Buffalo Gal

Saturday afternoon….the last day of January, 2009:  a real January Thaw day here in St Cloud….oh, how it brings back memories of other January Thaws.  I recall one in about 1953 when my friend Avis and I decided that such a beautiful warm winter day should be observed by having a picnic out in the country somewhere close to the town we lived in.   It was easy to pack up a simple lunch of sandwiches, cookies, fruit…. and even a thermos of some drink (I cannot recall but it was probably Kool-Aid…the "drink" of our era!)   We walked east on what we all knew as "Old Number 2" (formerly the only highway into our small town before Highway 10 was built …..and PAVED…with concrete!!!   Our mile- long hike led to a right turn onto a dirt road that led to a sturdy wooden bridge that went over the Buffalo River (our January Thaw day did not include an un-frozen river)…but it was sunny and warm so we found a dry spot to sit on the bridge and ate our picnic lunch, then walked back to town, fully satisfied that we had had a satisfying Saturday.

I have the same satisfied feeling today….it is way over 30 degrees warm down here in Centra Minnesota this morning.  My granddaughter and I went to a nearby Coborn’s supermarket to purchase some brunch items after we decided to have a nice  big  brunch at home instead of the suggested "eating out" this morning.    Coming out of Coborns, we met a young man in shirtsleeve;  I remarked that it was a sure sign of a true January Thaw!    If it had been a day in October with 30 degrees in the morning that young man would have been shivering and wearing his winter jacket but the perspective surely changes when you have had minus -30 mornings in January and you suddenly wake up to a brilliant sunny day with a strong SW wind bringing  +35 or more degrees in late January!    Hey…we are having a heat wave….hallelujah!!

Our brunch which we made ourselves was super—-bacon done just right, scrambled eggs, a favorite brand of orange juice, coffee for Gramma, and a careful selection of rolls, long johns, and twists plus one scone (for Gramma) made by the two of us at the bakery counter in Coborns, and we were headed home to cook our meal. We had a grand time eating and talking.  Then Grandson "A." and I went outside to attack some hard packed snow on a side walk and that led to inspecting a horribly HUGE icicle formed by the heating system’s vent.  The trouble with this thick , huge icicle was that it had formed in a window well.  I have been looking at it all week everytime I have  been out with the Nervous- Nellie Dachsund ""pupper" and I have wondered if the melting of this tower of ice could lead to flooding from the  window well and into the Grandson’s bedroom.    Only Grammas could worry about such an occurence— but I convinced "A" that we should try to get this monster icicle, which was like a scale model of "Devils’ Tower" in Wyoming and big enough to be a small iceberg if it were water-borne, out of the window well.  It was such a fine warm day, both of us decided to tackle the job.    WE GOT IT DONE!!! "A" got into it enthusiastically, as only a 12- year old boy with boundless energy can, and went inside and found a hammer that looked strong enough to take on the icicle- removal  project.   He pounded the bejabbers out of the top of the ice-tower and we got it off and lifted out of the well.  It was like lifting a very heavy log of oak—-ice can weigh the "proverbial ton" as well as other heavy things.  Our success led us to even more enthusiastic ice removal, and I went insided to get an ice-cream bucket-ful of hot water.  This worked wonders and it was not long before we had the seond third of the ice monster loose and out of the well.   More hot water……More muscular pounding by "A"….even more hot water and finally the thick huge stump of the icicle "gave" way to to the pounding of the hammer.   We threw the remainder of the ice out of the window  well and went inside, triumphant!   Both of us were pretty well soaked…I had stumbled over  a chunk of ice and sat down, hard, in the wet slushy southside- of- the- house snow and "A" had on his shoes and a very wet pair of not- so- white sox by now. We had to come inside and change and find a good spot to dry our shoes.  (I did change into boots at one point in the icicle removal process but "A’ got his school shoes really wet and they are now drying on a thick towel in a warm spot on a stairway that gets some sunshine in the afternoon.

Both "Grands’ have gone off to be with friends this afternoon and I am happy they could do that.   Granddaughter "K" has a good friend in a nearby house, and "A" has gone to play with his friend, Sam, at his house a bit farther away but I know they are both enjoying themselves and that makes their Gramma happy.

Tomorrow the Parents return from a wonderful cruise in the Caribbean……Fort Lauderdale to Cozumel with stops in between— and wonderful +80-  +90 degree clear, sunny- sky days every day…the best trip yet, they reported when they got  back to southern Florida this morning.     I will go home and try to adjust to my daily routines after having a great week with two great kids in Sunny St. Cloud (my trip "south")!!!!

There are plenty of people all in a dither over our present recession….some of of the less thoughtful leaders of our nation, including Speaker of the House Pelosi and even the new President Obama, are talking it up as if there can be no thoughtful consideration of how to bring economy back to a strong and stable standing.  The Mantra coming from these leaders is "Hurry, Hurry,  we have to get it done NOW!!!!"     I strongly disagree with this approach of haste…..the old Adage, "Haste Makes Waste" is particularly applicable to spending over 800 billion tax payer dollars to just hurry and DO SOMETHING!   ANYTHING!   THROW MONEY AT IT AND MAYBE IT WILL GO AWAY!

One of the commenters to my first blog about the stimulus bill disagreed with my observation that it was WW2 that really  brought economic recovery out of the Great Depression which began in earnest in 1929 and did not end til the onset of the World War into which the U.S. entered in 1941.  I re-state my conviction that it was WW2 that ended the last big recession/outright depression.  Yesterday I heard interviews with at least 3 prominent financiers in the U.S. who all asserted that it WAS the War that saved the economy in the late 1930′s- early 1940′s.  By 1945-46, our economy was booming and that boom lasted for decades, with minor downturns along the way.

The passage of the stimulus bill in the House of Representatives this week, with all the Republicans plus 11 Democrats voting against it, has been a shocker to Nancy Pelosi and probably to Pres. Obama as well.  Finally, after a decade of idiotic government spending, the lapsed conservatives finally have taken a stand to slow down the ridiculous spending  put forth by Nancy Pelosi and certain Democrats in her House of Representatives…there was NO PARTICIPATION by Republicans allowed by Pelosi who did not even bother to run her plan by President Obama.  I doubt if the stimulus plan would have included all the foolishness and old style Liberal Fripperies if she had showed it to the new President who has vowed to change things including the Pork Barrel spending that is included in this so-called stimulus bill.(so much for Change) 

David Brooks of the New York Times liberal newspaper  has called Pelosi’s and the Dems’ efforts  "a sprawling, undisciplined smorgasbord " of temporary stimulus combined with the Democrats’ fondest hopes to make permanent domestic agenda(s) a part of the so called stimulus put forth by the Pelosi Dems.  Consider these spending plans in the Pelosi bill and see if it passes the smell test for TRUE and permanent economic stimuli!   Here are some key components as proposed in the bill that passed the House a couple of days back:      ** 43 billion to extend unemployment benefits to workers.   **20 billion in increased food stamp benefits.  ** 2.5 billion for welfare payments.    **  1billion for home heating subsidies.    ** 1 billion for "community action agencies".    ** 420 billion to combat Avian Flu.  ** 335  billion for sexually transmitted diseases.   And then  we come to the provisions for the Democrats Fondest "Green" Domestic Agenda….the things David Brooks referred to as a " sprawling, undisiciplined smorgasbord"………..**32 billion to fund a "smart " electric grid;  **6 billion to weatherize moderate income homes;   **13 billion to repair public housing;  3.2 billion to clean up Superfund, and waste sites,military bases and leaking underground tanks;   428 million for habitat restoration;   **  850 million to "prevent forest fires".  (this reminds me of the summer the West and Southwest burned, literally, all summer as a result of the Clinton administration giving into Envrironmentalists who did not want any of the dead underbrush in national forests cut away—-so the dry underbrush became the perfect burnable fodder for the devastating forest fires of that summer which distroyed millions of acres of forests.)   There are actually some tax cuts in the stimulus package but only for those who are considered poor or low incomed people.  A controversial tax cut of 500 dollars per person or 1000 dollars per couple (working poor) will include Illegal Aliens who have broken our immigration laws, firstly, and who do not have any Social Security identification, but have some sort of "number" that will allow them to get the tax cuts when they pay no payroll or income taxes  (go figure that one!)  Talk about rewarding criminals.

I do not say that the above "projects" are unworthy—–they simply do not belong in an economic stimulus bill becaused they do nothing to stimulate a better economy , long term and permanently.  It is a case of once again "pouring sand down ratholes" to satisfy Bleeding Heart Liberals sense of guilt over something.      In order to really stimulate our economy there need to be real tax cuts to businesses and industries that run our economy in the good times…..John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush (he who the Haters love to Hate) successfully stimulated the economy to get it back on track in past down-turn times.  These tax cuts provided  real     benefits for our nation’s economic welfare…they were not make work- shovel jobs that last only temporarily….and do nothing to stimulate the economy for a long term benefit.   Cutting taxes for the true "engines" (business and industry) that improve our economy is the only way to make for a true stimulus to our nation’s economy.

A new Rasmussen poll just taken in the past day or two shows that 59 % of Americans fear that the President and Congress will go too far with government spending putting us in worse and worse deficits and debts.  Only 17 % of Americans fear that Government will spend too little on the economic plan put forth by the House Dems.  The results of the Rasmussen Poll have not sunk into Nancy Pelosi’s brain or else she is just an outright liar.

  Recent polling also shows that Americans favor both kinds of stimulus—-temporary relief for joblessness plus the kind of tax cuts that will truly stimulate permanent growth of business and industry.    It seems apparent that both kinds of stumuli are needed but what  we DO NOT need is the Mish-Mash put together by Pelosi and her Dem. aides in the House that are merfely a fulfillment of Liberal Wish Lists to permanently put them on a domestic agenda for a nation that does not need or want this sort of wild spending on foolishness that  will come to the same nothing-permanent- as -a -solution as did the programs of Lyndon Johnson’s mid- 1960′s War on Poverty.      Ask yourself honestly—–did they end poverty or  have they made things worse—- like what we are seeing presently.

Throwing government money after bad ideas never have worked and never will.  

My week with two grandkids just inside the border of Sartell MN offers me a daily opportunity to read the St. Cloud TIMES newspaper.  My son and his wife subscribed to the TIMES so a quick daily walk to the newspaper mailbox brings me daily news to study……I remain loyal to the FORUM however, and read that paper of record on line before I peruse the TIMES!!!  Along with other internet news sources, I am not neglecting my self-imposed "news junkie" position.   Todays TIMES  brought me up to speed on things that have happened in he past 24 hours….including the front page headlines " House Okays Stimulus".   By a vote of 244-188, the Nancy Pelosi-led House of Representatives passed the Obama stimulus bill to the tune of over 800 billion dollars.  I take the meaning of the word "stimulus" to be that this bill would stimulate business recovery in this nation….which is badly needed in the face of the current economic crisis.   But as I read  through some of the bill’s particulars I was increasingly dismayed to see too many  real "pouring- sand- down- a- rathole" elements that I despair of true economic stimulus that will encourage businesses to grow.   One aspect of the bill I took note of is the part under "business"  that will "subsidize locally issued bonds for school construction , teacher training, economic development andinfrastructure improvements, at a co- big- problems-and-hope- it- will- work- approach, that would be very helpful and I think of my own school district from which I retired and its need of a new facility for the students.  If only this could help the effort that has so far failed miserably due to cheapskate district residents who think  more highly of their own banks accounts than the good of present- day students.   The troubling aspects of the stimulus bill….troubling because I cannot see how these projects will truly stimulate the general economy over a long period of time—-are first of all, the "Infrastructure" part which sounds exactly like FDR’s   WPA projects…..building bridges, highways,  12 billion dollars of mass transit, buying of buses, repair of federal buildings, et al.  Yes this is needed but will it stimulate the REAL economy?     These will provide temporary jobs just as WPA did (I still see the sidewalks in my hometown that are stamped with WPA, and the year it was done.  All of them are now crumbling and are not being replaced!   The bulk of the FDR WPA programs did not cause recovery of the faltering economy of the 1930′s—the country’s economy did not truly recover until WW 2 came along and the need for War Industries caused the true economic turnaround.  I do not advocate  starting a W.War, but the government programs of FDR did not solve the economic crisis of the Great Depression—WW 2 did that.   The WPA and the CCC programs gave temporary jobs to unemployed people but did nothing to truly stimulate the national economy.  I fear that the present proposals in the Obama stimulus package will not revive the economy long- term either.   Placing a burden on generations to come with the 800 + billion dollars is going to hurt the economy now and in the future.  Big government spending programs that puts us in further  debt and incapacity are not the answer— but the Obama administration, with its huge majority support in both houses of Congress, insures that money will be thrown at the problems, most likely without thinking through the later consequences.   One Congressman made a statement to this effect:   when someone tells me we have to rush this through immediately and we cannot waste a single minute in doing it, that is when I say "no".    Good thinking.  The Obama administration and its overwhelming allies in congress will do just that and have already done so.   Hurrry, Hurry…we must do it now!   What will we see as consequences of such haste later in this first 4 years of the new presidency?????   They will own all the consequences themselves now…they cannot blame George W Bush for everything that goes wrong any longer!!!   The energy, housing, science and technology, and the environment aspects of the "stimulus" bill do NOT look like they ill do one single thing to trulyl stimulate ecoomic growth for the future—-they are simply BIG GOVERNMENT programs that are "redux" of other BIG GOVERNMENT tries of fixing major problems with major masses of money we do not have in our treasury. 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi…she who has been referred to as "Madame Botox"….is clearly worried by the large number of opposition votes to her bill yesterday.  Every republican/conservative representative voted against it on principles, and took11 Democratic votes with them.  The 188 no- votes are over half of the House of Representatives and Pelosi has sent out a memo to Democrats railing over the republican opposition.  This unity of the republican opposition means that she and her followers now OWN the consequences for the bloated stimulus plan.  She will have nobody to blame but herself and her own loyal liberal followers..   This makes MS Pelosi extremely anxious about future votes in the House.   Some comments to the article about Pelosi’s anxiety include these:  "Madam Botox cemented her position as the worst Speaker of the House in  our history" —      and   "Sorry Nancy, the republicans recognized the bailout for what it is—a Socialist program….the Socialists in Congress can eat this one themselves." —-     and,    "Pelosi is a traitor to the American citizens.  She would rather spend your Grandchildrens’ money to make herself look good rather than address the real issue."    I tend to affirm these comments…..they would be mine also.

Another sad story filled with facts concerned the huge bad weather system (ice, sleet, and snow) that rampaged through the southern central and northeast parts of our country, leaving many without lights or water.  Already the death toll from the terrible weather is mounting up and will increase, rather than abate before the month- or- longer recovery gets underway.  It  reminded me of our terrible damage from a summer wind storm in about 1995 that left many of us rural residents without electricity for many weeks.  Also I thought of the damaging and freaky ice storm on the North Dakota side in April 1997.  Losing power and water in cold wintery weather always spells disaster where ever it occurs.  I am feeling pain for those many thousands in the bad weather regions of our nation and that even included Washington D.C. where the" Global Warming Guru", Al Gore was testifying to our upcoming deaths and destruction from Global Warming in a Senate committe that was spellbound by the "Goracle" (from an article in the liberal Washinton Post today,  already cited by BillyBones on his blog today)

I had a lot more to blog about but I better stick with this episode of my life with the TIMES of St Cloud!!!        (Buffalogal on 1-29-2009)

I have been staying in Sartell MN with two "Grands" this week—–the two of them do not require much care–they are 14 and 12 and are well trained to  be independent and take care of business each day.  So I am mostly "being here"…cooking suppers, reminding about bedtimes and spending a lot of time reading my book—-DEAREST FRIEND…A BIOGRAPHY OF ABIGAIL ADAMS.

I haved been fascinated with books about the two Adams—-John and Abigail for quite some time…but especially after I viewed the series on "History" that covered the life of John Adams and also of Abigail.  The true accounts of their lives from the 18th century have themes and qualities that we still recognize today….especially the concept of service to one’s country.

The Adamses started out their lives together as young marrieds….Abigail was almost 10 years younger than John but both were still young when they married and settled on John’s inherited farm in Braintree, MA (now Quincy). John and Abigail not only maintained their farm but John had graduated from Harvard and was an upcoming lawyer in the Braintree-Boston area.  Only a few years into the marriage, Boston radicals began to kick up their heels against the British, who had troops in the city of Boston.  The infamous "Boston Tea Party" occurred when rebellious colonists dumped English tea into Boston Harbor to protest the extra tax levied on the English tea. It  was one of the first steps in the American Revolution and John and Abigail were  both "radicals" in that they opposed British rule and longed for independence from the British system.   New England was where the first rumblings of the American Revolution started and Abigail witnessed the battle of Bunker Hill from Pen’s Hill near the Adams farm.  Abigail saw things through a moralist’s eyes—–in her mind, the British rule that was getting more and more obstructive to the colonies—–was immoral and unthinkable.   She was a true "Patriot" who hated the British "Lobsterbacks" who the British Government housed in homes of  Bostonians, whether they liked it or not.

The most unique thing about this book is the attitudes that prevailed in John and Abigail.  They struggled to make a living on their farm and John’s lawyer fees dried up with the clampdown of American business with the hated British.  Loss of business meant loss of business for Lawer John.   His election to attend the first Continental Congress in Philadelphia took him away from his family in Braintree for long periods of weeks and even months.  This left Abigail  to run the farm, raise the children (Nabby, Johnny, Charles and Tommy) alone but Abigail had the 19 th century view of women—-they were to mainly be responsible for the raising of the children and also support thier husbands enterprises even when it meant the wife going it alone for long periods of separation.The Adamses gave up riches and prominence in thier local community in order for the good of the American colonists and the dream of independence from Britain.

The major years of the American Revolution saw John separated from his family as he became a commissioner in France awaiting  the British giving up in America.  It took years for this to play out and Abigail suffered not only from having to  make all decisions alone, raise her children alone, and work the farm with a little help from two servants the Adamses employed.  She, unlike many of her female contemporaries, loved the politics of the time and followed as avidly as the slow communications of the time allowed.  Abigail went for months without hearing from John in France as often the ships carrying mail would dump their loads overboard if they thought they would be followed and accosted by a British warship.  To add to Abigail’s burdens of not hearing if her husband was alive and well, John brought Johnny and Charles with him on  one of his European commissions.   Johnny (John Quincy) traveled to the very primitive nation of Russia with another American envoy—Johnny was only 15  but he did the work of an adult as a secretray to the American diplomat.  Later, both John and Abigail would lose touch with their eldest son for months when he was forced to travel slowly through Northern Europe in the winter’s journey back from Russia.  At his tender age of 15 he even negotiated with Swedish officials about establishing trade with the then- independent and new United States of America.

The Adams’ son Charles had a delay of many months also when his father sent him home with an American friend; the ship had a very bad captain and the supplies were totally wasted in an unecessary trip around the whole of the British Isles before it finally landed in a remote Spanish port.   Charles Adams, a young teenager,  did not arrive home til 10 months after his departure from Europe and in all  that time neither his mother or father knew where  he was or if he was alive.

All these facts of the Adamses’ lives blew me away.   the thought of a 15 year old child traveling  to remote areas of Europe without hearing any news from him for long periods of time was almost unthinkable to me. Abigail did get any letters from Johnny for two long years. The long separations the couple endured was also hard to think about.  Finally after ten years of various separations, both John and Abigail began to ponder the years lost to them as a couple.  They were in their 30′s when it all began and both were fully middle aged  before the long separations ended.  To make matters worse, John was relieved of his duties in France by the United States government and sent to England to wait for peace to break  out in the Revolutionary War.  John was highly sensitive to his honor and was distressed by his dismissal —-his enemy Ben Franklin had much to do with it, adding insult to injury.  Both John and Abigail suffered illnesses in the final years of thier separations, probably brought on by the terrible stresses both were under.

I couldn’t help but make comparisons to the long separations endured by American familes in the 20th century—-from  WW 1 and WW 2 and all the other conflicts from the 19-teens to the present day.   The Adamses bore their burdens more willingly than modern familes do.  John and Abigail were of the mind that duty to one’s country  surpassed even that of homes and families.  It is not a modern concept that most of us would adhere to as strongly as the Adamses did.    But those were different times…..people bore hardships and accepted then as from the hand of the Almighty God;  they put trust in God’s care and timing—-very much differently than  we observe in our time.   John and Abigail saw life as a struggle to earn a living and care for their children and their extrended families—-there was little or no social life for the Adamses apart from that with both sides of their familes.

It is an eye opening experience for me to read of the life of Abigail and John Adams—-two people far apart from me in years but  not all that far apart in ways  of thinking about our nation and our family obligations.  I, too,look upon caring for one’s children and grandchildren as the most important thing I can do.  Enriching, educating, encouraging a younger generation is  just as crucial as clothing, feeding and protecting them.  At least I do not have to suffer the anxiety of long separations, uncertainties of their whereabouts or their welfare, as Abigail Adams had to do for so much of her life as a wife and mother and grandmother.  

Fortunately for both John and Abigail, they were able to make up for some of their lost years….both lived longer than the average people did in those times.  Abigail died at age 74 and John lived to the incredible age of 91 –dying on the Fourth of July in 1826…..just hours after Thomas Jefferson, one of his fellow diplomats and fellow Presidents, died on the same day far away in Virginia.

Those who  suported Barack Obama are, no doubt, delighted with the executive orders pouring out of the Whitehouse in the past few days.  Today it was  a Sop thrown to the extremists who want to "stop global warming"…an impossible task for Mankind in any age …..since climate change occurs whether Mankind tries to stop it or start it or control it—it cannot be done— but certain True Believers keep trying and they have an ally living in our national house at this time.  

The matter that is bothering me the most regarding policy from Mr. Obama is the choice of Timothy Geithner for the head post at the Treasury Department.    Tonight (Monday) a vote in the full Senate will,, no doubt, approve Geithner’s nomination.   There will be votes against Geithner, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine who said today that Geithner’s "inexcusable negligence" for not paying his payroll taxes, should exclude him from taking charge of the very department that is responsible for collecting taxes from U.S. citizens.    I agree with Senator Collins and all those who oppose the approval of Timothy Geithner.

In better times in this nation, a man like Geithner would not be getting the "pass" that he is getting.  The Obama staff and the Democratic Senators have drummed the constant beat that Timorthy Geithner is the ONLY man on this planet who can "save"  America from its economic crisis.  There can be no delay—-there can be no further search for a less flawed candidate for the Secretary of the Treasury…..he must be approved and he must serve, in spite of the fact that he has committed tax fraud that any ordinary citizen, who did what Geithner did, would be facing prosecution for cheating the governent of its rightful taxes.    

Senator Harry Reid leads the pack in declaring that what Geithner did was just a little "hiccup"…..Obama himself has called Geithner’s tax cheating "an innocent mistake".    It is noteworthy that when anyone who is favored by a Liberal President or Congress does these sorts of things , it is not worth any punishment or any negative repercussions.  Can you imagine what would have happened if Geithner had been a George Bush appointee?????  Harry Reid would have been pounding his liberal pulpit and raging over the criminal aspect of such an appointee…..Reid would have  pulled out all the stops, his neck veins would have been bulging with righteous indignation!   But this is an Obama appointee for the job that only Geithner can do—–he who is the Genius of Wall Street and the Great Economic Messiah…..he stands beside the Great Political Messiah, Obama who will save the United States from all the wickedness that Conservatism may have wrought.

One of the most disturbing aspects of this appointment is the hypocrisy of it.   Last fall, during the height of the presidential campaign, the ordinary "Joe"—-Joe Wurzelbacher of Pennsylvania, got a chance to question Obama about his policies and Obama made a fateful slip when he told Joe that he wanted to "spread the wealth around".  It momentarily caused the Obama Express to close to derailment until the Liberals went into Protection Mode and beganteh trashing of Joe Wurzelbacher.   One of the Big Guns brought out was the discovery that Joe the Plumber owed the state of Ohio $1, 582 dollars in backd taxes.    Joe was declared to be a tax cheat and who could  believe anything he said or any question he had asked of the Great One?????    Now in January 2009, at the hearings for Timothy Geithner, the hypocrisy comes full circle.  It was Geithner’s little "hiccup" or "innocent mistake"— non-payment of  his payroll taxes for 4 years— to the tune of over 34,000 dollars (more, with interest over the 4- year period he ignored his tax debts from 2001 to 2004.)   But the Beltway Boys (Obama staff and Senators and Representatives from both sides of the aisles, caved, and are about to approve a tax cheat for our next Secretary of the Treasury.

It is most disturbing that our government functions on lies, dishonesty, and people getting away with crimes and misdemeanors, for which  ordinary U.S. citizens would never be given a pass.  This "looking the other way" when you are dealing with "insiders"  or the Big Fish, like Geithner, who had his hands all over the failed Henry Paulson plans for bailouts, as a high-up Wall Streeter in charge of certain federal regulations that failed to control the free- fall of the whole economic system.    Now the Obama administration thinks that Geithner is the One And Only who can save the American economy?     Ordinary Americans are utterly stunned by the recent developments leading to Geithner’s approval by the Band Of Insiders in Washington, D.C., who seem incapable of seeing the forest for the trees, to use an old "saw".     They are blinded to character flaws in Timothy Geithner that will prove to be the undoing of the man, ultimately, and perhaps, the undoing of our entire economy in the long run.

I hold a strong opinion about the importance of Character and Integrity in our Leaders.    That standard   has been shucked away many years ago by our elected officials in Washington—– and it is the most disturbing matter in my mind, presently.   Putting Timothy Geithner in charge of the Treasury Department is like putting the Wily Fox in charge of guarding the Hen House.

What future travesties will be witnessing  if the Obama Administration and our own elected representatives in the federal government are so willing to overlook the obvious……Timothy Giethner is not fit to be the Secretary of the Treasury.   Anyone who spent 4 years in a high government position that he held during the time that he failed to pay his payroll taxes….in spite of the fact that he was issued written instructions regarding those taxes; in spite of the fact that  he filled out  complex forms to get a remittance of money with which he was directed to use for payment of his payroll taxes; and the fact that he even signed documents saying that he acknowledged the reciept of the money for  payroll tax payments…..cannot plead an "innocent mistake".    There was NO innocent mistake.  If Geithner is the Wall Street Genius that he is purported to be, how can he be stupid enough to even say such things —-that he didn’t know that he was doing anything wrong?????   Who does he think he is kidding?  He has obviously kidded the elected officials in Washington D.C. or else they are just as stupid as he is.

   Ordinary taxpayers may now be able to declare themselves ignorant of their tax obligations, as Geithner seemed to say he was…….it could lead to even more economic free-fall for the United States when ordinary tax payers take the same  position as Geithner did for those 4 years of tax cheating.  With ordinary Americans pleading the same "innocent mistake" of non-payment of taxes, we could be totally "broke" in just a short time.

Welcome to the Change were told awaited us!!!!!

We are being surrogate parents to two grandchildren right now.  It is interesting to re-visit one’s parenting days. These two grandkids are easy to tend to—both partly grown (14 and almost 12)—very mature for their ages, independent and able to do many things on their  own.

The most interesting thing I have encountered so far is a copy of the Dec. 28, 1959 LIFE magazine….a weekly publication now long-gone from the scene. ( our son and daugheter in law have collected some very old magazines)  The featured article in this issue is the future—specifically 1975.  It makes predictions about what life will be like for Americans in 1975 and it is remarkable  because many of the predictions have come true—but some have not.   Here is a list of what was predicted in 1975.

1.  the U.S. mail being carried  by rocket ships all over the world. (hasn’t happened yet to my knowledge)               

2.  Tourist class ship (liner) to Europe for $50.00  (huh?)                                                                                    

3. there will be family helicopters for traveling to work, etc.  (nope)                    

4. communications via satellite (YES)            

5.   trans-ocean jets to London in 3 hours (our grounded SSTs fulfilled that one)                              

6. elimination of air pollution (sadly not—-air pollution in 1975 was probably much worse than in 1959)

7. accurate weather forecasts and control (no control for sure!!!)

8. more theater groups, more complex hobbies, and more cultural centers (for sure!)

9.  increased participating in sports (yes, if you count vegging in front of ESPN all weekend watching all  kinds of games.

10.  More and better home applicances (I don’t think 1959 homemakers knew abbout blenders, bread machines, sophisticated automatic washers, dryers and dishwashers, or microwave ovens)

11. Diagnostic machines (yes—-cat scans, MRIs….etal)

12.  Replaceable organs (the visionaries of 1959 thought there would be plastic replacement organs but transplanted lungs, kidneys, livers would have blown their minds)

13.  Automated highways….they thought that cars could be automatically moved down highways to their destinations.  No prediction about GPS systems though.

14.  50% more school–the predictions about school running day and night, and year round has not come to pass; I fear that our education is more "dumbed-down" than it was in 1959.   Computer education and classes as low as kindergarten was not foreseen.

15.   60% more disposable income and longer vacations;  7000 more women worders.  The average income was tallied at 5 thousand dollars per American family and they predicted it would  be up to 7000 dollars per year! (I think the prophets missed badly on some of these)

It was a most interesting view from 1959 on the future (1975) that has long passed us by.

I cannot resist sharing an article from Alaska—-Fairbanks, to be specific.  Fairbanks is in the "interior" of the farthest north state in the U.S. and winter temperatures, snow, ice and darkness probably also make it the captitol of Cabin Fever.  We had neighbors who had lived in Fairbanks as students at the U. of Alaska and they testified to the reality of "cabin fever" saying that it was too cold to walk to class in the winter so tunnels had been built to keep students from staying in bed for 24 hours a day.

Now I read a short article from Fairbanks about a unique ice sculpture that adorns the town’s main street.  It is an ice sculpture of Al Gore!    I burst into laughter just at the thought of seeing this piece of ice.    Here is the short item from the Fairbanks Daily News Miner as reported by the Associated Press:

" Al Gore is now a wintertime fixture in Fairbanks.   Well, make that an ice sculpture of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize  winner and leader in the movement to draw attention to climate change and global warming.   Local businessman, Craig Compeau, unveiled the frozen likeness Monday.   The 8 1/2 tall, 5-ton sculpture dominates a down street corner from its perch on the back of a flatbed truck.   Compeau says he is a ‘moderate’ critic of global warming theories.  He used Monday’s unveiling of the sculpture to invite Gore to Fairbanks—where it was 22 degrees on Monday—-to explain his theories of global warming.   He says it will stand til March, unless it melts before."

I have had my chuckle for the day.  How about you?

Would you believe I had forgotten about "The Cucumber"??    Not any more.  Tonight while dining out with my sister, my brother in law and my husband, I got two packages, supposedly from my sister and brother in law.  The first one was stuffed down inside a Christmas gift bag and covered with pale blue tissue paper.  A bit odd, but my Sis has given me strangely wrapped gifts before, so what?           Then I discovered a wrapped box—-there was much scotch tape holding some dark blue tissue paper around a heavy-duty box.  My sister apologized for using so much tape and said she had a hard time getting it wrapped, but "it" was something I had wanted for a long time and she knew I was going to love it.

I kept at it—-when I got the tissue paper off, I saw a brown, rather heavy – duty packing box and that, too, was taped shut—-with that heavy duty clear box tape.  I had to use a knife off our dining table in the restaurant we were in…..finally getting the box open, I found a crumpled up plastic garbage bag—-a very big one and I recognized it to be one like we use at our house.   I still had no bells going off in my head, and I kept at it.  I declared that there was nothing in this box but the big garbage bag and I started to hear, afar off, sounds like someone was choking.  But I was still intent on the contents of the box so I began squeezing the plastic bag and suddenly I felt a shape and saw a protruding object—-wrinkled and golden colored.   IT WAS THE CUCUMBER!!!!       The busy-ness of the holiday season had dulled my brain so I was not remembering the Cucumber Wars that were fought so gallantly all through November and December when I cleverly gift wrapped the still-green cucumber and put it under the tree for my Dearly Beloved.  We had a good laugh on Dec 24 when he opened it and found that he had "been had" once again.   I retired in triumph and forgot all about the long, pimpled, still-green cuke.

But tonight—-It’s baaaaaaaa—-cccck!     What to do?    The ball (or the cuke) is once again in my court.  And I cannot give up.   I was hoping to get an early night tonight since we have to travel tomorrow and I am not quite packed and ready.  Now I am going to lie awake tonight plotting…. planning….. thinking…..troubled by the return of the still-not-rotten cucumber. It has become very wrinkled in its interim time spent….I do not know where, but it has been around the block for sure.  As I said, it has  turned a rather pretty "Fall Gold" hue and is still recognizable as a cucumber, albeit a very wrinkly one.   I held it up to my face to give the assembly of three a good look at how it compares with my face at this stage of my life!!!

The choking sounds I heard were those of my Dearly Beloved who was having a terrible time NOT laughing when I was so seriously opening my birthday box.  He could not believe I was not suspicious of the return of the cucumber.  But I was tricked, but good tonight.  And now on to the next stage of the Cucumber Wars.

Today’s the day I enter the second year of my seventh decade.  I woke up grateful for all the years I have had already and grateful that I am in good health and able to celebrate another birthday.

I have always (well at least since I turned 40) had a hard time understanding the people who look upon aging as a real curse.  In most countries other than ours , aging is looked upon in a totally different way.   It is considered a blessing instead of a curse.   Older people are considered to be wells of wisdom to which the younger generation looks for help.  In our culture, aging is made fun of….especially in the greeting card industry.   People throw "back" birthday parties for others at earlier ages than ever.  One of my family turned 30 this fall and his colleagues decorated their work place with black crepe paper, black paper plates and cups, et al, had a mournful birthday party for this man who is 30 and generally had a great time teasing him about his age.  This is all well and good….we need to have fun.   But mourning turning 30?    It is getting a bit much in my opinion.  What will be the next "black birthday"…….turning 20?

I suppose to young people in their teens, 30, 40, 50…seems old.  It did to me, but I never said so…I thought that people in their 30s were kind of old….I thought that when I was in my teens and when I was a college age person.   When my "baby sister" turned 40, her friends had a real big "black bash" for her and I was part of it but I thought it was pretty grim…they went a bit far, marching to her house, clad in black plastic garbage bags (it was in August and it was HOT and those bags did nothing for comfort!)     They even were carrying a wooden coffin box, (one of the black bash celebrators was an employee of the local mortuary) with a totally dead and dried up funeral spary on it.  It was too much for me…although I wanted to be at her surprise party….the references to funerals at age 40 seemed very eerie and out of place.    ON the other hand, I remember the 40th birthday of a friend whose "friends" carried her out to a waiting pickup, set her in a rocking chair, and drove around the town with "L" on board, and lots of amused spectators who were out and about that spring evening!    That was truly funny!

Our present day culture worships the young.   If you have AOL for your internet connector, you see the pop ups that plague us AOLers…..there are sites that glorify young celebrities and their lives of luxury and wantonness in a bizarre and almost sickening rite of adoration. It is as if the producers of these pieces of "news" sense that this is what the majority of the public want to read about.  I know I am of the older generation for sure when I react in a totally different way to these news items about the extremely young, extremely immature, and extremely immoral among the youth culture that pervades and overwhelms our way of life.  I felt this way when I was a lot younger myself—-I recognized the shallowness of such a culture.

I have already begun celebrating….some years we do many things spread out over a number of days and this is happening already.  Last night, my Dearest One surprised me when I was watching the news of the day and suggested that he buy me a big tub of popcorn—-at a movie theater!    We then got ready and spontaneouly went out and about to see a movie I had been wanting to see before it left the theater….."Valkyrie".    It was a stunning movie and was well done (for an American film).   I had read the huge volume by William Shirer (THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH) many years ago and it took me am entire summer to read it all..but it was worth it.   The many attempts on the life of Adolph Hitler were recorded by Shirer in his great historical work about the Nazi regime and the plot that unfolded on July 20, 1944 was the one that the movie concentrated on.    After seeing the movie both of us were impressed with the telling of the historical incident.  We also wondered why an evil man like Hitler was spared all those times that his own military officers tried to eliminate him.  It is a puzzle that we won’t find answers to in this life or maybe the next.  But it is , nevertheless, an interesting question.

Today we will meet my one and only and beloved sister and her husband for a meal out tonight.  Then we will proceed to one of our son’s homes the following day and stay with our grandchildren for a length of time while their parents take a nice warm vacation.  I lood forward to my "new year" and am so grateful that I have already had many many wonderful years already.

Today is the day Barack Obama will be inaugurated as our 44th president.  It IS especially historic because it marks the first time a man/or woman of African descent has been elected to the highest office in the land.  We have come a very long way since the days of slavery when African people first were forced to live in this country , as chattel…property to be bought and sold.   Dark- skinned people of any race were looked upon as inferior, not as intelligent as the supreme white race….they were considered to be 3/4 (or 5/8) of a human by early estimations in the new nation.  They could not vote, they could not go where they wished to live, they could not do anything without their Masters’ say-so.   Later after they had been emancipated, the deep prejudices continued way up until the Civil Rights Act of the mid-1960′s was signed into law. People of color endured terrible indignites like not being able to shop or eat in  some businesses…not being able to use the same water fountains as white Americans or use to public bathrooms. The prejudice did not go away automatically then either.  But when we consider where we are today….Inauguration Day 2009….the changes we have seen, by law, and also by acts of white Americans whose hearts and minds have greatly changed are truly remarkable.  It took decades, centuries, even—-but the change has come as far as the way we regard each other.  I do not think of Obama as a "Black President"…he is an American President.

I do not agree with his liberal policies or vision for our nation, but I bear him no ill will.  I hope he succeeds in turning many aspects of our national life to better things….the first and foremost being the economic crisis we are all facing.  I feel great sympathy for Obama and his people—-what a daunting task they face when the all sit down at their desks tomorrow morning.   He faces the task of continuing to keep this nation secure from attacks by terrorists who want to see us destroyed in evey way….terrorists who would like to see America become a Muslim caliphate with Sharia law for all.   God help us…..that this would not happen …ever.    (I read about the situation in Denmark presently and it is truly frightening.  Another blog topic, another day.)

When George W.Bush was inaugurated in 2004, his opponents were vehement and constantly criticizing him and throwing up roadblocks to any program he proposed.  The hatred of a whole segment of Americans for Bush was appalling.  This was carried out by far-left bloggers as well as the mainstream press in this nation.  I do not know if in our recent, history , there has been such vehement hatred for a President.   Now Obama is President.  Will there be the same hate-filled rhetoric by those who oppose him?   I do not think so.  Only the far- left Liberals seem capable of such hatred and meanness.   Obama will have his opponents, but that opposition should be to his policies and his programs, not to him personally, as it was to George W.  Bush—those who hated him, hated him personally and with everything they could possibly hate him for.   It has been one of the lowest points in our recent history—-this deep, malevolent hatred for the 43rd President.  Today’s ceremonies showed the decency and lack of malice by George and Laura Bush…a couple who could have snubbed the new President and his transition team. They could have had the people who worked for them in the President’s office turn the place into a trashy turmoil as Bill Clinton’s staff did to the Bush people who moved into the offices in 2001. They could have retaliated by leaving obscenties on computers, by gluing drawers and cabinet doors shut, by leaving the offices in a horrible mess, as the "Clintonistas" did illustrating the lack of common decency in them.   George Bush has helped the Obama transition team in so many ways; he and his wife truly welcomed the Obamas, Barack and MIchelle into the White House and treated them as friends and colleagues.  The grace of the Bush’s showed today in the way the two couples showed each other affection and respect.  The departure of the Bush family was a fine thing with the Obamas seeing them off with sincere goodness and respect.

I need to set one of my commenters straight here.  "Bisonaudit" has accused me of only supporting a political person if there is a "R" behind his/her name.  This is totally untrue and I refute it.   I have no "R", no  "D"  or no "I"  behind my name; I am a member of NO political party.    I am, however, a Conservative both politically and socially.   I believe we need government, but I am opposed to government taking over our lives completely, as many Liberals in this nation would like to have done.   I believe people should not hold our their hands for "the dole" if they are capable of working.   Those who are disabled in any way should be cared for by the government if there is no other entity that will do it.   I will always oppose the social programs that take away any constitutional rights , as set down in the original consititution, not by those who would like to interpret it loosely to satisfy their own beliefs.  I do not believe that government should be supporting in any way the taking of lives of infants, via abortion or the use of their bodies for stem cell research.  This is morally reprehensible to me.   I do not believe that heavily taxing the citizens of this nation is a good solution for re-invigorating our economy.   I do not agree with the "bailouts"  of banks or big businesses that have perpetrated their own downfalls by stupidy and bad management.  This will not set right our national economy either.  It only puts us farther and farther into national debt and a nation that keeps spending money it does not have is facing its ultimate destruction in due time.  I believe in maintaining a strong national defense, especially in our homeland.  It seems utterly ridiculous that we have troups scattered all over the world protecting other nation’s borders (South Korea for example) and we have little or no border protection for our own homeland.  I know I will not be happy with  all of Obama’s policies or what his one-sided Congress might do in the first years of his administration to change many things that should be left alone, in my opinion.  I will not be happy with out of control spending of money we do not have if it comes.   But I respect the President and will wish him the best success as long as it is done for the best of all Americans and does not plunge us into more deep debt or jeopardize our nation’s security at home or abroad.

I have to stop for now—-I must go and watch the inauguration of our 44th President.  I pray  for his safety and for wisdom for him that he may guide this nation in a manner that will save our nation rather than harm it.

A Postscript after the actual swearing in ceremony on the Captitol steps:   The otherwise dignified and most- American of ceremonies was marred by a lot of people who must be the rabid Obama supporters….their booing of President Bush and Vice President Cheney is surely one of the lowest points in Inaugural history.  This bunch showed no respect, nor any sense of dignity for such an important national  occasion—-chanting "Obama, Obama, " is not what you do at an inaugural rite nor is booing ANYBODY.  The crude, rude behavior does not present a pretty picture for President Obama, who I thought, looked distressed and embarassed by the behavior of many in the crowd out front of the stand on the Capitol steps.   These Obamaniacs acted like they were at a campaign rally—-very unseemly and very disrespectful.  Perhaps they do no know any better but they should.   It was bad.   The only other aspect I did not care for was the butchery of a beautiful national song "My Country Tis Of Thee" by Aretha Franklin.   Because of my conservative nature, I absolutely hate it when ANY  singer so disrespectfully sings one of the great American anthems and turns it into a blue-sy, blowsy, rock n’ roll , jazzy song—- or any other form of music other than how it was written.  National anthems like "My Country Tis of Thee"….."the Star Spangled Banner"….or "America the Beautiful" should be sung, as written, and there is no place for some individual so- called "artist"  turning them into their own styles or creations.  It was disgusting…..and undignified, once again.   I thought the rest of the ceremony was totally seemly and carried the dignity that such a rite deserves.    The music of the small quartet…the Jewish-American violinist, the Japanese-American cellist, the Afro-American clarinetist, and the pianist (origin unknown) was beautifully rendered and seemed to represent all that is good about our American "melting pot".  The singing of the Navy Chanters was also marvelous….our national anthem as it should be rendered at all times….as it was written, with great dignity.

Now I hope to see the Fergus Falls Marching band in the parade that will come later this afternoon.  I heard my friend, Bonnie’s husband (director of bands at FF) interviewed by Scott Hennen yesterday and it was fun to hear how well the Otter band had been treated in Carlisle, PA  where they are staying.  The Mayor even cordoned off some street space so the band could do one final rehearsal for today’s big parade in Washington, D.C.