Too good to publish, too slow to sing

That's the title of my poetry collection that I've never uploaded to one of those nifty do-it-yourself publishing sites like lulu.com. It's been on my to-do list for years, but I never get that magic coin, "a round tuit," and just blog instead. When I was employed, publications were part of my job; as was being a peer-reviewer and a committee member who kept other librarian writers' noses to the publication wheel. Looking through the notebook (for me it doesn't really exist if it's not printed on paper) I found this one from 13 months ago, and am really stunned at how accurate I was in verse about the man who wasn't yet even selected by his party at its national convention. The one slip I made was assuming Michelle would continue to have a power base, but Emmanuel and Axelrod have learned from the unpopularity of Hillary during Bill's terms, and have pretty much put her in the vegetable garden, or placed her as an accessory for photo-ops. As a city girl, she's probably more comfortable jetting to fancy restaurants in expensive clothes than digging weeds like a sharecropper.

Listening to Obama, variation on a theme

Oil prices continue to rise
it should be no great surprise
next they'll raise our taxes
If we elect Presidents Obam-es.

Don't you dare question them
you're only being dense and dim
he's been made messianic
by his handlers in a panic.

Move On's the group who's in control
George Soros too is on a roll
with flubs, flips and gaps
gaffes, waffles and flaps.

No wisdom makes it past his lips
he's made more than his share of slips
how'd he ever get through college
with such a lack of basic knowledge.

Preachers who scream and shout
from his pulpit in a pout,
Roman Catholic or UCC
is this what passes as loyalty?

They took to task poor Dan Quayle
over potatoe they did wail
but mix-ups over world war two
we're not supposed to notice and rue.

Prevarication or just lies
no matter which the flag he flies
no matter what today's faux pas
We've got his Highness Obama.

Just git-er done

At my church blog I’ve written about my frustration with Philip Yancey’s book on prayer. I’m reading my less-than- favorite author because I really enjoy the group that has chosen it. However, I’m now in chapter 12 and have really appreciated this part of his message, because he seems much more sure of himself and less full of angst, remorse, and questions. (You may have noticed I easily become frustrated with people who are constantly taking their emotional temperature or licking a finger to see which way the wind is blowing.) Also, he really speaks to my own lack of both athleticism and persistence in prayer.

Although the Old Testament doesn’t say anything about athletic games, Paul in the New Testament, being a Roman citizen in a Hellenized world, is quite familiar with the discipline of mastering a sport. And so Yancey writes about how he became a runner 30 years ago, and likens it to prayer discipline. He had met Peter Jenkins, the writer of A Walk Across America and agreed to walk with him. He was not athletic at all and realized he had only a short time to prepare to walk across Texas in July.

“As our agreed-upon time approached, I realized that if I planned to walk through Texas in July with a sixty-pound pack on my back, I had better get into shape. I bought some cheap running shoes, stepped out the door, and sprinted down the driveway, expecting to run a few miles. At the end of the block I pulled up, gasping and wheezing, with an abrupt lesson in physical fitness. Lay off exercise for a decade or more, and the body no longer responds.

I ran as far as I could that day--one block--then walked a block, ran another block, and limped home humiliated. The next day I ran two blocks, kept walking, and ran some more. Within six weeks, just in time for my Texas assignment, I was running seven miles without stopping. That began a routine of aerobic exercise that continues to this day. My body has become so accustomed to the regimen that if I have to skip a few days because of injury or illness I feel edgy and restless.

I learned early on never to ask myself, “Do you feel like running today?” I just do it. Why? I can think of many reasons. Regular exercise allows me to eat what I want without worrying about weight gain. It does long-term good for my heart and lungs. It allows me to do other activities, such as skiing and mountain climbing. All these benefits represent the kind of “deferred gratification” [that regular prayer brings].

As with physical exercise, much of the benefit of prayer comes as a result of consistency, the simple act of showing up.”

Whether gay or straight

Republicans can't catch a break. Democrats can frolic and wallow in a pit of slime, and everyone says, Oh well, it's no one's business, but not Republicans. Whether it is Newt and his third wife, a gay Congressman texting young pages, or a cabinet member with a gambling problem, the press just salivates--but only for Republican meat and potatoes.

John Ensign, a rising GOP star and possible presidential candidate, says he won't resign. Sen. John Ensign, an emerging Republican leader who has been mentioned as a possible 2012 presidential ...Link

Here's a news flash: Republicans, conservatives, Christians, whatever your label, have exactly the same personal and social problems as everyone else. Faith, like a condom in the wallet, provides no protection if you don't use it. The only difference seems to be Republicans know it's wrong when they are doing it. Democrats discover it is wrong later when the wife, kids, office, peers, press, etc. find out, abort it literarly or figuratively, or pay child support for 18 years, apologize on national TV and play kissy face, or rent an apartment outside the beltway and get the guy on the staff, and no one cares and they all move on.

NFL player gets 30 days--killed a pedestrian while drunk

Maybe if you are Donte Stallworth, this seems like justice--1000 hours of community service, loss of driver's license (for awhile), 10 years of probation, paying the family an undisclosed amount of money (to bring closure), a lifetime to regret his actions, a promise to help with alcohol and drug education, and oh yes, 30 days in jail.

After a night drinking at a bar in Miami Beach's Fountainebleau hotel, police said Stallworth hit Reyes, a construction crane operator who was rushing to catch a bus after finishing his shift around 7:15 a.m. Stallworth told police he flashed his lights in an attempt to warn Reyes, who was not in a crosswalk when he was struck. Stallworth had a blood-alcohol level of .126 after the crash, well above Florida's .08 limit. Stallworth stopped after the crash and immediately told officers he had hit Reyes. Police estimated Stallworth was driving about 50 mph in a 40 mph zone.

But to those of us who aren't paid millions of dollars to run around a football field or who don't even watch those who do, who don't drive Bentleys, and don't drive drunk it smacks a bit of favoritism, wealthy owners and pulled strings. There must be a lot of people doing jail time for a whole lot less who are really wondering about the system.

Oh yes, and he gets to have his career back.

On Mustangs and other wild things

A friend of mine is thinking about buying a 60s-something Mustang, although he is 70-something. So for him I'm rerunning the Thursday Thirteen blog I did about our cars several years ago, skipping ahead from #1 to #10, the Mustang.

1. We started married life in 1960 with a 1951 Oldsmobile 88. This car used to stall at intersections in Indianapolis and I'd get out and open the hood and jiggle something to get it going, occasionally with a push from the next guy in line. Just Married 1960, 1951 Oldsmobile
8.-10. In 1986 I replaced the 9 year old Buick with a 1983 (or maybe 1981) maroon Buick 4 dr. Skylark which had all the luxury options, plush unholstery, sound system, etc. Possibly the most comfortable sedan we ever had, but being a used car it had some mechanical problems.

Which gave me an excuse to buy my dream car--a 1987 red Mustang, which I had wanted lusted after since my brother bought one in 19631964 1/2. I had a tenure track job at the university and was wallowing in empty-nest grief--so I deserved some happiness, right? However, the night I drove it off the lot it rained buckets, and I discovered that the Mustang model had no gutter around the door frame so if you opened the door after a rain (and it rains a lot in Ohio), you got soaked as the water sheeted off the roof. I hated my dream car, and because it was low to the ground, it also just killed my back. Couldn't wait to unload it.
1987 Mustang in same location as the 1951 Olds photo. See how much the trees grew in 28 years

I sold it to a woman from Worthington who wanted a car for her teens to drive to school. I think she owned it two weeks before they wrecked it.

The Mustang hurt my back whether I was the driver (getting in) or the passenger, however, driving was less painful because I had something to hang on to.

More Obamath

HT Bits Blog

For a change, try ISBNdb

I read about this at a librarian blog today--I'd never heard of it--I've been gone too long to keep up on all the techie things about library searching. But instead of just linking to Amazon, which many library catalogs do these days (don't know if they get a kick back but they should) this librarian says ISBNdb can offer a range of sites for checking prices and availability. Here's an example.

"ISBNdb.com project is a database of books providing on-line and remote research tools for individuals, book stores, librarians, scientists, etc. Taking data from hundreds of libraries across the world ISBNdb is a unique tool you won't find anywhere else."

President Obama speaks out on the Iranian election

Fox News (you google it--I can't take any more) carried a long, long, long clip--could have been said in 1/3 the time and words. I think I agree with him, but boy! is this man painful to watch when he's off teleprompter. And to think people were near fainting just a few months ago at the thought of a graceful, fluent speaker.

I've got my orders

He's an easy guy to live with, but he does have a favorite TV show--The Closer. Tonight he said, "The Closer is on tonight, so when I get home from my meeting I don't want any Book-TV or funny stuff like that on. If I'm late, you'll need to fill me in. Channel 30, TNT."

Yes, boss. The Closer.

Kuitman thru-you

My son has been encouraging me to watch (and listen) to Kuitman, who pieces together snippets of video and sound from across the internet to create something new. Check it out here. I think my favorites were Mother of all Funk Chords, and Babylon Band. Kuitman is an Israeli musician, and his site was so popular when he first put it up earlier this spring, it crashed. Somewhere while looking for it, I also saw a video of him talking about how he did it.

Monday Memories of 1959

My brother is working on the 50th reunion of his high school class. Not only is he a "local" but he was also the class president. I think he's having a good time strolling down memory lane with his classmates. In today's WSJ, which I know he reads because he is a stock broker, Edward Kosner reviews Fred Kaplan's "1959: The year everything changed."

You can throw a dart at a timeline and write a book about almost any year (except 1957, imo) opines Kosner, but when examined closely, you can see important events that got us to where we are today. The most important one, from my view--1959 is the year I met my husband at the University of Illinois. We'd both broken up with our high school sweethearts (to whom we'd been engaged) and found each other. He told me on our first date that he planned to marry me--he was a big city (Indianapolis) slicker with a good line, and I laughed at him, much too smart to be taken in by that one. Other important events of 1959 outlined in this book were:

1. Castro took power in Cuba.
2. Berry Gordy started Motown.
3. Allan Ginsberg recited "Howl" at Columbia.
4. Pioneer space craft.
5. Lady Chatterley's lover heated up book reading.
6. Toyota and Datsun (Nissan) made their U.S. debut.
7. The microchip was introduced--the germ plasm of our digital age.
"Evolved from the transistor, the silicon integrated circuit was the work of a tinkering engineer named Jack Kilby. He showed off his little gizmo at a radio engineers' trade show in New York in March 1959. The debut of Kilby's microchip -- the germ plasm of our laptop, hand-held, wall-mounted, broadband, blog-sodden digital age -- merited two paragraphs in the next day's New York Times."
8. The first U.S. soldier was killed in Vietnam.
9. Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum opened.
10. Martin Luther King studied nonviolence in India.
11. The Birth control pill Enovid was approved for sale.
12. Jack Kerouac's "On the road" was launched.
13. The rise of Malcolm X.
14. The U.S. Civil Rights Commission documents racial discrimination in a 668 page report.

Kosner notes, "And, for all the wonders integral to 21st-century life, it's hard to argue that we're happier today than in good old, prehistoric 1959."

Fair elections

There was an on-line poll about whether the Iranian elections were conducted fairly. 1282 had voted by the time I saw it. Most voted No. I voted "undecided." How would I know, or anyone who wasn't there? How would the Iranian people know? Was our 2008 presidential election "fair?" The media overwhelmingly backed one candidate, even when there were many in the primaries. The media believed in beating up the girls--they didn't like Hillary and they smeared Sarah. Was that fair? Voters were bussed into Ohio, a key state, and shock and awe, they weren't voting Republican. "Activists" didn't know they weren't allowed to register and vote here. They got a wrist slap. Was that fair? ACORN was planting little oaks all over the country. Was that fair? Money flowed into the winning candidate from outside the United States. Was that fair? Now why should I expect Iran to have fair elections if we can't even guarantee it here? Let's stop talking about fair--life isn't fair--but elections should be legal, and dead people should stop voting.

Lauer on Letterman

It comes after the gas. . . the good old boys sticking up for each other. I don’t think Lauer gets it. The left hates her because she is 1) smart, 2) capable, 3) pro-life, and 4) didn’t get to her position on the coattails of her husband or father, so they attack her family. What Letterman said was a whole lot worse than what got Don Imus fired. Remind me. Do "entertainers" ever ridicule or suggest assaulting the young sons of politicians?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

HT Blatherings Blog

Update: Sarah Palin has graciously accepted his apology, but with a zinger of her own: In a statement Tuesday, the Alaska governor said she accepted Letterman's apology "on behalf of all young women, like my daughters, who hope men who 'joke' about public displays of sexual exploitation of girls will soon evolve."

She's made it clear that entertainers using their bully pulpit to make ribald, sexist, sexual jokes about any women, of any age, is not acceptable. It's really been open season for disgusting sex jokes about conservative women since Obama swept into office. There's Obama's lipstick on a pig comment; Obama's chief Axelrod called Prejean a "dog;" Playboy publishing a hate f**k article using prominent Conservative women as objects; the gays attacking women who actually agree with the administration's published stand on marriage; Letterman calling Palin a slut, and 14 year old daughter getting knocked up and so on (he then later made it worse by claiming--oh no, I meant her other daughter, as if that were OK). Nice guys these Obamatons. And where are the feminists? Oh, still playing with their marxist marbles, and this game isn't worth getting into because it doesn't further their agenda.

A note of thanks from Ahmadinejad’s Teleprompter

The Totus of the Potus can speak and translate teleprompter talk, and he/she has a message from Ahmadinejad's teleprompter here. The references to "seedlings" refers to ACORN and the good ideas they used during their election.

Hello, Great Satans, unclean and eaters of the pig. It is I, the blessed screens of the newly re-elected Grand Leader of the free land of Iran.

I want to thank you for the generosities of your leader, the man Obama, whose friends of the seedlings of oak trees have made The Great Mahmoud's re-election by landslide so very possible. Now you eaters of the cloven hoof and other infidels and moneychangers, may, thank Merciful Allah, wonder why the Great Satan is so committed in secret to our Great One? . . . "

The media bias and terrorists

There certainly are more coverage and media outrage about the murder of abortionist George Tiller and a Holocaust museum guard than there was about the murder of Pvt. Long, the military recruiter by a Muslim terrorist or the women murdered and wounded at a Jewish charity in Seattle in 2006 by Naveed Afza Haq (mistrial in 2008--he's still not convicted). In fact, the buzz in the news is all about right wing extremists and conservative talkers. Well, just to provide a little balance, here's a counterterrorism list which includes the Lakawanna 6, Ali Al-Tamimi, Jose Padilla, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, Iyman Faris and others, as well as white supremists. One of the women Haq shot in the Jewish Federation building was pregnant, but she's the one who called 911 and got him to talk to dispatchers, bringing the crisis to an end. The lefty columnists like Krugman who are now blaming conservative talkers for the museum guard's death and Tiller's death weren't calling out anti-war congressmen like Reid and Pelosi and anti-Bush agitators like Code Pink when those women were shot. Why the double standard?

My stats are down, but not this bad

The Daily Kos
Oct: 82,893,374
May: 25,293,380
Change: A decrease of 57,599,994, or 69%

Without Bush to hate, the lefty bloggers are struggling.

Bloggasm

Déjà vu all over again--Iran

The Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control has an interesting page called “Iran Watch,” just as it had one called “Iraq Watch” updated until three years ago. Here is Iran’s Nuclear Timetable updated this week. “Iran tested an advanced missile on May 19 – just two days after U.S. President Barack Obama outlined a plan to engage Tehran in an effort to end its destabilizing nuclear and missile work.”

The Iraq Watch data is interesting because it documents some of the speeches and letters of Senate and House Democrats (also Republicans) in the Clinton years who were concerned about the WMD of Saddam Hussein, calling for military action. Also the traditionally liberal media were on top of the WMD story until it became a Bush problem.

"The U.N. inspectors have learned that Iraq's first bomb design, which weighed a ton and was just over a yard in diameter, has been replaced by a smaller, more efficient model. The inspectors have deduced that the new design weighs only about one thousand three hundred pounds and measures about twenty-five inches in diameter. That makes it small enough to fit on a Scud-type missile. The inspectors believe that Iraq may still have nine such missiles hidden somewhere.

The inspectors have also concluded that Iraq's bomb design will work. Iraq, they believe, has mastered the key technique of creating an implosive shock wave, which squeezes a bomb's nuclear material enough to trigger a chain reaction. The new design also uses a "flying tamper," a refinement that “hammers" the nuclear material to squeeze it even harder, so bombs can be made smaller without diminishing their explosive force.

How did Iraq progress so far so quickly? The inspectors found an Iraqi document describing an offer of design help—in exchange for money—from an agent of Pakistan. Iraq says it didn't accept the offer, but the inspectors think it did." The New Yorker, Dec. 13, 1999

If you are of the “Bush Lied, People Died” crowd, you need to find out if you’re still being lied to by doing your own research. But do it quickly. Digital information is easily removed--I’ve been unable to find links I used the last 2 or 3 years. Some government sources disappeared on January 20. Also, if you are an out-of-work academic, they are hiring.

The Aeron chair

There was a story about it in the WSJ this week, but I wrote about the Aeron four years ago.

More diversity in management language

English is a rich language because it has borrowed so heavily from other languages--has over a million words. The President is leaning too heavily on the Russian/Ukranian/Serbian word for Caesar-- monarch, supreme ruler or king--Czar, or Tsar (царь). The blog at Heritage suggests the President needs more diversity:

"To start, let us refer to Mr. Feinberg as a pay Shogun. A shogun was a military leader in Japan serving the Emperor, so that seems fitting. Similarly, Steve Ratner could be retitled the car Kaiser. Carol Browner could be called the environmental El Supremo, befitting the supreme importance President Obama places on destroying our economy in the fight against global warming. To emphasize the warmth of his feelings toward the Arabs, the President could title his middle east envoy, Senator George Mitchell, the peace pharaoh.

A basic rule of economics is that things obtain value through scarcity. In contrast, excess, like an excess of currency, devalues an object. The proliferation of czars has debased the label. The President needs diversity in his labels. History is replete with titles for dictators great and small."

Speaking of diversity in language, it isn't enough these days to have someone on your medical staff who can speak/translate/interpret Spanish. This could create some new jobs under Obamacare. Isn't he promising that with all the money he's going to save with universal health care that there will be more for jobs? OK, maybe not in your town, or your field. So what if you were a Chrysler dealer creating jobs for 150 people in Cleveland--go learn some Spanish medical terms and be a translator at a hospice in Peoria. Unfortunately, the doctor pointing this out in the June 10 issue of JAMA, wasn't much of a linguist.

"It is equally important to appreciate various forms of Spanish dialect. Even in Spain, where Castilian Spanish is spoken, there are Basque, Catalan, Galician, Valencian, and many more variants of the language. There are major differences among dialects from South America, the Caribbian, or Spain." (p. 2327)

Basque, Catalan, Galician, and Valencian are not even Spanish, but are different languages. Basque isn't even a Romance language. Some Caribbean islands use English, French, Creole, Dutch, Portuguese or patois. Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right?

Strawberry rhubarb pie

The pie I fixed for our final meeting of the Visual Arts Ministry of UALC Wednesday just tasted so good I made another one today. Pastor Drummel said that when he lived in the south he didn't get rhubarb pie. He and his wife are Baptists, but have moved to this area to help a family member who attends our church, so he is now a very popular part-time pastor at our Lutheran church. He's also an excellent artist. Maybe I should take him a piece tomorrow?

Of course, I'll have to check it out first. "No crust, no pie," is my motto. I don't care how fabulous the filling is, if you've messed up the crust, forget it! I'll never be as good as my mother, but I'm better than most. But today I ran out of flour--was about 1/4 cup shy. I was going to go knock on the door of a neighbor, but decided may 1/4 of a cup of Bisquick might work. We'll see. It's too hot to taste.