Two books, two adoption stories

Today our book club will be discussing "In a heartbeat," the story of the Tuohy family and their adoption of Michael Oher, a black teen-ager. The very successful movie, "The blind side," told the story of how they came to meet Michael and fold him into their loving family, assisting him to become a high school and college graduate and a successful NFL player.

It is an inspiring story--although I disagree with some of the basic points--like "how little it takes to help fill the desperate wants" of the poor and unfortunate, or the subtext that Michael would not have succeeded in life without them and the boost they provided.

At the same time I was reading "Prairie Tale" by Melissa Gilbert, of Little House TV fame. She was adopted when less than a day old and grew up in a family of glitz, glitter and glam, passionately loved, treasured by parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, managers, co-stars, and given every opportunity our culture could bestow on a child. She was no Laura Ingalls Wilder! At a very young age she had multiple "families" from the various TV and movie crews in which she lived an alternate fantasy. Unlike Michael Oher, she became extremely promiscuous, an alcoholic, obsessing about her origins, resentful of her parents and fame, and a woman without any moral compass or spiritual/religious guidelines. Even after multiple affairs, body and facial surgery to look more glamorous, and a life of fame and enormous wealth, she needed a therapist to help her feel "whole," and considering that this year she is getting a divorce from her second husband whom she acknowledges as the love of her life in the book, she's still on a journey.

'Glee' has a harmful and inaccurate adoption story line

Unfortunately, some teens believe what they see on TV--actually, many adults do too. You don't get a "do-over" with an adoption. There might be problems with laws, lawyers, and birth parents or adoptive parents changing their minds later, but you don't get to yank the baby back from the "real parents," the ones who have legally adopted her.

State laws vary, but most don't allow a birth mother to change her mind after she has signed adoption papers, according to a 2006 study by the non-profit Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. States with a revocation period often limit it to 30 days or fewer.

"For adopted children, the show raises the fear that they may be taken away from their adopted families," says Austin's petition, posted on Change.org, a website promoting petitions and social action. "And for young women facing unplanned pregnancies, many of whom are in Glee's target demographic, the show gives the inaccurate impression that adoption is a temporary solution, not a permanent one."

Fox's 'Glee' has 'harmful' adoption story, petition says - USATODAY.com
There's already enough misinformation out there about babies and single moms. Young mothers of the Glee demographic need to know that the baby will be an adult many years longer than the cutsy first two years.

The comments in this article are telling. The range from "grow up--it's a TV show" to disbelieving that anyone could take the show seriously. Boy, are they clueless!

Obama bundler pays no taxes

George Kaiser is one of the richest men in the world--maybe $9 billion. If Obama took all his wealth, he still couldn't pull off the jobs bill. But Kaiser hasn't paid taxes in years--as in zip, nada, zilch-- and he was one of Obama's "bundlers" during the last campaign. Probably donating heavily for the next one too. He's a huge donor to philanthropic causes, keep in mind. I suspect his efforts go much further than the same amount sent to Washington. He was also an investor in Solyndra, which may have been payback for his campaign efforts. His tax offsets to income are completely legal--set up for the wealthiest by our bi-partisan Congresses over the years. But keep in mind, his wealth is in oil and gas, and he's still backing the gov't investments in "green" energy. The government (aka our tax money) doesn't need to be involved in any way--there are plenty of deep pockets like Kaiser to fund the research and development.

Solyndra | George Kaiser | Obama's Solyndra case follows Blago's pattern | The Daily Caller

George Kaiser's $10 Billion Bet - Forbes

Obama's failed jobs plan is being blamed on Republicans

President Barack Obama likes to claim Republicans are holding up his "jobs plan" (aka campaign for a 2nd term, or Stimulus, Jr.), but the Democrat controlled Senate is holding up the House jobs plan, a common-sense, bipartisan jobs bill known as "Plan for America’s Job Creators."

Government doesn't create jobs--businesses do. Americans do. This plan was unveiled over 6 months ago, and the President has ignored it, and the Senate won't pass it. Instead, they've launched more class warfare (fits well with how they are doing in other countries) by claiming if we just taxed the richest 1% more, we could put people back to work. This Job Creators plan involves fixing the tax code and reducing regulatory burdens. It suggests new trade agreements and new markets for American products. It promotes domestic production of energy and paying down our debt. What does the president offer? More campaigning, more blaming and more spending. The President continues to campaign, knowing his plan won't pass (not even his own party likes it) and can't work, just so he can blame Republicans. For bi-partisan efforts to restore the economy, look to the plans put out by the Republicans, not a failed President and Senate.

Great trip to Greensburg PA, 35 miles east of Pittsburgh to the Westmoreland Museum of American Art to see this wonderful show, The Tides of Provincetown. Next it will be in Wichita, KS, then back to the east coast. It is worth a drive to see it. This art colony was started in 1899 and the show is examples through the years.

I'd never heard of Greensburg (about 3.5 hours from Columbus), and on the map it looked like small town, but it isn't--at least not for people like me who grew up in towns under 3,000. About 16,000 says the 2000 census (when will new figures start appearing? They had all that stimulus money.) There's a nice video on the town website--click and you can see many of the sights of Main Street where we walked to find a place to have lunch. Many huge, lovely churches, and it's the county seat, and that building is quite grand, too. We saw lots of reviving businesses in the downtown area.

What's in your frig today?

Food prices are going up and up, but food is still a good buy. You don't need a farmer's market to eat well, although that's wonderful in the summer.

What's in your refrigerator today in fresh fruits and vegetables? Here's my list.

Sweet potatoes, 2 varieties white and orange (yams)
onion white (cut and wrapped for storage),
broccoli
cauliflower
3 kinds of sweet bell peppers, red, yellow, green
carrots
baby spinach
turnip greens
head lettuce
celery

apples
cranberries
Tomatoes
orange juice
tomato juice
apple cider
dried prunes

In the freezer I have corn, beans and peas.

Potatoes, dried things that don't need refrigeration like raisins, are in the cupboard, not the frig, and bananas are on the counter top.

But I read every label. I try to buy only from the USA or Canada. I like to keep white grapes on hand, but haven't found the right label lately. Occasionally Philippines and Costa Rica, which I'm hoping come under some sort of scrutiny through their political relationship with the USA. Yesterday, the peppers sign said "Canadian grown" but at least one batch had Mexico labels.

What's up with HIV testing?

The gains in our life expectancy in the United States have primarily been in the area of public health, not miracle technology, end of life nursing care, pharmaceuticals or screening for disease. Malaria and polio and small pox didn't become footnotes in our history books because people were given choices. When my sister Carol got polio in 1949, the poster quarantining us and warning the whole town went up immediately--even in a rural community.

So I'm wondering why men entering the prison system, who've had most of their rights taken away, have the right to say NO to being tested for HIV. Male to male/men having sex with men (MSM) is still the #1 method of transmission of HIV/AIDS followed by IV drug use. Although MSM represent 2% of the population, they account for 64% of all new infections (including 3% among MSM who are injection drug users [IDUs]). In prison, sex is how you get and return favors. Even men who aren't gay have sex with men in prison, plus rape and sexual assault makes the younger, weaker and disabled men very vulnerable. There is actually a law passed during the Bush years that addresses the seriousness of rape and assault in prisons. However, counting noses for sexual assault will not provide treatment for a disease that can now be controlled with anti-retroviral drugs.

Today I was reading about a program for HIV screening of male inmates in the state of Washington, 2006-2010. When the program was opt-in (inmates offered the test during incoming medical evaluation and they needed to agree to it), there were fewer diagnoses of HIV than when prisoners were offered opt-out (during evaluation they were told the testing was standard but they could refuse it). Opting out brought in about double the new diagnoses. The numbers of new diagnoses using either opt-in or opt-out was not huge--but what baffles me is why they were given a choice, since in other STDs, testing seems to be a part of the screening without prisoner choice. Also, these are NEW diagnoses--some carriers were already know to the health authorities since they were not new to the system.

Since a higher proporation of prison inmates are minorities, and a higher proportion of minority men have HIV/AIDS, this option to be tested has a greater impact on the minority population in general, since most of the incarcerated will evenually leave prison and go home to their families--untreated and undiagnosed, and probably not reporting they were assaulted in prison.

Of those diagnosed with new cases (not the total group), 42% who had newly diagnosed HIV identified themselves as heterosexual and 21% reported sex with men, and 32% reported IV drug use. Many young people today do not remember the severity of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s before the new drug treatments--and combine that with the generally lack of foresight among the young, and I believe you have a toxic brew that could be made less dangerous if the prison systems required HIV testing with no opt-in, opt-out, or crying about violation of rights by some do-gooders who can't look beyond next year to see what will happen down the road.

Raj Nair is from Columbus

Glenn Beck and Raj Nair (not sure of his title on the show) were discussing Glenn's recent visit to Ohio and last year's visit to Wilmington, and Raj mentioned he is from Columbus and likes Schmidt's Restaurant. We do too! It was our "date night" location for many years.

You can ask Raj questions at Raj@gbtv.com



Here is Raj with hair and also here. And jumping into Mirror Lake before the Michigan game in 2008.

Standards--for dems and dose

Sex scandals or even wiffs of them, don't bring down Democrats--Bill Clinton a serial woman abuser and skirt chaser, Barney Frank's lover who learned some government secrets before dumping him, Jesse Jackson's love child, John Edward's affair that his staff and wife knew about while he was campaigning. But they do cause a problem for Republicans--mainly because they don't have the protection of the media. Let a gay representative text a page, or a woman staffer feel threatened in the presence of a black man, and Oh My. You might as well erase the name from the ballot and send the staff home.

Which I suppose will bump Newt to the top--everyone knows his scandals, plus he's had his other marriages annulled and is a "good Catholic" now instead of a bad Baptist.

Do you still own a "record player?"

We still own a turn table/record player--it's in my husband's office and soon we might start playing the old Christmas records. At the library I saw a 1981 Time Life album of the Statler Brothers for 50 cents, still sealed, so I bought it.

Side One: Flowers On The Wall/You Can't Have Your Kate And Edith Too/Ruthless/Bed Of Roses/Do You Remember These? Side Two: Class Of '57/I'll Go To My Grave Loving You/Who Am I To Say?/Do You Know You Are My Sunshine? Really like that Class of '57 written by the two who actually are brothers, Harold and Don Reid. The group's name comes from a box of tissues in their hotel room when they were starting out.

Sautéed Vegetables with Cashews

This looked awfully good when it came via e-mail from The World's Healthiest Foods. The vegetables are several types of peppers, onions and snow peas cooked in a little chicken broth tossed with cashews and a little home made dressing. Love that sort of stuff for lunch. But. When I looked up the nutritional values I found this: 372.28 calories per serving, of which 266.17 calories are from fat. The culprit seems to be the cashews--1 oz. of cashews is 156 calories, of which 112 are from fat. And I don't know about you, but I've NEVER eaten just one ounce of cashews--I'd be better off not to have them in the house where I'd pass the pantry and reach for a handful about 3 p.m. when I get the munchies.

I looked up red, green and yellow peppers, and sliced up you’d have about 25 calories, then grill in olive oil add another 40, the grilled onions for another 35; snow peas about 40. So it looks like if you removed the cashews, you still have a delicious vegetable dish, very colorful, with few fat calories. I'd probably skip the dressing too, because it disguises the flavor of the vegetables.

November is National Blog Posting Month

You'll see a banner on the right below my Facebook badge "NaBloPoMo" or National Blog Posting Month. Apparently, there are bloggers out there who can't force themselves to post every day so there are contests and prizes to encourage this! Wow! And they need prompts for something to say. Unbelievable! This has never been my problem--I usually post several times a day here, although I do fall behind in the other eleven.

A notice about debt

This is a public service announcement for any Occupiers, or people who call themselves the 99%-ers, or those earning the new Girl Scout badge for good credit. If you believe ads like this that promise "rewards," or "deals," or "savings," or "earnings," or "shopping made easy," or "20% off," or "cash back," please know that they are asking you to spend money and go into debt. Debt has to be paid back, sometimes with interest, sometimes after the item wears out! You are making the 1% richer if you don't realize that "save" actually means "spend." Don't say you weren't warned or that you didn't know, and go whining to the banks or the President that life is unfair.

He's the best horse in the race, but I don't have to like it

The College Board and News Corp. sponsored a forum on education with four GOP presidential candidates last week . . .

Michele Bachmann (local control), Rick Santorum (moral values) and Herman Cain (business principles) stuck mainly to their talking points, but Mr. Gingrich kept the crowd of 1,000 or so engaged and entertained with a wide-ranging tutorial on everything from the failures of "L.A. Unified" to Jeb Bush's Florida "virtual school." The session was a reminder of Mr. Gingrich's knowledge of government and rhetorical skills, which were overwhelmed by his early campaign missteps.

Political Diary - WSJ.com

Health, abortion issues split Obama administration and Catholic groups

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops organization, in line with the church’s teachings, has refused to refer trafficking victims (sex slavery) for contraceptives or abortion. The American Civil Liberties Union sued, and HHS officials said they made a policy decision (ignoring the review board recommendations) to award the grants to agencies that would refer women for those services.

The bishops conference is threatening legal action and accusing the administration of anti-Catholic bias, which HHS officials deny. . .

Under HHS policies, career officials usually oversee grant competitions, and priority consideration is given to the review board’s judgment. The policies do not prohibit political appointees from getting involved. “I think it’s a sad ma­nipu­la­tion of a process to promote a pro-abortion agenda,” said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the conference. She has written on the organization’s blog that the decision reflects an HHS philosophy of “ABC (Anybody But Catholics)’’. "

Health, abortion issues split Obama administration and Catholic groups - The Washington Post

NYPD Union Warns of Lawsuits Against ‘Occupy’ Supporters

Looks to me that patience is wearing thin, according to this story in the Wall Street Journal today. Twenty police officers have been injured policing these cry babies, and apparently those within the encampment aren't reporting things like assaults and rapes for fear of bringing bad publicity on the group (reported in The Blaze). Haven't women learned anything from making the coffee and providing the sex during so many revolutionary movements?

"Ed Mullins, president of the New York Police Department’s Sergeant’s Benevolent Association, said Thursday that if one of his sergeants is assaulted while policing the protests, his union would file civil lawsuits seeking monetary damages against individual protesters as well as any groups whose support has sustained the demonstrations in lower Manhattan. Any civil suit would be in addition to criminal charges faced by those protesters involved.

“What I’d like to make clear is people can protest, that’s their right, it’s done every day of the week (in New York City),” Mullins said. “But if a sergeant gets injured we are going to hold you accountable.”

Mullins specified that it wasn’t just a warning to the protesters. “We’re going to hold those who allow this to fester accountable too,” he said.

He said the list of those potentially liable could include people providing financial support, food and other supplies to the protesters, the city itself and even Brookfield Properties, owner of Zuccotti Park, where protesters have camped since Sept. 17

So far, Mullins said, more than 20 officers have received injuries while policing the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. He said in many instances the protesters have “intentionally and maliciously” instigated violent confrontations with police."

NYPD Union Warns of Lawsuits Against ‘Occupy’ Supporters - Metropolis - WSJ

The pro-communist, anti-capitalist, Jew-hating roots of Occupy Wall Street

Interesting collection of anti-semitic immigrants, billionaires, non-profits, and U.S. media all getting a foot in the door. I never liked our home-grown hate terrorists like David Duke, or the skin-heads but when they turn out to be ungrateful, rich immigrants whose countrymen were killed by the thousands by the Communists, like George Soros and Kalle Lasn, then I get testy. I remember feeling that way when I was a student at the University of Illinois and we had well-heeled, snooty foreign students who were perfectly happy to have their government paying their way for a foreign education, but looked down on Illinois' African American students (aka Negroes in those days). To me they were worse than our home-grown racists.

Adbusters is one of the big and early promoters of Occupy Wall Street.

Adbusters Media Foundation, which publishes Adbusters, was founded in 1989 by two radicals, Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz. Lasn, the intellectual driving force behind the magazine, was born in Estonia in 1942. He spent his childhood in a German refugee camp and in Australia. In the 1960s, he founded a market research company in Toyko, and in 1970, moved to Vancouver. For 20 years, he produced documentaries for PBS and Canada’s National Film Board.

But then, somewhere along the line he developed an intense hatred of the American consumer economy and became an anti-capitalist revolutionary. The magazine has fostered the development of an international anti-consumerist movement.

As a Christian who grew up in the anabaptist tradition, I'm well aware that worshipping material wealth is a sin. But so is attempting to destroy the livelihood of a billion people. And Lasn certainly isn't campaigning against capitalism for his spiritual health.

The technology of candy corn

The ingenuity, quality control and passion for making candy corn just amazes me. It's a big seller at Halloween time.



HT Neo-Neocon

Today's new word--acidulous

Sure it has the word "acid" in it, but is that what it means? Yes. Sometimes that's a fooler. But it does mean "bitter, sour in taste," with the synonyms, acerbic, biting, piquant, pungent, sharp, tart, vinegarish, and vinegary. I saw it in a book notice in Books and Culture in this context,

In this week's podcast, Stan Guthrie and I discuss Janet Malcolm's Iphigenia in Forest Hills, an acidulous account of a sensational murder trial.

What's Your Kid Getting From College?

Most college debt amounts to that of buying a new Prius--about $28,000--says this author in today's WSJ, but it's the wrong question. What are they getting in exchange for their (your) money?

"At WhatWillTheyLearn.com, students can click onto ACTA's recent survey of more than 1,000 American four-year institutions—and find out how their colleges and universities rate. Two findings jump out. First, the more costly the college, the less likely it will require a demanding core curriculum. Second, public institutions generally do better here than private ones—and historically black colleges such as Morehouse and service academies such as West Point amount to what ACTA calls "hidden gems."

McGurn: What's Your Kid Getting From College? - WSJ.com

But whatever the Occupiers are protesting (and many have absolutely no idea), it's misplaced. It's not the banks' fault their parents and teachers let them slide; that they spent more time on gaming or gaming the system or shooting the breeze at the union than they did hitting the books; that they choose a major without ever checking out the facts about the job opportunities. The ability to communicate either orally or in writing or both is still critical, unless the student plans to live at home in mom's basement and sell internet ads--and for that he doesn't need a $250,000 Harvard education.