Happy 20th Anniversary, Honey!

The kids and I used the Bosch to make an anniversary cake.

New Ticker Challenge

Okay, time to move on. I'm pleased that I was able to meet my last goat of 2000 minutes of treadmill walking before my December 29 anniversary (I started in mid-September). I tried to make it as easy on myself as possible. I've indulged in buying seasons of Law and Order SVU to watch while I'm on the treadmill (I'm currently on Season 3). My kids understand that I will shirk my other responsibilities in order to go on the treadmill, and they're old enough that I can get away with doing that.

My next challenge is a big one, at least for me. For most people, running isn't that big of a deal, but I absolutely hate it. I'm such a wimp. We're big fans of the show The Biggest Loser, and I've been so impressed with how some of the contestants will start out several hundred pounds overweight and by the end of the season will be running a marathon. I'm definitely not going to aspire to running a marathon, but I can add a little running/jogging to my routine.

For the last couple of weeks, I've been adding a few 1 1/2 minute stretches of jogging to my 20 minute treadmill routine. So, I'm pretty comfortable with doing 4 1/2 minutes of running a day. My new ticker goal is to run 200 minutes by Valentine's Day. That's in 7 weeks. So, I need to average about 30 minutes of running a week. I can either do 6 minutes a day/5 days a week, or 5 minutes a day/6 days a week. I'll have to see which works out best.

Looks Like I Made It!

Sorry to punish you, just because I finished my exercise ticker, but this is the song I have going through my head right now. I guess you dodged a bullet there - I'm not able to do the hyperlinks right not.

Here it is, if you feel like cutting and pasting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MbAyldbjrw

Girls and Boys, Princesses and Heroes

One of Grace's presents this year was her own Wi game. It's a princess game, designed for the 3-6 year old crowd. At the start of the game, she needs to set up her character, including what kind of dress, hairstyle, bracelet, shoes, etc., that she'll be wearing. As the game progresses, she needs to wave the remote around. This serves as her wand so that she can help rescue the various princesses through stages. Grace has found that while she's in the middle of a rescue, it's much more important for her to change her dress or bracelet than to continue with the rescue.

Daddy has been extremely patient with helping her navigate back to the start of the game, many times losing any progress that she made, so that she can make the necessary wardrobe adjustments.

Henry has not been so patient. This is a boy whose life primarily revolves around superheroes defeating the villains and rescuing the good guys. He cannot be in the same room with Grace while she's playing, because he loses control when she abandons the rescue. It is beyond his comprehension that she could lose focus on her mission.

I'm sure if Henry were to play this game, it would take him less than an hour to complete all of the levels. It's not a complicated game. For Grace, it's about the prettiness of the game, and interacting with the princesses. The game itself is secondary.

It's interesting to see how the dynamics of a 4 year old girl vs. an 8 year old boy play out with this video game.

Contraption Failure!

I've held off posting about this because I felt so betrayed.

Literally within 20 minutes of writing the last post, I was in the kitchen dicing some more onions and the thing broke. Irreparably. Frankly, I took it personally. As in, "Ha, ha, I got you to blog about me, now I'm outta here!"

But, I'm the one having the last laugh. For Christmas, Dave bought me the food processor attachment for my Bosch. I never used to bother getting out my food processor just for things like onions. But now I will. First, because using this attachment will be much more convenient than lugging out my food processor. Secondly, for spite.

And also to show my appreciation to my husband. Thanks, Honey!

(Mary, the title of this post was for you. :) )

Contraption Confessions

A couple of years ago, my mother-in-law gave each of her kids an onion dicer. I tried it once, and it didn't work very well. I wasn't able to push down on it hard enough. The outer layer was too tough. It didn't seem to be worth using it for the time it takes to clean it up. So, I let it sit on the shelf for a few years.

The other day, I needed to chop some onions, peppers and olives in a hurry. So, I got it down from the shelf and decided to give it another try. This time, it was a totally wonderful experience. Everything diced up quickly.

I was so excited about this experience, that I made a special trip to the store to buy onions, celery, carrots and peppers. Last night, I chopped up 4 green peppers and 3 mixed peppers. I flash froze them, and put them in freezer bags for when I might need them. I also made up 6 2-cup bags of an onion/celery/carrot mixture to have in the freezer for soups, etc.

It didn't go quite as well this time. I used regular yellow onions, and the outer layers were more difficult. If you just peel them off, it works fine. I used sweet onions the other night when it worked so slick. So, I'm not sure if it has to do with the freshness or the brand of onions. Some will work better than others.

Still, it probably didn't take me more than 45 minutes to do the chopping work and clean up. It'll be nice to have those vegetables handy when I need them.

Now, I guess I'll give that multi-grater that she gave us last year another look.

Today's Bible Lesson

We're in the middle of our homeschooling day, but I wanted to make a quick post about something that happened during our Bible study. Madeline reads a section of the Bible (from Acts), and then their books instruct them to draw a picture.

Today's Bible section was from Acts 9, where Saul is lowered in a basket through an opening in the wall. The kids' instructions were to draw the basket in which Saul was lowered. When they were done drawing, Henry explained his picture.

Henry: Here's the wall with the basket attached to a 3 way pulley. Here's Saul waiting to get in the basket. And here's a guy reading the scroll How To Get Someone Out Of A City When People Are Trying To Kill You

Madeline: For Dummies

Enemy Camp

The President of the United States. The Commander in Chief of the strongest military on earth. The Leader of the Free World.

He gives a speech at The United States Military Academy at West Point, and how does one of his media hacks characterize it? "He went to enemy camp" Isn't something terribly wrong when the people charged with doing the dirty work of protecting our country consider their commander in chief the 'enemy'? Isn't it even worse when the commander in chief considers his troops the enemy?

I'm sure there will be much backtracking today and 'of-course-I-didn't-really-mean-to-say-thats". But, it's out there.

Here's the antidote to a president who disdains the military.

Climategate - Bring On The Popcorn

I haven't read enough, yet, to fully understand Climategate. But, I know I'm going to enjoy watching as the scandal enfolds. This morning I've been shirking my household responsibilities to revel in it.

Here are a couple comments from an Althouse column this morning on how newpaper commenters are bringing the editorialists up to speed on the scandal:

From Traditionalguy:
The story of how easy it was to yell Warming in a crowded theater while dressed up as Scientists, and watch the lemmings self destruct, needs to be told over and over everywhere. The Authority that Science and especially medical science has accumulated is being rented out to the Gang in power at the UN and in the gang in power in DC. We want that authority back now, and we will not allow it to be rented out or stolen again. That is the news story that needs to be told.

The Commenter John posts a recurring theme:
Has anyone else noticed the palpable sadness among the more honest global warming advocates? You would think that the possibility of AGW not being true would make any reasonable person happy. Hurrah, it is wrong. We don't need to radically change our lifestyles and energy use. Not so with the advocates. They seem geniunly distrubed at the prospect of people being able to go on with life how it is currently lived.They really are just modern day killjoy puritans who have replaced God with the State and Gia.

Good point. Shouldn't everyone be happy that we aren't destroying the world?

But, of course, as commenter hawkeydjb states, the goal has always been control over human behavior:
There may or may not be solid scientific evidence for (or against) anthropogenic warming, but it's a meaningless debate. The fight against global warming is a means to an end: greater control over human behavior. It wouldn't matter a bit if the whole concept of global warming were discredited, the end will remain and another means will be sought

The guys at Hillbuzz are always looking at how every situation will impact the 2010 and 2012 elections. They feel this is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate to the not-politically-interested how the mainstream media manipulates the news for their own agendas. If that attitude can be enforced, the general public will be more likely to admit they made a mistake in voting for Obama, because they can blame the MSM.

Ahh, this is going to be fun. Bring on the popcorn, indeed.

The Wilding of Sarah Palin

Wow, I just read a great article at American Thinker called The Wilding of Sarah Palin. The author is a former liberal who recently was awakened to how misogynistic the Democratic Party is.

But the biggest shock of all has been realizing that the Democratic Party is hardly an oasis for women. Now that it has been infiltrated by the hard Left, it's a dangerous place for women, children, and other living things

As a reformed liberal myself, with a sociology type degree from a liberal university, I was very familiar with many of the thought processes she's gone through. Great read.

Theme Songs

Back in the day, Tracey Ullman played a psychiatrist on the Ally McBeal show. Her big thing was that everyone needed a theme song. For whatever reason, I was reminded of that tonight and I decided I needed a theme song.

At least for today, I think mine would be There She Goes, by The La's.

Dave's would be Telstar, by The Ventures.

I was trying to find a clip of Tracey Ullman in that Ally McBeal role, but I didn't find one. Just for fun, here's her They Don't Know.

Is That A Fact, Sarah?

I am now holding, in my formerly-fingerpaint-stained-hand, a copy of Going Rogue by Sarah Palin. After hearing that the AP hired 11 fact checkers to dig up dirt on this book (that would be 11 more than they hired for Obama's or Gore's books), Dave asked, "I wonder if the AP is going to send Palin the bill?"

It's hard typing while holding a book.

Monk Predictions

The end is near. Just a few more weeks until the last episode of Monk airs. We don't have cable, but we've been able to watch the new shows online within a day or two of their original air date (either through imdb or hulu.com). (Update - It's actually 8 days after the air date) The final episodes are: "Mr. Monk Is The Best Man;" "Mr. Monk And The Badge" (much excitement in our house when they read that); "Mr. Monk And The Ending, Part 1"; "Mr. Monk And The Ending, Part 2".

For the past few months, we've been trying to figure out how the last episode of Monk will play out. Every once in awhile, someone will make a random statement or question ("Does anyone know if Mitch's body was ever recovered?"). Normal people wouldn't understand what we're talking about, but we do.

There are times we've thought that the only happy ending would be if Monk would die. That would be the only way he can find peace and be with Trudy. I think that might be too risky for the producers.

Here are my predictions:

Randy and his new girlfriend will get engaged
Stottlemeyer will marry his girlfriend (we'll probably find that out within a few days)
Natalie will end up with Mitch's friend from the submarine (unless Mitch's body never was recovered and he returns)
Julie and Benji will get together (that one's for Madeline)

Monk is going to unwrap the Christmas present from Trudy (or it will accidentally get unwrapped). There will be a clue in that present which will lead him to her killer. He will confront the killer and be on the verge of death. He will have a vision of Trudy. She'll thank him for finding her killer and tell him he needs to move on. He'll wake up surrounded by his friends. And he'll be happy.

Or, we'll see a vision of Trudy greeting him with her arms outstretched. And he'll die, with a smile on his face, surrounded by friends.

Added: A few kind of wild possibilities ran threw my head. I thought I'd post them here because, really, what do I have to lose?

1. Monk has always regretted that he and Trudy never had a baby. Maybe he'll fall in love, perhaps someone from a previous episode. At the end they'll flash forward to him walking in the park with a child.

2. Michael Douglas will make a guest appearance in the role of Steve Keller from The Streets of San Francisco. I couldn't think of any other San Francisco based TV cops, but maybe there are others out there.

Spoilers in the comments.

Reduced Services For All

I just spent an hour composing a letter to Senators Kohl and Feingold regarding their health care vote. Here's what I wrote:

I understand I am probably wasting my time writing this, but I must implore you to not vote for this partisan health care overhaul. There are ways to help the uninsured without dumping one more burden on the backs of the rest of your constituents.

Analysts consistently agree that this legislation will cost much more money than it saves.
But, that’s just the financial damage.

Your constituents understand that the current changes in ‘recommendations’ for mammograms and pap smears will become ‘regulations’ in short time once the government is in charge. I understand that my mother would not have discovered her breast cancer during a routine mammogram when she was 76 if the ‘recommended’ cut off age of 74 for routine mammograms had been in place.

I understand, as do your other constituents, that mammograms and pap smears are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a reduction in health care services. No one is going to be mocking the existence of ‘death panels’ when reduced services for all, and rationing, become a reality. Everyone will know someone who suffered and/or died because of the effects of this health bill.

Don’t stop the bleeding of some by making everyone else hemorrhage

Regardless of any other work you have done in your career, if you vote for this bill, your legacy will be of reducing the quality of health care for everyone in America.

Do YOU understand that?

A Democrat's (Sincere) Thank You To President Bush

Over the summer, I posted quite a bit about the Palin/Letterman feud, and my letter writing campaign to the late night misogynist's advertisers. During that time period, I received inspiration and advice from the Hillbuzz website. It's a fascinating site. These are true Hillary and Bill supporters, but they're extremely disillusioned with Obama and his henchmen, and by extension, the Democratic Party.

When Sarah Palin was nominated for Vice President, they recognized the same sexist tactics being used against McCain/Palin that were used against Hillary in the primaries. They found themselves actively supporting the McCain campaign against Obama. In the process, they've discovered common ground with Republicans, perhaps moreso than with Democrats.

While these men classify themselves as moderates, they are definitely social liberals. It's enlightening reading their pieces urging Republicans to become less complacent and more cut-throat, like the Democrats.

I found myself getting a little choked up this morning reading the post I'm sure they never envisioned themselves writing even a few years ago, Thank You for President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush. It's definitely worth the read.

Arguing Class

I've discussed in an earlier post why I feel it's important to teach my kids to be good writers. In our society, bad ideas can win the battle of public opinion, if they are well communicated. This also applies to oral communication.

The other day, I discovered that Henry supposedly has the same personality type as Barack Obama. One of the characteristics of this personality type is that they are good arguers. That definitely fits Henry. We had a discussion about this, and decided we were going to start debate class at home. Or, as Henry likes to call it, Arguing Class.

We've had a few sessions so far, and they've gone very well. It's a good fit for our particular home situation. Madeline has strong reasoning skills and is able to come up with insightful arguments. She could stand to gain some confidence in stating these positions.

Henry, on the other hand, has no qualms about stating his opinions, and he does so dramatically. He could use some help in learning to discern the most effective arguments, however.

So far, we've done Resolved: Christmas Is The Best Holiday; Resolved: Scooby Is Better Than PJ; Batman vs. Jonas Brothers and Resolved: Monk Should Die In The Final Episode Of The Series (because that is the only way he'll find true happiness and peace).

One person will take a side in the argument, and the other will take the opposing viewpoint. The affirmative person will list their position points, perhaps with some help from me, and I'll write them on the board. Then, the negative person will counter each of the arguments. As we continue to do with this, we'll learn how to have these arguments more closely resemble debates.

As you can imagine, a few of these have gotten rather emotional, especially the Monk one. I was unprepared, however, for how heated today's session got. Resolved: Steve Is Better Than Joe (Think Blue's Clues). Madeline was Affirmative, Henry was Negative.

Here's how it played out:

Affirmative: Many children thought Steve died when he left.
Negative: Their parents should have been more involved and explained what was going on.

Affirmative: Joe doesn't know how things work
Negative: You can't know before you learn, plus, Steve could never figure out clues.

Affirmative: Steve is closer to everyone's heart.
Negative: You can't get close to someone's heart if you don't know them.

Affirmative: Joe wears dumb shirts
Negative: That's a subjective opinion

Affirmative: They changed the theme song with Joe
Negative: Another subjective opinion about which song is better

Affirmative: Joe doesn't play the guitar
Negative: Maybe he doesn't want to

Affirmative: Joe has a freaky duck
Negative: You can't blame someone for their interests

Affirmative: It was wrong to fire Steve because he's balding
Negative: Hey, he's getting old

Affirmative: Joe is eye candy (inside family joke)
Negative: Joe is eye candy

We're having fun with this, but I can tell we won't be able to do a different topic every day.

The Packers And Dad Time

I had a breakthrough the other day in my understanding of my relationship with the Packers vs. my kids' lack of interest in, bordering on resentment of, the Packers.

When I was a kid, my dad worked 6 days a week at a paper mill. Plus, we had a full scale dairy farm. He and the boys mostly ran that. His paper mill vacations were spent baling hay. Sunday afternoons was one of the few times I had to spend with my dad. I learned to love football because he did.

(I also learned to love the Brewers, but, since I don't have access to any of their broadcasts now, that interest has dwindled. I mastered sheephead during the off seasons.)

For my kids, it's the opposite. Dave is available to them most evenings and weekends, as well in the summers. They aren't that motivated to learn about football, because they don't feel the need to spend those 3 hours with him each week.

Some Clever Number Puzzles

Henry, who is 8, came up with some number puzzles. I wanted to share them with you.

1. What two digit number is its first digit away from 100?
2. What three digit number is its first two digits away from 100?
3. What number in the hundreds is its first two digits away from 200?
4. What number in the two hundreds is its first and last digit away from 300?
5. What two digit number is its second digit away from 100?

Not Totally In The Tank?

Mary left a comment on my blog post about the show Community. Knowing that the shows 30 Rock and Community are considered to be in similar vein definitely confirms my prejudice against Community.

I've seen 30 Rock a few times. It's won the Emmy for Best Comedy for several years in a row. I think it's the most overrated show on TV. Of course, I have a conservative bias and 30 Rock has a strong liberal, Christians-and/or-conservatives-are-idiots bias.

I was pleasantly surprised to read this recap of the latest episode of 30 Rock. It's nice to see that Obama is (at least for one episode) an acceptable target of a top mainstream show.

National Novel Writing Month

November is going to be a big month in our family. I need to get my house in order, and then my mom is going to move in with us. Fortunately, I will be getting some much-appreciated help from family members with the house organization. But, I'm still pretty stressed out just thinking about it.

It's crazy to think about adding a major project to my November itinerary. But, yesterday I found out that November is National Novel Writing Month. I've always had novels in the back of my brain that I've thought about writing, but never went farther than that.

I'm seriously thinking about doing it. The idea is that you spend a month writing like crazy, and not worrying about polishing it up, character development, etc. Every day you write, and go to the website and record the number of words written. The goal is to write 50,000 words between November 1 and November 30. If you do, you win.

I'm also thinking of having the two older kids enter the Young Writers Contest for the month, instead of their regular writing assignments. Maybe Madeline will have a goal of 20,000 words, and Henry a goal of 10,000 words.

I know it's crazy to add something like this to my schedule right now, but, it might be just the thing to keep me from stressing out too much.

Not Watching Community

A show I'm not interested in watching is a new one called Community. The ads for it don't interest me in the least.

First of all, it's set in a community college. My gut tells me, ridiculing the students is the thrust of the show.

Secondly, Chevy Chase, Mr. I-Want-Tina-Fey-To-Decimate-Sarah-Palin, is one of the stars of the show.

You know, maybe it's a great, well-written, funny show. I don't care. Maybe I'm paranoid, but after all of the mockery Sarah Palin endured for having a non-elite education, I can't help thinking that the show is an attempt to jab her.

Did I mention that I attended a community college for 2 years?

Watching Castle

I haven't been able to watch the new season of Castle on TV, so I've been catching up watching episodes on the computer. It's a fun detective show. The male lead character is Richard Castle. He's a famous mystery writer who recently killed off his popular main character. Needing inspiration, he starts tagging along with Detective Kate Beckett. He's so impressed with her work, that he decides to base a new character on Beckett - Nikki Heat.

As show logistics would have it, Castle is a friend of the mayor. He's able to convince the mayor that he needs to continue tagging along with Beckett, so she's forced to let him stick with her. So, along with the mystery of the week, we have some nice chemistry between the leads.

I recently discovered that there's an actual book, Heat Wave, penned by 'Richard Castle', starring Nikki Heat. It hasn't turned up in our library system yet, but I'm anxious to read it.

A Few Links

First, Sarah Palin posted a great article on facebook about the consequences of the health care bill. You can read it here.

I also liked this one from the Daily Pundit. He characterizes the problems in the GOP this way: Here’s the nut of it: The GOP establishment sees their problem as being that they are out of power. People like me see the problem as being that they are out of power because they have turned their backs on the principles those who once voted for them believe in.

As a warning, he calls the GOP "S**t Sandwich Republicans" a number of times in that article.

A Little Distraction

I was planning a writing a new blog post about how spending time on the computer has become too distracting to me.

But, Camille Paglia has a new column today. So, I sat back with a cup of tea and allowed myself to become distracted.

A Splendid Surprise

I've found myself overwhelmed with upcoming events in my life. I have several social events that I'm hosting in my house in the near future, plus I'm preparing to have my mom move in with us.

One project that I need to address soon is the upstairs closet. It may not seem that important, but I need to move my current school room into that closet. Unfortunately, that closet has become a catchall for any number of things. It literally became impossible for me to walk into it (it's long and narrow) because of the mess.

Yesterday, instead of dealing with anything, my response was to go in my room, close the door and take a nap.

Last night, Dave and I had to go to a meeting. When we came home, Madeline announced that they had cleaned out the closet. What an incredible surprise! I would never have even thought to ask them to do that. It looks great, too. I'm able to see where everything is, and it will be much easier to decide where things should go.

I love my kids.

Four-Year-Olds and Games

A few observations about playing games with 4 year olds:

When Madeline was 4, she loved to play Candy Land. Except, she didn't really want to play with the cards. She mainly wanted to play with the girl and boy figures (especially the girl ones). The game playing was more about relationships than any gamesmanship.

When Henry was 4, he liked to invent games. They had convoluted rules, involved superheroes, and were time consuming. I didn't spend much time playing games with Henry at that age.

Grace also likes to invent games, but her rules are much simpler. She's not that concerned with winning, and she's more inclined to have herself lose a turn than have me lose a turn. Interestingly, style if very important to her. The hand gestures involved in throwing the (pretend, usually pink) die are also very important in determining what happens on each turn.

Surprisingly, I've found that I have more patience in playing games with 4 year olds than I used to.

The Jack Squat System of Accomplishment

I probably shouldn't be posting on this yet. I've known for an hour that Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and I am still utterly dumbfounded. The committee has determined he was worthy to win based on the fact that he has "captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future" and because of "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

This award is even more mind-boggling given the fact that nominations for the award were due February 1. So, Obama was given the award based on 11 days in office.

Giving the world 'hope', is the same as actually accomplishing something? Does the committee realize how ludicrous that is?

I have to admit, I'm not familiar with any of the other contenders for the award. According to the AP, "speculation had focused on Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a Colombian senator and a Chinese dissident, along with an Afghan woman's rights activist". I'm going to go out on a limb here, and assume that these people actually did something, perhaps even took some personal risks, in the interest of furthering their cause.

But, according to the Nobel Prize Committee, you don't have to do anything to actually accomplish something. With that in mind, I am going to propose the Jack Squat System of Accomplishment. (Trademark Pending)

Probably the best way to describe it is by example:

Today's Goals:

I hope to fold laundry and have it put away. Consider it Accomplished!
I hope to cook for and feed my family 3 times today. Consider it Accomplished!
I hope to take my kids to the library and choir today. Consider it Accomplished!
I hope to do some exercising today. Consider it Accomplished!
I hope to finish grading my kids' schoolwork for the week. Consider it Accomplished!

I have more examples, but I would rather not do the actual work of typing them now. Consider them written.

I can't believe I got so much done already this morning. I'm exhausted. I think I'm going to go back to bed. I'll have to close the door so I don't have to listen to my hungry, bored family all day.

Letter On Healthcare 'Bill'

Following is the text of a letter I sent to Senator Feingold and Senator Kohl. For reference, see There Is No Baucus Bill, The Real Cost of the Baucus Bill, and Quinnipiac poll.

I cannot state in strong enough terms how disgusted I am that the Senate is planning on voting on the Baucus health plan as early as Tuesday.

This is not a piece of 'transparent' legislation, like we were promised by the current administration. This is not even actual legislation - it's a set of concepts. How can you vote in favor of this as early as Tuesday?

The latest Quinnipiac poll shows that 47% of Americans oppose the current health plan, while 40% are in favor of it. By a 57-37 margin, Americans do not want a bill that only Democrats support.

The Baucus proposal (again, not even actual legislation) will have a severe, negative financial impact on most of your constituents. As the CATO Institute points out, "The CBO scoring makes it clear that the Baucus bill's reduction in future budget deficits comes not from controlling government spending or reducing health care costs, but because of a rapid escalation in tax revenues."

It is hard enough to make ends meet. Your constituents do not need a "rapid escalation" in taxation. We will not forget who voted for these tax increases. (And yes, even if they're called something else, they are still taxes.)

How can anyone in good conscience vote for something that 1) the American people (and, indeed, the legislators themselves) have not been able to read ahead of time, and 2)will have such a massive, negative impact on so many?

Do NOT underestimate your constituents. We are angry that the federal government has already saddled future generations with insurmountable debt. We are tired of our viewpoints being marginalized by legislators who are supposed to be our servants. We are sick of stale platitudes used to justify dreadful legislation. We are fervently motivated to oust anyone who opts to put politics ahead of the interests of his constituents.

Letterman's Mandate

This morning I came across probably the best line I've ever read on a blog. With regard to the assertion that David Letterman is "a proverbial court jester, a clownish figure with a mandate to prick the powerful, not set himself up as a model of virtue," Ann Althouse replied,

But the question is sexual harassment, so: Ask not whether he has a mandate to prick the powerful, ask whether he has a prick to mandate the powerless.

Ugh!

Last night was a tough one. Here's my analogy:

Stephanie Plum = Packers
Joe Morelli = Brett Favre
Ranger = Aaron Rodgers
Joyce Barnhardt = Vikings

Imagine Morelli threatening to break up with Stephanie for years. Finally, tearfully, he does. She asks him several times if he wants to get back together and he says, 'No'. So, she decides to commit to Ranger.*

Last night was like a double date between Stephanie/Ranger and Morelli/Joyce. Everyone in the restaurant kept saying how nice Morelli & Joyce looked together. And Joyce punched Stephanie in the gut.

It hurt. It really hurt.

*For the sake of my analogy, I'm ignoring the fact that Ranger isn't in to commitment.

Cute Grace Quotes

The other day we were in the car. For some reason, Madeline and Henry started talking about what they would name their kids when they grow up. Henry, who usually says he's going to have two boys, Bruce and Wayne, said he would name his son Chuck, after Grandpa Chuck. To which Grace replied, "Oh, Mom, isn't that nice. Henry's going to name his son Grandpa Chuck!"

Yesterday, out of the blue, Grace says, "I don't think I'm going to kill my husband. Actually, I think he'll kill me." Too much Monk.

John Muir, Yosemite, Enacting Change

Last night, Dave and I caught most of the first episode of Ken Burns' new National Parks documentary.

I am going to digress already. First, the obligatory I know that PBS and Ken Burns have a liberal slant, but I still enjoy these documentaries. Second, the above linked article starts out with this statement (from a previous opinion piece, which I did not read) :

"[The documentary's] premise—that Big Government saved wilderness and national treasures that private enterprise would have destroyed—is a lot more politically pointed (in the year of the Tea Party) than you'd expect from a Burns documentary about trees. "

Please. There's a difference between big government taking over the free enterprise system while burdening future generations with phenomenal debt, and the government protecting natural resources. My time is too limited this morning to delve into this.

Right now, I want to discuss John Muir. First off, I need to say that I grew up with a totally trivial bias against him. I went to Horace Mann Middle School. John Muir Middle School was our cross-town rival, and therefore, evil. (Did you know there are only two John Muir Middle Schools in the country?)

Some things I learned about John Muir from the documentary last night:

- His father beat him and made him memorize the Bible. By the time he was 11, he had memorized 3/4 of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament.
- He attended the University of Wisconsin. He was able to use his knowledge to help businesses become more profitable.
(I may have missed this on the documentary, but something I read on Wikipedia is that he spent the years during the Civil War in Canada)
- He was temporarily blinded in a work accident. When he recovered, he walked to Florida. He planned to walk to South America and ride down the Amazon, but he was taken ill. He went to Yosemite instead.
- He turned his spiritual attention to nature. The documentary called it a Christianity with creation as its core. The wikipedia article states that he rejected the idea of a Creator. I think it would have been more apt to simply state he worshipped nature, instead of using the term 'Christianity' as a generic for spirituality.
- He married. His wife's family owned a vineyard and he helped to increase its productivity.
-He became ill. His wife realized he needed to get back in the natural environment, so she sent him to Mt. Ranier.
- He then went back to Yosemite, and was disgusted with how commercialized it had become.

Here's the part that stood out the most for me:

- He wanted Congress to protect the Yosemite region. The establishment wanted to discredit him, so he appealed directly to the people. He wrote articles in Century magazine glorifying the Yosemite region. This led people to petition their congressman to create a national park. Congress established it as a state-controlled park shortly thereafter.

So, one of our country's first conservationists, the founder of the Sierra Club, realized that the normal channels for enacting change weren't open to him. He used the means available to him to let the people hear him.

I wonder what he would have done if the internet had been available to him? Perhaps he would have bypassed even the magazine, and gone directly to blogging. I'm sure Tom Brokaw and Thomas Friedman would have been duly distressed.

Selective Journalism

I was planning on taking a break from discussing politics for awhile, but I came across this comment on the Althouse blog. I wanted to remember it, so I thought I'd post it here:

"A particularly apropos reminder when discussing the selective journalism of the NYT:

It is in the nature of [secular progressivism] for its adherents to make a certain kind of lying – and not only to others but first of all to themselves – a fundamental part of their lives.It is always a mistake to assume that [secular progressives] do not know the truth about the political reality they espouse. If they don’t know the truth (or all of it) one day, they know it the next, and it makes absolutely no difference to them politically. For their loyalty is to something other than the truth. And no historical enormity is so great, no personal humiliation or betrayal so extreme, no crime so heinous that it cannot be assimilated into the ‘ideals’ that govern the [secular progressive] mind, which is impervious alike to documentary evidence and moral discrimination.– Hilton Kramer

Kramer was writing about Stalinists. However, secular progressives in the US would be Stalinists but for constraints imposed on them by the traditional American institutions they work to dismantle: The Constitution, capitalism and Judeo-Christian values."

Isn't That Precious?

On our way into town, we pass over a highway. We go past a pro-life billboard, with a picture of a baby with words to the effect that every life is precious. The word 'Precious' is prominent on the billboard.

Probably about a year ago, as we were driving past it, Henry remarked to Grace, "Look, there's Precious!" So, several times a week, we'll hear Grace shout, "There's Precious!" as we pass the billboard.

This week, we heard "Where's Precious?" We could all see that she was still there, so we told her not to worry, she was still there. Grace was insistent that someone had taken Precious away. As we went home, Madeline again pointed out to her that Precious was still there. No, Grace insisted, she was gone. Then, Madeline realized that all this while, Grace had been looking at the billboard across the highway that had a teddy bear on it. That was Precious. And, sure enough, Precious is now gone.

The rest of us were pretty tickled about this year-long misunderstanding. Grace doesn't see the humor in it.

Reporting The News

Charlie Gibson, the anchor of the ABC Evening News, said yesterday morning that the reason he hasn't reported on the ACORN scandal is because he hadn't heard anything about it until the Senate voted to withhold funding the other day.

I believe that last night was the first time Katie Couric reported on it at CBS.

If you hold a position that's responsible for telling the American people the news, shouldn't you be aware of major developing stories?

Shouldn't we hold Gibson and Couric to the same standard they held Sarah Palin?

An Analogy

I thought of an analogy regarding the concept of The American People Are The New Fourth Estate. I'm not sure if it quite works, but it made me feel a little clever, so I decided to post it.

Suppose every time you go to the doctor, they seat some of the people on the left side of the waiting room, and some of the people on the right side. The people on the left side always received excellent care, but the people on the right side were generally neglected. Furthermore, if you ever complained, the lefties said you were overreacting. The doctors provided outstanding care. The doctors, too, called you a bunch of whiners and insisted their service was exceptional.

After awhile, some of the righties decided that they were going to take matters into their own hands. They figured out how to treat their own sicknesses, and started treating the other righties as well.

Of course, the doctors and the lefties trivialized the service these righties were performing, claiming it inferior.

They didn't understand that the righties would have much preferred to let the doctors do the job. Someone had to do the job the doctors refused to do.

American People Are The Fourth Estate

I wanted to post this video. It ties in nicely with my recent posts on the media and also on ACORN.

Incidentally, Breitbart's Big Government blog has the latest scoops on the ACORN debacle.

ACORN And Federal Funding

Below is the text of an email I just sent to my Senators and Congressman (I changed the wording on the second paragraph for my congressman). I don't write them too often. I guess part of me has been worried that if I write them too often they'll dismiss me as extreme.
I guess I'm not worried about that so much any more.
I also sent a separate note to Senator Feingold, thanking him for his recent decision to vote against Cap and Trade.

"I am one of your many constituents who is disgusted by the recent, and still developing, ACORN scandal. While I have always been skeptical of this highly partisan organization, the recent videos are over the top.

I understand that there is an amendment on the Senate floor to block any further money to ACORN. That is a good first step, and I urge you to vote for the amendment.

However, that is not nearly enough. There need to be Congressional investigations into how ACORN has used taxpayer funds, and about the allegations of voter fraud associated with ACORN. There needs to be assurances that this organization will not receive funding under any different names.

While I understand that there may have been legitimate reasons for originally funding this type of organization, there is no reason that the blatantly corrupt ACORN should receive federal funding.

Please take these concerns seriously, and help me regain trust in my elected representatives."

2 Pounds

I'm trying to not get too excited about it, but the scale was down 2 pounds this morning. Woo Hoo!

Keeping Track of Pencils, Etc.

I wanted to pass on a little trick I implemented this year for school. The kids' pencils and pens, glue sticks, etc. were always getting lost.

This year, they each got a pencil box. Okay, no big deal there. I bought a roll of colored duct tape for each of them (Madeline = blue, Henry = green, Grace = pink). They each (at least the two older ones) started with 10 pencils, 3 pens, a scissors, a glue stick and 24 colored pencils (plus some stand by pens). On each of these, I wrapped a small strip of their respective duct tape.

Now, when I see anything lying around that should be in the box, I know exactly who to call and have them put it away. It's a small thing, and it took a bit of time to set it up, but it's been very helpful in the day to day running of school.

Tickers

I set up a goal to lose 20 pounds by my 20th anniversary (12/29/2009). I set up another goal of exercising for 2000 minutes. I made some tickers, but the exercise one is kind of hard to read. I'll have to see if I can adjust that somehow.

So far I'm at 70 minutes down, 1930 to go!

Update : Thetickers were moved to the bottom of the page.

At Least He Isn't Biased

We don't usually watch the evening news, but tonight Dave had the beginning of it on just before supper. Brian Williams, the anchor of NBC News, led off with a statement along the lines of "President Obama's health care agenda has been sabotaged by town hall meetings spreading false rumors of 'death panels'. "

Grrrrrr

The Media And The Administration

If you spend much time on the internet, you probably already know that Obama's Green Czar, Van Jones, resigned over the weekend. Van Jones made derogatory statements and lived a radical lifestyle, and he should not have been appointed to a non-accountable position overseeing a $30,000,000,000 budget.

These are the accusations against him that I am aware of:

1) Earlier this year, he called Republicans a**holes.

2) He actively supported a cop killer, Mumia, convicted of the 1981 slaying of a Philadelphia police officer.

3) Jones is a self-described communist. Specifically, "by August [after the Rodney King verdict] I was a communist." He assumed a leadership role in the group STORM, Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement, a Marxist organization in the San Francisco area.

4) Most disturbingly, he's a 'Truther'. This is a term for people who believe that the Bush Administration was behind the 9/11 attacks on our country. Jones now claims that he didn't understand the 2004 petition he signed. It's implausible that a community activist wouldn't understand the words on a petition. More importantly, as early as 2002, he organized a Truther March in San Francisco.

Items #1 and #2 above should not, of themselves, disqualify him from service. (Although, if a Bush appointee had called Democrats a**holes, the mainstream media would have been all over it.)

However, isn't it a very genuine and reasonable concern to question whether a man who has core beliefs that undermine our system of government should be responsible for overseeing a $30,000,000,000 budget within that same government?

Obama named Jones a czar, bypassing the part where the Senate has to confirm his appointment. Jones could have spent the money in any way he chose, with no accountability to the American people. Fortunately, we have a diligent media intent on pursuing truth and making sure that there is no corruption in the Obama Administration, right? Ha Ha.

It's been documented that all last week, as the controversy surrounding Jones' past was brewing, CBS, NBC & ABC, as well as other mainstream news outlets, had zero stories on him. As this article states:

"When the vast majority of the traditional news outlets in the nation fail to report major news regarding the country and its government, citizens are kept precariously in the dark concerning vital news that they need to know in order to make informed choices. CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, the Washington Post, etc. are all so heavily invested in the success of the Obama administration, due to their obvious cheerleading role during the campaign and after the election, that they are loathe to report any information that may place Obama, the Administration, or the Democratic Congress is a negative light."

When the press finally reported about the controversy, after Jones' resignation, they focused on Item #1 above as the main reason for his downfall, not his extremist views.

On Sunday's Meet the Press, Tom Brokaw and Tom Friedman claim that the main lesson from the Jones debacle is that the internet is a dangerous place, and now people will be afraid to say anything controversial over fear that it will be posted on the internet. You can check out the video here .

That's the main message? Not that the mainstream media was bending over backwards to protect an Obama appointee from public scrutiny? Don't American citizens have a right to know if someone in a highly responsible government position has extremist beliefs that, are, in fact, subversive to the government?

Of course, I've been aware of a liberal bias in the media ever since I switched over to conservatism. Lately, it's become more than annoying. It's chilling. Those who are supposed to be the watch dogs for all of us, have instead become the lap dogs for the other side.

By the terms they use, by the inflections in their voices, by the questions they ask and don't ask, even by what they edit out and what they leave in an interview, they've been able to decide how the debate will be presented. Who's going to appear to be reasonable, and who's going to appear to be wacko? Who's going to come across as a nice guy, and who's a jerk? Who gives thoughtful responses to a question, and who's answers are mindless?

Is that the way it's going to remain? In years to come, will the few still dominate the dissemination of information? Or, will internet based media gain more and more prominence? In the future, who will be the main framers of the debate?

I don't know. But it definitely reinforces my conviction that I need to hone my own, and my children's, thinking and writing skills so that we'll be prepared to participate.

The Government is Not a Village

Thinking about government, morality and taking care of each other is reminding me of the whole idea of "It takes a village".

My understanding of "It takes a village to raise a child" is that you need a number of people who love and are emotionally invested in an individual child to help him grow, flourish and mature. The "village" should be family, friends and neighbors. Loved ones.

Hillary co-opted the term to totally reverse its meaning. If the government becomes the "village", you are, in fact, undermining the influence of the very people the child needs. No bureaucrat can ever care for a child like a parent or friend can.

It's all about who gets to define the terms.

Another Facebook Quote

Here's the other facebook post, from X:

"No one should die because they were forced to pay the way for someone else in any capacity. No one should go broke because they were forced to pay for someone else anything. It is a moral imperative to be charitable to those less fortunate than you. ...However, it is fascist and immoral to take by force what one person has earned and give it to another. "

I'm guessing that the quote I previously posted has been making the rounds on facebook, and this is a response to it. While I agree with this one, I probably would have worded it differently. I think that this particular response seems to imply that those who are opposed to government run health care mainly object because of financial concerns.

I'm not going too political on facebook, at least not yet. But if I were to post a response to the first post, it would be along these lines:

"No one should die because a government panel decides that they are too old or too disabled to warrant spending money on their health care. No one should go broke because they had to pay taxes. No one's child should have to wait six months for a doctor's appointment. And no one should have to choose between paying wages and paying taxes."

Incidentally, X posted this today:

"No one should be without a beer because they cannot afford one, and no one should be broke because they bought too many beers. "

Health Care, Government and Morality

Yesterday, a couple of my facebook friends had posts about health care. Here's the first one:

"No one should die because they cannot afford health care, no one should go broke because they get sick, and no one's child should miss a doctor's appointment because it costs too much. And no one should have to choose between buying medicine and buying food. If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day."

While I'm quite fond of the person who posted that, I'm quite annoyed by the sentiment.

I strongly resent the implication that if I don't want the government to run health care, I am uncaring. That having the government in charge of health care (or anything) is somehow a morally superior stance.

I contend that having the government take charge of anything is a morally inferior stance. It's a copout.

Aren't our families and children better off when the parents take charge of providing for them? Well, I could buy this insurance policy but I know that the government will step in if something bad (health crisis, flooding, other natural disaster occurs). Shouldn't the schools be teaching my kids about that (manners, hygiene, sex ed, values, etc.)?

The more people expect the government to be involved in anything, the less they are inclined to be individually responsible for them. The more government is involved, the more institutionalized, and therefore less human, the help becomes.

If I know that the widow down the street is being provided for by the government, I am less inclined to see if she needs help mowing her lawn or getting a ride to church. My conscience is eased knowing that she's being helped, and yet I am in no way inconvenienced (aside from paying taxes).

But doesn't working through an inconvenience make us stronger. Does government control of anything make its citizens stronger or weaker?

I support government help for those in our society who are truly in need, namely those who are mentally and physically unable to care for themselves. But, the more we expand the category of those needing government assistance, the more we weaken the entire population.

Hitler Upset About Favre

This video totally cracked me up.

Brain Fog

I'm having trouble linking to an article I just read. It's from a post-partum feminist mom who loves her baby and recognizes that for awhile her brain is going to be foggy because of hormones, sleep deprivation, etc.. That's okay with her because there isn't anything else she'd rather be doing than spending time with her baby.

The article has received a lot of attention and animosity from some feminists because she claims her baby is like an addiction and asks why feminists can't embrace their love for their children. If you're interested, you can go to the main website and scroll around for the article.

www.doublex.com

You know, your brain is going to be foggy for awhile after having a baby. For some of us (me) longer than for others. Can you imagine being a few months post-partum with a special needs child, being thrust into a whirlwind of travel, having your son ship off to war and being the butt of jokes from national comedians?

No one cut Sarah Palin any slack (nor did she ask for any). Isn't a presidential campaign an extraordinary feat to begin with? To undergo it during the fog of recently having had a baby requires a superhuman effort.

Yes, she needed to be examined as a potential president, but did she need to be dissected? Couldn't she just have been scrutinized to the extent that, oh, say, Obama was?

Health

I haven't been feeling well lately, and I've noticed that I feel worse when I think about the government and how much it's trying to takeover. I've decided that I must have some kind of syndrome, and that other citizens must be experiencing the same condition. In fact, I've decided it's probably an epidemic.

So, what should we call it? Here are a few choices -

Overreaching-Bureaucracy-Aggravating-Me Anxiety (OBAMA)
Tax-Hikes-from-an-Unaccountable-Government Syndrome (THUGS)
or
Really-Atrocious-Healthcare-Mandate Syndrome (RAHMS)

Of course, I could be overreacting and it might just be a case of Government Anxiety Syndrome.

Facebook

I'm on facebook now, and I'd welcome friends.

The Written Word

I used to think I'd be a writer. I wrote reams of papers in college, and enjoyed my creative writing class. Writing was my fall-back position. But then, after years of writing nothing, I'm finding my sentences are little more than "It's good. I liked it."

So really, it's not that my writing is so bad, it's just that I'm not the deep thinker that I used to think I was. There are a few things that I care passionately about and I'm able to focus long enough on them to reach coherent, meaningful and perhaps interesting opinions.

One of the purposes for my blogging, is to train myself to start thinking and analyzing more. Some days I'm going to write about vegetables. Some days I'm going to write about TV Shows. Some days I'll write about the Packers. And maybe every once in awhile I'll have a coherent thought on some vast injustice in the world.

We're going to be starting school next week, and this year I've decided to place more emphasis on writing. Over the past year especially, I've realized the importance of helping train my children to become strong communicators.

We're going to be using Andrew Pudewa's Excellence in Writing program. Pudewa has a great quote on one of his DVD's that helped to crystallize in my mind why communication is so important -

"It's very important, this writing business, because we are faced with a world full of lies, basically. And the liars are very good at what they do.... History proves that a bad idea well presented is more powerful than a good idea poorly presented."

Whether it's in the realm of social, political or spiritual ideas, there are always going to be people spreading lies and evil. And they do it well. We will have a greater impact if we train ourselves to communicate clearly and confidently.

I Can't Quite Drop It

I can't seem to let this whole Julie/Julia thing go. Here's the thing. Julie kept bringing up the fact that she worked with so many Republicans. She must have used the term "Republican" to mean mean/insensitive/greedy etc. several dozen times. I don't like to classify myself as a Republican, but it was just so annoying. And lazy.

I know, I just don't have a sense of humor. Blah, blah. How about this? I've also worked in bureaucracies, and there were plenty of Democrats there. My main impression is that they spent a lot of time complaining about the governor (then a Republican), how little they were paid, and perusing the Current Opportunities Bulletin (COB) to see what other jobs were out there. Wouldn't it be hilarious if I repeatedly used the term "Democrat" to mean whiny and lazy?

I'm sure I'd have to go through some sort of writer sensitivity training if I did.

Julie and Julia

I've been seeing commercials for this movie for a few months now, and I'm anxious to see it. As with most movies, I'll wait until it hits our local second run theater to see it (or, I'll wait until it's on DVD).

Julie Powell, the author of Julie and Julia, spent a year cooking every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and blogging about it. The book tells snippets of Julia Child's life, as well as detailing Powell's year of cooking.

A few weeks ago, I saw an interview with Powell and discovered that Julia Child hadn't liked her blog. It made me feel bad for Powell to have invested so much of herself into the book, and then find out that Julia Child was disappointed.

Yesterday, I picked up my copy of Julie and Julia from the library. I'm only a few chapters into it, but, I have to tell you, I'm agreeing with Julia on this one.

Maybe it was my expectations. I love reading The Pioneer Woman's blog or The Crockpot Lady's. I was expecting a funny, "hang out with me" story. But, the thing is, while I would love to hang out with the Pioneer Woman or the Crockpot Lady, I don't think I'd like to hang out with Powell.

Certain things set me off right from the start. She discusses harvesting her eggs for money. I don't care for her language. She discusses some, er, reading material that her father had hidden (a book, not magazines) and how her experience reading that is similar to her experience reading Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

But, perhaps these offenses could have been overlooked if I wasn't detecting an underlying tone in her writing. She's appalled by the fact that she may have to live her life as a mere secretary, even though she isn't really working very hard to get an acting career going.

During the course of the past year, I've become overly sensitive to and irritated by elitest attitudes and snobbery towards people living ordinary lives. I'm sensing a mindset of privilege in Powell. She annoys me.

But, I will continue to read the book and I'll amend this post if necessary.

I'm hoping the book doesn't ruin the movie for me.

What Brett Doesn't Get

Brett Favre recently made a comment along the lines of "A true Packer fan would understand why I have to play for the Vikings."

Whatever.

The thing is, a true Packer fan never loved the Packers because they brought Brett Favre to greatness. We loved Brett Favre because he helped return the Packers to greatness.

In sports, love is always conditional.

John Hughes

I was never really into John Hughes films as a teenager. I married someone who was, and have since learned to appreciate Hughes's work.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles is probably my favorite Hughes film. I also really like Only the Lonely, which he produced.

Here's a great tribute to Hughes.

(Unfortunately, I read a couple archived blog posts from the same author, which ruined her sentiments a bit for me.)

Things In Books

I found out about this blog today. It shows notes, items, etc. found in used books. To be honest, I barely skimmed that site. But I wanted to bring it up, because Dave bought a (completely unused)copy from Goodwill of Musician's Notebook: Manuscript Paper for Inspiration & Composition for Madeline. Inside was a sticky note that read:

"This caught my eye and I though of you both. Share your love for music forever - it is a special bond. There are great quotes in here as well. Love, Breanna"

I'm always curious about the stories behind the inscriptions and little notes I find inside of books. I'm looking forward to browsing the Forgotten Bookmarks blog.

Book List - Barnes and Noble

Yesterday, Dave and I had a date. As is usual, we went to a couple of thrift stores (both of them Goodwill) and then out to eat. We had planned on going to Culver's for dessert (we noticed that they had turtle sundaes for $1), but we were too full just after eating. So, we needed to kill some time.

That meant going to Barnes and Noble. Lately, I just don't enjoy going to Barnes and Noble. I have no desire to spend money on new books when I can buy them so much cheaper second-hand. But, I remembered I had a little notebook and a pen in my purse. So, I enjoyed browsing and writing down the titles of books to get from the library. I made a point of not making eye contact with any store employees.

Here's my list:

A Beautiful Blue Death, by Charles Finch
The City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau
The Giver, by Lois Lowry*
Tangerine, by Edward Bloor
Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko*
Old Friend From Far Away, by Natalie Goldberg
The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
Best in Tent Camping: Wisconsin by Johnny Molloy*
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Julie and Julia by Julie Powell*
Heavy Rotation by Peter Terzian*
A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horowitz
The Lace Makers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri
Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout
Girl in the Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold

For the record, we were still too full for dessert. We ended up having some mixed drinks instead, when we got home.

*Books I have since requested through the library

Book List - Goodwill, and UGGH!

I just typed this whole list up, along with the Amazon links, and lost it during the posting process. I'll have to get into the habit of saving it before posting. Here I go again.

Here's a list of books I recently purchased at Goodwill. Most of them were on clearance for less than $2.

The Milk Makers, by Gail Gibbons
Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling
The Legend of Jimmy Spoon, by Kristiana Gregory
Classics Illustrated Stories by Poe
Historic Communites: In the Barn, by Bobbie Kalman
Top Ten Shakespeare Stories, by Terry Deary
Reconstruction and Reform, by Joy Hakim (I had previously purchased the first 5 books in the History of US series, also from Goodwill)
Coloring Atlas of Human Anatomy by Edwin Chin, Jr.
The Gold of Troy, by Robert Payne
Endangered Species, by Nevada Barr (I bought this one for camping)
To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, a Son and a Lifelong Obsession, by Dan Koeppel
Otherwise Normal People: Inside the Thorny World of Championship Rose Gardening, by Aurelia C. Scott
Luncheon of the Boating Party, by Susan Vreeland
and
daa dada daaaaa
Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child (It was originally printed in 1961. Mine is the 17th printing with a 1968 copyright. The inside cover says it sold for $10. I paid $5.99)

Poverty Cookies

The other day I bought The Green Tomato Cookbook on clearance at Goodwill. I've never really cooked with green tomatoes, but I thought it would be fun to see what it had. This recipe looked appropriate:

Poverty Cookies

2 c. flour
1 1/3 c. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. powdered lemon peel
3 T. soy grits (I would assume corn would be fine)
2 c. quick cooking oats
1 c. ground and drained green tomatoes (reserve juice)
2/3 c. vegetable oil
1 t. vanilla
Milk plus reserved tomato juice to equal 2/3 cup

Mix dry ingredients. Add rest of ingredients. (May need more flour if tomatoes are very juicy) Mix. Drop from teaspoon on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Makes 5 dozen.

Another Thing I Have Against The GOP

This is a pet peeve I've had since the election.

When Sarah Palin was selected by McCain, she totally ignited the base. People who never donated to the Republican Party started giving it money. The mother of a special needs infant, she put her life on hold to travel around the country rallying the voters. She was pummelled by the media. Her family was trashed by comedians and bloggers. I can't imagine keeping up with the scheduling and the programming by McCain's operatives. Plus, her son had just been shipped to Iraq.

She gave much more to the GOP than it gave to her.

Couldn't they just have let her keep the clothes?

Sarah Igniting Conservatives

The more I consider Sarah Palin's resignation, the more I applaud it. I'm excited about the fact that she's planning on campaigning for conservative candidates. I'm glad she's aligned herself with the conservative cause, rather than the GOP cause. The Republican party stands for so little, it's hard to get excited about it.

I'm not sure if this analogy works, but I'm going to try it out. Bear with me. I'm envisioning a maypole with streamers flowing and people holding on to the streamers dancing around it. I'm also remembering how years ago a friend of mine described another friend, " 'Frank' is so laid back he's almost prone." So my vision is of a weakened, diluted, hunched over, almost prone GOP as a pole that's impossible to rally around. The conservative values that the GOP once stood for are steadfast and strong. We can rally around them. Sarah can help rally and unite the already disenchanted Tea Party people, as well as the independent voters who are becoming more and more disillusioned with Obama and the Democrats' policies.

The Dems have pushed back debate on Cap and Trade until September. I believe Sarah is supposed to be giving a speech at the Reagan Library on August 8. If we consider that her launch into her new political waters, she'll have plenty of time to pelt the contemptible* Cap and Trade legislation.

I'm excited about her contributing to the election of Republicans in 2010. (Please, please, please let's get rid of Kagen)

*I so much wanted to use the word "crapulent" here, but it didn't quite have the right meaning.

Sarah, hmmm

I think the bogus ethics charges against Sarah have definitely been hampering her ability to do the job she wants to do. I think the phenomenally vehement attacks against her person, and especially against her children (most notably Trig) also played into her decision to resign. But, here's my theory on why she's resigning right now:

Cap and trade. These are extraordinary times. Obama and Congress continue to enact crazy legislation that will sink our country. Cap and trade is the worst, and the majority of Americans don't understand what it's all about. Sarah knows about energy and she knows how to speak to the American people. She can explain to Joe America why it's such a load of ****.

I'm not sure when the Senate is expected to vote on the bill, and she may still be performing her governing duties up until it's voted on. So, my theory is flawed, but I'm clinging to it (along with my religion - I don't have any guns).

Then, she'll move on to trying to defeat Obamacare, and other items on the agenda. And, she'll campaign for congressional republicans in the next election. * Who better to build on the grass roots energy of the tea parties than Sarah? If she can deliver Congress for the republicans, is the fact that she quit as Governor really going to hurt her?

*(I think she'll have some kind of book tour in there, too)

Extreme times call for extreme measures. The democrats need to have controls placed on their power, ASAP. She's in the perfect place to rally Americans.

I really hope I'm right.

Our Valuable Health Information

The Census Bureau really wanted to talk to us.

A few weeks ago, we received a packet in the mail from them saying that we'd been selected to participate in a health survey. The information collected in these surveys is vital to gaining valuable information to help the government decide how to allocate its health education funding. Blah, Blah, Blah.

We decided we did not want to participate. Frankly, I think it's a waste of government money - first in gathering the data and then in disbursing funds for health education. Plus, I just didn't want to give a government agency my family's health information.

According to the letter, we had until the next Tuesday to inform their office that we wouldn't be participating.

Well, on Monday afternoon, we were visited by a Census Bureau representative. Dave respectfully but firmly told her we would not be participating. She responded in kind, but warned us that someone would probably contact us again.

We were away for a few days, but when we returned their was a packet from FedEx on our porch. Inside, there was a xeroxed booklet informing us how valuable the data from these surveys is. And a pen. As in, "Oh, good, now that I have a pen I can fill out the survey!" The next day, we received another FedEx packet with the same booklet and a refrigerator magnet. That afternoon, we received a visit from a different person from the Census Bureau. He received the same answer from us. The next day, another Census Bureau official arrived. We did not back down.

Did I mention that the Census Bureau office is 1 1/2 hours away. So, we had 3 visitors, clocking a total of 9 hours in car time (and mileage) to see us. Plus, 2 FedEx packets. And a pen and a refrigerator magnet. How much did all of that cost?

Yes, it would have been simpler to just answer their hour-long survey. But, we have valid reasons for not participating, and they could have found them out from a phone call. Plus, after all of the crummy bills that the president and congress are ramming down our throats, I just wasn't in the mood to cooperate with the government.

Blah - ging

I've had several things I wanted to write about, but I've been in a slump and haven't been able to get my fingers moving on the keyboard. So, I'll just start with something easy.

If you're one of the two people who read this, you know we're watching Monk on DVD. A few weeks ago, we made it to the Season 4 Christmas episode. I think it was the first Christmas episode of the series. There were a couple of nice touches. First, at the Christmas party, Captain Stottlemeyer sang "O Holy Night". It's rare to hear a genuine Christian song on any show, so I was pleasantly surprised. Second, there was a brief segment where a nun mentioned that the father of X had said that forgiveness was the greatest revenge. She went on to say that He was Monk's father, too. It was nice to actually hear a reference to God in a Christmas episode.

Last night we watched the Season 5 Christmas episode. Stottlemeyer sang "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and Natalie had a "Happy Holidays" sign, so it was back to political correctness. There was a brief bit of "Silent Night" near the end, though. The ending was charming.

Letter Writing Campaign Update

Just a quick note here.

I have to confess that I haven't been sending out the letters everyday like I thought I would. I have been emailing Mars, Kelloggs and Olive Garden. (There are probably better email addresses to use, but I've been googling the company's name along with contact information). At least I feel like I'm doing something.

I've heard conflicting reports that Olive Garden may have dropped its advertising from the Letterman Show. I'll be away from the computer for a few days. I'll have to see how things are when I get back to it. I'll probably continue emailing Mars and Kelloggs, and possibly adding Johnson and Johnson.

Bullies

When we think of bullies, we think of the nasty kids who taunt, push and demand money from the kids without the power. We think of Scut Farkus, from A Christmas Story who relentlessly taunts Ralphie and his friends. They habitually back down.

I've been thinking about bullies this past week. Isn't a comedian who has a show and incessantly pounds at particular individuals, a kind of bully? I mean, if you say anything in response, you come across as being a poor sport who can't take a joke. If you consistently taunt the same person over and over, and hide behind the mask of "comedian", aren't you being a bully? The victim of your taunts can't fight back. Think of Tina Fey's caricatures of Sarah Palin during the campaign. Think of the late night comedians relentless pounding of her character. It would be different if they told the same number and same kind of jokes against liberals. But they don't - it isn't even close.

Letterman, in particular, has not given up smashing Bush/Cheney and Palin, even though Obama has been in office for 6 months. How is that anything other than laziness and mean-spiritedness? In his faux-apology, he implied that he shouldn't have to defend what he said because they're "just jokes". Is that an acceptable standard? Should we be able to say anything we want with impunity, as long as we call it a joke? Or does that standard only apply if you're ridiculing a conservative woman?

Don't get me wrong. It's a free country. Letterman can say whatever he wants. He just doesn't have the right to use the public airwaves to spew his hate and then get paid for it.

If this stands, if bullies can get away with mocking the statutory rape the daughter of a conservative woman, what's next?

It's time to contact CBS and its sponsors. It's time to use our dollars and our time as a weapon. It's time to fight back.*

Sponsor Contact Information

I generally don't participate in letter writing campaigns, boycotts, etc. But I have 16 letters on my desk right now, ready to be mailed to the board members of Mars, Kelloggs and Olive Garden. I'm taking the advice from the hillbuzz website, and I'll try to send out a letter each day to each of those board members until they withdraw their sponsorship of the Letterman show.

I've saved each letter in a file, so I'm planning on only changing the date each day and printing them off and sending them. Maybe I'll occasionally reword them. I'm sending them via regular mail. FedEx would be way too cost prohibitive.

The Hillbuzz site originally formed to back Hillary Clinton. I became aware of it closer to the election because of it's strong support of Sarah Palin. I just finished reading an article there on the difference between Republicans and Democrats, and the fact that Republicans back down way too quickly. Right now, CBS is telling its sponsors that this will all blow over quickly.

Maybe it will, maybe it won't. Maybe there are enough conservatives who are tired of being bullied by the main stream media, and they're willing to fight back.

Here is some contact information for some of Letterman's sponsors, as compiled by http://www.hillbuzz.org/:*

KELLOGGS COMPANY
One Kellogg Square
PO Box 3599
Battle Creek, MI 49016-3599
(269) 961-2000
(800) 962-1413

Write to these 6 people over and over and over again:
(1) James M. Jenness – Chairman of the Board
(2) A.D. David Mackay – President and CEO
(3) John A. Bryant – COO and CFO
(4) Mark R. Baynes – VP and CMO
(5) Brian S. Rice – SVP, CIO
(6) Gary H. Pilnick – SVP, General Counsel, Corporate Development and Secretary

UPDATE: MARS CANDY is owned exclusively by the Mars family. John Franklyn Mars is the company Chairman.
Products include: 3 Musketeers, Combos, Dove chocolate, Kudos, Mars Bar, Milky Way, Skittles, Snickers, Starburst, Twix, and Whiscas cat food

Write to these 2 people over and over again:
Chairman: John Franklyn Mars
President and CEO: Paul S. Michaels

MARS, Inc.
6885 Elm Street
McClean Virginia 22101-3810
(703) 821-4900
FAX: 703-448-9678


THE OLIVE GARDEN CONTACT INFORMATION:

Write to these 8 people over and over again
(1) Clarence J. Otis — Chairman/CEO
(2) Andrew H. Madsen — President/COO
(3) David T. Pickens — Senior VP
(4) Brad Richmond — CFO
(5) Valerie K. Collins — Corporate Controller
(6) Bob McAdam — SVP Government and Community Affairs
(7) Gene Lee – President Special Restaurant Group
(8) Paula J. Shives — General Counsel and Secretary

Darden Restaurants Office (address for all above):
5900 Lake Ellenor Drive
Orlando, FL 32809
(407) 245-4000

*I would recommend that parents check over this website before their children

The Move To Remove Letterman

The website http://www.hillbuzz.org/ has some very detailed information on getting a boycott of Letterman's sponsors running. They want to focus on 3 companies, Mars, Kelloggs and Olive Garden (I think) and maintain at least a 30 day onslaught of letters to these sponsors. They also recommend FedExing the letters so that they'll go directly to management.

There's also a http://www.firedavidletterman.com/ site up and running.

On A Much Lighter Note

Our dogs bark at knock knock jokes.

(To be fair, it's not at the "Knock Knock" part, but at the "Who's There" part. Still, it's pretty funny.)

More Letterman

So, Mr. Letterman, you say that you would never have made a joke like you did about a 14 year old girl. Here's the thing. Whether it was your intention or not, you did. You made a joke about Sarah Palin taking her daughter to the Yankees game, yada yada yada. The daughter she took to the game was 14. The joke was about a 14 year old girl, regardless of your intention.

You, sir, are a man who makes millions of dollars a year to tell jokes. I'm not saying that it's always easy, but, by most people's standards, it's a pretty cushy gig. But, as part of accepting those millions of dollars, you are responsible for every word you say on the airwaves. Not knowing which daughter was at the game is not an excuse. It was your responsibility to find out.

My husband is a public school teacher. Every school day he's up by 5 am, sometimes earlier. Once he steps into the school building, he has to be on. He can't slack off, because the students and his supervisors hold him accountable. He's on his feet all day, performing in front of his students, and by the end of the day, he's exhausted. He doesn't make nearly as much money as you do, Mr. Letterman, but he's still accountable for every word he says. If he made a remark anywhere nearly as offensive as you did, he would have to suffer the consequences.

Why do you think you shouldn't be held accountable for what you said? Why can't you have the integrity to admit you were wrong?

I think I know.

As I mentioned in my previous post, like many other liberals, in your mind you think that since conservatives aren't like "us" they therefore must be "less than us." It wasn't that you didn't know which Palin daughter was at the game, you just didn't care. It's just a Palin. Since you feel you are so superior to her (and my) kind, what you said can't possibly be wrong.

By your incessant nightly bashing of Bush, Cheney, Palin, et al, at the exclusion of any even mild jokes about Obama, haven't you in effect been saying to the conservatives, "Lie down and take it." Why should a joke about a baseball player doing the same thing to a Palin be such a big deal?

Sarah And Me

I think to understand why this whole Letterman thing is bothering me, I need to take a step back and explain how Palin's candidacy and her subsequent treatment by the media affected me.

My mother is a staunch Democrat. I think my dad had Democrat leanings, but he didn't talk about politics as much. So growing up, and through my college years, I considered myself a liberal. I would watch the news and it generally concurred with my beliefs. Therefore, I knew I was smart. If other people would just be as smart and caring as me, they'd be liberals, too. It really seemed that simple. I despised Reagan, and couldn't understand how he could have been elected, twice.

I can remember in 1988 I voted for Al Gore in the primaries because he was the only Dem who identified himself as pro-life. (I would probably be hard pressed to find any evidence now that he had taken that position then) I voted for Dukakis in the general election, but I was surprised to find myself relieved that Bush had won. That election was the turning point. The abortion issue, combined with the fact that I had an actual job, (working with prisoners who were, surprisingly, not just misunderstood but actually deserving of their punishment) pushed me squarely into the Republican camp by the 1992 election.

So, as a liberal I did not understand the appeal of Reagan. As a conservative, I have always considered the Clintons hollow, willing to sell their souls for a few votes. I voted for G.W. twice, because he was the best option. I'm certain he did a better job than Gore or Kerry would have done, and I'm thankful he had the guts to take unpopular stands in the interest of keeping my family safe. However, there are number of ways that he disappointed me.

This is all to say that I had never felt a strong connection to a politician. While I can admire McCain's courage fighting for our country, as a candidate I was less than enthusiastic about him. I had not decided if I was even going to vote in the election. When he picked Sarah Palin, I was ecstatic. Finally, someone I could relate to.

She's my age. She values her family. She has a strong marriage. She's pro-life. She had the kind of college education I had. She worked for everything she had.

Sarah Palin was me. The connection was immediate and total. Finally, someone who represented me. Someone who could relate to me and to the kind of life I lead. I felt on top of the world. For about a week.

And then they tore into her and her family. I was new to the world of reading political blogs, and I had never seen anything so vicious in my life. I'm not saying Sarah Palin is perfect, but she certainly did not and does not deserve the attempts at annihilation that the media, the pundits, the comedians, the lazy joke tellers who think they're comedians, have heaped on her.

After the election, I was exhausted. It was more than just having my guy lose the election. It was personal. The attacks against Sarah Palin weren't just attacks against her policies, they were attacks against her person. They were attacks against me.

So, you see, when Mr. Letterman makes jokes about Sarah Palin and her daughters, he's making jokes about me and my daughters.

I remember during the last election (and maybe I've already made this point in a previous post) there was a poll done concerning republicans and democrats, and their attitudes towards each other. Republicans could understand why democrats held their beliefs, but democrats had no such empathy for republicans. Going back to my days as a liberal, I can kind of understand that. I honestly felt it was just a matter of the other guys not being as smart as me. Their viewpoints weren't nearly as enlightened as mine and couldn't possibly be valid.

I'm so glad I grew up.

I believe that the reason there isn't an outcry against Letterman's statements from the feminist community and other liberals in the media is that they've marginalized the Palins to the point where they consider them less than human. Therefore, it's okay to say whatever they want about her, and by extension, me.

And so this is the end of my post-election complacency. I'm still tired, mind you. I'm tired of having my opinions belittled and marginalized. I'm tired of the public discourse being so thoroughly one-sided. I'm tired of people confusing snarks and mean-spiritedness as some kind of deep thinking.

I'm tired and I'm angry.

Letterman

On any given day, I can probably find something that irritates me about the main stream media. The smugness, the little jibes against conservatives, the lack of significant examination of our current president (especially compared to how the former president was treated), etc. The one or two of you who read this thing know what I'm talking about.

For the last couple of days, it's gone beyond being irritated. I'm fuming. It's been a long time since I could tolerate Letterman. He's been so over the top with his Bush and Palin bashing and Obama adoration that I found him unviewable.

In case you haven't seen the reference, he made a joke the other night about Sarah Palin being at the Yankees game with her daughter and that her daughter was impregnated (not the phrase he used) by one of the ball players (Alex Rodriguez). The daughter she was with is 14 years old. Basically, Letterman made a joke about a conservative woman's daughter being raped. HaHa.

It's impossible to imagine if Rush Limbaugh had made the same kind of remark about a liberal politician's daughter that it wouldn't be playing front and center in the media right now. And deservedly so. I haven't been watching much news, so I don't know how this is playing out. (Hold on, let me check some websites)

Okay, I probably shouldn't have done that. At least the Today Show had a video clip and seemed to do a fairly good side presenting both sides. (Frankly, in this situation, I think showing Letterman speak and try to defend himself actually helps my point of view). The ABC site headlined their story , "Palins Can't Take a Joke". Excuse me, exactly how many thousands of jokes have the Palins had to take until it got to this point? But boy, they're poor sports because they're making a big deal about this little perverted joke aimed at their daughter.

Letterman made a statement that he never intended to make a joke about their 14-year-old daughter. Never mind the fact that she was the one at the Yankees game. The joke was aimed at their 18-year-old daughter. Never mind the fact that she's home in Alaska.

Well, that's so much better. It's okay to make a joke about Bristol because she had a baby out of wedlock. Haha. (Never mind the fact that Letterman impregnated - feel free to use the term he used - his girlfriend when he was in his 50's).

That wasn't an apology, Mr. Letterman, that was weasly backtracking. You're not funny, Mr. Letterman. Someone pays you money to tell lazy, sloppy jokes. You're just lucky.

Using Up Crudites

We hosted a graduation party over the weekend, and I ended up with a gallon bag full of cut up broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and celery. I'm not a real big raw veggie eater, but I also didn't want them to go to waste.

What I've done in the past, is cook them up in a big pot of broth, then mash the veggies real good. I'd portion that in maybe 6 cup sizes and freeze it. That would be a base for future cream soups. To serve, heat it on the stove, then add cream and cheese at the very end. You can also add a little cornstarch mixed with water (before adding the cream). Heat until thickened, then add the cream and cheese.

Anyway, this time I didn't feel like doing the big soup thing. For supper last night, I cut up a bunch of the carrots and celery (I shouldn have added an onion, but didn't feel like it) and cooked them in coconut oil. Then, I added not quite a cup of chicken broth, about a teaspoon of cajun seasoning and a teaspoon of oregano. I let that cook covered until the veggies were soft, then I added some cut up turkey and ham, also leftover from the weekend. I served it in bowls over rice. It was pretty good, but maybe a little too salty from the ham. I think that overpowered the other spices. Next time I wouldn't add as much ham.

I cut up the broccoli, cauliflower and carrots into smaller pieces and put them in a quart jar. I added a little brine from a jar of cortido. I made some more brine using about 2 cups of water and enough salt so that it's too salty to be pleasant, but not so salty that it's disgusting. I'm going to let that sit on the counter for a few days to and see how it ferments.

I still have some carrots and celery left in the refrigerator. I plan on cutting them up, along with an onion, and cooking them in coconut oil. I'll freeze them in a couple portions (or possibly in ice cube trays) to add to future soups.