Just a thought

What if the nastiness we see on social media, the accusations of meanness, racism and homophobia you see in the comments of on-line publications, the potty mouth language, the theft of ideas without attribution, the cyber-bullying, the sexting, and the hacking isn't a result of modern technology at all, but just plain old sin more desirable and out of control in tight jeans and more make-up, and no one is teaching manners let alone the 10 commandments. Just a thought.

http://mediasmarts.ca/sites/default/files/pdfs/publication-report/full/YCWWIII_Cyberbullying_FullReport.pdf

https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-sexting

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/psychological-reason-mean-on-internet.htm

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-10-31/how-truth-and-lies-spread-on-twitter

When the unions raise the cost of fast food, will the poor eat at home?

I wonder how many of the fast food marchers yesterday were actually working for minimum wage or if they are hired by the unions. $15/hour for a teen to learn to wipe tables and sweep the floor? Not going to happen. And if the beginner gets $15, what does the counter person who's been there 3 years get, or the assistant manager? Don't their wages go up too? According to the BLS, 2% are paid minimum, and they are mostly young and part time. The percentage has dropped dramatically in the last 40 years--and maybe that's good, but probably not, since usually a worker’s first job is minimum wage and that's where we learn. I wasn't worth what I was paid at my first job, but it was a learning experience.

Why do women do that?

Meredith Vieira is 60 years old and she’s making a “come back” on talk TV (I didn’t realize she’d left) and I wish her luck.  There are not enough mature women in film or TV.  It’s as though every woman over 55 has gone missing except for ads about Depends, retirement destinations and Nancy Pelosi who is 74.  As I was watching a promo for her show last night, I said to self, “Why do women do that?  Why do they sit like that in public?” You’ve all seen it; maybe you’ve wondered too.  One leg folded under and the knee pulled against the chest to make a shape like a toddler trying to do yoga.  Next time you watch a TV talk show, watch the  female guest.  She flounces in from the Green Room having spent hours on her make-up, hair and torn jeans to look trendy and tousled, sits down next to the host, and promptly pulls one leg up to her chest, or sits with it folded under her. Then look at the men—neatly dressed, usually a suit, sitting up straight (unless a musician—they slouch), and making no attempt to look small and child-like. 

I went through images to see if I could find it, but none were as extreme or as revealing as the one I saw in the promo.  In the promo she was wearing tights (don’t recall the top) and had bare feet—like maybe she was getting ready for bed.  Really?  Is that what it takes to attract an audience of middle age, over weight women (judging from the audiences).  So I looked at an NBC clip of the upcoming show, and she was wearing tight jeans, heels, and something that looked like the jacket for a suit or dress from the 90s picked up at the resale shop.  Very odd; if that’s in style I guess I have some old blazers I can pull out.

In these images, the first looks like the way we probably all sat on the floor for junior high gatherings.  Many carried this position into their 20s and 30s until they gained weight or got pregnant and couldn’t manage it.  But I’ve seen women sit like this in public!  Then the next photo is a very common position I’ve seen at meetings, in restaurants, although usually one leg is curled under.  It’s a more typical guy position—spread the legs and take all the room you can to look powerful.  It’s not flattering for women.  If men blow out their knees in athletics, I think women do it from years of sitting with their legs curled under with all their body weight in the wrong places. I sit like that last photo watching TV—but I wouldn’t if I actually were on TV.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Meredith-Vieira-Show-Biz-1086460.aspx

Prophetic words from President Bush

"I know some in Washington would like us to start leaving Iraq now. To begin withdrawing before our commanders tell us we are ready would be dangerous for Iraq, for the region, and for the United States. It would mean surrendering the future of Iraq to al Qaeda. It would mean that we'd be risking mass killings on a horrific scale. It would mean we'd allow the terrorists to establish a safe haven in Iraq to replace the one they lost in Afghanistan. It would mean increasing the probability that American troops would have to return at some later date to confront an enemy that is even more dangerous." G.W. Bush, July 12, 2007

It looks like Bush understood the danger much more than Obama.

Billionaires control the EPA

Republican staff on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has issued, “The Chain of Environmental Command: How a Club of Billionaires and Their Foundations Control the Environmental Movement and Obama’s EPA.” The 92-page report focuses on three funding groups: the Environmental Grantmakers Association, the Democracy Alliance, and the “Invest/Divest movement.” These donors, the report states, are “adept at converting charitable donations into political outcomes …

http://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=8af3d005-1337-4bc3-bcd6-be947c523439

“Federal agencies, which wield significant amounts of delegated power, should be staffed with neutral experts dedicated to serving the public interest. However, recent reports of alleged collusion between environmentalists and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) senior officials have made apparent the Obama Administration’s failure to abide by this most basic principle of executive branch governance. In fact, the Committee has uncovered evidence that proves President Obama and his EPA are pivotal partners in the far-left environmental movement. The Agency’s leadership under President Obama is closely connected with the Billionaire’s Club and their network of activists. These connections provide the Billionaire’s Club with the opportunity to exploit the relationships, and in turn shape public policy and the disposition of government grants. This section reveals that as part of the far-left scheme, the Obama Administration has installed an audacious green-revolving door at EPA, which has become a valuable asset for the environmental movement and its wealthy donors.” p. 23

Why not education?

And Obama called them the JV team

The king of Saudi Arabia has warned that extremists could attack Europe and the U.S. if there is not a strong international response to terrorism after the Islamic State group seized a wide territory across Iraq and Syria.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/saudi-king-warns-terrorist-threat-europe-us

"These terrorists do not know the name of humanity and you have witnessed them severing heads and giving them to children to walk with in the street," the king said, urging the ambassadors to relay his message directly to their heads of state.

Are academic peace studies programs working?

Sometimes I ask Google just any thought that comes to mind. She's better at this than most librarians in response time. Today it was "When was the first 'peace studies' program established at a college or university?" (For some reason, I have my doubts that they are working. ) Guess what came up? Manchester University in North Manchester, Indiana where I went to college my freshman year. I'll accept 1948, but am guessing there was a name change somewhere. There is a chair named for Gladdys Muir, my world history professor.

http://www.manchester.edu/academics/departments/peace_studies/index.shtml

Fall 2014 classes began August 27. “Preliminary figures released Tuesday show that there are 441 first-year students, a 20 percent increase over Fall 2013 (367). Total University enrollment is now at 1,479, a 9.6 percent increase over Fall 2013 (1,349), bolstered by a 30 percent increase in transfers and new pharmacy enrollment.”

More pharmacy students?  Wow.  That’s a profession that is overstocked with graduates because so many universities rushed to establish schools in the 90s and 2000s. Definitely an over supply now.  

Obama in Estonia

It was surprising to see at the joint press conference that the Estonian president Toomas Ilves is more fluent in English than our president, but when I looked him up I see he did attend school in the U.S. He was born in Sweden of Estonian parents and Russian grandparents, and educated in the U.S., so I'm not exactly sure how he came to be their president. Ilves hasn't written 2 books about himself, but has quite a long list of publications and awards.

But at least our President did finally mention Sotloff's execution (beheaded by ISIS) in the news conference--but only after Ilves did. He seems to still believe ISIS is a regional threat, and ignored the problem that he ignored them during a year of warnings and memos from his own people. He didn't call them evil, but did refer to them as a cancer.

http://www.president.ee/en/president/biography/index.html

The cost of education

Mark Perry of the University of Michigan has calculated, tuition for all universities, public and private, increased from 1978 to 2011 at an annual rate of 7.45%. By comparison, health-care costs increased by only 5.8%, and housing, notwithstanding the bubble, increased at 4.3%. Family incomes, on the other hand, barely kept up with the consumer-price index, which grew at an annual rate of 3.8%.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303870704579298302637802002

“Most of the growth in higher education costs, according to a 2010 study by the Goldwater Institute, a libertarian think tank, comes from administrative bloat, with administrative staff growing at more than twice the rate of instructional staff. At the University of Michigan, for example, there are 53% more administrators than faculty, and similar ratios can be found at other institutions.”

Messy is my kitchen, not the world

What a glib, inane statement—“The world has always been messy, we just know more now because of social media.” Really? Franklin Roosevelt knew what Hitler was doing to the Jews--he didn't need social media--but he did have anti-war Communist sympathizers in his administration, and USSR and Germany became allies 75 years ago yesterday. I fear it's a similar situation, but now the sympathizers close to the president are Muslims. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/02/opinion/frank-bruni-obamas-messy-words.html?

ABC News reports that the Department of Homeland Security can’t find more than 6,000 people living here on student visas — which sounds awfully familiar--haven't we heard this before, like 2001?

If the president by-passed Congress again on "no boots on the ground" he'll probably say they are wearing shoes instead of boots, therefore he didn't lie.

“American Special Forces commandos are on the ground fighting in northern Iraq, according to a published report, just a week after Barack Obama said that wouldn't happen. And with a second brutal beheading in Syria ,the president may soon have to decide how much more military might to deploy.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2740793/American-forces-ground-Kurds-say-US-commandos-fighting-ISIS-northern-Iraq-Obama-said-no-combat-troops-fight.html

What is the Caliphate?

Glenn Beck was warning his subscribers of the Caliphate 2 years ago.  But of course, the regular media laughed at him. And Obama doesn’t read his memos, so he was caught flat footed.

http://www.start.umd.edu/news/tale-two-caliphates/

“For al-Qa’ida senior leadership, “the Caliphate” is a master-frame that it dangles well out in front of violent Islamist groups the world-over, hoping to align their otherwise dispersed and diverse violent campaigns on azimuths that converge in the triumphant, albeit distant, future. The Caliphate is a conceptual destination; a grandiose victory that signals the onset of global conquest in which all of the world’s territories will be governed by their interpretation of Islam.

For the Islamic State, by comparison, it is the reality of an extant Caliphate and its associated obligations that will purify Islam, rally dispersed actors to make the hijra, and ready Muslims for the apocalyptic military battle with the West in the Levant.”

The daily memo

The President apparently gets his daily briefings as memos rather than in person the way other presidents have done. Seems they pile up unread. WaPo reported 2 years ago: "During his first 1,225 days in office, Obama attended his PDB just 536 times — or 43.8 percent of the time. During 2011 and the first half of 2012, his attendance became even less frequent — falling to just over 38 percent. By contrast, Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush almost never missed his daily intelligence meeting." That explains a lot.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-is-obama-skipping-more-than-half-of-his-daily-intelligence-meetings/2012/09/10/6624afe8-fb49-11e1-b153-218509a954e1_story.html

“. . . the former president held his intelligence meeting six days a week, no exceptions — usually with the vice president, the White House chief of staff, the national security adviser, the director of National Intelligence, or their deputies, and CIA briefers in attendance. Once a week, he held an expanded Homeland Security briefing that included the Homeland Security adviser, the FBI director and other homeland security officials. Bush also did more than 100 hour-long “deep dives” in which he invited intelligence analysts into the Oval Office to get their unvarnished and sometimes differing views. Such meetings deepened the president’s understanding of the issues and helped analysts better understand the problems with which he was wrestling.”

Like or hate Bush, he was more engaged and relied on a stronger base of knowledge than Obama, who seems to  believe he knows more than everyone in the room, or the world.

Buffett’s lie about taxes and his secretary

Remember when Buffett claimed his secretary paid a higher tax rate than he did? Here's a breakdown of the figures, and why he "misstated" the facts. "In actuality, his office workers’ relevant 2010 “federal tax rate” was 20.7 percent, not 36.0 percent, while Buffett's was actually 31.12 percent, not 17.4 percent." It's part of a series on Cliches of Progressives.

http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/5-warren-buffetts-federal-tax-rate-is-less-than-his-secretarys

http://fee.org/publications/page/cliches-of-progressivism

Yes indeedy

Do unpaid interns get Labor Day off?

I can't seem to find an update on the August 2013 article on unpaid interns in the White House, which I wanted to use for Labor Day. For a guy urging a $10.10 minimum it seems a little hypocritical; on the other hand, it is we the people w...ho would be paying these political unpaid servants. Not only are they unpaid, they'd have to be wealthy or have a rich family to support another year of not paying college loans so they could "move forward" Obama's plans. Not much diversity in the photo.

http://theweek.com/article/index/248475/should-white-house-interns-be-paid

Impossible to tell, but it looks like about 120 in this photo.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/wp/2013/07/12/full-list-of-white-house-summer-interns-for-2013/

I only noticed 2 from Ohio; 12 from Maryland.  Have to be politically connected to get these “jobs.”

Alexander Mccall Smith, The Sunday Philosophy Club

I've started a new novel. I'm on about p. 100. Nothing has happened since about p. 2. "Amateur sleuth Isabel Dalhousie is a philosopher who uses her training to solve unusual mysteries." I think I know why I almost never read mysteries.

Chubby Checker at Lakeside

We enjoyed the Chubby Checker show at Lakeside Chautauqua last night (born Ernest Evans, October 3, 1941.) I didn't know he was still alive--although I hadn't actually been pondering his career. He's 73 and puts on a great show. I’d love to manage those stairs without hanging on to the railing (stage to floor).  Early on I had a little trouble understanding him (although rock and roll songs were not written for their wonderful use of language), but he seemed to work into it using a lot of audience participation. Thankfully for those of us who have not had our hearing destroyed by rock concerts, the band played within a range that didn't drive me out of Hoover after 2 numbers. Sax man was awesome. He does a very good Elvis impression, and not bad with the Beatles.  Then a spectacular fireworks on the lakefront; a nice finale for our last evening. A fine ending to a great season of spiritual growth, intellectual stimulation, and cultural challenges. Also, way too many trips to the pie lady booth at the Farmer’s Market. By the end of the season, I could walk 2 miles plus and was faithful to do my physical therapy for bursitis.

Bus parked at Hoover.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chubby_Checker

Michael Brown’s juvenile record leaked

This is why there needs to be a complete investigation instead of rioters demanding the death of a policeman and Eric Holder showing up. 1) The store security cam showing Brown roughing up the owner after stealing; 2) eyewitnesses who claim Brown struggled with the policeman; 3) autopsy report not what witnesses claimed; 4) a juvenile record that suggests he wasn't a gentle giant. Leaks and rumors won't cut it.

Éclair cake, no bake

Ingredients

• 2 (3.4 oz) packages Vanilla Instant Pudding mix, dry
• 3½ cups whole milk
• 12 oz. cool whip
• 2 (14.4) oz packages graham crackers
• - FROSTING -
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 3 Tbsp. milk
• 3 Tbsp. cocoa
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Blend milk and vanilla pudding packets for about 2 minutes. Fold in Cool Whip.
2. In a 9x13 pan, Layer graham crackers to cover entire bottom of pan. You may need to cut and shape the crackers to fit nicely.
3. Pour half of pudding/cool whip mixture on top and level.
4. Put another layer of graham crackers to cover entire surface. Cut and shape crackers accordingly.
5. Put the second half of pudding/cool whip mixture on top and level.
6. Put the final layer of graham crackers on top with bumpy side down. This will help the top look more smooth when you go to put the frosting on top. Once again, cut and shape crackers accordingly to avoid pits and cracks.
7. FOR THE FROSTING: Microwave butter and milk just enough so that they are melted together. You do not need to boil it. Add cocoa and powdered sugar and blend together. This will be a runnier frosting/glaze. Pour over top of graham crackers and smooth out nicely. (**I usually double the frosting recipe)
8. Refrigerate overnight and Dig in!

http://www.chef-in-training.com/2010/08/eclair-cake/