The End of Green Ideology

"President Barack Obama’s administration has thrown billions of dollars at wind, solar, ethanol, and other alternative-energy resources. Now the Fukushima tragedy is being used to justify continuing these economically dubious programs. We can bet that none of these alternative energies will easily replace oil, gas, and nuclear power in the foreseeable future.

At market prices, without public subsidies, a unit of energy produced by solar or wind in the US costs five times more than a unit produced by oil, gas, or nuclear plants. Moreover, supporters of alternative energies systematically downplay their negative environmental impact. A wind turbine requires 50 tons of steel and half a square mile of ground space. If California were to rely on solar power for its electricity consumption, the entire state would have to be covered with photovoltaic cells."

The End of Green Ideology by Guy Sorman - Project Syndicate

Michele Bachmann--she's now THE candidate to watch

She's a conservative and a Tea Partyer. Now that's refreshing. Let's see if the Democrats, who can't stand a talented beautiful woman with a special needs child, will be able to tolerate one who had 23 foster children.

"Bachmann has faced up to the Democrats' gaudy lie that people, aged 56 and over, are facing Medicare cuts with the Ryan Plan. They are not, not with the Ryan budget. Though with the Obamacare Plan we are all facing the eclipse of Medicare. Medicare will be slashed for everyone very soon, and that is written into the president's policy. Better it is to note that Ryan's reform gives us plenty of time to fix the system before the under 55-year-olds enter the depleted policy and are faced with the cuts that even the older seniors now face."

The American Spectator : The Pulchritudinous Michele Bachmann

Blogging break -- see you at Lakeside

I have a few things to take care of--mostly of a technical nature, but I shall return.

Weasel words and phrases to watch for--because they are meaningless

WAGE INEQUALITY doesn’t mean poor, doesn’t mean rich. It means a high school student working at Panera’s in a part time job makes less than a computer programmer with a college degree working for Bill Gates. It means Bill Gates makes more than the President of the United States. Wage inequality is an inflammatory phrase, however, so think about it the next time you hear it. It also means that a 2 income household generally has more money than a one income or no income household receiving government assistance, which shouldn't be rocket science.

FOOD INSECURITY doesn’t mean hunger or starvation, and especially doesn’t mean too few calories. It means that some time during the last week, month or year, a person or head of household wasn’t sure where tomorrow’s meals were coming from. Could be one day until the social security check arrived, or the support payment from the ex-, or perhaps a tornado blew through town and you have no kitchen, pantry or paycheck and the bank is gone, too. Think about that term when you hear about 14% of the nation being “food insecure.”

FOOD STAMPS don’t exist anymore; The program is now called SNAP and they don‘t use stamps, but a plastic debit-like card. Regardless of the name, they were never intended to feed families, only to supplement the resources a family already had. So if some wise guy asks you if you could live on food stamps, say NO, because that’s not the intention. The USDA began this program in the 1940s to assist farmers--there were surpluses after WWII. Now the USDA is about food subsidies, not farm subsidies, and it is also about changing behavior which costs more and is more complicated, requiring many more staff which is where a lot of the money goes. The government has about 26 food programs spread across six different federal agencies.

A LIVING WAGE begs the question whose life, what wage and living where? In 1983 when I worked for JTPA (Job Training Partnership Act which replaced CETA) I was told a living wage was $10.50 an hour in order to live minimally in Washington DC (it would have been middle class for Columbus). Not even college grads were making that 28 years ago in most cases. But that’s what the workshop presenters wanted in government entitlements--housing, child care, food, education--for welfare mothers. If a stay-at-home mom goes back to work waiting tables at lunch when the kids go to college, should she be paid “a living wage?” Listen carefully when you hear a speaker demand a “living wage” for the poor. Does he mean your babysitter, which would put you out of work? Door to door Bible salesman, which means you couldn‘t afford it? The school teacher today earns more per hour than an accountant or architect. 10 years out of college making $70,000 for 10 months with a guaranteed pension at age 55 with a union to protect her. Or how about your congressman?

ACCESS used to mean a wheel chair ramp into a restaurant or public building. Not anymore. Now it is folded into anything someone of a minority or different culture might have in their original homeland. And that includes food at public institutions or schools and no pork in government feeding programs. It might mean no gluten or peanut butter for you kid even if he's not allergic. It also means having farmer’s markets in poor neighborhoods, a long, long way from the truck farmer. It means making the low income people experimental subjects for every cockamamie sociology and nutrition program your local college or university can dream up. “Eat it, it’s good for you. Because I said so.”

SUSTAINABILITY is the all-purpose, go-to word when “green” or “tree-hugger” or “renewable” sounds too crass or over done. It’s meaningless when you think about it. Agriculture, whether industrial type farms or organic plots or your backyard, requires huge inputs--seeds, fertilizers, water, labor, and technology. Boondoggles like growing corn for ethanol were found wanting 30 years ago, but agriculture lobbyists keep at it. Fields were planted right up to roads creating run off and destroying wild animal habitat leaving birds with no home which then required more pesticides. Thousands of acres of corn changed the moisture content in the air which created storms in neighboring counties and states. Trucking the corn to storage kept huge vehicles running day and night polluting the air. Trees and animals are actually renewable resources, and petroleum is decayed vegetable matter with stored energy waiting to be used, but don’t confuse an environmentalist with science. They’re looking for religion. Oh yes, is there anything uglier than a wind farm?

Here’s a myth that helped create our housing crisis

“Homeport Programs at Columbus Housing Partnership is a private, nonprofit organization founded in the belief that a decent and affordable home is the cornerstone of family life and a healthy community.”

1) When you see the word HOUSING linked with NONPROFIT, it means government grants fund it, or the government provides tax incentives to foundations, churches or private companies like Nationwide or Huntington to help fund it.

2) PARTNERSHIP means that rather than private developers bringing their skills and resources to the neighborhood, they are encouraged to “invest” in a corporation offering tax credits where the money will first be used by the CHP to pay its staff and office expenses before it selects the builders and unions that will “redevelop” poor neighborhoods, most of whom will be making political donations to the Democratic party or the Mayor or city councilmen.

3) The mortgage industry and the construction trades may be private non-governmental businesses, but they are the biggest beneficiaries of the government's experiment of putting low-income families in mortgages they can‘t possibly afford, rather than rental property they can afford until they can develop home ownership and budgeting skills, can learn a few home repairs, or save enough for a down payment and all the expenses that go along with ownership.

4) DECENT doesn’t mean cheap. Home Again, a Columbus rehabbing project of $25,000,000, in one year (2006) did 96 roof repairs costing nearly $1,500,000. That’s nearly $14,000 a piece in crumbling neighborhoods of small houses 70-80 years old with poor streets, utilities and public schools. After Hurricane Ike a damaged church in affluent Upper Arlington with a huge roof had it replaced (not repaired) for $5,200.

5) AFFORDABLE in government housing speak means money has been transferred from tax-payer abc to entitlement receiver xyz, but many in that chain are not poor--they are staffers in government backed programs and agencies (like HUD, USDA, HDAP, OHFA COHHIO) earning good salaries, with excellent benefits and job security, which is why the programs must be continuously expanded.

6) FAMILY LIFE may be a single mom with several children. Does she really need a mortgage to add to the burdens the government has already imposed on her and the children? Like limits on her income or savings if she is to qualify for health care or nutrition supplements. The housing money would be better spent on job training and moving the children to charter schools, or a small private van service to get her to a good supermarket outside her unsafe neighborhood (but with repaired roofs).

Dear Reader, do you think the households of Andrew Weiner or Arnold Schwarzenegger are “healthy?” What about their “communities” that are circling the wagons defending them?

A house is shelter. Period. It should not be turned into a government experiment in economics, morality or education, nor an evangelization vehicle for churches.

Politico Admits 'Error' in Attributing quote to Palin

Are they trying to stir up trouble? Sometimes I miss a quotation mark or an attribution/link, but I don't take ads on my web page, and I'm not a professor at a famous university.

Politico.com admitted Friday that it made an "error" in attributing a nasty quote about Rep. Michele Bachmann to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

The quote came in an opinion piece Thursday by former Virginia Democratic Party chief Paul Goldman and George Mason University professor Mark J. Rozell. The piece speculated on whether Bachmann's possible presidential run might compel Palin to get in the race, and argued that her recent bus tour sent a message to Bachmann, R-Minn. -- a message they attributed directly to Palin.

And it was nasty.

Politico Admits 'Error' in Attributing Bachmann Criticism to Palin - FoxNews.com

Media feeding frenzy in Juneau, which isn't covering the story

I hope they are bored out of their minds. And how clever to release it on paper. Does the media do this to all former governors, or just women they love to hate? At least the birthers knew they were looking for something--a birth certificate. What are these guys looking for?

"Alaska officials on Friday released thousands of pages of emails sent and received by Sarah Palin during her first 21 months as governor, giving a fresh glimpse at the time when she rose to national prominence and became the GOP vice presidential nominee. Reporters and photographers crowded into a small to pick up the six boxes of emails — 24,199 pages and weighing 100 pounds — to begin poring over them. Some carried boxes down the stairs and others, wheeling them on dollies, scrambled to be the first ones to reach elevators." Link

Debbie Wasserman Schultz: "Jim Crow Was The Wrong Analogy To Use"

Someone must have told Ms. DNC the Jim Crow laws were the Democrats' idea.

But also, allowing ex-felons and illegal immigrants to vote with no ID is probably a side you don't really want to say is the image you equate with African Americans. And how she thinks the 2000 Gore Bush hanging chad fiasco fits in here is bizarre. Bush, as you recall, won that district; it was the Democrats who didn't want to believe minority voters could choose anyone but whom they were told to vote for.

HotAirPundit: Debbie Wasserman Schultz: "Jim Crow Was The Wrong Analogy To Use"

Do what I say, not what I do--Democrats

According to a 2008 article at American Thinker by Randall Hoven, lawyers and law firms are heavy donors to the Democratic party, with 76% of all donations to Democrats, the same percentage as Hollywood. (BTW, this is a paltry number compared to Democrats in the library profession.)

American Thinker Blog: Lawyers and the Democrats

So why, if they are so liberal and progressive, are law firms doing such a poor job of recruiting African Americans into their profession, even with affirmative action?

According to a completely unrelated article by James Lindgren in the Journal of Contemporary Legal issues, Vol. 17, 2008, "In 1960, 2.0% of male lawyers and judges ages 36-45 were African Americans. After several decades of affirmative action, in 2000 the proportion in the same age group has grown only modestly to 2.8% of male lawyers. Since the 1980 Census (when most African-American lawyers ages 31-65 would have graduated from law school before the era of affirmative action in law school admissions), the changes for African-American men have been even less impressive in employment by private firms and companies: from 1.8% of males in 1980 to 2.1% in 2000."

The Private and Public Employment of African-American Lawyers, 1960-2000 by James Lindgren :: SSRN

And in yet another unrelated statistic from the census, the anecdotal evidence that blacks are losing out in self-employment apparently isn't true either. Without affirmative action, they haven't done that much worse than the lawyers. Self-employed blacks have gone from 3.6% to 4.1% since 1960, compared to 11.1% to 11.4% for whites. It is down for both groups over the last 100 years.

GK Chesterton comments on the Weiner scandal

Not really, but he does talk about small, round, hard things. . . like Weiner's . . . brain.

"A small circle is quite as infinite as a large circle; but, though it is quite as infinite, it is not so large.

In the same way the insane explanation is quite as complete as the sane one, but is not so large.

A bullet is quite as round as the world, but it is not the world. . .

A lunatic's theory explains a large number of things, but it does not explain them in a large way. I mean that if you or I were dealing with a mind that was growing morbid, we should be chiefly concerned not so much to give it arguments as to give it air, to convince it that there was something cleaner and cooler outside the suffocation of a single argument."

Delusional Democrats and Union Thugs in Wisconsin

Kathleen Vinehout, a Wisconsin state senator who fled to Illinois to avoid her duty to her constituents said this after an improbable naive and hopelessly pious statement about honor and harmony too bizarre to even quote:

On March 9th, Republican Leaders invented a new process of passing a bill, without warning, without a hearing and without even a bill on the Senate floor. Republican Leaders engaged in legislative trickery to deny us the democratic process; seeking only to advance their national agenda.

James Lindgren offers another view at "SSRN, Social Science Research Network" which probably state Democrats routinely ignore, just has they ignore the national one.

This essay takes a brief and preliminary look at the remedies available to the Wisconsin Senate to enact its 2011 proposed budget legislation without Democratic senators who fled the state in February 2011. Article VIII, §8 of the Wisconsin Constitution requires a three-fifths quorum only for statutes that are fiscal, that is, statutes that actually appropriate money, impose taxes, create a debt, or release a claim owed to the state. Even then, these categories have consistently been interpreted in the most limited form conceivable.

Weiner's wife and marriage

It's been a surprise to me that the slogan of the day (the last 2 days) for Associated Press (distributed to multiple syndicates) has been that the "Weiners have a strong marriage." Look, she was out of the country when the scandal broke, he was using her absenses which are frequent since she's Hillary's aide to sext his on-line buddies, and they've both been using the Clintons as mentors. I supposed that's a fool's idea of a strong marriage, but if she hangs in there with him, she's just another abused Muslim wife married to a despot. It's in her tradition.

How great a lover and husband can he be? In order to achieve those erection photos, he needed to be masturbating while excitedly anticipating others seeing it. Who really gets that overwrought by the sight of the erect male member other than other males? Who buys all those male porn magazines--other men. There will probably be more to come out of the closet for this guy. There are some secular Jews who don't like Israel although they may see themselves as Jews (Weiner actually is pro-Israel except for his party choice), and some married men who don't really like or respect women, may love their own wife (again, Weiner has a strange way of showing devotion and loyalty). I'm just saying. . .

Father's Day is June 19--think about it!

"To everyone who had a great dad who was always there for you, great. And if you got a crummy one in life's father lottery, well, honor him anyway. The Bible promises you a blessing if you do. It's the only one of the Ten Commandments that comes with a promise.

Men who marry the mother of their children reverse the devastation of childhood poverty. It's worth more than a college education in family economics compared to the single mom household. On the other hand, married dads who walk out on the family, usually for another, younger version of the wife of their youth, hurt everyone involved, including his kids, friends and community." Norma Bruce, June 20, 2010

Why are librarians' salaries so low?

From my blog 5 years ago, March 2006.

There are people needing promotion and tenure to study this, but here's my take. Librarians have no organization to represent their own interests. Oh, they have lots of organizations--out the wazoo--but just look at the names: American Library Association; Medical Library Association; Association of College and Research Libraries; California Library Association. Do you know what my husband's professional organization is called? The American Institute of Architects. Get it? It is representing ARCHITECTS. People, not government entities or buildings. And although I'm sure it leans left like most professional organizations, I haven't heard that the AIA is trying to get President Bush impeached while they redesign cities in Mississippi as service projects.

"Librarians and library workers are under-valued, and most people, whether members of the public, elected officials, faculty, corporate executives, or citizen board members, have little or no idea of the complexity of the work we do." from California Library Association web site.

In my opinion, this inclusion of “library workers” in all attempts to get the professional, degreed salaried librarians paid a fair wage worthy of a master's or higher degree is part of the problem. “Library workers” may have high school degrees or they may have PhDs in Victorian Poetry or Trombone Performance, but they are not degreed librarians. This may explain why people (even librarians) believe the degree isn’t important, and so the salaries can stay low. Anybody can do it, right? Just ask the ALA (which spins its wheels in political, i.e. federal and state, battles).

But, then, it's not my battle anymore--or even theirs. Librarianship is going the way of the buggy whip manufacturer. A few with special crafting skills are still needed, but it's not a career or profession anyone should reach for.

Daily challenges

Today someone gave me three of these.

Yes, Panera's cinnamon rolls--620 calories each, 24 grams of fat (There is a nutrition calculator on the internet.) On the plus side, they do contain 20% rda of vitamin C and 13 grams of protein--that's more than a can of black beans! Right now, they are packaged separately and I'm debating their future. It's the last day of exercise class. Should I take them along and divide them among the ladies (and one man)? Should I put them in the freezer where they might call to me? What would you do?

Gingrich is deaf to his team's advice

"Newt Gingrich’s entire team of paid Iowa campaign staff, as well as his national spokesman and senior aides in New Hampshire and South Carolina, have resigned en masse, a staffer told The Des Moines Register.

“You have to be able to raise money to run a campaign and you have to invest time in fundraising and to campaign here in the state and I did not have the confidence that was going to be happening,” said Craig Schoenfeld, the Iowa executive director of Newt 2012."

Iowa caucuses


Go, go, gone Gingrich, I hope. There are some excellent people in the field. We don't need all his baggage.

Why we watch reality TV

OK. You caught me. I do watch some reality TV--like the people looking for 2nd homes in exotic places for $2.5 million on HGTV; the guys pimping their semi-trucks purple and pink; the fellows bidding on lockers full of stuff so that they can earn a living at auctions; occasionally a hoarding show on TLC; the clothes closet make-overs on What Not to Wear. Once in awhile I turn on one of those talent shows ala Arthur Godfrey 50 years ago. But never those shows that involve "rejection, elimination, and other forms of public humiliation." So why do people watch this stuff?

1) Connection; 2) Self esteem boost (Geez, I'm not THAT bad); 3) Social information (what NOT to do).

Right now I'm watching (sort of) the Weather Channel--first hurricane of the season is Adrienne, or Adrian (haven't seen its spelling). I suppose that's a reality show. We're having a neighborhood picnic tonight.

Psych Your Mind: Why we watch reality TV

Health disparities

The new golden goose. Disparities. It's must be the magic word for getting grant$$.

African-Americans have the highest life time risk for HIV (1 in 22) compared with whites (1 in 170) and Hispanics (1 in 52). Sociologists and government health workers try to attribute this to poverty, homophobia and housing, and increasingly, you see geographic location thrown in. However, this idea is repugnant, insulting and degrading to the millions of low income men and women who do not have multiple same sex partners or are not unfaithful to their spouses.

Tiger and Arnold (Austrian males have the highest rate of promiscuity) and Weiner are certainly not poor or powerless, nor lacking in health insurance, yet they've chosen a promiscuous life style endangering the women they married and the children they've conceived.

It is personal choices not neighborhood, not income, not race that determines whether one will have HIV. Unfortunately, that choice may be a man choosing not to tell his wife or girlfriend that he is gay and has been having sex with men. It is his own homophobia, not mine.

HIV/AIDS and African Americans | Topics | CDC HIV/AIDS
HIV, AIDS and Men Who Have Sex with Men
Fact Sheet

Wisconsin union protestors spoil the day for Special Olympians meeting with the governor

This is the "progressive" political philosophy that has brought about the death of over 90% of children with Down Syndrome aborting them before they catch their first breath. This is the thoughtless political philosophy that allows the President of the United States to yuck it up about their abilities, and late night comedians left wing bloggers to ridicule Sarah Palin's son. Did these young (and probably paid) "zombies" have any idea what they were doing? Maybe not. Brains of mush. The Olympians are much smarter, kinder and happier than this crew brought in by the unions.

Why read Chesterton today?

Recently I began reading G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy. So far, I've made it through the Introduction written by Philip Yancy, and part of Chapter 1. Actually, I've never cared much for Yancy's writings--he always seems so tentative and uncertain--I think because I just can't identify with what he's fleeing--fundamentalist, legalistic Christianity. Even in this small introduction, he continues to needle his strawman, stereotypical Christians. But he says in the Introduction that Chesterton revived his faith, and when he feels himself going dry, he goes to the bookshelves and pulls off a volume (in collected works it's possible he exceeds Luther and Calvin).

From the American Chesterton Society page:

All the issues we struggle with in the 21st century, Chesterton foresaw, and wrote about, in the early 20th century. Social injustice, the culture of death, statism, assaults on religion, and attacks on the family and on the dignity of the human person: Chesterton saw where these trends, already active in his time, would lead us. He was a witty, intelligent, and insightful defender of the poor, the downtrodden, the weak, and especially of the family. He loved good beer, good wine, and good cigars. He wrote in just about every genre: history, biography, novels, poetry, short stories, apologetics and theology, economic works, and more.

As a literary critic, Chesterton was without parallel. His biography of Charles Dickens is credited with sparking the Dickens revival in London in the early 20th century. His biography of St. Thomas Aquinas was called the best book on St. Thomas ever written, by no less than Etienne Gilson, the 20th century’s greatest Thomistic scholar. His books Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man are considered the 20th century’s finest works of Christian and Catholic apologetics. And audiences still delight in the adventures of Chesterton’s priest sleuth, Father Brown, as well as such timeless novels as The Man Who Was Thursday, The Napoleon of Notting Hill, and others.

I like this quote (from Yancy's introduction): "I tried to be some 10 minutes in advance of truth and I found that I was 1800 years behind it." Whether this applies to Chesterton's conversion to Roman Catholicism or his personal beliefs, I'm not sure, but I know that if it's truth you're seeking it's best to return to the basics.
American Chesterton Society