242 Waiting, waiting

We have an offer out on a house. We're waiting, waiting. Positive there will be a counter-offer. Then more waiting. Excitement is building.

Update: It is ours. We offered. She counter-offered. We countered her counter-offer. She accepted our counter-counter offer.

241 Where did it go? A question for these years.

"What ever happened to the passion we all had to improve ourselves, live up to our potential, leave a mark on the world?" Crossing to safety by Wallace Stegner

240 Voting Rights and Copyright blogs

When I was employed as a librarian, copyright law was always terribly confusing. Putting things on "closed reserve" was always a big issue--were we violating the law? I know I attended many workshops over the years on this topic.

Among my links I have an Ohio State law professor, Edward Lee, who seems to write frequently on this topic but is young enough to care about computer gaming and downloading music (I don't). On his website he has posted his most recent journal article (120 pages) on The Public's Domain: The Evolution of Legal Restraints on the Government's Power to Control Public Access Through Secrecy or Intellectual Property also an important issue for librarians.

Now he has convinced a colleague, Dan Tokaji, to blog in his specialty area of voting rights, especially as it is affected by technology. Equal Vote. After the controversy of hanging chads in 2000, I don't see electronic voting solving much--with no paper trail, but this blog will be enlightening. Are there computers that can't be hacked, compromised or that won't melt down when you need them most? Today's entry is on The Impact of the Holt Bill on Disability Access.

239 Ire and angst

“Much of the speech was forward-looking. It sought to position Mr. Bush as optimistic and steady in the face of serious challenges to the country and relentless attacks by Democrats who, he said, have failed to say how they would deal with the challenges the United States faces at home and abroad.”

That’s about the only accurate paragraph in the New York Times reportage of President Bush’s speech at a Monday night fundraiser. The reporter, who apparently didn’t hear the same speech the rest did, called it an “attack,” “an assault,” “mocking,” “biting” and an “indirect slap” when he said he wouldn’t “outsource” the military. I can even overlook “it sought to position Mr. Bush” rather than simply saying, “President Bush was optimistic and steady. . .”

What the reporter called “mocking” was a very gentle poke at Kerry done with a twinkle in his eye. He didn’t scream like an Al Gore imitating Howard Dean or whine with a sigh like a John Kerry. And he got a good laugh. George Bush is hardly a spell binding speaker, so a little levity makes it easier to listen.

The reporter, Richard Stevenson, did not editorialize, analyze or exaggerate Kerry’s speech against Bush on the same day which he inserted into the coverage of Bush‘s speech. No, he chose instead the word “said” three times. “In an appearance in New York, the Massachusetts Democrat said he had Mr. Bush "on the run" even before Democrats settled for certain on their nominee. He said the president had failed on the economy, had pursued a "reckless" foreign policy and was practicing "crony capitalism and crony government." . . .In a statement issued after Mr. Bush's speech, Mr. Kerry said: "George Bush's credibility is running out with the American people. They want change in America and I'm running because I am determined to bring that change and put America back on track." "

It’s pointless to remind readers again about the NYT partisan position, but I do wish in general reporting this early in the campaign, its columnists would make a bit more effort to control their ire and angst.

238 Keep your friends

The Columbus Dispatch columnist Mike Harden featured a touching and inspiring story yesterday (Feb. 24) about Georgia Griffith, a woman who was born blind, developed all her hearing talents to become a degreed musician, and then lost her hearing at age 38. My grandmother was blind and I know that in her 80s as she began losing her hearing, she believed being deaf was a greater handicap than being blind because it interferred with communication.

Georgia is so busy at her computer helping others and making friends, she hardly has time to sleep. Many years ago she became a proof reader of Braille music for the Library of Congress. Later she was hired by Compuserv to develop a handicapped users' database and to facilitate Internet forums. She routinely trades e-mail with 200 friends world wide.

About the ubiquitous spam she says: You'll never guess what they want me to do now!" About friendship she says: "If I was given the opportunity to exchange my friends for the gift of sight, I would keep my friends."

The free link to this article is through the Sacramento Bee.

237 I don't, I won't

A few days back I blogged at 225 that perhaps not all gays were thinking marriage is what they would do, and in the Feb. 20 issue of San Francisco Chronicle SFGate.com, I read:

""Marriage is not something that I feel I need to have for my relationship to be spiritually or emotionally complete," said Rebecca Rolfe, 42, deputy executive director at the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Center. "Essentially, I've been a longtime feminist and lesbian and have grown up having a lot of criticism of the institution of marriage. I've not necessarily seen it as a institution that benefits women or people in relationships."

Others were more pragmatic about the decision to opt out, citing the rather ominous words at the top of the marriage license application: "By entering into marriage, you may lose some or all of the rights, protections and benefits you enjoy as a domestic partner."

236 Washington's Farewell Address

It is a tradition to read Washington's Farewell Address in the Senate Chamber, and in 2004 Senator John Breaux of Louisiana delivered the address. After the reading, Senator Breaux signed his name in the Washington Farewell Address Book. [This was all stated in the future tense at the government website, so I'm assuming it took place.]

It is a long address--35 pages in pdf text--because it was printed and published in newspapers, and not read aloud. There were no political parties then, but sectional interests were a big concern. Washington noted the following as important to political vitality and strength:

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.

The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule indeed extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?

Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.

WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS 19th September 1796

235 Jobs aren't the only things going overseas

The New York Times Sunday reported on how the jobs we’re shipping overseas are changing long held traditions. [In India] . . . caste, religion and other age-old Indian social divisions are being shaken. Empowered by an ample paycheck, often from big American companies like American Express and America Online, some Indian workers are living lavishly on credit cards, and their open-mindedness is breaking conventions about dating.” Full story here.

Young women in their 20s are not living with their parents, they are moving to the city and renting apartments, are working nights so that they can connect with their American customers thus becoming cut off from their own peer group, are not wearing traditional clothing, are drinking alcohol, wearing make-up and creating a role reversal by sending home money for their parents, who aren’t earning as much as their children.

They are becoming more materialistic, and settling for live-in relationships rather than marriage. “Many of these young Indians deal with car insurance but may never own a car; book hotel suites that cost nearly as much as their annual pay; and chat about pretzels, snow and baseball, which they have never tasted, seen or experienced.”

234 Blogging terms

Samizdat in Russian means self-published and before the fall of the Soviet Union, it was an important outlet for literature, usually not approved by the government. Blogs are self-publishing and come in many sizes and shapes. A blog called Samizdata has a long list of blog terms, with a site to the original use, just like the Oxford Dictionary would do:

clog blog--a Dutch blog

froglog--francophone blog

idiotarian--advocate of irrational and subjective values--usually a socialist, but could be paleo-libertarian or paleo-conservative

kittyblogger--one who blogs about cats or other mundane topics

progblog--left wing blog

The list is long, but fun to read. This isn't the only blogging glossary on the net, but it is well organized with cites and quotes.

Samizdata.net self describes itself as:"The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.

We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, libertarians, extropians, futurists, 'Porcupines', Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.

You can use their glossary to look up some of the self-describing terms.

233 Dean's lasting influence on the Democrats

Although Howard Dean has withdrawn from the race, an editorial in the Wall Street on February 19 notes that his influence on the other candidates has been huge. He erased all the moderate gains the Democrats had made under Bill Clinton and has pulled the party further to the left.

“On the war on terror, he has almost single-handedly pulled his party to the antiwar left. As he often said on the stump, his main competitors all voted for the Iraq war. But as Mr. Dean climbed in the polls by denouncing the war, he made opposition to it a party litmus test. Senators John Kerry and John Edwards, who had voted for the war in late 2002, opposed the $87 billion to finish the job a year later. The candidates who stayed honorably hawkish--Dick Gephardt and Joe Lieberman--went down to defeat.

Mr. Dean was the first candidate to call for repealing all of the Bush tax cuts. Soon every Democrat was for raising taxes in some substantial way. Senators Edwards and Kerry now assail the Patriot Act they voted for, again following Mr. Dean. They also attack the education reform they voted for, in another Dean echo. Imitation is the sincerest form of politics.”

Two days ago, I heard one commentator say that if all the Dean supporters threw their support to Edwards, they would defeat Kerry. I don’t see such a move afoot at this time, do you?

However, Scrappleface had an interesting comment for Democrats to consider: "When you look at the two top vote getters -- Kerry and Edwards -- the question becomes 'who would you rather look at for the next eight months, or eight years?'" said an unnamed Democrat strategist. "On the issues, the candidates are mirror images of each other. But the more voters take a good look at John Kerry, the better John Edwards appears."

Victor Davis Hanson, as always cool and calm and incredibly in touch with history, commented on Feb. 20 :

“There were a number of legitimate areas of debate for the fall campaign — deficits, unfunded security measures at home, moral scrutiny over postwar contracts, more help for Afghanistan, greater control of domestic entitlements, unworkable immigration proposals, and the like. But instead of statesmanship from the opposition, we got slander about Mr. Bush's National Guard service, misrepresentations about intelligence failures that had hampered both previous administrations and the present congress, preference for an unsupportable European position over our own, and stupidity about what to do in Iraq.

232 Tomeboy responds to Fairly Traded article, #230

Your story re: Fair Trade Terms and Labels raises some very interesting issues. I've learned, though I am not a scientist, that much of the rhetoric about "eco-friendly/organic food" is simply not based on any scientific data.

Labels are another huge issue with food. The label "organic" can still be used if pesticide/herbicide was used in its production. Confusion is also used deliberately to mislead consumers, a recent case being a dairy farmer in Maine that produces "hormone free milk". Of course this is untrue, all milk has hormones. I believe in the "organics" right to market their products, however I am concerned that scare tactics are now a part of their marketing strategy.

The comment I had with your piece was the conditions of workers regarding organic farming. Organic farming requires much more labor intensive than traditional farming with pesticides/herbicides. Many organic farms have seen their market share grow, and have expanded operations and land because of organics lower yield. Of course, more labor is needed which usually comes in the variety of migrants with very poor pay. Many are illegal aliens to boot. There we have the conundrum of what truly is a socially responsible food product.

IMHO, it's ironic that genetically modified foods may serve as the best way to protect the environment and lives. Less tillage, less chemical, better yield, less land used, less fossil fuel guzzling tractors, etc... And contrary to what our European cousins may say, there is no scientific evidence that gmo foods are dangerous to consume. Nor are they an environmental hazard as well compared to traditional farming methods. Americans have been eating gmo's for 7 years.

Regards
tomeboy

You can check out his other thoughts and writings at his webpage: http://webpages.charter.net/tomeboy/t1.html

231 The wealthiest presidents

I heard on the radio yesterday, and I think the source was Forbes, but I'll have to check on that, if John F. Kerry becomes President of the United States, he will be one of the five wealthiest men ever to hold the office--in fact, he'd be third. George Washington was the wealthiest (adjusted for inflation). Counting Kerry, the other four are . . . Democrats. Found it.

230 Fair Trade Terms and Labels

On December 3, 2003, #118 I wrote about my home congregation in Illinois serving "fairly traded coffee" during the Sunday social time and for church events. I'd read about it in the church newsletter.

The Wall Street Journal February 17 had a chart about food labels for socially conscious buyers. As it turns out, "fairly traded" doesn't mean much at all, and is the weakest of the seven terms. "Sustainable" is another term that has no specific guarantee, and is quite general. The most specific term seems to be "fair trade certified" and it means that it complies with some environmental standards and that there are guaranteed prices for the workers.

"Rainforest Alliance Certified" is a licensed term of a non-profit dedicated to protecting biodiversity--but nothing about protecting the worker. "Certified sustainable" is a term used by various non-profits, and may indicate that a whole community benefits.

"Local" is an unofficial term and could mean a product is made or grown near-by, but that could be 15 miles or 1,000 miles. "Slow food snail" is a guide to indicate that traditional food practices are used, but that doesn't mean the employees benefit.

Obviously, terms like "family farm" and "sustainable" and "fair trade" have customer appeal for the socially conscious. Unfortunately, they just don't mean much. Get ahold of the chart and watch for the more specific terms if the environment, worker's conditions and pay, and bio-diversity matter to you.

229 Eugene McCarthy and the election of 2004

"Does history repeat itself? Yes—sort of. Our Book of the Week is Eugene McCarthy: The Rise and Fall of Postwar American Liberalism, by Dominic Sandbrook (Knopf). Reviewer Jeremy Lott finds some surprising parallels to the 2004 presidential campaign—and some notable twists as well."

"If liberalism is simply a political movement, joined at the hip to the Democratic Party, the ironists have a point. But if it is a broader political and sociological phenomenon, then LBJ dropping out of the race and Humphrey losing narrowly to Nixon hardly mattered. Once in office, Nixon gave the country affirmative action, a bender of an inflationary monetary policy, wage and price controls, and a fondness for new government initiatives that wouldn't be rivaled again until the second Bush administration."

In other words, the reviewer is saying liberalism has prevailed regardless of which party has been in the presidency. Full review at Books and Culture.

228 ABK--Anybody but Kerry?

“There are, clear across the country, people who sincerely cannot stand the policies or the personality of the president. When they say "ABB" (Anybody but Bush) they say it as if they really mean it. But there are limits, and Mr. Dean managed to find them in only a few weeks of cocky, half-baked and spendthrift posturing. This is not a time when the United States can afford even to flirt with the idea of an insecure narcissist and vain windbag as president. It's good to know that many liberals and leftists recognize that fact and act upon it, even when it costs them something.” Christopher Hitchens, Feb. 11, 2004.

I think it a bit early to say Dean is down and out, or that Edwards is done, however, it’s not too early to raise serious concerns about John Kerry. He flip flops his way through Senate votes and now there is another intern story. This man let down his fellow soldiers ala Jane Fonda, and there are still veterans groups who haven’t forgiven her. According to VietNam Veterans Against John Kerry:

“Soon after Kerry, as a Navy Lieutenant (junior grade) commanding a Swift boat in Vietnam, was awarded the Silver Star, he used an obscure Navy regulation to leave Vietnam and his crew before completing his tour of duty. After returning home, he quit the Navy early and changed the color of his politics to become a leader of VietNam Veterans Against the War. Kerry wasted no time organizing opposition in the United States against the efforts of his former buddies still ducking communist bullets back in Vietnam.”

In their ABB attitude, Democrats are doing all they can to denigrate Bush’s war time service even though in 1992 they (including Kerry) said all that should be behind us (because of Clinton’s exemption and leaving the country). The media bought into the story and repeated it, but now the detractors have been completely discredited including the retired general who is apparently in the early stages of Alzheimer's and isn't remembering much of anything correctly. The other is a left wing wacko who has been writing anti-Bush stories long before he came up with this one.

Bush has co-opted so many of the favorite domestic issues that Democrats usually count on like education, immigration and environment, which leaves only the war--and that is winding down with the possibility of a representative government in Iraq.

Ralph Nadar gave the 2000 election to Bush, and Ross Perot gave the 1992 election to Clinton. Will disaffected Republicans who dislike Bush’s wild spending on bigger and more intrusive government sit this one out, thus handing it to the Democrats?

227 You might be addicted to genealogy if. . .

I saw the following on RootsWeb Review and got a chuckle. Actually, I am related to Blythe Danner, who is a descendant of my Danner ancestors. I’m not sure I have MORE photos of dead relatives than living ones, but I have a lot--and a lot of people I can’t positively identify. Keeping track of the Wengers is a huge problem, but fortunately someone else is doing that, has it on the web and also sells it on a CD and book.

You might be addicted to genealogy if:

--You can't drive past a graveyard without wondering if you have any ancestors buried there.

--You introduce your granddaughter as your descendant.

--You can recite your lineage back 10 generations, but can't remember your nephew's name.

--You have more photographs of dead people than living ones.

--You watch the movie/TV credits roll by to see if any of the surnames are ones you are researching.

[Permission to reprint articles from RootsWeb Review is granted unless specifically stated otherwise, provided: (1) the reprint is used for non-commercial, educational purposes; and (2) the following notice appears at the end of the article: Previously published in RootsWeb Review: Vol. 7, No. 6, 11 February 2004.]

226 Let's play hide the reference

The NY Times is reporting that "Texas, generally considered the leading death penalty state, actually sentences a smaller percentage of people convicted of murder to death than the national average, according to a new study. It found that the conventional view failed to take into account the large number of murders in Texas."

Librarians who want to send patrons to "the study" will need to find Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, vol.1,no.1, and the authors are Theodore Eisenberg, John Blume and Martin Wells. Still, it would be nice if newspaper articles made citations easier to find, rather than parsing them out into different paragraphs. I can dream, can't I?

225 Same sex households

According to the census 2000, 1.6% of all households are same sex couples, 4.5% are unmarried opposite sex couple households, 25.8% of households are one-person, and 52.8% of households are married couples. There's a smattering of households of blood relatives, not married, and a few "other." I'm a little puzzled that there is such a noisy clamor for gays to marry, if they apparently aren't even living together now supporting each other with joint bank accounts, joint mortgages and wills designating each other beneficiaries, unless there just aren't very many gay and lesbian couples. And how many of those 1.6% even want to marry? Has anyone polled the group to see who is fine with the status quo? Has there been a count of those who enjoy the lack of ties and responsibilities, who don't want to share their wealth, who want to move on when life gets dull?

224 Fire Destroys School in my Home Town

"A fire that gutted David L. Rahn Elementary School has left staff and students without a building but with intentions to resume classes next week.

Clouds of brown and black smoke billowed from the school for most of Thursday, engulfing the town of about 3,000 people. More than a dozen fire departments, some from as far away as Rockton, Lena and Dixon, worked in freezing conditions to battle the blaze, which was still burning 12 hours after the first alarm." Story in Rockford Starand Photos and story WTVO

E-mail flew around the country as alumni heard almost as soon as town residents what happened. One wrote: "The call went out to almost 50 communities for help, and they showed up. Tanker after tanker bringing in water. If you can believe this, there is hardly any water at that end of town. A huge school and church at that end and no water. They were filling up at Kable Printing and then bringing the water to the school where it was dumped into a swimming pool-like container. The smoke and flames were unbelievable. They just did a million plus renovation and up to code repairs last year. All 300 kids got out, no coats, book bags, some lost shoes in the snow. The Red Cross and Salvation Army are at the church and donations are being accepted. One family had six children in the school, and they lost everything."

Another said: "So thankful no lives were lost. But simply can not imagine how no one smelled smoke or was alerted that something was terribly wrong. I am so sad for so many people but have my own fond memories of teaching at that beautiful school. It still seems like a dream and hard to believe.

I didn't attend school in this facility built in the late 1960s, in fact, I'd never been inside. The teacher/principal for whom it was named was one of my 7th-8th grade teachers.

The building I attended as a freshman in high school burned in 1992 and was destroyed, although it wasn't being used then as a school. On Easter Sunday 1931, the town college had a disastrous fire when my parents were freshmen, and it closed in 1932. In 1912, the college had experienced another terrible fire in "Old Sandstone," but that time had rebuilt.

Since the 1960s, many children have passed through that school, so perhaps O.D. Buck who wrote a poem in 1912 [Memories of Old Sandstone, 1912] about that fire won't mind if I mention a verse or two:

Old home of scores of sturdy sons,
Farewell, thy work is o'er.
We who have dwelt within thy walls,
Thy parting do deplore,

Thy mission thou hast nobly filled,
Thy influence--who can tell?
Oh, that thou of us could say,
"My children have done well."

223 Man sentenced for killing a fetus

Today’s Columbus Dispatch reported “[a Columbus man] was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his part in the premature birth and subsequent death of a girl.” Aggravated murder charges were reduced to felonious assault and involuntary manslaughter according to the report. He struck a seven months pregnant woman with a pipe when she intervened to stop a fight between him and her husband.

It still seems odd--no bizarre--that in a clinic with a licensed doctor causing the interruption of the child’s life support system in the mother, the little girl’s death would have been legal and no one would have been charged anything, except for an invoice for services.

The couple’s first child, a son, had died of SIDS the year before.