Current Cites: July 2010--20th anniversary

Although the editor makes a bit of fun with this, I always enjoy keeping up with the library stuff with "Current Cites." Just one of the many excellent publications that appear in my mailbox regularly--others include home extension from Nebraska, book reviews from Christianity Today, a genealogy newsletter, Glenn Beck's newsletter, American Spectator, WSJ snippets, Heritage Foundation, American Chemical Society, Nature magazine, Thyroid newsletter, and something on computer technology.

". . . unrestrained, unmuzzled, and unrepentant. Shield your inbox, throw up a filter, and otherwise gird your computer to resist our continuing assault, as we fully intend to sow the seeds of "current awareness" -- or more accurately our very much mistaken interpretation of such -- far and wide for many a decade more." Roy Tennant

Current Cites: July 2010

Made in the USA?

What if the environmentalists, greenies, sustainable eaters and tree-huggers got serious about "made in the USA" while they are saving the world?  These examples are for a very small town.  Here at Lakeside we have an active, but growing group called LESS, Lakeside Environmental Stewardship Society which sponsors programs on improving the community's impact on the environment and makes recommendations.  Some of their ideas are good, some not so good. Our Chautauqua seminars have a strong environmental component.

Today I paid $80.00 for three books about Ohio birds and wildlife.  They are wonderful books, I like the author (who lives near me), and they are a terrific asset to my collection, but all were printed in China.  We have a terrific farmer's market in Lakeside--the Association sells green canvass type shopping bags with its logo, made in China, of course.  There is a big push on here to change to CFL electric bulbs--to use less electricity.  However, most brands are made in China and we still have no really safe way to dispose of them.

 The not so good are the required huge bright blue recyclable containers which sit in the street sometimes for 48 hours, and even when put away are an eyesore. Because many of the cottages are rented, and these containers are only picked up on Friday, someone leaving on Sunday or Monday will roll them to the street to wait several days for pick up, and then there's no one around to put them away.  Sometimes on my Sunday morning walk I may roll 5 or 6 of these containers back to the house or drive-way. Because of our tiny lots, there really is no way to hide them.

HIV/AIDS JAMA special issue

JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) periodically has a topic specific issue, and July 21, Vol. 304, no.3, was on HIV/AIDS. Not everyone reads medical literature, but if you happen to pick up this title which is held by many public libraries, turn to p. 364, "JAMA Patient Page" first. HIV is a virus that causes a disease, AIDS, and it is primarily but not exclusively, a disease of gay men and IV drug users. Women get it from their male gay spouses and gay boyfriends (don't play games with terms like bi-sexual). Women can then pass it on to other men who are not gay, and to their children during pregnancy and nursing. And even then, that's a very small percentage; most transmission is through gay men. So that's where prevention should start, but that's not the emphasis in this journal because it is not culturally sensitive to expect people to change destructive behavior, unless it is smoking, drinking, overeating, not exercising, not recycling or wife beating. Even though gay sex has caused a world wide epidemic, after a push in the 1980s for closing of bath houses and spreading condoms and mouth dams around, the main stream medical people are too feaful to say, "Stop it."

The patient page clearly says, "Women with HIV infection can transmit the virus to their babies during pregnancy or delivery or through their breast milk."  It says nothing  "clear" about gay sex and the transmission of disease, and instead tip toes through "bodily fluids, including semen, " using condoms, and not having sexual contact with infected persons, including oral, anal or vaginal.

Call it anything you want, but it's still a tax increase

We got this from AIA today--just one of the many sneaky increases all businesses and private individuals will be getting in 2011 and 2012. This administration is a disaster, folks. Now I ask you, what business doesn't spend more than $600 to purchase goods and services? Obama says he wants to help small business, but he does everything he can to thwart them because he knows they are the backbone of a market, entrepreneurial economy. Even Apple and Microsoft were once small. No one goes into business to fail.

Effective 2012, architecture firms and other small businesses may be hit with a dramatic and unnecessary increase in paperwork and tax forms. If the current law takes effect, any company that makes payments of $600 or more to purchase goods or services from any vendor will be required to file a 1099 MISC tax form to report the transaction. In short, your business will need to complete this form for virtually every service or piece of equipment it purchases. Many firms, especially small businesses, will suffer disproportionately under these rules. But now we have a chance to stop this law from taking effect. Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) has offered an amendment to a small business bill, which is currently being debated in the Senate, that would repeal this requirement. The amendment could be subject to a vote as early as today, July 28. We urge you to contact your Senators and tell them to repeal the 1099 paperwork requirement.

Schedel Arboretum and Gardens, Elmore, Ohio

If you are visiting northwestern Ohio (or Lakeside) and would like to take a side trip, don't miss Schedel Arboretum and Gardens in Elmore, "America's hometown." Our Wednesday Herb Class from Lakeside went this morning, toured the gardens, had lunch and visited the gift shop, and everyone was ecstatic with the beauty and variety, and many were making plans to visit again.

A tornado ripped through the gardens in 1992, but they made lemonade from lemons, and used the open spaces created by the downed trees to plant flower gardens, whereas before it had been primarily trees, shrubs and bushes. They also lost 10 acres when the state took it for the interstate, but were able to obtain certain concessions which created the lakes. Even so, the noise from the freeway is ever present.

Schedel Arboretum and Gardens--the sculptures

There are many sculptures in the Schedel gardens that are part of the permanent collection, but many others by various artists are for sale. They really enhance the natural beauty.

Marblehead, Ohio Rock of Ages--Historic Inn

If you need a BIG place for a reunion or a church group, this would be the place. Today at lunch I sat with the owner. I was so impressed with her personality and love for her Inn, I decided to take a peek on the internet, although I was pretty sure I knew which house in Marblehead it was. They have done a fabulous job (based on the photos) with the upgrades. She says they book year around--in the fall and winter it is usually local church and hobby groups, and in the summer, family events. If you want to be by the water, and be close enough to Lakeside to take in all the cultural advantages of a Chautauqua season, this would be for you.

Marblehead, Ohio vacation rental by owner: 13 bedroom House rental that sleeps 36. Rock of Ages, Historic, Lakefront--Great for Reunions!

Every night the same conversation

At our summer home on Lake Erie in Lakeside, Ohio, we wash and dry the dishes together. At home we have a dishwasher. This is such a pleasant, companionable task we often say we'll do it in Columbus, but we never do. And as he washes, and I dry, my husband says the same thing every evening, "How can two people create all these dirty dishes and silverware?" So I go through it piece by piece--this fork was used for cat food, this spoon was for the Cool Whip, this spoon served the main dish, this one the vegetables. It's like talking to a toddler who asks "why," you explain, and he then says, "but why?"

Tomorrow the herb class is going on a field trip to Schedel Arboretum and Gardens in Elmore, Ohio. We'll have a guided tour and a box lunch. Our hostess is Carolyn Swanger. We met Gene and Carolyn Swanger a number of years ago when they bought a cottage at Lakeside and then needed an architect to make it fit their family's needs. He's faculty emeritus at Wittenburg, just some of the many wonderful people we've met here.

Each Wednesday there's a picnic in the park, but so far we haven't attended. There always seems to be something else, and tomorrow will be no different. After a box lunch I don't think I need hot dogs for dinner.

Nomad reviewed at Books and Culture

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is not a Christian, but in her new book about adjusting to life in America, Nomad, she writes:

Christian leaders now wasting precious time and resources on a futile exercise of interfaith dialogue with … self-appointed leaders of Islam should redirect their efforts to converting as many Muslims as possible to Christianity, introducing them to a God who rejects Holy War and who has sent his son to die for all sinners out of love for mankind.

Unfortunately, many Christian churches have been on a passionate hunt for social justice, or environmental justice, or economic justice, and have completely forgotten about the great commission, which will lead people to God's justice. If she's looking to "moderate" Christians, those she says don't accept the Bible as God's written word for us in these days, she's in for a disappointment.

Nomad | Books and Culture

E.J. Dionne certainly got this one wrong

The Obama crowd wasn't cowering before anyone--certainly not Fox News which didn't break the story. Certainly not Glenn Beck who defended Sherrod for the shabby way she was fired. The home team bench is so light (i.e. white) in the Obama White House they didn't even recognize the Sherrod name, didn't realize until after she was fired that she was married to a Civil Rights "hero." Nor did they even bother to give the woman a fair inquiry or check out the story that was going around the internet. Sorry Mr. Dionne, you're calling the wrong people wrong. Obama didn't act hastily because of right-wing propaganda--Shirley Sherrod really did give a full speech that insulted many of us--you can go on-line and read it--but she was fired because that's just what leftists do. Sometime they eat their own. You could be next.

Let's face it, Mr. Dionne. Fox is cleaning your bosses' clocks and you're worried. They have better coverage, more diversity, more topics, and better looking female talking heads. So what to do, what to do. Oh--let's call them names. That works!

E.J. Dionne Jr. - Enough right-wing propaganda

New notebook time!

The one on the left is the new one--designed by Legacy Publishing Group, Carol Rowan artist. The used up one is called Pattern Play, designed by Jaqueline Savage McFee for Carolina Pad and Paper.  Both, of course, made in China, but "created" and sold by U.S. companies.  Pattern Play has a nice feature of dividers with envelopes--I have another one in a slightly different pattern, but thought I'd switch to a floral theme.

People at the coffee shop think I'm journaling, and I am, sort of, but it usually ends up on one of my 12 blogs.

The Plain Dealer forms partnership with PolitiFact Ohio to help readers separate political fact from fiction

That's going to be hard to do--separate fact from fiction--because the editor of PolitiFact is an editor for the Cleveland Plain Dealer which owns Cleveland.com. It's all in selection of the facts to be analyzed. Does the conservative say something that seems soft on porn and the liberal forget a minor rule in registering something. Hardly the same story impact. I can say it's a fact that Jesus rose from the dead, and you can say it's a fact that it's recorded that way by his followers who wanted to see what they thought they saw. Totally different take--same "fact." Recently, a reader rejected the abortion statistics (50 million since legalization) cited by the National Right to Life because she is a liberal. NRL used statistics from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) of the federal government. It also reported that abortions are way down compared to the 1970s. So are those stats biased too, or is the reader by refusing a source because of its pro-life stance? I know the Cleveland PD has a political slant, both in its news stories, its editorial pages, and the letters from readers selected for publication. It's a private company and has a right to do that. But I have the right to be skeptical.

The Plain Dealer forms partnership with PolitiFact Ohio to help readers separate political fact from fiction | cleveland.com

Throwing Others Under the Bus Over Race

Apparently, looking at the Sherrod speech in its entirety, she called pretty much everyone who doesn't agree with Obama a racist. Those of us who don't like socialism/marxism are lumped with the people who enslaved African Americans (but if you go way back that would be other Africans and Arabs who rounded them up and sold them to Europeans). So who is the name caller? I still think the villain in this is the President who without checking the facts (a bad habit of his) had her fired, then had to blame others in his apologies. Does this man ever accept blame for his own mistakes?

She said: "So that's when they made black people servants for life. That's when they put laws in place forbidding them (i.e., blacks and whites) to marry each other. That's when they created the racism that we know of today. They did it to keep us divided. And ... it started working so well they said, 'Gosh, looks like we've come upon something here that could last generations.' And here we are, over 400 years later, and it's still working." McCarthy goes on to quote Sherrod apparently addressing the motives of some of Obamacare's opponents. She said: "I haven't seen such a mean-spirited people as I've seen lately over this issue of health care. Some of the racism we thought was buried. Didn't it surface? Now, we endured eight years of the Bushes, and we didn't do the stuff these Republicans are doing because you have a black president."

Has anyone told her it was a Democratic president who set up the Jim Crow laws, that the KKK helped Robert Byrd get elected, and that Democratic administrations are keeping blacks in poverty through block grants and food stamps in every major city of the U.S.?

Throwing Others Under the Bus Over Race - HUMAN EVENTS

Ms. Sherrod's Speech Was Most Certainly Not About Transcending Racism - Andy McCarthy - The Corner on National Review Online

And you can go to the NAACP site and read her entire speech and be hit up for money.

Video on lack of leadership

The hasty firing of Shirley Sherrod shows the WH can move quickly when it wants to.

Changes, changes

Blogger has changed its design template and Cutest Blog on the Block has apparently discontinued the skin that I loved. Sigh. Then nothing would work without upgrading my Internet Explorer. With a lot of blogs, that's a lot of changes for this old lady.

Yard sales at Lakeside

On Sunday I got some wonderful deals at a yard sale one street over:  a first issue (v. 1, n.1) of National Geographic Traveler (1984), a nice apron that looked like it had never been used, a kitchen towel with the knitted top so you can attach it to a drawer handle, lovely artificial hydrangea blooms in blue, and another magazine.  It was all marked down--to free.

Now I need to find a blender.  I could swear I had one here at the cottage and I have potato chunks, onions, and broccoli perking away on the stove for broccoli soup, and I can't find the blender!  I've looked everywhere--even in the basement.  No blender. Second choice would be a hand potato masher, but it's gone too!

Our wonderful five senses

One of the things that Jill Taylor suggests in her book "My stroke of insight" is that we pause and become more aware of and enjoy our senses. This morning during my 6 a.m. walk along the lakefront in Lakeside, Ohio, I did just that. We're in the middle of a heat wave in July, and had a wonderfully refreshing storm last night. The path is asphalt, close to the water and to the cottages.

1. TOUCH -- Skin is our largest organ. I could feel the wind on my face, arms and hair--and my sweaty clothes.

2. SMELL -- The wet grasses, flowers, rocks with moss, from last night's storm. It's a fresh, but somewhat moldy smell due to the hot weather we've been experiencing.

3. SOUND -- Waves splashing, birds chirping and calling, the chain on the flag clainging against the pole, a jet overhead, a distant motor boat, a teen-ager bouncing a basketball in the park, a car door slamming, a runner's footfall as he runs past, insects humming.

4. SIGHT -- The electric lights in the dimness on Put-in-Bay, Kelley's Island, Marblehead, the oar boat, the lakefront street lights, reflections on Lake Erie, a woman walking the lakefront with a red shirt and white pants, drooping wet flowers, robins, gulls, the tents closed up for the craft show to return.

5. TASTE -- This is a bit harder. But I had brushed my teeth after my morning coffee, so I could taste the toothpaste.

The strange case of Shirley Sherrod and a big government settlement

Nothing's ever simple or as it seems, is it? There's apparently a lot more about Shirley Sherrod and the USDA that we didn't know. She and her husband, a big Civil Rights leader, were involved in a lawsuit against the federal government and received a big payout. Also Breitbart didn't edit the film--showed it as it was given to him. Was someone setting up Breitbart or the Sherrods? Who was the source? Why were Obama and NAACP so quick to throw her under the bus? They certainly haven't acted that way about other charges of black racism in government. What were the circumstances of her hiring that she could be let go so unceremoniously and from all appearances, illegally? Aren't there rules about that? Maybe this isn't going to go away after all.

American Thinker Blog: Forty Acres & a Mule -- Sherrod Style?

And here's the left-handed view of this, although no mention that in the settlement, 4 times more black farmers showed up for the money than the USDA census recorded.

Julie Zickefoose

It has been a delight to have Bill Thompson III (Bird Watcher's Digest) and wife Julie Zickefoose, artist, writer and naturalist, here this week. I went to his lecture on Tuesday and the early morning bird watch with him on Wednesday. Today I went to her slide show and lecture and heard excerpts from her forthcoming book about rescuing injured birds and nestlings. The rescued baby chimney swifts (5) story was just the best. It was wonderful and I think will be a terrific Christmas book for any of you who love a good story, great art, and animals.

Ohio Magazine article on Julie Zickefoose

Some apologies just aren't--Spitz and Vilsack

Sara Spitz's apology about wishing to watch Rush Limbaugh die with his eyes bugging out wasn't an apology at all. She's sorry she was found out, and that's not an apology.

"As a publicist, I realize more than anyone that is no excuse for irresponsible behavior. I apologize to anyone I may have offended and I regret these comments greatly; they do not reflect the values by which I conduct my life."

Vilsack, the head of USDA, however, now that was an apology, even if the White House forced him, one that could be emulated by journalists, NPR hacks, and government officials.

Now then, when will Obama apologize to the Cambridge police for his hasty words last summer?