And to think this was written a year ago! It's only gotten worse

This piece was written before the enormously unpopular healthcare bill passed, against the wishes of 70% of Americans; before all the evidence was in on the failure of ARRA; before the military commander meltdown when we found out what they really think of him; before he drug his feet on the Gulf clean up and worsened the economy; before we learned from CBO and other economist left and right that his policies have failed; before it was clear he would never own up to his own decisions and would always blame Bush, or white people, or dumb Americans; before he and his wife took ridiculously (and separate) expensive vacations while urging others to conserve resources; before his dumb statements about the mosque that he later tried to walk back; and before the radical marxists who funded and supported him in 2008 left him high and dry.

"No narrative. Obama doesn't have a narrative. No, not a narrative about himself. He has a self-narrative, much of it fabricated, cleverly disguised or written by someone else. But this self-narrative is isolated and doesn't connect with us. He doesn't have an American narrative that draws upon the rest of us. All successful presidents have a narrative about the American character that intersects with their own where they display a command of history and reveal an authenticity at the core of their personality that resonates in a positive endearing way with the majority of Americans. We admire those presidents whose narratives not only touch our own, but who seem stronger, wiser, and smarter than we are. Presidents we admire are aspirational peers, even those whose politics don't align exactly with our own: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, Ike, Reagan.

But not this president. It's not so much that he's a phony, knows nothing about economics, is historically illiterate, and woefully small minded for the size of the task-- all contributory of course. It's that he's not one of us. And whatever he is, his profile is fuzzy and devoid of content, like a cardboard cutout made from delaminated corrugated paper. Moreover, he doesn't command our respect and is unable to appeal to our own common sense. His notions of right and wrong are repugnant and how things work just don't add up. They are not existential. His descriptions of the world we live in don't make sense and don't correspond with our experience."

Read the entire account of Another Failed Presidency by Gregory Hunt.

Cordoba mosque protest rally Sunday near Ground Zero

I was watching the national ABC News about the mosque controversy. I really think the media is ginning up the hate by not acknowledging what the protests are really about. There are hundreds of mosques in New York, and there is no objection to them. When broadcast news reports on this, they barely report the horrific events of 9/11. So people need to look elsewhere for information. Like the Internet.

Cordoba mosque protest rally Sunday near Ground Zero | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment

Fighting hate can be very profitable--don't be conned

“The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) recalls an observation about the Holy Roman Empire, i.e., it was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire. Aside from its location in Alabama, the SPLC is about as southern as William Tecumseh Sherman. It has little to do with assisting poor people and much to do with enriching its already well-heeled directors. And as for law, its strident advocacy on behalf of illegal aliens suggests that the rule of law is not exactly one of its top priorities.”

“The SPLC serves as a cash machine for Morris Dees and his close associates. Building upon the George McGovern presidential campaign contributors lists, Dees has become one of the most successful direct mail fundraisers in history. Easily scared leftists have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to the SPLC and it now has a fat endowment. Various Charity Watch Lists, such as that of the Colorado Secretary of State, recognize the SPLC as among the most dubious non-profit organizations currently soliciting funds.”

Read more at Fighting Hate for Profit

Could you use $19 a year to buy at a Farmer's Market?

Well, that's part of one of the government's wasteful projects--$123 billion a year on programs that have no positive impact on the target population. Take at look at PART's Expect More. I just picked one at random--the USDA "Senior and Woman, Infants and Children Farmer's market." In 2006 the Bush administration found it (useless) providing $19.00 per person per year. But in 2010, under Obama, it's still spending, providing jobs for government bureaucrats, and that wonderful food from a farmer's market--if you can get there. I checked Ohio--it's getting $1,779,625--your state may be different.

Do you think we could just buy these people an automobile and let them drive to a supermarket. Oh wait--we took the used cars off the road so the middle class could buy hybrids.

What's in a name? The Cordoba Institute

The Cordoba Institute is in over under around and through the plans to build a mosque at the site of Ground Zero, where a group of Islamic fanatics bombed the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Presidents Bush and Obama assure us that Moslems are peaceful, loyal Americans, and we should not fear them. If so, why when they could build a "cultural center" and mosque anywhere, do they chose this site? This is about symbols, not reliious freedom guaranteed by our Constitution. This is about rubbing the face of America in Islamic mud going back centuries.

"The historic city of Cordoba, Spain was originally Christian, but was overtaken by Islamic marauders and turned into an Islamic stronghold in the 8th century CE. The Islamic seizure of Cordoba began in the year 711 CE by Berber tribesmen who had recently converted to Islam. They crossed the 14 mile stretch of ocean between North Africa and Europe into what was then called Al-Andalus, which is now modern day Spain.Grand Cordoba became home to what was known as the "Caliphate," an Islamic political paradigm wherein the leader is regarded as a direct successor of the founder of Islam, Muhammad (570 - 632 CE). Emir Abd ar-Rahman I--who arrived from Damascus, Syria--took control of Al-Andalus. It was under the rule of he and his descendants that the Caliphate reached its peak based at Cordoba. Under various successors, there was always a part of Spain which remained under Islamic control until the year 1492.To radical Muslims of today, few symbols are as resonant as the downfall of the Caliphate at Cordoba, Al-Andalus. In the same way that Americans remember their defeat at the Alamo and use its name as a rallying cry in battle; Cordoba, Al-Andalus is a rallying cry for Islam."

Continue reading Shelomo Alfassa

Jim Wallis Admits to Soros Funding

The "peace and justice" Christians really mean, "Piece and Just us." Jim Wallis, one of Obama's spiritual advisors who is critical of just about everything Christian in America, has admitted to Soros funding. Well, it's no surprise, since Soros has been behind the Obama White House from the beginning and Wallis has been so critical of anyone who questions Obama's motives and political beliefs. Christians like Wallis have been perverting the Gospel and Jesus' words for 40 years and following the Marxist trail of crumbs into new bondage.

Further investigation of Wallis and his organization is warranted.

Wallis Admits to Soros Funding | Politics | Christianity Today

We are now alone

Last Saturday and Sunday we had guests from California, Columbus, and Indianapolis, with 14 around the dinner table Saturday evening (in the cottage we had rented across the street since ours is tiny). It was a fabulous celebration on Sunday with our Bruce relatives and Lakeside friends for our 50th wedding anniversary (which we will celebrate again in Columbus in September and Mt. Morris in October). After most went home we spent the week biking, walking, attending the evening programs at Hoover, and had a picnic in Perry Park with other Lakesiders.

Mister Bruce -- all of them


Sharing family photos


The cottage we rented for 9 extra family (plus 2 at our house and 1 in the Fountain Inn)


The sibs biking around Lakeside looking at the cottages and burning off the extra calories we were consuming


Eating breakfast at the Patio Restaurant with Bob and Jean

Just which religion does Obama profess?

Why do the MSM persist in blaming the right for suspicion about Obama’s religion? He reported his Muslim background in his books (father, step-father, extended family, siblings), he‘s the one who is soft on Islamic terrorism and praises Muslims' intentions. The MSM reporters and talking heads (like Carville) are the ones bringing it up--"it continues to haunt the President" says this morning's ABC story. Like this NYT op-ed by Edward N. Luttwak in May 2008. I've always thought he was in far more danger from Muslim fanatics for his conversion to Christianity than he was from any "persistent rumors" from the right. Muslims in modern times have a long history of killing aspostates and infidels.

"As the son of the Muslim father, Senator Obama was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood. It makes no difference that, as Senator Obama has written, his father said he renounced his religion. Likewise, under Muslim law based on the Koran his mother’s Christian background is irrelevant.

Of course, as most Americans understand it, Senator Obama is not a Muslim. He chose to become a Christian, and indeed has written convincingly to explain how he arrived at his choice and how important his Christian faith is to him.

His conversion, however, was a crime in Muslim eyes; it is “irtidad” or “ridda,” usually translated from the Arabic as “apostasy,” but with connotations of rebellion and treason. Indeed, it is the worst of all crimes that a Muslim can commit, worse than murder (which the victim’s family may choose to forgive).

With few exceptions, the jurists of all Sunni and Shiite schools prescribe execution for all adults who leave the faith not under duress; the recommended punishment is beheading at the hands of a cleric, although in recent years there have been both stonings and hangings. (Some may point to cases in which lesser punishments were ordered — as with some Egyptian intellectuals who have been punished for writings that were construed as apostasy — but those were really instances of supposed heresy, not explicitly declared apostasy as in Senator Obama’s case.)"

I’ve read Obama’s Christian testimony, published when he was running for Senate. In his conversion story he has praised at various times two very anti-American, anti-mainstream Christian pastors, one Catholic and one UCC, as his spiritual mentors and close friends. No one should be surprised that with his own words and behaviors and close associates, many Americans now believe he is if not a closet Muslim, at least not a Christian that most would recognize.


President Apostate? - New York Times

Temporary hiatus

My laptop has failed so I'm writing from a neighbor's home. No more blogging for awhile. But it was a great party Sunday at the pavilion, and all family arrived safely and we're having a great time.

The Antiques Roadshow, Bruce version

We are taking our anniversary celebration on the road, so to speak. With friends and relatives spread across the country, some unable to travel, we are becoming party animals with an August, September and October celebration for our 50th wedding anniversary. Here's a selection of photos from the Lakeside event. Although the temperature was hot--90-ish--the breeze was great and we didn't have the predicted rain. Lake Erie presented a never ending show of color and fun, as we could hear the happy squeals and splashing of children right below the pavilion. It was a perfect day!

The Bruce siblings, Ohio, Indiana and California

The dessert table, brownies, cookies, iced tea, lemonade, and fresh fruit; another table had memorabilia

Families Bruce, Poisal, Poynter, Kelle, Doncevic--together in the same place, at the same time for the first time

Our children, all of whom have been Lakesiders from a very young age

Dinner at Hotel Lakeside

The Tuesday Wellness Seminar featured Rod Crane President/CEO of Ohio Medical Transportation (MedFlight of Ohio). He discussed medical transportation services that may be accessed from home, community, other states and international locations.

After the program, we and the Cranes went to Hotel Lakeside for dinner. They are members of our church.

Tea party groups plan Arizona rally against illegal immigration

This rally will be held on private property with private security in support of Candidate J.D. Hayworth, a former congressman turned conservative radio commentator (running against McCain) and in support of governor Jan Brewer on Sunday August 15. The Republican primary is the 24th. Leave long arms and rifles in your car.

'Tea party' groups plan Arizona rally against illegal immigration

Martin Luther King, Jr. - I Have a Dream

It seems that some leftists (Media Matters, Newscorpse) are unhappy that Glenn Beck is sponsoring a Restoring Honor gathering in Washington DC on August 28 because that's the anniversary (1963) of the Martin Luther King, Jr. "I have a dream speech." I seriously doubt that anyone, especially Beck, knew this was a "sacred day" on which other events could never be held. There are wonderful and moving passages in this speech, about which everyone should be reminded. Especially it speaks to Americans who have something coming due to them that the government has taken away in the last 100 years of Progressivism, which would pretty much be Beck's audience.

"In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds.""

Our current administration is in the process of bankrupting this and the next several generations if we don't stop them. MLK quotes many writers and sources in this speech from Lincoln to Isaiah to America the Beautiful. But the promissory note passage is, I think, the most powerful, given our current situation. We're not only getting a bad check, but we're going to prison for trying to cash it.

It's not easy to get space in Washington to hold an event. In fact, they limit the port-a-potties according to the number of buses coming. So if you're using public transportation, bicycle or walking, don't drink too many fluids.

Washington DC was built in a drained swamp (these days we call them wet lands), and the swamp is attempting to reclaim the land.

American Rhetoric: Martin Luther King, Jr. - I Have a Dream

Citing the 1939 Morgenthau quote

Sometime ago I blogged here about tracking down a 1939 Morgenthau quote that was going around the Internet, and I found Alan Caruba. There were a number of comments, some disbelieving. Another reader, Jared Nourse of Williams College, class of 2011, contacted me by e-mail with additional information:

"I was recently browsing the web for the 1939 Morgenthau quote and came across your blog post of Feb 2009, which motivated me to look into the question further. I'm sure you've long since come to terms with the mystery, but I uncovered the full language of the original quote in a scholarly article, which sets to rest some of Anonymous' unease with the quote.

Since your blog is the first result for a google search on "henry morgenthau quotes," I thought you might want to post a final update that includes the full language. Here it is:

[U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr.]: No, gentlemen, we have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong, as far as I am concerned, somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises…

But why not let’s come to grips? And as I say, all I am interested in is to really see this country prosperous and this form of Government continue, because after eight years if we can’t make a success somebody else is going to claim the right to make it and he’s got the right to make the trial. I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started.

Mr. Doughton: And an enormous debt to boot!

HMJr.: And an enormous debt to boot! We are just sitting here and fiddling and I am just wearing myself out and getting sick. Because why? I can’t see any daylight. I want it for my people, for my children, and your children. I want to see some daylight and I don’t see it…

—Transcript of private meeting at the Treasury Department, May 9, 1939, F.D. Roosevelt Presidential Library

Horwitz, Steven. "Great Apprehensions, Prolonged Depression: Gauti Eggertsson on the 1930s." Econ Journal Watch 6.3 (2009): 313-36. Web.10 Aug 2010.

He notes that Folsom cites the transcript as well.

Best,

Jared Nourse"

Thanks, Jared, I'm posting your e-mail with your permission. I always appreciate a good citation (paper would be better), although if Jesus Christ himself said it, an FDR true believer would not be swayed.

Let's hope there is someone of intelligence and character left within the Obama administration who will take him aside and explain the facts to him. Unfortunately, I think it is Obama's intention and desire to ruin the country financially, so he has no reason to change direction.

What is a Socialist and why is no one worried?

"While earlier generations of Americans understood the word [socialism] to describe a political system that coincides with the diminution of personal and economic freedom, too many Americans hear the word and simply think of it as an alternative economic system. They think Europe, with its pretty buildings and, until recently, high standard of living.

These same Americans do not think of the USSR and the Gulags, or the Nazis and the concentration camps, or the Norks and their concentration camps, or the Cubans and their political prisons, or the Chinese and their political slave labor. All of those, Americans would say, were communist, which is different, never mind that it’s not.

I can already hear some of you saying right now that Americans are proving, with their hostility to the Obama/Democrat agenda, that they hate socialism. But I’m talking semantics. They’ll say they hate “Big Government,” or taxes, or government inefficiency, or too much government spending, but they will be utterly blase about “socialism.” The word has lost its power. The underlying concepts may bother Americans, but to say Obama is a socialist probably has as much meaning as to say he eats potatoes."

Bookworm Room » What if they gave a socialist party and nobody cared?

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

If I ever saw Breakfast at Tiffany's, a 1961 movie based on Truman Capote's novella by the same name, I have no recall of having seen a single scene--not even the iconic little black dress and the long cigarette holder adorning Audrey Hepburn who plays Holiday Golightly (Holly). It was last night's offering at Hoover here in Lakeside.

I'd call it a dark, dark film, with endlessly repeating scenes of smoking, drinking to excess, hopping in and out of taxis, climbing in and out of windows next to fire escapes, and losing keys. And it's the old, old fairy tale of a young girl who constantly needs to be rescued by older, and less lovely men, men of questionable intentions but mostly men wanting her sexually and willing to pay for it.

It's a story of a man and woman who in the end do fall in love, but who in the beginning are both kept by the older and wealthier as sex interests as they pursue their "dreams." Holly wants to reinvent herself from an Okie teen-age, step-mom married to an older farmer to a glamorous party-girl New Yorker on the prowl for a wealthy husband. Paul (George Peppard) is a kept man by an older, wealthy married woman (Patricia Neal who died this week). Hepburn, who looked anorexic in so many films, look healthier and heavier in this film; Neal was only about 3 years older but was swathed in heavy capes and jackets, maybe to hide a pregnancy, or just to look less attractive.

Until you see a 50 year old film where the drinking and smoking is so over the top it is distracting, and a Caucasian impersonates a cariacature of another race (Mickey Rooney plays a stereotypical buck tooth, screaming Japanese landlord) you forget how far we've come in "correctness,"--thankfully. Also, you see how the strong, capable female film characters of the 1930s and 1940s fell off the pedestal in the 1950s-1980s films where they seem to be perpetual sex toys with no brains or ambition except to meet Mr. Right or Mr. Money bags.

Capote apparently wanted Marilyn Monroe for the part--a poor girl in real life who changed her name and made good through her sexuality. It might have been a good choice, because I had trouble translating Audrey Hepburn into this character.

And I'll always be mad at her for dumping the no-name cat out in the rain; yes, I know it was just a movie and it all turns out well in the end, but can you trust a fictional air-head who does that?

Blaming Bush Doesn’t Create Jobs, Nancy

"Today’s report shows our teachers, police officers, firefighters, and nurses are still feeling the worst of the Bush recession.": Nancy Pelosi. Does anyone believe this blame Bush stuff? They sound like children. When the government "invests" it takes money from people who actually do.

Remember in November.

Morning Bell: Blaming Bush Doesn’t Create Jobs | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.

The toilet is closed

Dan Cornwall, the Alaskan Librarian on my bloglist, had a photo of an orange, hand made sign: "Dan Moller Cabin and Toilet closed until further notice," so I asked Google, "Who is Dan Moller?" Well, wouldn't you want to know--I mean if you were hiking in Alaska this might be important. So here it is--all you need to know about the Dan Moller Cabin. It was built in the 1930s by the CCC and you can stay there (when not closed) for 2 nights at $35/night. But it's pretty primitive; although many people lived this way in the 1930s without the luxury of propane, garbage bags and fire extinquishers.

Water is available from a nearby stream, uphill from the cabin. Treat all water before using. Bring your own sleeping bags, sleeping pads, cooking stove, lantern, pots, pans, plates, utensils, food, toilet paper, garbage bags, fire extinguisher and fire starter. This cabin contains a wood stove. Wood is not provided, so you must bring your own if you wish to use the stove. Cabin is heated by a propane wall furnace. Propane is supplied. Bears frequent the area.

But I still don't know who Dan Moller was, so I keep checking and finally find a guide book that tells me he's the guy who laid out the Dan Moller Trail in the 1930s. Whoop! That's not much to go on.

The cabin's logs are rotting so they will build a new one--ADA accessible. How the disabled get there may be another story. From the guide book it looks like an 1800 ft. upward climb on the Dan Moller trail. It is located three and one-half miles southwest of Juneau on Douglas Island. Access by 3 mile trail on Pioneer Street off Cordova Street, and at the end of Jackson St. above Blueberry Hills subdivision in West Juneau.

Lakeside Week 8

There was supposed to be a sailing regatta today but there is zip, nada, zilch wind. [Update: They finally got off.] My husband's gone down to watch, but I don't think anything is going on. If he could find a partner he was going to try doubles. His motto is (because he comes in last) he's way ahead of the guys who didn't enter! Good attitude for someone who took up sailing at 65+.

Speaking of sailing partners, we really enjoyed the send-off of the Lakeside Leadership Academy interns Thursday evening. Grace Kelmer who was my husband's sailing partner when she was in middle school gave us an invitation. Grace is the Cultural Arts intern and is a lifelong Lakesider. She attends college at Illinois Wesleyan in Bloomington, IL, is fluent in German, and an accomplished cellist. This was the third year of the program, so if you have a young person looking for summer internships next summer, check this one out. Most of this year's class had no prior knowledge of Lakeside.

I must say I got a little nostalgic and melancholy as I listened to the presentations of the 9 interns--hospitality, environment, finance, marketing, human resources, event planning, and eduction. They were all so incredibly talented and hard working, good speakers, lavish in their praise of their mentors and sponsors and fellow interns. One can feel good that young people like this will be going out into the work world soon, even if they choose grad school, but one can also feel like a "has been" and think about missed opportunities along the way.

Last night's guest performer with the symphony was Dmitri Levkovich, pianist. Born in the Ukraine and a citizen of Canada, he got a standing ovation (and provided a nice encore) for Concerto No. 25 in C Major by Mozart. I must say, that although I know little about pianos, the new Steinway is making everything sound brighter, sharper, and clearer. On the walk home we enjoyed the many homes decorated for "Light up Lakeside."

Ouch! Now that hurts!

We had our summer house sprayed for spiders yesterday--perhaps the second time this season. Now the windows will need to be washed again. But, here's the big news. The owner of the spray company didn't do the application this time. Apparently, the day before he was at a job and a dog bit him in the scrotum and he had to have stitches! So an assistant came out to our place because the owner will be laid up for awhile.

Dog bites are serious, folks. And remember this word from a former veterinary medicine librarian who has seen the photos of torn up faces of children--ALL DOGS WILL BITE. Don't ever encourage young children to pet a dog in the park or on a walk, even if the owner assures you it's OK. Most dog bites are by young male dogs, owned by young males, and the victims are most often male children.