoid fanatic intoxicated by messianic passions and dimmer than a slug. A man drunk with power, as he was drunk with alcohol before—and legally condemned for it on 4 September 1976, for driving drunk at full speed. Admonished, too, by none other than the evangelist Billy Graham who told him, "Who are you, to think yourself God?". A militant for the Christian Right, the Texan, Southern Christian right that is. A racist in love with the death sentence, especially when it comes to African-Americans. All in all, the worst US president for over a century, the man who will unleash the greatest tragedies on his own people. The opposite of Homo Sapiens, the incarnation of Homo Demens."

As other Tea Party groups have noted, this is counter-productive for their movement. But since NAZI means National Socialism, whereby the government controls but does not own (as in Communism) private industry for its own purposes, you can see the connection to the Obama Administration.

And wasn't it Newsweek that proclaimed "We are all Socialists" now? Communist/socialist governments have killed far more of their own citizens than any other form of government in all of history. And who can forget that 2008 image of Obama speaking before the throngs in Germany during his U.S. campaign for the Presidency? Is there anything similar to cause such anger at Bush which was rampant, raging and irrational?

Trick Questions--we all know the answers

1. Why is Governor Blagojevich threatened with 415 years for a deal for Obama's Illinois seat when the Democratic aides in the White House who were manipulating the choices don't get a Congressional hand slap or even a dirty look from Katie Couric?

2. Why do U.S. liberals, particularly Christians, only care about Palestinian Arabs if they live in Gaza or Israel? Millions are in camps in Arab countries where they live in deplorable conditions and have zero civil rights.

3. Why do celebrities, like Rosie O'Donnell, who are examples of entrepreneurship and capitalism based on their own persona and image, recommend that the United States seize the assets of a private company, even one based in another country? Do they understand National Socialism (NAZI) concepts?

4. Why criticize BP for advertising on TV and other media, spending millions to justify its actions, what it is doing to correct its mistakes in the Gulf? Are you criticizing the President spending millions, maybe billions to advertise and justify what he's been doing through trips all over the country, ads, sending the minions out to talk to the press, websites, and arbitrarily changing laws to change what he says were Bush's mistakes and not his own?

5. Why do liberals and progressives in America flunk Econ 101--Daniel B. Klein. Do you think it might have something to do with why FDR extended the Great Depression to over a decade and Obama is extending the Recession with similar spending?

6. When everyone, including me, knows there are three reasons for obesity--nutrition, exercise and genes--why did I have 2 pieces of Key Lime Cheesecake and only one serving of fresh fruit at last night's pot luck?

7. Why do people who support "green" issues, cap and trade, and farmers' markets, insist on volcano mulching around young trees?

8. Do Happy Meals really make kids fat or do the parents who buy them deserve the blame?

9. Why are the U.S. boundaries with Mexico treated differently than the boundaries with Canada, which are much larger? (Or is the question really, why is anyone even asking such a dumb question? but I saw it in the "Fences" exhibit.)

10. Going all the way back to 13th century England liberty meant freedom from governmental oppression. Why have 21st century Americans bought into the idea that freedom means not to experience need or even choices and are willing to submit to more and more government at every level from local zoning to Homeland Security?

11. As more and more information is released about Kyron's stepmom, why was his father so stupid and ignorant about her behavior during all the time leading up to his disappearance?  Maybe those two deserved each other?  Like Mel Gibson and his slutty girlfriend?

12. Amy Bishop has finally been charged with the murder of her brother in 1986. How long before the law suits start by the survivors and families of those she murdered in 2010 against those authorities at the university and in her own family who knew she was off her rocker for years?

13. Why does Headline News (CNN) advertise on Fox--is it because Fox is fair and balanced, or because CNN knows they have more viewers?

14. Why are the people who gnash their teeth and weep over the lack of bipartisanship and talk show criticism on Obama's watch the same ones who criticized Bush so violently? No Child Left Behind, The middle East war, the Medicare drug plan, the Patriot Act, efforts to reform Social Security, and his amnesty plan all had support from Democrats, i.e. bi-partisan support, and some lost him support from Republicans. Liberals weren't happy then with bi-partisanship were they?

Northwest Ordinance--Happy Anniversary

July 13, 1787 is probably as important as July 4, 1776, and the adoption of the Constitution on September 17, 1787, and the later addition of the Bill of Rights (which appear in part in the NW Ordinance).  The Northwest Ordinance passed the Continental Congress on July 13, 1787 and with the Constitution which was ratified in 1788 was critical to the infant United States' form of government. By 1783, the colonies had achieved independence, but Continental Congress was broke and couldn't pay the soldiers--and it had no power to levy taxes. Land west of Pennsylvania had been promised to soldiers. Several ordinances and plans were floated and private investors (like the Ohio company) formed companies to buy and sell the land and bailed out the new federal government.

Interestingly, the Northwest Ordinance which was passed, contains much of what later became our Bill of Rights, and guaranteed the individual freedom of religion, right to a trial by jury, no cruel punishment, and claimed religion was necessary for good government and that slavery was not be a part of the territory or states to be formed.

Article 3: Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.

Article 6: There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. . .

Five states were formed by the Ordinance--Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. Ohio's entry into the Union was a bit bumpy, but after that things went pretty smoothly, and most states that followed used the same procedures outlined in this important document.

Both liberals and conservatives can take pot shots at the NW Ordinance--it shows the federal government has a role in local education and also in providing land and homesteads for its citizens. They also argue over the separation of church and state and what the religion article meant. And for that, you can argue forever.

Ahhhh. . . That feels better!

When I noticed my legs were waking me up at night before the cat did, I knew the problem this time--my shoes. Fortunately, I had purchased an extra pair of Nike Women's Steady VI cross trainers earlier this year, so my husband brought them with him after his last trip to Columbus. Almost instant relief. This is my fourth pair since March 2009, and for someone who isn't very athletic, that doesn't sound like a lot of wear and tear. However, I turned my old ones over and looked at the tread and compared them with the new ones. I definitely roll my feet to the outside, and the tread there was worn down which would cause my body to be out of alignment, just like a car with worn tires.

I originally purchased these because they weren't as fat, ugly and pretentious as most athletic shoes. They have a bit of fabric trim and grosgrain ribbon for shoe laces. But once I wore them and got relief from hip and shin pain, I'll keep buying them, looks or no.

Dow Kokam Receives $161 Million U.S. Department of Energy Grant

Why does this story smell, even though it's not "news?" First, I was checking out the Michigan GM plant that was outsourced, not to a foreign country, but to Delaware, Biden's home state. Second, while doing that I kept finding stories about South Korea and green technology (with all the hoopla for the last 40 years about green this and that, we don't have any of our own?) and various small plants in Michigan, all receiving the nod from the Veep.

Then I came across this one about Dow Kokam receiving $161 million in ARRA funds to "create" jobs in Midland, MI. That's an odd name--didn't really sound "American" to my ear. So I did a few Googles and found out this is Dow Chemical (yes, that Dow), Townsend Capital (a venture capitalist LLC) and Kokam, a South Korean battery company with an American subsidiary.

Now, I'm not so naive as to believe our own fossil fuel companies--petroleum, coal and natural gas--haven't been heavily snogging the federal government for many administrations, Republican and Democrat, nor as government gifts go is this a huge amount. But I do get a bit perturbed that the current Obama administration tries to paint their lovers as loose when in fact BOAd is their pimps and uses its own duplicity and lies to destroy America's belief in capitalism. This is called, "crony capitalism," whereby only the biggest bully gets the free money. What home-grown American green company could go up against a giant like Dow with a South Korean partner?

Dow Kokam Receives $161 Million U.S. Department of Energy Grant

The ‘Twilight’ Phenomenon: The Kids Are All Right

The Vampire craze has a thing or two to teach young Americans.

"From Disney Channel tarts to YouTube to MTV to their public school health education classes, young girls in this country are bombarded and constantly out-flanked with the toxic message that if they want to be ”in” and ”liberated” and “strong” they must become the useful and willing objects of sexual gratification manipulative men have always wanted them to be. Trust me, no one’s benefited more from left-wing feminism than than shallow, sexist men who use, abuse, objectify and discard women like empty beer cans.

In our world of popular culture, the romance between Bella and Edward is unlike anything these young girls have ever been subjected to outside of Turner Classic Movies. Edward cherishes Bella, and he protects her, not only from physical harm but from his own appetites and desires that would strip away her dignity. His love for her is what love is supposed to be: completely selfless and understanding.

As weak as these films have been in the storytelling department, they’ve become money machines because a majority of young girls don’t want to be Lady Gaga, they don’t want to monologue about their vagina with Jane Fonda, and they simply don’t understand why the very same adults charged with protecting them use classroom time to roll Trojans on cucumbers."

Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » The ‘Twilight’ Phenomenon: The Kids Are All Right

The Truth About Illegals--The Russian spies

A former spy, Ion Mihai Pacepa, the highest Soviet bloc official ever to have defected, tells how it's done:

"The term "illegal" has nothing to do with the idea of law breaking. . . An illegal assumes a non-Russian identity and appears abroad as someone who has no connection whatsoever with Russia. In any Western country, an illegal looks and acts just like your next-door neighbor. . . IT IS VERY DIFFICULT to identify an illegal living in the West under a new biography. I approved many such biographical legends. All were supported by Western birth certificates, school diplomas, pictures of alleged relatives, and even fake graves. In some important cases, we also created ersatz living relatives in the West by using ideologically motivated people, who received life-long secret annuities from us. No wonder the FBI needed ten years to document the real roots of the Russian illegals recently arrested.

The American Spectator : The Truth About Illegals

Failure to register as foreign agents

Who knew? Maybe Arizona could use that as a speedy excuse to send the illegals home. This Russian spy swap is really odd. These are not clowns or the Keystone Cops. These are spies and they are going home with their American kids who probably don't speak a word of Russian. Remember those? The ones the sanctuary cities weep over and say that's why we can't send their Mexican mamas and grandmamas home? This had been going on for 11 years, that's 3 administrations that have watched them. Apparently all in agreement. Their names and documents were all false.

As far as the New York Times is concerned, it's over. Once again we'll probably have to depend on bloggers and talk radio to find out what really happened. You sure can't expect the press to do any original investigation. And the Russians? They aren't too concerned.

Andrei Fedyashin of RIA Novosti writes: "Today's spy scandals seem far too prosaic to get a novelist's creative juices flowing. But the latest U.S.-Russian spy standoff has led to some interesting fiction in the U.S. media, at least. Republicans have taken to the Internet to denounce Obama as the "12th Russian spy," and right-wing radio show host, Rush Limbaugh, said: "Why do [the Russians] have to spy on us? Obama will tell them anything they want to know."

Remember, the MSM said there was nothing to the John Edwards baby rumor and nothing to look for in the Gore divorce. If philanderers can put up a smoke screen of lies, imagine what trained spies can do.

Sarepta Henry, evangelist, writer, poet

At one time, Mrs. Henry lived in Mt. Morris, IL as a student at Rock River Seminary. There she came under the influence of John Heyl Vincent, a real dynamo in the Sunday School movement, who later moved on to Chautauqua, NY and Lakeside, OH. She was the daughter of a Methodist minister, but is known as a 7th Day Adventist teacher and evangelist, and a licensed minister, having converted in the last years of her life (1839-1900), and a powerhouse in the WTCU, one of the most influential women's organization in United States history.

I came across her name for the first time today while searching JH Vincent in Google. Now, if you google Sarepta Henry, you'll find a fascinating book called "Unanswered Prayer; A mother's treasury of wisdom." It was first published by SDA in 1910, and was still printed and available by Review and Herald Publishing Association in 2002. If you have a teen or adult child being destroyed by alcohol or drugs despite your Christian home and time on your knees in prayer, this might be the book Mrs. Henry wrote for you.

I've never really done much research on what was known 100 years ago about prenatal affects of nicotine and alcohol on the fetus, but Mrs. Henry knew. Maybe it was anecdotal at that time, but we now know the child is strongly influenced prenatally by what the mother eats, drinks, smokes, injects, breathes and does. Whether you call that nature or nurture, it's a done deal when the kid pops out. Whatever the cause of a child being led astray by others or voluntarily bending the elbow, Mrs. Henry states at the beginning, it definitely isn't God's fault.

High School Students Selected for 6th Annual Grammy Camp

A local (Perrysburg) teen is packing for grammy camp. I wonder. Did any of the mentors or teachers at this camp get to the top this way?

High School Students Selected for 6th Annual Grammy Camp | Kidult

Federal Reserve weighs steps to offset slowdown in economic recovery

Slowdown? What recovery? Do we really need the Fed? And just what is it, anyway? Does anyone know? Do you think the "recovery" is slowing down, or do you think there really hasn't been a recovery? Bernanke thinks FDR didn't do enough! 14 years he diddled and fiddled. Bernanke loved the guy. No wonder. . .

Federal Reserve weighs steps to offset slowdown in economic recovery

Does Obama really need a "kill switch" for the Internet?

After the way Obama has handled the Gulf coast crisis (by shutting down the livelihoods of thousands, arriving late to the clean up party, plus threatening our energy sources), do you really trust this "kill switch" idea, regardless of the name they give it?

"Senator Joe Lieberman and other bill sponsors have refuted the charges that the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act gives the president an Internet "kill switch." Instead, the bill puts limits on the powers the president already has to cause "the closing of any facility or stations for wire communication" in a time of war, as described in the Communications Act of 1934, they said in a breakdown of the bill published on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee website."

China, Iran, North Korea and other statist governments have a kill switch, why not ours? Just what are you ready to give up for "cybersecurity?"

Techworld "Obama Kill Switch Plan

Capt. Pete Hegseth on Elena Kagan

Elena Kagan is intellectually dishonest on many fronts says this veteran of the Iraq War, Pete Hegseth--she zeroed in on military recruiters, treated them as 2nd class citizens, blocking equal access to the best and brightest during time of war, encouraged war protestors on campus, and then went to work for the crafter of "don't ask don't tell."

Capt. Pete Hegseth on Elena Kagan. | RedState

HT Dave

Have they considered WMD?

Remember how the left poo-pooed WMD--like biological and virus warfare--after it was Bush's problem? They were all worried when Clinton was in office--even had the intelligence to show the dangers.

Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face." — Madeline Albright, Feb 18, 1998

Now physicians and scientists are struggling to understand the causes of persistent health problems reported by veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. The Department of Defense can't seem to find out what this particulate matter is.

“The U.S. Army asked the National Research Council to evaluate the Enhanced Particulate Matter Surveillance Program. The committee of experts it convened concluded that, despite the limited data collected, the Program's results clearly document that military personnel deployed in the current Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts are exposed to high particulate concentrations. The committee strongly endorses the Department of Defense's effort and recommends continuing and expanding the research.”

Report

A tax on pale (white) Americans

I have little sympathy for people who go to tanning salons to ruin their skin for a later date (on my dime), but I do feel badly for the salon owners who were doing nothing illegal and will have to pay this additional (no new taxes except for the uber rich--B.O.). Although like any business, they will pass this cost along to the customer. If customers decide to give up this unhealthy practice, the owner will need to find a new business.

People--just look at the splotches, brown spots, wrinkles and scars from surgery that your grandparents have. Whether they were addicted to indoor tanning, the beach or the garden, sun is only good for you in little doses and moderation.

Speaking of addictions, Archives of Dermatology (2010; 146(4):412-417) has reported on addiction to indoor tanning among college students. They found that those addicted to tanning also have a greater problem with alcohol, marijuana and anxiety, but were not necessarily more depressed. Bad news, good news, I guess. Maybe the anxiety stems from comparing tan lines or bikini waxing.

Federal tax on tanning salons takes effect today - Healthy Living : The Orange County Register

Less than half the stimulus spent--but more dribbles on the way as election nears

Press release

"The Ohio Middle Mile Consortium announced today that Com Net, Inc., a founding member, has been awarded federal stimulus funding that will add almost 700 new miles of broadband fiber to rural and underserved communities throughout western Ohio.

“This is a great day for Ohio. Comprehensive broadband services for the state are vital to enhancing education, retraining our displaced workforce and preparing our future workforce to drive Ohio economic development,” said Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut, who had called on the Ohio Academic Resources Network (OARnet), the technology operations arm of the University System of Ohio, to coordinate a unified approach for federal stimulus broadband applications.

OMMC partners Com Net, Inc., Horizon Telcom, OneCommunity and OARnet formed a public-private partnership to create a comprehensive statewide plan to expand broadband infrastructure to the underserved and unserved areas of the state. This plan will focus on community anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals, public safety and local governments to ensure the development of an affordable and sustainable broadband program.

In March 2010, the OMMC members submitted applications to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) to develop a Comprehensive Community Infrastructure (CCI). BTOP funding was established as part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA), better known as the federal stimulus package.

As part of its first wave of announcements, the NTIA awarded $30 million in federal stimulus funding . . "

The ARRA stimulus, AKA Obama slush fund. . . not to be confused with the BP Obama slush fund, which is too small to even register.