Frank Sinatra--I did it my way

I was looking for something to test my sound system which seems to have developed some static, so I chose old blue eyes and doing it his way. Underneath the YouTube was this in the comment section:

The music you listen to isn't who you are. You can still be a cool/good/normal person no matter what you listen to. For as long as I can remember, people have been saying, "Oh, I'm not a tool, I listen to (insert random classic rock band or other "old school" type music) so I'm not like all the other idiots of today!" When really, you probably are, if only for assuming liking a certain music will gain you special status with the general public.

Someone, maybe another commenter, must have been critical of today's music . . .or maybe critical of someone who liked Frank. Works either way.

Googling the new Obama jobs bill

Although Obama wants the current jobs bill passed before anyone gets a chance to read it, I can't find any articles analyzing it in depth except his jobs bills from other years. No matter how I construct the search strategy, this is the same ol' same ol'. More taxes on the "rich" and more tax breaks for the people whose taxes he just increased (the job creators). All these proposals have been turned down in the past, and now he's making it a campaign swing through all the states so he can hammer Republicans. The rich are those making $200,000 or $250,000 as a family. And that means small businesses. It costs about $80,000 for a business to add a $40,000 employee--so if his taxes are increased, and he then gets a $2,000 tax break for hiring someone (for a year), how would that be an incentive?

This is about all I found--and tell me if this isn't a way to drive us into a Depression but blame it on Republicans for balking:

1) Remove itemized tax deductions (mortgages and charitable deductions) and some exemptions for people earning over $200,000 a year and families which take in $250,000 (this is a way to slow job creation by small businesses)


2) tax carried interest earned by hedge fund managers as ordinary income rather than as capital gains

3) take away special preferences enjoyed by oil and gas firms (but give them to “green energy developers which continue to fail)

4) close tax loopholes enjoyed by corporate jet owners (let them drive buses made in Canada) but what will that do other than hurt that industry like when they increased taxes on luxury yachts.

This won't fill the gap, so then he'll go after your mortgage deduction and your charitable deduction.

Muslim speaker warns Canadians (and us) about jihadists

A Canadian-Indian-Muslim-Marxist-cancer survivor (not sure how this works) talks about Communism and Islamo-Fascism and how blind the western governments are. We are illiterate when it comes to Jihad, he says. The Muslim Brotherhood is dangerous yet welcome in the White House.

Watch live streaming video from ideacity at livestream.com

Book Club--beginning a new year

Monday our book club (I joined in 2000) met for our first day time meeting. The group is about 30 years old with some of the original members, and many of us preferred meeting during the day and not going out at night. Our first selection was "Two Girls of Gettysburg" and we had a wonderful time talking to the author Lisa Klein, who is actually a Shakespeare scholar. She got into Young Adult fiction when her career didn't go the intended direction, and I think I'll look at some of her other books, too. She talked a little about her Shakespeare interests, the genre of YA, and the thrill of the research.

She told us that one of the main characters in this book, Lizzie, is based on the memoir of Tillie Pierce of Gettysburg. Next month's title is a whopper.

For a very quick review, here's the rest of the selection:

October 3
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe led by Dorothy.

November 7
In a Heartbeat: sharing the power of cheerful giving by Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy. Led by Justine.

December 5
Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed by Philip Hallie. Led by Peggy.

January 9
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski (562 pages!). Led by Judy. January's meeting will be at Panera's Beechwold meeting room from 2-4 PM

February 6
The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the fire that saved America by Timothy Egan. Led by Jean. February's meeting will be at Panera's Beechwold meeting room from 2-4 PM.

March 5
The Good Earth by Pearl Buck. Led by Patty. [I read this in high school--thought it was a great book.]

April 2
Wait Till Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Led by Carolyn A.

May 7
Hold Up the Sky by Patricia Sprinkle. Led by Carolyn C.

A number in our group had recently visited Gettysburg (our hostess just this past month) and if I had a bucket list, I would add this. I visited in 1949, but visitor centers in all parks and memorials have really changed.

The Slow, Certain Death of the Global Warming Theory

You certainly don't read about the death of global warming anywhere but conservative websites. If I link to Alan Caruba (this author), my comment window sometimes has to suffer from deletions. Wow. People get so angry when confronted with the facts which disturb their political views. And it isn't just liberals either. I listened to a Christian dispensationlist Sunday give exactly the same list of decade long disasters that Al Gore sites for his case--only he was using the list to call people to repentence because God was giving us a wake up call. Both have a very US-centric view of their own religion, whether it is environmentalism or dispensationalism.

Do you really think today it is worse than the little ice age when millions died of starvation in Europe? Are the wars today worse than the 70,000,000 killed by the Chinese Communists in the 1940s and 1950s? And do we even know how many were taken out by tsunamis or earthquakes in the days before recorded history?

What we do know in the U.S. is that we have more man made disasters with modern technology and disaster insurance enabling people to build homes along coast lines, or live in terrible climates because of air conditioning and central heating. But that can hardly be called God's warnings about the second coming of Jesus, or even climate change.

One need not be a climate scientist or meteorologist to conclude that humans have nothing to do with the climate or the weather. Watching huge hurricanes wreak havoc, along with other weather-related events should be enough for anyone to conclude that humans do not “cause” such things.

Occam’s Razor is the ancient principle that the simplest explanation is the most likely the correct one, but billions in public funding, taxpayer’s dollars, have been diverted to the “research” that corrupt scientists have used to justify the global warming fraud.

The Slow, Certain Death of the Global Warming Theory | CNSnews.com

Hiring the unemployed

When I was on a search committee at Ohio State for a new librarian, we looked at the resume/vita pretty carefully for gaps. Or unusual positions. There are so many questions you CAN'T ask, you have to read between the lines. If there was spit up on her shoulder, that could explain some gaps. But if the guy had been a used car salesman for 5 years after graduate school, it did raise some questions about just how committed he was to being a science bibliographer.

The Obama 2012 election campaign is coming to Ohio this week. Oh, wait, it's the jobs bill campaign. Yeah. You betcha. Did you known that this bill prohibits discrimination against the unemployed when hiring? Think about that! How long "unemployed?" Do you want a med tech doing your lab results who has been out of work 5 years? Or a computer repairman? And what about academe? Or a chef? A lawyer?

Maybe the person's unemployment was a result of a down economy, but maybe it wasn't: when employers began tightening their belts and cutting the dead wood, that employee was let go, and with all the extension of "unemployment benefits" he just continued in that mode and didn't try very hard to find a job.

And now you get to interview him. Do you even want him bussing tables, or changing tires?

How the Great Society harmed Blacks--Mychal Massie

In 1964, Republicans – led by Sen. Everett Dirksen, R-Ill. – were responsible for the Civil Rights Act, which overturned 80 years of Democratic opposition to ending race-based and gender-based inequality. It was intended to provide all peoples, regardless of race and/or, sex, the right to service in all public facilities, and banned the unequal application of voter requirements insuring all the right to vote. Sexual consideration pursuant to employment could only be considered where sex is a bona fide occupational qualification for the job.

The Act should have ended there . . .

Read more: How the Great Society harmed blacks

Blackburn Demands Feds Give Answers on Their Gibson Raid, Inquest

Why is the government attacking a successful U.S. business that is actually hiring? Maybe it's just easier than guarding the border?

Blackburn Demands Feds Give Answers on Their Gibson Raid, Inquest - HUMAN EVENTS

Classmates dot com settlement--it isn't a hoax--apparently

Today I received an e-mail notice about a settlement ($10.00, woot!) in the Classmates.com class action law suit. Although I've never heard of "hoax-slayer" I think this information is interesting if you want to pursue this. For $10, I won't, but it always pays to be careful and not jump into the viral/virtual mess of "free money" which requires some personal information. Since it wasn't offering $10 million and only $10.00 I thought it might be legit.

9/11 ANNIVERSARY: Leaders in tears as America begins ceremonies to remember | Mail Online

Incredibly beautiful photographs at this site.

9/11 ANNIVERSARY: Leaders in tears as America begins ceremonies to remember | Mail Online

Whatever happened to the presidential book race?

When it came out in 2008 that President George W. Bush was an avid reader--about 100 books a year, non-fiction--the left, particularly librarians, were incredulous, critical of the selections, or used the word "allegedly" when reporting it. Then about two years later it was revealed that Obama was more into fiction, and read very little--maybe 10 books a year. Then they just made excuses. This past summer it was explained as "escapist fiction" for his vacation and books for his daughters. Well, maybe there will be something for the ALA Banned Books Week, because I'm sure there's a good reason Obama doesn't read and George Bush does.

Some people get Obama loud and clear

In 2008 we were in a recession cycle and an election cycle. But even those of us who had to hold our noses to vote for McCain could tell a growth candidate from a non-growth. As senators, Obama's growth record votes were zero, and McCain's 94%. Is it any wonder he's floundering in restoring the economy. Look at his record!

According to the Club for Growth it costs $80,000 for a small business to create a new $40,000 job--a so called "middle class" salary. That's because of taxes, benefits, mandates, etc. Now how big of a government stimulus and additional tax breaks would a small businessman need to create a job and hire you? The first stimulus in 2009 failed to create or save jobs. The money went to save unions (public and private) and to create new government jobs (unemployment hovering around 3.5 in that sector). The second will too. Why? Obama is pro-growth for government, and anti-growth for the private sector. His record as a senator said it; his record as a president proves it.

Last night I attended a gathering of "like minded" conservatives. They were all Christians, but members of a number of different churches from Lutheran to Roman Catholic to Pentecostal to "not a member." And their issues were diverse, too--abortion (Heartbeat bill), Issue 2 (public unions), Issue 3 (defeating Obamacare), protecting Israel from extremists to confronting jihadism. But none of these issues will matter if Americans continue to struggle financially, because they'll lose interest in the highly charged and critical moral issues.

People are waking up about Obama. The Tea Party gets it; the 9/12 Glenn Beck groups get it; the libertarians get it; about 50% of the Republicans get it; and about 25% of the undeclared, fence-sitters get it. Time to shake things up in local elections this November and nationally next November.

The media, the Tea Party, and the President

"We have seen Obama in numerous cowboy movies. Obama is the loud mouth guy standing on the steps of the jail-house yelling at the crowd. He works the crowd into a frenzy causing them to overrule the sheriff and the law, drag out the prisoner and hang him without a trial.

Since the beginning of his presidency, on numerous occasions, our community-organizer-in -chief has worked his minions into a frenzy to punish white police, banks, Wall Street, corporate CEOs, private jet owners, Arizonians, insurance companies, doctors, the rich, and anyone opposing Obamacare.

As testimony to the effectiveness of the Tea Party, Obama has instructed his minions, Congressional Black Caucus and unions to escalate their slander and level of vitriol which now includes threat of violence. The left has set aside September 17th as their National Day of Rage. Lord knows what evil they have scheduled. The left has created a violent hate-filled game titled, "Tea Party Zombies Must Die". www.teapartyzombiesmustdie.com

Meanwhile, the liberal media appears tone deaf to the lies, hate, anger and violence coming from the left. When Obama instructed his minions to "push back twice as hard" against those who opposed Obamacare, black conservative Kenneth Gladney was beaten and sent to the emergency room by SEIU thugs. Clearly, Obama's new enforcers are misinformed flash mobs of black youths attacking whites across America."

Lloyd Marcus

PBS alters transcript to hide Obama gaffe

Timothy Birdnow notes the mistakes Obama made about Lincoln in his "pass this jobs bill now speech," and how PBS covered for him. Well, you can't complain he is stuck to the teleprompter and then gripe that he's not reading the words written for him. He can't be a Lincoln scholar, a Keynesian economist, a climate scientist and a military expert all at the same time.

Blog: PBS alters transcript to hide Obama gaffe

Democrats and Socialism

Fifty three percent of Democrats and 61% of liberals have a positive image of Socialism according to a 2010 Gallup Survey. 42% of Democrats in a recent Rasmussen survey thought the government should control the economy completely. Somehow they are able to separate the disasters from the dreams--afterall, "Nazi" is short for National Socialism where the government controls all business, and Communism is just Socialism with goals beyond the national borders, but everything is owned and directed by the government.

What’s meant by "socialism" in these surveys by Gallup and Rasmussen is that government needs to direct as much of the economy as possible. So how's that working out for us? The Obama Administration isn't the first to gobble up huge portions of the private sector, or take what used to belong to the states. I remember when there was no Department of Education, no HUD, no HHS. Now our biggest cities like Detroit and Cleveland are Democrat controlled, but with holes in the center from constant federal funding feeding on their problems. Our state universities couldn't survive without sucking on the teat of the federal government for "research grants."

The War on Poverty is nearly 50 years old and it's being fought by poverty-pimps commanded by wealthy bureaucrats and the fox holes are fatherless homes. So when the Tea Party, the Conservatives and Republicans, call Democrats and their Presient what they themselves have self-identified--socialists and communists--why the retaliation and name calling of racist, homophobe, fear monger, hater, etc.?

Dreamers Refusing to Wake by Fred Siegel - City Journal

The debate--Romney and Perry

For now until and unless I find out something I don't like, Perry is my pick since Jindal and Ryan don't seem to want to run. I've had enough of pretty boy socialism, limp wrists and bowing and scraping, and the White House filled with union goons and Chicago hoodlums. Let's have a little cowboy bluster to fill the sails of the economy instead of just hot air.

Romney said that his business experience makes him more qualified than "career politicians" to create jobs as president. But Perry took some air out of his balloon by pointing out that that business experience didn't help Romney create jobs in Massachusetts. It ranked near the bottom of the country in that category. Perry noted that Texas had created more jobs in a few months than the Bay State under Romney created in four years. Romney tried to explain quickly the difficulties of governing in a liberal state but primary voters probably don't care about Romney's misfortune.

Romney, though smooth enough for most of the debate, played a dangerous game by cheap-shotting Perry on Social Security. How dare Perry call Social Security a "Ponzi scheme," said Romney, who presented himself as a champion of Social Security and Perry as a destroyer of it. But Social Security is a Ponzi scheme for the young and Perry properly stood by his remark and calls for Social Security reform.

American Spectator

Henry Clay ran for president 5 times and lost each time

He also served in the Senate before he was 30 (the age stated in the Constitution). However, he's an important American statesman. The Contenders starts tomorrow night on C-SPAN with the story of Clay.

C-SPAN The Contenders

Who's the genius on the staff who scheduled it?

I think Boehner did Obama a big favor by not accepting his jobs speech/campaign speech timing. It was an idiotic plan made by a troll. What politician (besides Obama) schedules a campaign speech opposite the other team's debate? He has nothing to say and chose a huge venue for its release. The bigger the venue the smaller the speaker. He was taking a chance that Republicans wouldn't even show up (then in addition to blaming Bush, the Tea Party, and riots in Muslim-land, he could blame the House).

“It is a big deal that the House said ‘no’ to the president from our end,” a White House source with intimate knowledge of what took place between the House and the president told me Thursday. “This confirms what we all know: They will do anything in the House to muck us up.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/62505.html#ixzz1XN2HVlhM

Thursday Thirteen--13 memorable music programs at Lakeside, Summer 2011

We have a summer home in Lakeside, Ohio--a Chautauqua community estblished as a Methodist campground in 1873 with educational and cultural programming every day. Here are 13 of the musical shows we really enjoyed. Lakeside has a large auditorium that seats over 2,500, plus a bandstand in the park, and a theater called "Orchestra Hall," but most musical events are in Hoover Auditorium. There are 2 hotels, several B&Bs, plus private cottages for rent. Lots of planned activities for children. Gated community. No alcohol.

1. On Aug. 27 Helen Welch provided a tribute to “ladies of song,” including Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Karen Carpenter and Patsy Cline. She is British, lives in Hudson, Ohio, and belts out some fabulous songs.

2. Shiloh Mountain Trio sang at the bandstand the Sunday night of the last week, Aug. 28. A Christian group, they are siblings and children of a Baptist pastor. They are named in honor of Mt. Shiloh Baptist Church in Cadiz, Ohio. We stayed for the whole concert and even bought a CD. YouTube of how they make their music.

3. Mike Albert is the Big-E (an Elvis impersonator) and very popular at Lakeside. He always puts on a fabulous show--this is probably the 8th time we’ve seen him.

4. Although it wasn’t billed as an evening program at Hoover Auditorium, Thomas Lloyd who is the band director at Columbus State (didn’t know they had one) gave an interesting lecture on the Music of the Civil War Era, and we in the audience had an opportunity to sing many of the songs with his leadership. This was the 8th Civil War Week at Lakeside.

5. The closing concert of the Lakeside Symphony Orchestra on Aug. 19 featured guest pianist Dr. Angelin Chang, professor of piano at Cleveland State. Our friends David and MaryAnn enjoyed the show with us.

6. Another winner with the Orchestra was Chad Hoopes on Aug. 16, a violinist who at 16 has a fabulous career ahead. I was enchanted. Instead of giving him a bouquet of flowers, he was presented with a print of one of my husband’s paintings (the orchestra).

7. Michael Shirtz, director of choral music and Arts at Terra State Community College in Fremont, played on Aug. 11 with his quartet. He’s so talented, and earlier in the season was also a presenter on history of American music.

8. We actually weren’t here on July 23 to hear the OSU Alumni Band, but if we had been, we would have heard a fantastic concert.

9. The Lakeside Symphony Orchestra opened its 48th season on July 27 with a program of “Light Classics.”

10. Carpe Diem String Quartet on June 21 originated at Ohio Wesleyan University and provides many educational programs, but they also can really wow an audience.

11. If you ever have the opportunity to hear the Raleigh Ringers Handbell Choir based in Raleigh, NC, don’t miss it. I’ve never seen such huge handbells!

12. And oh do we love Riders in the Sky who’ve performed in all 50 states, and here at Lakeside a number of times. They sing cowboy music.

13. Usually we don’t have secular music programs on Sunday evening, but this year on May 29 (Memorial Day week-end) the performers were Phil Dirt and the Dozers. This incredibly talented group can sing anything, but are particularly famous for their 50s and 60s music, and are great fun to watch and listen to.

The last sunset

Summer for the Bruces is over on Labor Day week-end. We returned to Columbus on Sunday, so this last Sunset was either Friday or Saturday. Sunsets and sunrises this summer were not as spectacular as some--the heat and haze blocked a lot.