The Honolulu Record

is/was a Communist newspaper published in Hawaii. Frank Davis, President Obama's mentor and friend of his grandparents, wrote for this paper because he was a Communist. However, tracking down links to the archives is a bit iffy--they seem to be "broken." But I did finally get one to work--the archives at the University Of Hawaii, Center for Labor Education & Research.

I thought Communists, at least the CPUSA, had tired of hiding and were now out in the open, after first removing any mention of themselves from current history books--published since the mid-90s, at least. This description of the Honolulu Record is an example of a cleaned up summary of a political system that managed to murder about 70,000,000 people in the 20th century, and the first to go are often their own party comrades with whom they squabble, put on trial, then shoot or send to a gulag.

"In 1948, Koji Ariyoshi, a social activist, published a labor focused newspaper called the Honolulu Record. Founded on social change, Koji wanted to present another view on local and world issues, especially issues that affected the working class people of Hawaii."

For another "view" all Ariyoshi would have needed was an account of some 1930s purge trials in the USSR looking for someone to blame for their economy.

The House of the People

"This will be the fight of 2011: the unelected central planning “experts” of the Obama Administration versus the newly elected House of Representatives and state and local governments. The people are not powerless. Congress still has the power of the purse and can withhold funding for implementing Obamacare or writing global warming regulations. There is also the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to review and overrule regulations issued by government agencies. State and local governments can also thwart the federal administrative state by asserting their rights whenever possible. We can return power from Washington back to the people. Saying good-bye to the 111th Congress is a great first step." Morning Bell

Not sure the newbie Republicans are strong enough to lasso and hog-tie the Obama goons, but we'll see. It's worth a try.

Third world children are America's lab rats

Parul Christian, DrPH
Center for Human Nutrition
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
615 N. Wolfe St
Room W2041
Baltimore, MD 21205

Dear Dr. Christian,

Today I read the account of your research done on Nepalese children in the Dec 22/29, 2010 issue of JAMA.

My first pregnancy was in 1961 and I received prenatal vitamins containing iron, and I believe the need for folic acid has been known and added to prenatal vitamins since before 1990. For some years it has been known that the relationship between zinc and iron is iffy, with the benefits of each perhaps cancelling the other.

Why is it ethical to experiment on third world children when we already know the benefits of prenatal supplements, and have known for 50 years or more? The control group will remain behind the supplement group for the rest of their lives. Just looking through other studies on the interaction of zinc and iron, I see Bloomberg is supporting research on poor children in other countries. So was that the real point of this research, to show that zinc is not useful as a supplement?

Norma Bruce
Faculty Emeritus
The Ohio State University

Parul Christian, Dr. P.H., of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and colleagues conducted a study to assess intellectual and motor functioning in a group of 676 children, aged 7 to 9 years in June 2007-April 2009, who had been born to women in 4 of 5 groups of a community-based, randomized controlled trial of prenatal micronutrient supplementation conducted between 1999 and 2001 in rural Nepal. Study children were also in the placebo group of a subsequent preschool iron and zinc supplementation trial. Women whose children were followed up had been randomly assigned to receive daily iron/folic acid, iron/folic acid/zinc, or multiple micronutrients containing these plus 11 other micronutrients, all with vitamin A, vs. a control group of vitamin A alone from early pregnancy through 3 months postpartum. These children did not receive additional micronutrient supplementation other than biannual vitamin A supplementation. Through various tests, intellectual (including memory and reasoning), executive (such as processing speed) and motor function (such as manual dexterity and balance) were assessed.

The researchers found that maternal prenatal supplementation with iron and folic acid was positively associated with general intellectual ability, some aspects of executive function, and motor function, including fine motor control, in offspring in a rural area where iron deficiency is prevalent. In general, the differences in test scores between the other intervention groups and controls were not statistically significant.
http://pubs.ama-assn.org/media/2010j/1221.dtl#3

Dear Mom and Dad, December 22, 1980

1980 has not been one of my healthier years. I went to the doctor today and had chest x-rays and blood tests. My chest is clear, viral bronchitis, he says, and gave me an antibiotic to keep it from becoming pneumonia. I get my glasses in a week, and that will be a relief. If life begins at 40, I'm in trouble.

We received your Christmas packages safely, and they've been put under the tree, to be felt, shaken and poked by two eager kids. We've been reading the nice Advent book and calendar Joanne gave us at breakfast.

We went to a tree farm this year and cut our tree. I wouldn't say it is quite like the TV commercials, but it was fun. There was a roaring fire at the barn, and lots of jolly people around.

We've had a few holiday get togethers. A neighbor had an open house, and the art league had a pot luck dinner, and the AIA had a reception (but I was sick) and the office party is tomorrow, but I may not be able to go. It will be a lovely affair--dinner at the hotel in the Ohio Village, a 19th century reconstructed village which is a nice tourist attraction. They have carolers in costume and everything is deorated like the last century.

Sure wish my mommy was here to make me tapioca pudding.

Blogging break for Christmas

I'm never busy (by other people's standards) but I do get distracted by the computer's presence, so I'm taking a break. In addition, I'm gob-smacked by what's going on in Washington right now. I'm not a birther, but I'm beginning to believe our President is an alien, not from Africa but from outer space. A being no one, not the left and certainly not the right, knows how to deal with. This tax bill is by far the worst piece of legislation since Obamacare, and Republicans even with the help of the Tea Party, just can't stop this steamroller of debt and deception. And either his critics on the left are too dumb to catch on, or they are in on it for the media's benefit and are laughing at the Tea Party which has been defeated before the battle even started in Congress. In either case, I just don't even want to blog about it, so better I just enjoy the time of real peace, which is Jesus, not party, not politics, and not nation.

Donald Hall, poet laureate of the U.S. 2006

During 2000, I carried a small 3/5 notebook in my purse, making notes on everything from recipes, to grocery lists (ground chuck was $.99--really?), to things to take to Illinois when I visited my Dad, book reviews, and an item about an 1820 brick house for sale with 8 fireplaces and 41 acres for $263,000 (it was either near Pitsburg, OH, or New Pittsburgh, OH or Pittsburgh, PA--can't tell).

And flipping through the notebook I see I recorded a poem that really resonated with me, published in the Atlantic, April 2000, by Donald Hall. This was 5 years before he was selected as Poet Laureate for 2006--I could spot a winner.

"You think that their
dying is the worst
thing that could happen.

Then they stay dead."

His wife, Jane Kenyon, also a poet, had died of leukemia, and this was within a series called Distressed Haiku.

To hear Hall read his own works.

Tip for the holiday parties

Talk half as much as you listen.  If you drink, talk 1/5 as much as you listen.

I found this quotation in a 2000 notebook I kept in my purse.  I gave no attribution.

Addressing Christmas Cards 1974

At least I think that's what I was doing--red envelopes  Look at that lime green and yellow vinyl wall paper!  I think 1974 was the year because that's when I got the "serf" haircut.  I can spot at least 3 things posted next to my desk from my friend Lynne.  Her mother was an artist and used to whip out adorable cards.  See the cabinet and shelves behind me?  Originally, that unpainted pine unit held children's toys; then all my office stuff; now it's in the basement holding light bulbs, vacuum cleaner bags, tools, nails, screws, and general junk.  The desk I'm still using--that might have been the reason for the photo (a polaroid) to show off the desk. Looks like the desk lamp was from the children's nursery. The shelves above my head are still with us somewhere in the basement.

About 365 Less Things--a blog for decluttering

We declutter about every 4 years. This method wouldn't work for me (I already have 12 blogs, so I don't need another one), but I think she has interesting ideas. I found her looking for the value of a small toy plastic toaster with cardboard toast, which I unwrapped while going through a box in the basement, which contained my old toys. Also found a tiny doll house 5" x 7.5".

About 365 Less Things

My husband the architect thinks you design the storage first, then declutter. No, you always use the storage you have. Better to purge first.

Marriage and income gap inseparably linked--Joseph Perkins

And that was the headline of the opinion page in the Jan. 26, 2000 Dixon (IL) Telegraph. I had saved the paper because it announced my mother's death on January 24. Today I was cleaning out a sack of old calendars and found it.

I'm not familiar with the work of Joseph Perkins (hated by Democrats for leaving their plantation), a black columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune (at that time). I don't think any person who's seen the research doubts the relationship between wealth and marriage, or crime and a father in the home. Perkins points to a "new study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute which said that "the gap between rich and poor was significantly greater in the late 1990s than during the 1980s." Don't they always say that with a moving clock? At that time our country was in the longest period of economic expansion with the economy generating more than 20 million new jobs and $2 trillion in additional economic output since WWII, but the "rich have gotten richer, while the poor have remained in place."

Perkins says it doesn't have to do with tax policy or Republicans or spending on anti-poverty programs. "The reality is that the single biggest determinant of a family's upward or downward mobility is whether the family is headed by a married couple. . . Only one out of 20 married couple families are poor. He goes on to point out that single parent families have grown during the past three decades (1970s through 1990s).

The problem of the poor is not the availability of jobs, for the economy has generated so many new jobs during the past decade that anyone who can't find a job just doesn't want to work. And the problem isn't taxes because most poor folks don't pay taxes, and many actually receive checks from the government in the form of the earned income-tax credit. No, to close the income distribution gap, the next president will have to have the courage to say that the path to upward mobility for the nation's least-well-off begins at the marriage altar."

And here it is 11 years later, we don't have a 3.5% unemployment rate, and still our leaders think the solutions are rehabing houses, more stimulus money, and jobs programs. But women need to keep their legs closed and men need to keep their pants zipped, and they need to finish school and get married before they start a family.

Perkins apparently left his post in 2005, I found him as a columnist more recently at Examiner.com, but his e-mail bounced.

Liberals Leave The Reservation

The Republicans and conservative media got around to reading the bill, and Mike Gonzalez of the Heritage Foundation says it is indeed bad [as Krauthammer said the first day], "The tax cut deal, we now know, has been so freighted with liberal special interest tax giveaways that true conservatives cannot support it in good faith.

The blame for this state of affairs will be on the left. Tax rates will go up on all Americans on Jan. 1, hitting a country beset with 10 percent unemployment and a stagnant economy. It’s baffling that, two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the left has held fast to its belief that penalizing success will somehow incentivize hard work and produce wealth."

Personally, I think Obama is chuckling and rubbing his hands with glee. His far left base is too dumb to even understand what he did. And so are the Republicans. He's made the Republicans stumble and look silly on their campaign promises before they even get to take over.

Morning Bell: Liberals Leave The Reservation | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.

Monday Memories--a visit from Lynne and Genie

Friends from Illinois came to visit on Labor Day Week-end 1972 and "Aunty Lynne" brought two handmade Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls (which I still have) for our children. We had a dinner party, according to the newspaper article, attended the Upper Arlington Art Show, an ice cream social, a band concert and the fireworks at Northam Park. Our friends had also visited in May that year and we toured German Village where we ate dinner at Schmidts, attended a Couples Circle group of First Community where we heard a presentation by the church choir director, and attended church on Sunday at First Community Church.

These little bits of history all arrived in the mail this afternoon. I think I have copies somewhere, but these are really good memories. I'm glad Lynne saved them.

Mark Madoff’--was he as dumb as a rock or in on the crime?

How was all this going on and he knew nothing? And how must he have felt that the man he trusted and loved screwed over everyone including his family. Dad got off easy--he'll be taken care of the rest of his limited life span in prison. Not so his sons and their families. How would he ever get a job? Still, it's awfully cowardly to leave his mother, brother, wife and children to face the public wrath.

Mark Madoff’s Suicide | Sense on Cents

If it hurts to fail, just keep doing the same thing until it feels good

In February 2008 when the economy was tanking, President Bush gave us a $152 billion stimulus. The President and his economic advisors believed that if you put money in the hands of the people, we'd spend it.

"In the past seven years, the system has absorbed shocks: recession, corporate scandals, terror attacks, global war; yet the genius of our system is that it can absorb such shocks and emerge even stronger," he said. "In a dynamic market economy, our economy will prosper and it will continue to be the marvel of the world." [He was wrong, but isn't it refreshing to see the words of a President who believes in us.]

If anything we went out and made purchases in 2008 we might have made in 2009 or 2010, making Obama's recession even worse, just like the cash for clunkers, or cash for drywall did in 2009.

By February 2008 people were starting to be cautious. So then Obama decided that the Bush stimulus wasn't big enough and he wanted even more. Was going to be for infrastructure, he said. Here a sidewalk (in Upper Arlington), there a bridge (to no where). Now that plan has really been a disaster and he makes Bush look like a piker, because very little even got to the hands of the American private sector--most went to save the unions and create more government jobs. Now he wants still another stimulus, aka extension of unemployment benefits another year, even though this will be the third beyond the usual 26 weeks people used to get and the others haven't stimulated the economy either. So how many stimuli do the economists want to try before they admit defeat?

Bush stimulus signed

The Progress Report: Obama's Stimulus Package

Charlie Gilmour, son of Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour, arrested in London student protests

If anyone should be able to afford tuition hikes, it should be this druggie, who when he woke up, claimed to be sorry. Yes, that's what they all say.

Charlie Gilmour, son of Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour, arrested in London student protests

Don't we wish!

Company Waivers to Affordable Care Act

As of late October, "thirty or so companies and organizations, from the fast food giant McDonald's (115,000) to Maverick County (1), have applied for and received waivers excluding them from the current healthcare legislation/requirements. These entities will not be required to adhere to the minimum annual benefit level which is included in low-cost health plans. These plans are primarily often used to cover part-time or low-wage employees, and will affect over a million people nationwide." There are probably many more now added to this list.

Company Waivers to Affordable Care Act

If it truly is "affordable care" and what we had wasn't, why the need for waivers?

Update: "more waivers to one provision of the new federal health reform law, doubling the number in just the last three weeks to a new total of 222. One of the more recognizable business names included on the newly-expanded list of waivers issued by the feds is that of Waffle House, which received a waiver on November 23 for health coverage that covers 3,947 enrollees. Another familiar name was that of Universal Orlando, which runs a variety of very popular resorts in the Orlando, Florida area. Universal was given a waiver for plans that cover 668 workers."

Conservatives for Patients' Rights

Thinking about snowy Minnesota

They are really socked in, aren't they? The roof of the Metrodome caved in! And it's snowing here in Columbus, too, and we're not good with snow. We'll be socked in the rest of the day, and I'm guessing the children's choir concert will be cancelled this afternoon, plus school tomorrow. Time to get out the Douglas County Record for some old fashioned, small town news. I've never been to Douglas County, MN but reading that paper sure brings memories of back home in Illinois 50 years ago--deer hunter ethics award; piano recital photo from the Baptist church; Republicans having a Christmas party (and even calling it that); all kinds of photos of the 4-H members' awards; and would you believe it, a 2 for 1 special at the Pit Stop Restaurant during NASCAR races! You can't find better snowy day reading than a small town newspaper. Last January, Pastor Borchardt of the Millersville Trinity Lutheran Church said, "When it hits 30 below I promise I will turn on the furnace."

Swedish security police: Violence was 'an act of terrorism' - CNN.com

It's small comfort, I know, but apparently the Swedes who can't define rape because of Feminism messing with their national intelligence (brain, not spying), can still determine terrorism and link it to Islamic Jihad.

Swedish security police: Violence was 'an act of terrorism' - CNN.com

Anna Ardin, Julian Assange Rape Accuser, May Have Ceased Pursuing Claims

Jon Stewart agrees with Glenn Beck--finally

This is really funny, even if he is a little late to the party.