Lakeside 2019, a great August week-end

The weather was fabulous August 3-5.  On Saturday and Sunday there was the sailing regatta, and our neighbor/friend Jack, who is 14, walked (or sailed) away with 3 prizes--Mouse Island, 2nd in lasers, 1st place in sunfish for youth.  Bob went out for doubles with Nancy Brucken, and they came in last, but always the optimist he said, "We were way ahead of those who didn't enter!"

Jack

 

Saturday was the Volunteer Recognition Picnic on the hotel lawn and that night the Symphony with VERB Ballets was stunning.  Bob like the event with flesh colored body suits better than I did.  From where we sat, they appeared to be nude.  The Carmen number was sensuous and flashy, just as you would expect.  How long before the gender police shut these down?

On Sunday morning the weather was perfect for worship on the east side of the pavilion.  After breakfast at the Patio with Nancy and Marilyn, I also went to the worship service in Hoover to hear the pastor of the week, Rev. Becca A. Stevens who manages a ministry in Nashville called Thistle Farms.  It's a refuge and retraining facility for victims of trafficking, violence and addiction.  Her husband provided the special music, and he will be the program on Monday evening.

The Sunday afternoon on the lawn of the hotel and the pavilion has been called the FIRST  Blues, Views and BBQ Festival.  Two different bands, Colin Dussault Blues Project of Cleveland and Sean Carney of Columbus, horse carriage rides, a delicious meal (we didn't do that part, but people said it was fabulous), all with Lake Erie, a wonderful wind and the Regatta.

 

 

 

This morning on my walk along the lakefront I spoke to a number of people, dog walkers, joggers, and workers.  Two men in particular struck me as "not" Lakesiders--they just looked stressed and not friendly.  They seemed to know each other.  I asked one of them about his group (he was wearing a name tag). 

Generosity and Stewardship Conference. 

Save democracy . . . with socialism?

I got an offer to review a book, ". . . the 2020 election is a key moment in the history of American democracy where the United States can choose to correct course, installing a new chief executive and legislators that will defend bedrock democratic ideals and freedoms, or it can travel further down the road of Trumpism . . ."

I wonder what those bedrock democratic ideals and freedoms are? Freedom of religion?  Free speech?  Freedom of assembly?  You can't find them in socialism, the ideology that killed 100,000,000 in the 20th century.

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez wants to destroy the agency that is helping Central American children

Leftist non-profits and Democrats in Congress enable this behavior by assuring illegals that families will not be detained. This is what Democrats call "separation" of families.

"Amilcar Guiza-Reyes, a 51-year old citizen and national of Honduras, who was previously deported in 2013, made an initial appearance in federal court in the Southern District of Texas May 10, charged with 8 USC 1324 alien smuggling for allegedly smuggling a 6-month-old infant across the U.S.-Mexico border.

On May 7, Guiza-Reyes was observed by U.S. Border Patrol wading across the Rio Grande River from Mexico into the U.S. near Hidalgo, Texas, carrying an infant child.

He initially claimed to the U.S. Border Patrol agents that the infant was his son. However, after presenting a fraudulent Honduran birth certificate at the Central Processing Center in McAllen, Texas, he was referred to HSI special agents for interview and further investigation. He later admitted to the HSI special agents that he obtained the child’s fraudulent document to show him as the father and that he intended to use the child to further his unlawful entry in to the U.S." (ICE news release May 16).

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/fraudulent-family-case-involving-6-month-old-represents-new-level-child-endangerment

What to do with stuff—guest blogger Kathy

“Yesterday I dusted off 20+ year old paintings done by our daughter that she stored here when she moved to Boston. Certainly, she intended to retrieve them one day. Last night I cleaned them off and put on a mini art show. She left without them. Today I put them out for the trash. All but one.

The day before that, she asked me for a dresser. It is a nice solid wood dresser with dove tailed joints that we had rescued from somebody’s ugly blue paint job before she was born. New furniture is junk by comparison. It is also the dresser that housed all her onsies, receiving blankets, booties, and other precious clothing that might still be around the house, waiting for grandchildren that never come. I hesitated about the dresser, but only because I was doing mental gymnastics about clearing it of abandoned items belonging to her brother. Sigh. After thinking a bit, I thought giving it was a good idea. I asked her this morning if she was going to take it and she said no. I did unload an old king sized comforter. Big blanket, small comfort.

I remember being on the receiving end of the stuff belonging to my elders. Lucky for me, grandparents were downsizing at the same time I was settling down. I loved old fashioned things. Most of the furniture is still in daily use at our house and I have some of their valued treasures. I remember another phase of life when my mother made miniscule attempts to unload accumulated property that she thought was too good for the trash. Little by little she tried with mixed success. She couldn’t bring herself to do that one big, emotional purge. One day an old plastic Santa and Reindeer back lit with 60 Watt bulbs showed up. It had been a significant yard ornament purchase in 1954 when they bought their first home. We set it up on our deck while Mom watched, and our little ones enjoyed it that year. Then we put it away until it went in the trash years later. Something of previous value that had aged until it served no purpose.

I have the 60 year old Erector Set that belonged to my brothers. They have sons but she gave it to me. I suspect that they were more hardhearted about it than I was. Now an antique, it never came out of the box in our house. Maybe the Ninja Turtles could have performed heroics against Splinter and Shredder on it, but they never found out. I guess there is still a chance for that, since the 4 turtles and their enemies are all still here too. I did find an unopened pack of #2 pencils 49₵ from Woolworths in the box. The erasers are still pliable and I am sure that these are REAL graphite #2 pencils instead of the odd plastic stuff they use nowadays. You can buy a similar unopened pack on Ebay for 10x the original price. Whew! I should get out my sketch pad again. That’s been in another box for a few years. Well, maybe more than just a few.

Finally, I told my mother no more stuff and I made sure I was busy the day of her moving sale when she pared her belongings down to a precious few to out of the family home. Something tells me I hurt her feelings. She was about the same age as I am now.

Oh well, it’s just stuff. Stuff that keeps memories alive while it harbors the aura of family love for a few more years.

Does anybody want a Sunfish or some windsurfers?”

Lakeside 2019, Week 7

It's been a terrific week at Lakeside--even my bursitis pain has been under control most days. I've been carrying my new folding blue cane with me everywhere, but have only used it once. Week 5 I had given up walking the lakefront and went to the wellness center instead and always accept a ride in a golf cart when I could.

We returned on Saturday with everything in great shape--Mark had been trimming the bushes, watering, raking and washed the deck.  Phoebe had everything spotless and put fresh sheets on the beds. We all went out for lunch and then they headed for home--and probably a rest! It was very hot the week they were here, so they skipped the "Guess Who" performance, which I heard from my friends  was fabulous.

That evening the program was Wynonna Judd and The Big Noise. It was a super evening, packed the house, and that woman has a range I've hardly ever heard.  There's no better place to show off a big voice than Hoover Auditorium.  She really didn't do much "country," so those who stayed away because they don't like that genre, missed a lot.  We left after her last song, but I understand she continued for another 30 minutes.  I could have done without her remarks about her mother, as I don't think she'd be where she is today if it hadn't been for "The Judds." She had great rapport with the children and invited them to the stage for photos and selfies.

Sunday was a VERY full day, with some surprises.  It was the day for the Raccoon Run (5 mile marathon), so the lakefront church service was moved to the gazebo which got a huge overhaul in the spring, and now has pavers and new benches.  Then we went to the Patio Restaurant with my friend Nancy for lunch.  After a nap I headed for the Heritage Hall lecture about Confederate monuments in the north (we have one here on the peninsula on Johnson's Island).  Nancy went with me, and was anxious to leave before Q & A, but I didn't think much about it.  When we got to the cottage I got a big surprise--Bob had planned, and pulled off, an 80th birthday party for me (which was 50 days early).  Lots of laughter, and great food from Bassett's. One of the best cakes I've tasted.

 

 

That evening we went back to the gazebo to hear a polka band from Chardon.  They were very good and the hot weather had disappeared--only beautiful wind and sunset over the lake.

It was the end of the art show.  Bob got a second place ribbon and it sold, so we had some cash on hand.  The other painting, which was actually the best (of our neighbors watching the regatta), was sold to the subjects.

On Monday I did go to the program on -- well, something about the planets, but didn't stay long. That afternoon I attended the book discussion at the Lakeside Women's Club of "Lillian Boxfish takes a Walk" by Kathleen Rooney.   Bob and I then attended the Backstage at Hoover tour, which was great fun and so interesting.  Lakeside is trying to raise money to replace this 91 year old structure in the back of Hoover where the performers dress and bring in their props.  There are some programs we can't provide because there is no room for the equipment or instruments.

That night we had a pot luck for the communion servers and ushers for the 8:30 service on the lakefront.  We don't necessarily know the people Bob serves with, so spent some time introducing ourselves and chatting.  A sudden storm blew up and God blessed us with a fabulous rainbow--which you can see behind us between the 2nd and 3rd pillar.


After the potluck we drove to the train station near the mobile home park in south Lakeside for a "book in hand" performance of a play by George Bernard Shaw by the LKSD Playreaders. Then home to bed. . . tired but happy.

The Tuesday program at the Lakeside Women's Club was "Hers and Hymns: Women composers and Lyricists with soprano Jeanine Donaldson of Lorain and Errol Browne, her accompanist who also sang.  On Wednesday and Thursday mornings I attended lectures on Zero Energy Buildings by Ann Edminster. Our neighbors were out of town, so we had their son Jack, 14, for dinner Tuesday evening.  He's a really sweet guy--going into high school, and now sails lasers and wins races, so he doesn't need our model sailboat on our porch which fascinated him 4 years ago. The girls are starting to hang around their cottage which we can see from our front porch.

On Wednesday afternoon I sat in on a group discussion of Artists' Way led by Dee (Baker) a UMC retired pastor at the lovely Idlewyld Bed and Breakfast.  In the evening we had dinner with the Barrises at their B & B with Dee and her husband. Wednesday evening was the opening of the 2019 symphony season with our new director, Daniel Meyer. Dvorak (violin concerto in A minor) and Tchaikovsky (Symphony no. 4 in F minor) made it a very exciting evening with guest violinist Jinjoo Cho who has been here a number of times.  We've been sitting in the aisle with all the residents of the nursing home so that I can stay on a flat surface.

On Thursday evening it was wonderfully cool and low humidity.  After dinner on the deck and a stroll to the lakefront to sit on a bench to watch the boaters, we enjoyed the group RUNA at Hoover with tunes of Ireland and Scotland in jazz, bluegrass, flamenco and blues.  Later this morning I'll go to another Chef Stacy class.  This evening is Sandy Patti who always puts on a great show.

Tomorrow evening (that's week 8) there is a volunteer recognition picnic under a tent near the lake, and then at 8:15 the second performance of the symphony with Verb Ballets, a contemporary company. The program includes Felix Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony, Adagio for Two Dancers and Carmen Suite.

No, it’s not Obama’s economy

The recession was over in June 2009, but the reason the workers didn't see a lot of change was the government intervention, so there wasn't real progress. Business owners who could just waited it out--didn't expand, didn't hire, and cut their labor force. Others went under if they didn't have lobbyists and friends in the party. One of the worst programs I thought was "cash for clunkers." It was a give away to the car companies, and it seriously damaged lower income people who needed transportation to get to work or find work--they were the ones who would buy those clunkers that were being destroyed. It was also a give away to the green lobbyists and the mortgage industry because so many people had to finance those new cars even with government handouts. On a graph, it looks like economic growth, but really solid growth happened after Obama was out of office and unable to terrorize business.

It's no wonder Democrats focus on "infested" as a racist word (Elijah Cummings), or Trump's tax returns (Gavin Newsome). Low unemployment, low inflation, low mortgage rates, shrinking credit card debt, higher savings rates, higher consumer confidence, and for me, I'm making more with my 403-b than I when I worked. And there are millions and millions of retirees having the same experience with their 401-k, pensions and savings--even those who hate Trump.

The next step for the Democrats is to deliberately sabotage the economy and the American people in order to get Trump and their power back.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckdevore/2019/03/11/trumps-policy-magic-wand-boosts-manufacturing-jobs-399-in-first-26-months-over-obamas-last-26/#7f5e1d6d20a6

Transgender woman is actually a man, plus he’s a crook

I was reading a front page article in yesterday's WSJ about the woman hacker of Capital One who attempted to destroy the security and income (and lives) of 100 million people, when on p. 6 I noticed her photo. "That's not a woman," I said to myself.  A male friend of mine (my assistant for several years) had the same facial features when he began taking hormones.  So by paragraph 11 there was one reference to his many personal and psychological problems casually noting, transgender. Why keep it so secretive? Putting on make up and women's clothing doesn't make him a woman, and it won't correct his mental problems.

Some people see Wall St. Journal as a "conservative" news source. It isn't. I don't know where it stands now, but in the past on news coverage, it was the most liberal of all daily newspapers. (topic, verbs, adjectives, idioms, slant, "expert" sources, etc.) Only the opinion page and editorial columns lean conservative. Burying the news is very common in liberal journalism. They couldn't possibly link this man's very troubled past, his sexuality and his crime without getting a huge uproar from the genderists.

Does income modify life expectancy?

In Norway the income gap reflects life expectancy, just like the U.S.--in fact, practically the same. People in the lowest 1% don't live as long as those in the top 1%. What I don't see in the study is 200-300 different ethnicities and cultures in Norway and mass immigration like we have in the U.S. For the most part they are of the same northern European stock, have a thicker social welfare safety net, and are mono-cultural. This really tosses out the socio-racial causes of income gaps we see in many U.S. studies. There are enough people in the U.S. of Scandinavian heritage to just look at that segment, lowest and highest income. And Scandinavian Americans do very well, but are below Indian-Americans and Filipino-Americans in income.

https://edhub.ama-assn.org/jn-learning/module/2733322?

May 13, 2019. doi:10.1001/jama.2019.4329

Did the candidates talk about Baltimore?

When Bernie reported on Baltimore's conditions, the media and politicians did nothing. Same with Obama. Same with Baltimore's mayors. Now Trump has brought attention to the bad housing and crime and has forced Democrats to defend the indefensible. We know it's not money--Baltimore gets billions of our money. It's not having no representation in Congress--it's got Cummings the guy who screams at border personnel in hearings, or no minority police, or no minority city government, or no minority school officials. So what will help Baltimore?

If Democrats in congress spent any time in their own districts inspecting the conditions children live in, they wouldn't have enough time to go to the border to pose for phony photos of faux concern calling border facilities Nazi concentration camps.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/49999/trump-called-racist-saying-baltimore-rat-infested-amanda-prestigiacomo
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-cummings-pelosi-and-baltimore-11564433687?fbclid=IwAR2gsBz0gEKPNTaUovaH7c-bk7AeD8L3ERSu4hqpqX-LddE6VkkQxCJtC9o

Christians and politics

Politics for Christians is messy these days. I came across a clear explanation with good footnotes that I recommend. Due to the fractured nature of the church, no Christian will agree with all points. https://www.allaboutworldview.org/christian-worldview.htm, specifically, https://www.allaboutworldview.org/christian-politics.htm
Here's where a Christian world view differs with today's socialists in our government--they teach in our schools and proclaim in their power that because the founders were ordinary, sinful men with flaws, rulers in the 21st century are smarter, more righteous and more spiritual and able to take our God given rights and give them to the government.
"Christian Politics – The Source of Human Rights
Christian politics within a Christian worldview understands God as the source and guarantee of our basic human rights. Because we believe we are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26), we know that we are valuable. (This becomes doubly clear when we remember that Christ took upon Himself human flesh and died for humanity.) God grants all individuals the same rights based on an absolute moral standard.
The Declaration of Independence proclaims, “All men are created equal... [and] endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” Two assumptions are inherent in this declaration: 1) we were created by a supernatural Being; and 2) this Being provides the foundation for all human rights.
The knowledge that human rights are based on an unchanging, eternal Source is crucial in our understanding of politics. If our rights were not tied inextricably to God’s character, then they would be arbitrarily assigned according to the whims of each passing generation or political party—rights are “unalienable” only because they are based on God’s unchanging character. Therefore, human rights do not originate with human government, but with God Himself, who ordains governments to secure these rights.
Our founding fathers understood this clearly.
John Adams, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson in 1813, says, “The general principles, on which the Fathers achieved Independence, were the only Principles in which that beautiful Assembly of young Gentlemen could Unite... And what were these general Principles? I answer, the general Principles of Christianity, in which all these Sects were United... Now I will avow, that I then believe, and now believe, that those general Principles of Christianity, are as eternal and immutable, as the Existence and Attributes of God.”2
John Winthrop says that the best friend of liberty is one who is “most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down on profanity and immorality of every kind. Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scruple not to call him an enemy of his country.”3
Noah Webster wrote “The moral principles and precepts found in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. These principles and precepts have truth, immutable truth, for their foundation.”4
Alexis de Tocqueville says, “There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America; and there can be no greater proof of its utility, and of its conformity to human nature, than that its influence is most powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation on the earth.”5
George Washington, in his inaugural address as first president of the United States, referred to “the propitious smiles of Heaven” that fall only on that nation that does not “disregard the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.”6"

Banned in San Francisco

San Francisco has 8,000 homeless people using 5% of the city budget, but . . .
Products or behavior banned by San Francisco.

• plastic bags,
• clove cigarettes,
• Coke machines,
• bottled-water machines,
• playing stickball in the street,
• playing chess in the street,
• pet stores,
• goldfish,
• masked balls,
• sling shot--illegal weapon,
• your dog sticking his head halfway out the window while you’re driving,
• toys being given away with Happy Meals at McDonald’s,
• traveling on city business to Arizona, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, South Dakota, or Texas,
• ride a Segway,
• package food with Styrofoam,
• declaw a cat,
• serve chocolate milk in schools.
• No one in government is allowed to make any contract with any company that uses tropical hardwood,
• no school is allowed to offer Junior ROTC.
• Don’t try to walk more than eight dogs at a time—even if they’re toy poodles and Chihuahuas

https://www.takimag.com/article/who-cut-the-balls-off-san-francisco/
.

What’s good about Baltimore?

Baltimore Sun claims DC has more rats than Baltimore, so I looked at a site that compared both cities.  Baltimore is losing population, DC is gaining, but in most demographics the two are comparable, with Baltimore having more single heads of household (usually a significant sign of poverty). But the comments were revealing; this one by William found a lot to like about Baltimore, white also noting the negatives.  I just pulled out the positive.

“For starters Baltimore is a great independent city filled with rich history, great sports teams (present/ past), a variety of cultural foods and local delicacies all wrapped up in a place jokingly referred to as “Smalltimore”. The Under Armour headquarters is based out of here, not to forgot about the growing tech sector, the expanding neighborhoods of Harbor East and South Point, the excellent array of hospitals (John’s Hopkin’s, Mercy, and the University of Maryland healthcare systems) and colleges within the city with so much more; however, like every city there are pockets of good and bad, but with this city there are a lot more bad things than good.

Crime, corruption, pollution/ trash on the roads, jay walkers who will willingly walk in the middle of traffic during a rush hour, a majority populous who only votes for Democratic candidates who mostly are unqualified (the city doesn’t even have a Office of Ethics until 2019), and some of the worst infrastructure I've seen.

Some spots have been gentrified over the years, but there are far more depilated properties once you head north and west. There are great markets spread out throughout the city with one of the largest places smack-dab in the middle of the city. You can find all types of fresh seafood, goods, and even have services performed for reasonable prices. Shopping elsewhere has been more about going out to the county as Towson Town Mall, Arundel Mills, and White Marsh Mall’s have severed the area for decades. There is an array of retailers such as Brooks Brothers, J.Crew, and other haberdasheries if you’re looking for tailored goods - Hat’s on the belfry is a great hat shop for all sexes in Fell’s Point. Target is located on the East side of the city in the expanding Canton neighborhood, and more shops have been added over the last 4 years. There are great corner store markets, and some shoppers enjoy organic options offered from Whole Food’s in Harbor East. There is a lot more than I’ve named and there is something for everyone out there. If shopping isn’t your thing, there are plenty of neighborhood bars, seafood eateries, brunch spots, and high end dining options. If you’re looking for family friendly spots there are plenty scattered throughout the Inner Harbor and the residing neighborhoods. Not only is there great shopping there is world-class entertainment venues and more parks than most cities I’ve visited.

As for the entertainment side, the famous historic Hippodrome is a great spot to check out Broadway plays, or prepare for a night out at the Royal Farm’s area and see big name artists as they play in a remodeled arena; but, there is so much more! You can visit Ram’s Head Live! And see many bands year round in a much smaller area than DC’s 9:30 Club with unrestricted views of your favorite musicians or enjoy a concert overlooking the harbor at the MECU (formerly Pier 6) pavilion. Aforementioned sports in this city are played as some of the best examples of stadiums in the US. The Orioles at Camden Yards is consistently rated as one of the best stadiums to visit and the Baltimore Raven’s M&T Bank is a gem in itself. If you’re not about loud music and sports there is a multitude of museums and art exhibits - the Walter’s has one of the largest free collections I’ve ever seen. Or if you’re into street art, Graffiti Lane is a cool spot to see. ”

Someone named William at https://www.bestplaces.net/comments/viewcomment.aspx?id=E2864B95-262B-4692-849A-719AC3EFDBE5&city=Baltimore_md&p=52404000

June 27, 2019

How Google manipulates voters--Dr. Robert Epstein

A Senate Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing on Google and its censorship policy. Google’s public policy and government affairs vice president testified during the first part of the hearing. Witnesses in the second panel included Andy Parker, father of Alison Parker, who was killed during a live TV broadcast, and Dennis Prager a conservative commentator, who claimed that Google and YouTube sought to restrict or remove his video content.

In 2020 all Big Tech are going all out to Democrats and there will be no way to trace it.  Dr. Robert Epstein was a strong Clinton supporter in 2016, but is concerned that Google, Facebook and Twitter are manipulating the voter on a massive scale. Silicon Valley millionaires control our elections. Alphabet (parent of Google) was Clinton's #1 financial supporter.

Between 2.6 million and 10.4 million votes were manipulated in 2016.  No paper trail.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4808035/googles-election

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4808464/dr-robert-epstein-recommends-private-search-engines-startpagecom-amp-duckduckgo-us-senate

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4808140/closing-statement-google-election-meddling

Epstein recommends private search engines Startpage.com & DuckDuckGo in U.S. Senate testimony about Google.  I use DuckDuckGo.

The signs of Lakeside

These signs are political, but those who host them in front of their cottages refuse to call them that. For thousands of years the sign of the rainbow was about God's covenant with Noah, a reminder of His faithfulness. In recent years it's lost that meaning as it has been politicized and used for the LGBTQ agenda. When CEOs or college presidents are fired for saying “all lives matter,” which is Jesus’ message, when business people who believe in God’s plan for marriage are sued or threatened, when the science doesn’t matter and isn't real if it’s biology instead of climate, then, yes, the message is political.

 I am pro-life, which is also Biblical, which is loving our weakest and most helpless neighbor, but if I had a poster of an aborted baby or a pro-life message in front of my Lakeside cottage, someone would be offended and say abortion is a political issue.

 

There's not much in that first sign that is Biblical.   Women are glorified in the Bible--Mary, the mother of God, the women disciples who were the first to tell the Good News to doubting men,  the Proverbs 31  woman, the women who either saved or raised Moses--not much about "rights" at all--only service to others and to God, especially procreation,  and not promoting oneself as special.

All science is based on God's  truth, not fantasy, carbon taxes, and red tape to strangle business. The Bible does promote biology as truth, and not a word that humans control earth's destiny--except as caretakers. All lives matter to Jesus, but that phrase can get you fired if you say it.

Yes, we have no life without water, Lake Erie was formed by a melting glacier as the earth warmed. There are many images of water, God's covenant with Noah--the first rainbow--baptism, crossing the Red Sea, the River Jordan, etc. that are Biblical, but on this sign water has no Biblical meaning.

Serendipity strikes again

When I had settled on retiring in October, 2000, I thought I might need a hobby, so I began keeping a small notebook in my purse to write in at the Caribou Coffee Shop on Lane Avenue in Upper Arlington where I stopped before going to work at the Veterinary Medicine Library at Ohio State University.  Because of the new millennium, the 2000 motif was everywhere, so my little notebook made in China, was “Year 2000 Tribute Millenium Series.”  As I would go through the paper—usually the Columbus Dispatch or Wall St. Journal, I’d jot down things that interested me—group meetings, movies, book reviews, special events, musical groups, recipes, web sites, conversations overheard—just about anything.  I had never heard of blogs at that time (not sure they existed), but that notebook was the start of my blog.

I had forgotten where I put the notebook, but a few minutes ago I was looking for something in my desk and there it was.  On September 22, 2000, I had jotted down “Almost Famous,” a movie with 4 stars. “Fictional account of Cameron Crowe’s teen years with Rolling Stones," I wrote.  Lennox 24, 4:50. Patrick Fugit (17) plays the 15 year old William Miller.”  Then I added later—“very good, saw 9/22/00.”  I had apparently flipped the notebook over and was writing on the verso of pages I’d filled earlier in the year.

Anyway, to make a short story long, I thought, “I wonder what happened to Patrick Fugit.  I recalled he was a very good actor in that movie.  In fact, the whole movie was good.

Internet search:  Found him.  His latest movie—wait for it—is “Robert the Bruce” which was just released last month in Scotland.

Cast: Jared Harris, Zach McGowan, Emma Kenney, Melora Walters, Talitha Eliana Bateman, Anna Hutchison, Patrick Fugit, Kevin McNally, Gabriel Bateman, Angus Macfadyen, Mhairi Calvey, Diarmaid Murtagh, Shane Coffey, Anthony J. Sharpe, Gianni Capaldi.

 

Patrick in 2000

Patrick in 2019

Happy Birthday, Carol

Happy 82nd birthday to my sister Carol who died in 1996 at 58. We still miss you. Photo is 1989 with her daughter and son. Last year we got to meet her great granddaughter who visited us at Lakeside with her grandparents. What a treat. Carol was the only one of my family with any fashion flair, and loved beautiful clothes, bright colors, stylish purses, shoes and jewelry. As an enterprising teen, she sold Avon products, and was one of the "number please" voices back when our home phone was 59-L. Although her primary career was in nursing with a degree from Goshen College, she did own a dress shop in Bradenton, FL, for large size women.
 
Never a snowflake, after high school graduation in 1955 Carol went into Brethren Volunteer Service and did incredible tasks for one so young, like doing church plant surveys in Denver, helping with clean up after flooding in Pennsylvania, teaching Sunday School and leading worship in Kentucky where she road horseback to services because there were no passable roads, and being a "healthy volunteer patient" aka guinea pig at NIH in Maryland. I wonder if she is one of the results cited in this article.  https://clinicalcenter.nih.gov/about/news/newsletter/2007/oct07/newsletter.html  
She was a survivor of childhood bulbar polio in 1949 and struggled with many health issues, but cared for many as a home health nurse in her last years.

Nunes: There is collusion between Russia and the Democratic Party

Here’s a summary of how we got to yesterday’s circus.

https://youtu.be/LFDnuMAT66U

The DNC, the Clinton campaign, the foreign spy and the Trump haters within the Obama administration and deep state.

Blogger writes about Lakeside and the popsicle vendor

This is a nice blog about Lakeside, and although I noticed the popsicle guy at the Farmer's Market, I didn't stop. Great story.
https://brucestambaugh.com/2019/07/22/theres-always-a-pleasant-surprise-at-lakeside-ohio/

"Derek was 30-years-old. His two nieces, ages seven and 12, live with him. A judge gave him custody of the girls when their mother sadly fell victim to the pandemic opioid crisis. The court decided Derek, their uncle, was the best suitable relative to care for the young girls.

The pair helps Derek make the icy treats, and even suggest the unusual flavors and ingredients. In addition to farmers markets, Derek is hired for special events and wedding receptions.

Derek got the mobile icy pop idea from seeing similar operations in large cities that he visited. He thought, “Why not here?”

Besides his business, Derek works two other jobs to make ends meet."

Soviet anti-American propaganda

is now just standard left wing drivel we hear every day.

“The Soviets had an entire “active measures” department devoted to churning out anti-American dezinformatsiya...

Here are some of the most important of the Soviet Union’s memetic weapons...

✔ There is no truth, only competing agendas.

✔ All Western (and especially American) claims to moral superiority over Communism/Fascism/Islam are vitiated by the West’s history of racism and colonialism.

✔ There are no objective standards by which we may judge one culture to be better than another. Anyone who claims that there are such standards is an evil oppressor.

✔ The prosperity of the West is built on ruthless exploitation of the Third World; therefore Westerners actually deserve to be impoverished and miserable.

✔ Crime is the fault of society, not the individual criminal. Poor criminals are entitled to what they take. Submitting to criminal predation is more virtuous than resisting it.

✔ The poor are victims. Criminals are victims. Only victims are virtuous. Therefore only the poor and criminals are virtuous. (Rich people can borrow some virtue by identifying with poor people and criminals.)

✔ For a virtuous person, violence and war are never justified. It is always better to be a victim than to fight, or even to defend oneself. Oppressed people are allowed to use violence; they are merely reflecting the evil of their oppressors.

✔ When confronted with terror, the only moral course for a Westerner is to apologize for past sins, understand the terrorist’s point of view, and make concessions.

We have become all too familiar with these principles as the years go on and we see them demonstrated by the left time and again.

Most were staples of Soviet propaganda at the same time they were being promoted by “progressives” (read: Marxists and the dupes of Marxists) within the Western intelligentsia...

This worked exactly as expected; their memes seeped into Western popular culture and are repeated endlessly in (for example) the products of Hollywood.

Indeed, the index of Soviet success is that most of us no longer think of these memes as Communist propaganda. It takes a significant amount of digging and rethinking and remembering, even for a lifelong anti-Communist like myself, to realize that there was a time (within the lifetime of my parents) when all of these ideas would have seemed alien, absurd, and repulsive to most people - at best, the beliefs of a nutty left-wing fringe, and at worst instruments of deliberate subversion intended to destroy the American way of life.

The most paranoid and xenophobic conservatives of the Cold War were, painful though this is to admit, the closest to the truth in estimating the magnitude and subtlety of Soviet subversion.”

Moses Lambert

Lillian Boxfish takes a walk

Just finished "Lillian Boxfish takes a walk," by Kathleen Rooney (2017). It's a novel inspired by the life and work of Margaret Fishback who wrote ads for Macy's in mid-20th c. and was a published poet in her own right. I have no idea how old Rooney is (40-ish?), but she awfully good at speaking in the voice of an 85 year old. She's written a lot of books--I might be willing to try another one. Her method of telling Lillian's life story through a walk in Manhattan on New Year's Eve 1984 was fascinating. So if you need some more summer (or book club) reading, I recommend this title.