Sybil

Book list part V

2012-02-10T11:20:00.002-05:00

Book List part V

Born to Run: A HiddenTribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen byChristopher McDougal. This is such aninteresting book! Who knew there were really 100 mile runs! I didn’t! Now Iwould love to go to Leadville Colorado and see the race. Don’t think that’sbecause I’m interested in doing anything so crazy. No, if I can continue to makethe 5 mile in Mantua, that will be a feat. This is a definite must read if just to hear the sordid tale of Nike orwas it Adida? As well as the evidence for barefoot running.

Since I got the book on Kindle I can’t flip back through andremind myself of the interesting facts. I don’t like electronic books, but whenyou have tons of books already living at your house, you begin to see thebeauty in at least the idea of the Kindle. (We recently packed up about 200more books to take in to McKays used book store.)

Anyway, since I don’t have the hard copy to peruse, here isa quote from Amazon:

An epic adventure that began with one simple question: Whydoes my foot hurt?

Isolated by Mexico's deadly Copper Canyons, the blissful Tarahumara Indianshave honed the ability to run hundreds of miles without rest or injury. In ariveting narrative, award-winning journalist and often-injured runnerChristopher McDougall sets out to discover their secrets. In the process, hetakes his readers from science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys andfreezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers ofultra-runners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to aclimactic race in the Copper Canyons that pits America’s best ultra-runners againstthe tribe. McDougall’s incredible story will not only engage your mind butinspire your body when you realize that you, indeed all of us, were born torun.

A must read.

Letters: a compilation of letters from LeonLeishman Hall while serving in the military from 1942-1944, compiled byStephanie Winzler. This was certainly an eye-opening, humorous, and revealingcompilation. The quote:

So Dad, I guess you have the house started on by now, nodoubt? Or is it the same old story? Oh just wait till we get this or that andwe can’t do this just yet because of that . . . why the hell don’t you start soyou could have something to work for, why worry about the financial part ofbuilding, it’s the principle of the thing that really counts. Or what other excusehave you now, or you haven’t by chance actually started construction have you?I didn’t think so. Beats Me?

So many stories we don’t know; so many stories people don’ttell--perhaps all for the better, perhaps not. I remember talking with GrandmaHall one day when I was at Aunt Verda’s house, Grandma told me how unhappy she hadbeen being married to grandpa all those years and that she would have left him except for thechildren. It was a revelation to me, and one I could tell that Aunt Verdadidn’t appreciate much. And while I’m sure everyone knew but me, it wasn’tuntil grandpa was dying and in the hospital that I found out he smoked (anddrank coffee).

It was nice to read aboutDad’s physical prowess in so many areas, which I knew, but I enjoyed readinghis stats as did Mary--also nice that his abilities have continued down thegenerations.

Book list part IV

2012-02-07T17:21:00.001-05:00

Book list part IV

Chi Running: ARevolutionary approach to effortless, injury-free running by Danny Dreyer.Okay, so I read this book thinking I would smoke all the runners in that damrace. Didn’t quite work out that way, but it was helpful in teaching me correctform. I didn’t find the inspirational chapters at the beginning that helpful,but I thought the chapters on form to be very good. And Chapter 3 with the fourchi-skills was pretty good too. Basically if you don’t know what you’resupposed to look like when you run, this is a good book for you. And Icertainly didn’t. Just fyi you should lean forward from the ankles but maintainstraight posture.

“This changes your foot strike to the midfoot and allowsyour legs to extend as your feet leave the ground, radically reducing theamount of impact on your knees.”

Another invaluable piece of advice is about picking up yourfeet.

“Pushing off with your toes creates too much up-and-downmotion and overworks your lower legs, a main cause of shin splints. Picking upyour feet allows your body to run smoothly without bouncing. This will ensurethat you’re moving horizontally forward toward your goal, instead of bouncingalong like you’re on a pogo stick, fighting gravity with each step.

When you pick up your feet, you’ll avoid many commoninjuries, including shin splints, plantar fasciitis, and knee injuries.”

"Every movement in T’ai Chi is balanced by a movement in theopposite direction. The same holds true for ChiRunning. The principle ofBalance says that if a part of your body is moving forward another part of yourbody must move to the read to balance it. Since your upper body is tiltingforward, your lower body is responsible for the necessary counterbalance. Letyour stride open up behind you, not in front of you."

Well I didn’t intend to quote all this, but as I looked overthe book, I realized I needed to revisit my form. And I just got some ideas formy Dam Race inspirational missives!

Love Wins: A bookabout heaven, hell, and the fate of every person who ever lived by RobBell. This is a very controversial book in some circles. The first week it cameout on Amazon there were over 300 reviews, now there are over 600. I preordered the book because I was so excited to get it. I wasn’t disappointed. It’skind of like reading poetry, and like reading thoughts or ideas you had orquestions you asked about life when you were much younger and didn’t knoweverything. But Bell revisits the questions and makes it all make sense, in away. Obviously the things of God can never be made sense of in a clinical way.And so, as Bell would say, the long quote:

“I believe the discussion itself is divine. Abraham does hisbest to bargain with God, most of the book of Job consists of arguments by Joband his friends about the deepest questions of human suffering, God ispractically on trial in the poems of Lamentations, and Jesus responds to almostevery question he’s asked with . . . a question.

“What do you think? How do you read it?” he asks, again andagain and again.

The ancient sages said the words of the sacred text wereblack letters on a white page—there’s all that white space, waiting to befilled with our responses and discussions and debates and opinions and longingsand desires and wisdom and insights. We read the words, and then enter into thediscussion that has been going on for thousands of years across cultures andcontinents.

My hope is that this frees you. There is no question thatJesus cannot handle, no discussion too volatile, no issue too dangerous. At thesame time, some issues aren’t as big as people have made them. Much blood hasbeen spilled in church splits, heresy trials, and raging debates over issuesthat are, in the end, not that essential. Sometimes what we are witnessing issimply a massive exercise in missing the point. Jesus frees us to call thingswhat they are.

. . .

If this book, then, does nothing more than introduce you tothe ancient, ongoing discussion surrounding the resurrected Jesus in all itsvibrant, diverse, messy multivoiced complexity—well, I’d be thrilled.”

So, anyway, this is a wonderful book. A book that sees withfresh eyes.

Surprised by Hope:Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N. T. Wright. This is another fascinatingbook. But unlike Bell’s book--that you can just pick up and dive right in, thisbook takes a bit more struggling. Wright has written too many books and thoughttoo many thoughts, which is great, but it does leave you thinking you willnever really understand, and definitely never catch up. But that’s okay, and Idefinitely recommend this book. (N. T. Wright is one of the world’s topbiblical scholars, a prolific author and the Bishop of Durham for the Church ofEngland.) And so the quotes:

“First, what is the ultimate Christian hope? Second whathope is there for change, rescue, transformation, new possibilities within theworld in the present? And the main answer can be put like this. As long as wesee Christian hope in terms of “going to heaven,” of salvation that isessentially away from this world, thetwo questions are bound to appear as unrelated.”

“From Plato to Hegel and beyond, some of the greatestphilosophers declared that what you think about death, and life beyond it, isthe key to thinking seriously about everything else.”

In the early chapters Wright does a review of hymns andpoems to reveal that Christians don’t really know what they believe about lifeafter death. Mostly they believe that heaven is “essentially away from thisworld.” In chapter three Wright covers 7 modifications of early Jewish beliefmade by the early Christians; these modifications give evidence of the literalresurrection since these changes in thought would not have occurred withoutsome very real and startling occurrence. (Some scholars believe Christ’sdivinity was made up hundreds of years later. Not so, says Wright, and he givesthe 7 interesting variations to common Jewish thought of the era.) I don’t havetime to cover these, except maybe the 7^th: “Nobody in Judaism had expectedthe Messiah to die, and therefore naturally nobody had imagined the Messiahrising from the dead.” Well, it’s hard to explain this, you’ll just have toread it.

However, I do want to move on to one point in Chapter 4 thatI quite enjoyed. Wright points out “four strange features shared by theaccounts in the four canonical gospels. These features, [Wright] suggests,compel us to take them seriously as very early accounts, not as oftensuggested, later inventions.” These featuresare all interesting, but I will mention only the second:

“the presence of the women as the principal witnesses.Whether we like it or not, women were not regarded as credible witnesses in theancient world. When the tradition had time to sort itself out and acquire thefixed form we already find in Paul’s quotation of it in I Corinthians 15, thewomen were quietly dropped; they were apologetically embarrassing. But therethey are in all four gospel stories, front and center, the first witnesses, thefirst apostles. Nobody would have made them up.”

Ah Paul! Anyway all four of the strange features areinteresting. But you’ll have to read them for yourself! The whole book is excellent.

pics: Christmas dinner 2011; appetizers are put in shot glasses that have been partially filled with ranch dressing! Very cool. Mary taught us this from her gala events at Harvard.

2011 Book List part III

2012-01-31T18:53:00.000-05:00

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Thisis the second book by Hillenbrand; her first was the best seller Seabiscuitwhich I haven’t read (nor have I seen the movie) but plan to because she issuch an amazingly interesting writer. Horse stories don’t particularly interestme, nor do World War II stories. The book is about Louis Zamperini, an“incorrigible delinquent . . a teenager who channeled his defiance intorunning, a brother who cared enough to save him, and his life as an airman on a doomedflight.” If you haven’t heard anything about Laura Hillenbrand, you should readher story about suffering from debilitating chronic fatigue syndrome whilewriting these books. Unbroken is abook probably everybody should read, if you can take it. (By the way RandomHouse accepted her first book the first time she submitted it. Unlike theauthor of The Help who had to submit her book 62 times.)

Ialso read The Help byKathryn Stockett. But by now everyone has at least seen the movie. Ithought it was a pretty good book, aside from some scenes I’m sure some stupideditor suggested she stick in—and she was desperate to publish. I read this fora book club, and the woman who led the discussion, complete with her southerndrawl from Alabama, said the book was a very accurate description of how shegrew up.

Finding God Beyond Harvard by Kelly Monroe Kullberg,the editor of Finding God at Harvard. Kullbergwrote this book a number of years after she started the now-famous (in somecircles) Veritas Forums throughout the country. She never set out to do such athing, the forums just evolved through her activities while at Harvard.I like this book better than Finding God—perhapsbecause I never finished those essays, but also because it is her autobiography,not just a compilation of essays, good though they may be. Kullberg is a bittoo conservative for my taste, though that didn’t come through too much, and Iwas amazed at how godless those Harvard folks are ;). I found her a verycompelling individual and thought the story of her failed romanceheartbreaking. What are some people thinking? The University of Tennessee isone of the schools that adopted the Veritas Forums, and we have had some quiteinteresting forums.

Peak Performance Principlesfor High Achieversby John R. Noe. I picked up this book in the throw-away bin outside McKays usedbook store. It’s one of the positive thinking kinda books with an endorsementfrom Og Mandino author of The GreatestSalesman in the World. It was short, and I pick up so many free books inthe throw-away bin I thought I ought to at least read one. Noe uses hisexperiences in mountain climbing and running to build his advice for highachievers. I’d say if you are needing a little help setting goals and gettinginspired, this would be a good read: “You don’t conquer fears by saying littleclichés to yourself. You act. You take the first step toward your mostimmediate goal. In doing so, you make the crucial move from the position offear into the arena of conflict.” Not a fantastically new idea, and in fact,that idea of acting without waiting for the perfect plan of attack, is one of thethings I relearned in 2011. All in all he does a good job of re-inspiring youin whatever quest you have set before yourself.

Book List part II

2012-01-28T10:07:00.001-05:00

Book List part II

When Helping Hurts:How to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor and yourself by SteveCorbett & Brian Fikkert. I probably read this book in 2010, but who knows.I think I taught it in SS in 2011 plus I got to hear a seminar by one of theauthors, Steve Corbett—an interesting and genuine guy. So basically I read itagain. This is a definite recommend.

I found so much of this very very valuable that I willmostly just recommend it to you. I will mention the beauty of the asset basedapproach vs the needs based approach to solving poverty. Instead of going to aperson or community and asking what is needed, you ask what are the assets herethat can be developed. Really a key difference in empowering people orenabling. “What is right with you? What gifts has God given you that you canuse to improve your life and that of your neighbors?” Also the authors takegreat pains to explain why Jesus came to earth, which gets quite confused inmany conservative Christian’s minds. (Keep this asset approach in mind as you make New Year's resolutions.)

TheHole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Lifeand Might Just Change the World by Richard Stearns. I can’t findmy copy of the book, so I’ll just paste the blurb from Amazon. I will sayreading Stern’s autobiography intertwined with the mission of World Vision wasfascinating. Definitively recommend it. (This book has a similar philosophy to When Helping Hurts.) I wish I had thebook to paste in some of my favorite quotes. When I find it, I will come backand edit! And now, from Amazon:

Stearns, the CEO of World Vision, says Christianshave a huge hole in their lives, an emptiness that comes from ignoring theplight of the poor. He details his own quest to fill this hole by leaving LenoxInc., where he was CEO, to run a not-for-profit that helps feed, clothe, andeducate children worldwide. Unlike many evangelical Christians, Stearnsbelieves poverty is explained by something more than choices, and liftingcultures from the systemic causes of poverty requires a multi-pronged approach.This accessible book will make it into the hands of evangelical Christians whomay not pick up one of the many ABA books on issues of hunger, access to cleanwater, malaria and AIDS. Readers of Rick Warren, Jim Wallis and N.T. Wrightwill find Stearns synthesizing thoughts from them as well as from economistsand missionaries. This is a passionate and motivating magnum opus from theleader of one of the most recognized aid organizations in the world. The bookis a surprisingly no-holds-barred prophetic voice in the wilderness crying outto rich Americans, "Repent and help your world neighbors."

TheOutliers by Malcolm Gladwell.This is such an interesting book!! Definitely recommend it. Of course the partabout athletes and January birthdays was particularly interesting to me becauseRuss and Mary have January birthdays and both got beaucoup scholarship offers. Thegift and the drive have to be there—still the birthday is an interesting factor.But really the whole thing about where, when, and how people grow up, whobecomes successful and who doesn’t is really really interesting. From BillGates to the Beatles and the 10,000 hours of practice, to the frighteningcrashes of Korean Air, it’s a fascinating book.

(Yes, I am aware that very very and really reallyare not good stylistic choices. And that the overuse of words like interestingand fascinating eventually have a net negative effect. USUALLY. (And that usuallyall caps is a no no).

MountainsBeyond Mountains and Strengthin What Remains by Tracy Kidder. Since everyone who had any interest hasalready read Mountains Beyond Mountains, thebook about Paul Farmer’s amazing life and mission, I will just say that Strength in What Remains (a beautifultitle, and you realize how fitting it is at the end of the book) is the amazingjourney of a young man from Burundi who miraculously survives the massacres andmakes it to the underbelly of New York City; he miraculously survives thateye-opening experience as well. A must read! ;)

Reviewing all these great books, makes me want toread them all over again!

Book List Part III comingsoon.

pics: Mantua in October

2011 Book List, part one

2012-01-27T09:09:00.000-05:00

2011 Book List

The Girl with theDragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, and the Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest byStieg Larsson. I ordered allthree of these books on Amazon at once—why? Because I had heard so much about them, andI thought the name of the first book was very cool. I read the first one anddidn’t like it much, and didn’t plan on reading the others. Then, found myselfwith nothing to read (my stacks and stacks of books must have been covered withclothes) and so I started the second one--also, a good friend had read thebooks, and she seemed to think they were pretty good--plus I had spent all that money buying them! Turns out the second andthird were pretty good. Still I would notrecommend these books. Cool titles though. I have not seen the movie.

The Comforts of aMuddy Saturday by Alexander McCall Smith. I got this in a garagesale for $1 and (again) I have friends who read these, so I gave it a shot.Some interesting writing, some interesting plot. But not enough to earn a recommendation from me.

The Alchemistby Paulo Coelho. Picked this up also at a garage sale. Saw it right afterhearing an interview with, I think, Bill Clinton, who said he had read itseveral times and was currently rereading it. So I started it and realized Ihad read it years and years ago, but went ahead and read it again. Aninteresting tale about faith, listening, and the soul of the world. I would recommend it. Here are a fewquotes.

All things are the manifestation of one thing only.

They were men who had dedicated their entire lives to thepurification of metals in their laboratories; they believed that, if a metalwere heated for many years, it would free itself of all its individualproperties, and what was left would be the Soul of the World

I learned that the world has a soul, and that whoeverunderstands that soul can also understand the language of things. I learnedthat many alchemists realized their Personal Legends, and wound up discoveringthe Soul of the World, the Philosopher’s Stone, and the Elixir of Life.

But, above all, I learned that these things are all sosimple that they could be written on the surface of an emerald.

If I have to fight, it will be just as good a day to die asany other.

Because people become fascinated with pictures and words,and wind up forgetting the Language of the World.

The Soul of the World can hear the screams of battle. No onefails to suffer the consequences of everything under the sun.

Listening for theHeartbeat of God: A Celtic Spirituality by J. Philip Newell. Ibought this book from Amazon—no, I don’t get all my books at garage sales. Thetitle of the book is worth the price—so beautiful. (It was inspired by thepicture of John laying his head against Jesus at the Last Supper.) This book isabout, sort of, the conflict of philosophies between Pelagius and Augustine.(Augustine won the day obviously.) Pelagius was more of a spiritualist, whatever that is,believed that all God’s creations were worthy of our love. Even believed inteaching women how to read scripture—a shocking and sinful act! Here’s a quote from Pelagius:

You will realize that doctrines are inventions of the humanmind, as it tries to penetrate the mystery of God. You will realize thatScripture itself is the work of human minds, recording the example and teachingof Jesus. Thus it is not what you believe that matters; it is how you respondwith your heart and your actions. It is not believing in Christ that matters;it is becoming like him.

I know, radical stuff. More quotes from the book:

Augustine believed that from conception and birth we lackthe image of God until it is restored in the sacrament of baptism, and thatconception involves us in the sinfulness of nature, sexual intercourse beingassociated with lustful desire. The perspective conveyed by Pelagius, on theother hand, is that to look into the face of a newborn is to look at the imageof God; he maintained that creation is essentially good and that the sexualdimension of procreation is God-given. The emphasis that would increasingly bedeveloped in the Celtic tradition was that in the birth of a child God isgiving birth to his image on earth.

The church becomes liberator rather than custodian ofsalvation.

This is a wonderful book for meditation, and only 100 pages.

I will continue my book list tomorrow.

Decorating Trends

2012-01-21T09:46:00.000-05:00

So, I was out an about getting things for birthdays and such and decided to check out what decorating trends were happening. I find one of the best ways to see what colors are hot is to check out upholstery fabric, other ways include looking in magazines, home stores, hgtv etc.

I was curious to see if teal and aqua still had the country by storm, and yes, indeed they do--which is fine by me, because I think aqua is about the perfect color. Also the compatible tangerines and oranges are still hot. Variations of lime green have been around for a long time and still are. Grey is outpacing browns. Pink and purple variations are trying to sneak in, but I have a hard time appreciating purple as anything but an accent color. So basically not a lot of new things. Red was the only real surprise, which seems to be making a stand. But of course red goes good with grey, so makes sense I guess. White cabinets are in and of course mosaic backsplashes are a must. Gold finishes are so yesterday! Chrome and silver are cool. Stainless appliances still rule. Modern lines are in, but usually paired with a bit more traditional stuff. And curtains with large grommets instead of tabs--a definite must have.

A year or so ago when I was on an hgtv jag (I go in stages--watch it for two weeks, then totally forget about it for a couple months, then back to it again. I usually go back to it when I am cleaning the kitchen and am totally sick of ALL the news channels.) At any rate, at one point a year or so ago, I never saw a single design created on hgtv whether bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, or living room, that did not have aqua walls! They have moved away from the all aqua walls, so maybe it is in decline. But not a very steep one. I imagine in another twenty or so years they will be painting over all those "Early 21st Century" aqua walls.

By the way, Target still has the best cotton comforters. (Sheets and comforters are on clearance at Target, btw.) Why am I always looking at comforters? I don't know. The one on my bed I got from a garage sale for $10--it is 100% cotton from Pottery Barn.

If I missed some obvious trends, please tell me. I'm planning on repainting our bonus room--maybe a tan or brown, though olive green is cool. Ideas? The trim board in the room is a medium dark brown.

Event Boundary: through the doorway

2012-01-15T16:34:00.000-05:00

Have you ever entered a room to get or do something and not been able to remember why you are there? Well researches at Notre Dame (not entirely reliable, I know!) have discovered why that is:

Entering or exiting through a doorway serves as an ‘event boundary’ in the mind, which separates episodes of activity and files them away. Recalling the decision or activity that was made in a different room is difficult because it has been compartmentalized.

An event boundary! Makes perfect sense.

Take for example the $1 wire candle holder. I received this candle holder (or possibly bought it myself) as a gift. They were at the dollar store some 10 years ago. I recently ran across it with a candle melted into the wire and thought, "I will just toss it out! It's not worth fussing over. I have a dozen candle holders, and I never use this one--cute though it may be." But then, a little idea crept into my mind that I could heat the whole thing briefly in a pan of water and detach the holder from the candle. Even as I thought this, I knew it was a bad idea. But, I heated up a pan of water, placed the $1 candle holder in it, and headed back upstairs to quickly finish something I had been doing and then hurry back down--knowing as I went, that I would never remember to come back down to retrieve it before it boiled over. Sure enough, some time later, I heard a sizzling noise and flew downstairs to find wax and water all over my somewhat-new glass-top stove. An hour later, I had it mostly cleaned up.

Doorways can be treacherous. Dozens of these events occur every day, granted, not all of them so disastrous.

PS: I just went in search of said candle holder to take a picture so you could see how lovely it is but how it may not be totally worth an hour clean-up. But I could not find it. And I almost forgot that I was in mid post!

Time was

2011-12-10T08:57:00.001-05:00

Time was when we received so many Christmas cards they were layered two and three deep on a string attached near the ceiling from wall to wall. Now, as we have come midway in December to Christmas, we have four cards: one from the newspaper boy, one from the new dentist Stephen went to see a few weeks ago, one from the Obamas (with a personal letter enclosed!), and one from Matt and Gina Ellsworth--thank you Gina--great pictures! But not to worry, I will pick out some favorite leftover cards we have sent from past seasons to add to the display. And who knows what the mail will bring today?

This is what comes of living in the same city for 25 years and from all the social media possibilities. When we moved to Knoxville in 1990 (Zuckerberg was six), we were fresh from five years in Troy, New York; before that we were in Seattle for two years; and before that we each had various lives in various locations: school, missions, and work (Salt Lake City, Palo Alto, CA)--as well as home towns. Little by little, distance did its work and connections were lost.

Of course I will get a few updates from friends who write Christmas letters, and I will send out a few. (I usually wait till someone sends me one, and then respond--so low!) But now with kids basically grown, the Christmas letter is a bit boring. Kids grow wildly every year, accomplish amazing feats, and do spectacularly funny things that are fun to synthesize with a few anecdotes and well-chosen words. Adult children are still interesting I suppose, ;), but it is no longer socially acceptable to tell funny stories about them, at least not usually. The things that I think are hilarious, they don't think are quite so funny. I guess an empty nest at Christmas isn't that great. Good that Mary arrives on Tuesday.

Mad Hatter's Tea Party & Why Not Mitt?

2011-12-01T20:06:00.001-05:00

Niall Ferguson Endorses Mitt Romney forPresident

Nov 28, 2011 12:00 AM EST (Newsweek 12.5.2011)

From the Tea Party to Occupy Wall Street, America is angry atelites. But Mitt Romney’s business success makes him the best candidate by far.

This column is for Ted Forstmann: financier, fun lover, andphilanthropist, who died on Nov. 20. But it’s not just for him. It’s to him.

Ted, I’m worried. Iwish you were still around to help me get this right. The U.S. is going nutswith populism. That’s always to be expected after a big financial crisis, Iknow. But this is dysfunctional.

On one side, there areconservative fundamentalists—the Tea Party—who think we can turn the clockback to before the New Deal, if not further. Some of them want toget rid not just of the Federal Reserve but of most of the federal governmentitself. I have more sympathy with these Teapopulists than with the other lot,the motley crew who want to Occupy Wall Street (call them theOccupopulists). But when it comes to practical politics, this Tea Party hasmore in common with the Mad Hatter’s than Boston’s.

Tobegin with, they’ve created a mood in the Republican Party that makes any kindof compromise on our fiscal crisis impossible. We just saw the ignominiousfailure of the supercommittee, which was supposed to come up with a plan toreduce the deficit. Predictably, each party blames the other side for thisflop. Either way, the consequences are dire. First, the markets are spooked,just the way they were by the partisan dogfight over the debt ceiling earlierthis year. Second, the country is now on course for more drastic spending cutsin 2013, which could not only slash our defense budget in an irresponsible waybut also plunge the economy back into recession.

There’s another problem. Just like the populists of a century ago, theTeapopulists are drawn compulsively to disastrous presidential wannabes. Inever asked you what you thought of Mitt Romney, Ted. But I am sure you’dprefer him over the other contenders. Bachmann, Perry, Cain, Gingrich—the onething these people have in common is that they would lose to Barack Obama nextyear even if the unemployment rate were twice what it is now. Their appeal tothe crucial center—to the independents and the undecided—is just too low.

What’s the case against Romney? That he’s a Mormon? Ted, you were a devoutCatholic, just as I am a doubting atheist. But this is America. Religion andgovernment are separate. And we tolerate all faiths, no matter howidiosyncratic, provided they tolerate ours too. That he’s changed his mind onhot-button issues? Well, so does any intelligent person. You often did. What isthis, a dogmatism contest?

Actually, the best case for Mitt Romney was just made by the other side. In anunintentionally hilarious piece, The New York Times attempted a hatchet jobbased on his time as the founder and CEO of Bain Capital: “After a Romney Deal,Profits and Then Layoffs.”

You’re not going tobelieve this, Ted. You know what this evil bastard did? Yes, that’s right. Heused borrowed money to take over failing companies. And that’s not all. Hefired some of the folks who worked at those companies. Wait, it gets evenworse. He restored those companies to profitability. I know, I know. And—to capit all—he made hundreds of millions of dollars doing it.

Pretty funny, isn’tit? Because that’s exactly the business model of private equity and leveragedbuyouts that you pioneered. And as I was reading about Romney’s very impressivebusiness career, I was reminded of you.

These days people likeyou are vilified as members of the “1 percent”—the rich elite that theOccupopulists blame for all our ills. Their remedy? Taxes that take the moneyyou gave to great causes like the Children’s Scholarship Fund and channel it tothe federal government, which has such a terrific record of managing money,after all.

In Europe these days,the answer to fiscal crisis is to put a technocrat in charge. But I think you’dagree with me, dear Ted, that what the U.S. government really needs is aprivate-equity guy in the White House.

Niall Ferguson’s latestbook, Civilization: The West and the Rest, has just been publishedby Penguin Press.

picking up leaves

2011-11-18T10:29:00.001-05:00

I was walking around the neighborhood on my usual constitutional, picking up leaves. I had passed by leaves on various other walks, but this day I started to pick up a few. Some giant-sized tulip-tree leaves had caught my attention. And then I just kept picking up various leaves because there were so many beautiful ones. And of course that got me to thinking about mother dear. And that led me to thinking how I wish I had been a better daughter, and that led me to feeling teary and nostalgic. Of course, I don't think I was a bad daughter--I had planned projects, trips, dinners, and events to take her to when she visited. And was usually supportive and complimentary--not forced, but genuine; but there were plenty simple things I could have done better. Why we don't treat our parents better, I don't know. I suppose the ingrained habit of thinking of them as there for us, prevents us from seeing them as real people (even when we have consciously come to that realization), with real feelings along with problems or odd and perhaps annoying habits, just like we have. I recently read in Paul Tournier's book, A Person Reborn, a well-put phrase how we always make allowances for ourselves, but can't quite extend the same grace to others. (Can't find the quote.)

Anyway, on around the subdivision I went, picking up more and more leaves, and wondering what on earth I would do with so many. I thought perhaps at Thanksgiving the fam could do a leaf craft, and all make pictures with the dried leaves. But would the kids want to? Stephen, no; Joyanna, probably; Elizabeth, probably--I think she has moved on to the point where she is willing to indulge me. It's a good place. A place where you accept your parents mostly for who they are and even find them somewhat endearing. I had a delightful lunch with her the other day, and she showed me the lovely new curtains in her condo; Aaron, no; Mary, yes. Not because she really loves crafts, in fact she doesn't, but because she likes to make me happy. A very strange girl that one. An angel blown down from heaven that somehow landed at my house.

I found that often the most beautiful and enticing leaves were the ones with spots of age, or a leaf disease making it brilliantly red and fabulously yellow all at the same time. Of course just when I started philosophizing about how a person's beauty sometimes comes from their trials, age, sicknesses and uniqueness as well, I would see a glowing leaf, vibrant with red orange coloring and absolutely perfect. Certainly hard to compete with that! And that made me think of a line about competition in another book I recently read, Finding God Beyond Harvard by Kelly Monroe Kullberg: "timeless values of character, ethics and truth had morphed into modern values of image, competition and success." I wondered about the "morphed" part. Are we really more shallow today than yesterday? Well, I decided, probably so. But at any rate, I did not have to decide which leaves were the "most pretty" all were very very lovely.

On future walks, I planned before hand to NOT pick up any more leaves. Russel had been quite indulgent, helping me spread newspaper on the dining room table and then layering books on top. But enough is enough. Yet time after time, I would pick up "just one" to wave like a flower on my walk, and soon I had the whole bouquet.

Post wedding returns

2011-10-19T17:43:00.000-04:00

Rehearsal Dinner

I know you want to see pics of the wedding, but I haven't got much yet. However, I'm sure you want to know that I returned all the pre-wedding buys that I did not use (or at least did not want) to the stores! Yes! all of them. A skirt to Dillard's--they had put a little tag on the inside label and didn't even look at my receipt to return the money to my VISA (I HAD the receipt however); I returned the shiny teal jacket and skirt to Belk--was lucky to find that receipt; returned a teal knit top to Target; returned the medium teal biker jacket (fake snake skin--I just read it's all the rage) to Stein Mart--I still have the size small; and returned a dress to Pennys! Wow amazing! Oh and I also returned the 7 dollar-store runners that Val and I bought to Dollar Tree. We only had enough time to put up 14 pew decorations--which we already had from the rehearsal dinner. Obviously teal was the color for the wedding. Elizabeth was in a teal dress, Mary in a brown. I wore a teal jacket and brown skirt.

Dimensional roof shingles, the economy, sons, cars

2011-10-01T11:01:00.000-04:00

So probably dimensional roof shingles have been around for a long time, and I just never noticed them. Then the big hail storm of 2011 hit and everyone in the neighborhood got new roofs (rooves?). And then we found out about dimensional shingles. Dimensional shingles are just a tad like a wood shake roof. They look way cooler than flat roofing tiles, which are soo one dimensional.

Since the big hail storm, many benefits have accrued to good ol' West Knox. For instance, in our 40-year-old subdivision (and in all of Knox County), nearly everyone got new roofs, many got new siding, or new paint, new windows, and new gutters. Now not many people in this middle-of-the-road subdivision could spring for a new roof, but since the insurance is paying--well we have revival in Foxfire. Plus, many people are doing extra stuff that is at least partially covered by the insurance. We for instance are getting a new, large, deck. The other one was small and falling down. We are also getting new paint (same color scheme--when it works stick with it) and new gutters--mostly compliments of insurance money.

In addition to breathing new life into our subdivision, which may have, without all these upgrades, gradually fallen into the lower echelons of subdivisions, we are employing droves of workers--no doubt our fair share of illegals--and buying tons of supplies from all the home stores. People can hardly beg enough to get workers to come in and do the repairs because they are all busy at other jobs. And the people who make roofing tiles are working 24/7 to keep us supplied. (We are just now, 6 months after the storm, getting the work done on our house.)

When I was considering the illegals doing a lot of the work, I thought about my own dear son, who at that time was unemployed. I couldn't imagine him in my wildest dreams up on the roof ripping off shingles in the heat and hammering on new ones, nor could I imagine any of my friends' sons who are in similar need of jobs, up there. It just wouldn't be safe. Not for the man/boy, or the roof. In addition to keeping all the construction people of Knoxville constantly busy for the last 6 months, droves of workers from other areas have come in--not all of them scrupulous. So, all that said, the storm was a great boost to the economy. And not just to the construction workers. The car industry flourished as well.

Wedding present. (Notice roof tiles in background)

First Hill: Chair Rock, or Photo Rock, as Jonathan called it

We received insurance money for Russ's car and for Stephen's which were damaged by the hail. Stephen received about $1,300 for his '95 piece-of-junk Taurus. He decided to keep the car, or he would have got $2,100. Then a few months later, someone ran a stop sign and hit him. His car was totaled again. This time he took the $2,000 dollars. Then his parents who are way, way too nice to him, looked diligently for a car on Craigslist and found a gorgeous 2002 Mazda Tribute for $4,600. I'm not kidding, the car looks bran new. The tires are new too. Stephen had to have his friend put in a $30 part because it sometimes quit on idle--now it doesn't. So all that to say, a) Stephen did not deserve the car and boys/men who are over 21 should not live with their parents, and b) The auto repair industry came out like bandits, as did the car dealerships where everyone went to replace their hail-damaged cars.

You might be feeling sorry for the insurance companies about now. Don't. They will raise the rates, of course.

Amen!

2011-09-08T19:43:00.001-04:00

Amen Obama, and again, I say amen!

The Fall

2011-08-30T17:27:00.006-04:00

Fall. I love fall. I don't love summer in the East. The temperature fell a bit this week; one morning it was actually 60 degrees when I awoke at 6:30, and a couple of times it has been 63. The humidity has fallen off a bit as well. Of course temperatures are rising for the rest of the week, but still there is reason to believe that fall will come.

I remember traveling to Virginia with the fam to see Joyce and Scott and family. I think I was in my senior year in high school. I had never in my life experienced humidity. And despite the lush greenth of the place, and the magical fireflies, I wondered why anyone would live in the Southeast. And so here I am, still wondering. ;)

So, do I deserve a prize for that top picture?

The Debt Deal's Failure

2011-08-07T17:51:00.006-04:00

Pics: Family reunion 2011, Do you believe in magic?

The Debt Deal's Failure

By Fareed Zakaria

In narrow economic terms, the debt deal is actually not a big deal, neither as good as its advocates claim nor as terrifying as its opponents fear. The actual cut to the 2012 budget, the only budget over which this Congress has control, is $21 billion out of total expenditures of $3.7 trillion—a pittance. Everything else can and will be changed by future Congresses. What the deal does is kick tough choices down the road, this time to a congressional supercommission that will have to come up with a larger plan to reduce debt. And it does nothing to spur growth, without which the debt will expand well above projections. That’s why the usually circumspect Mohamed El- Erian, head of Pimco, the world’s largest bond fund, grades the deal somewhere between an incomplete and a fail. “Other than eliminating default risk emanating from a self-manufactured crisis,” he writes, “there is nothing good about America’s debt ceiling debacle.”

The deal’s largest impact will be political, and there it has been a disaster. The manner in which it was produced added poison to an already toxic atmosphere in Washington, making compromise even more difficult. Democrats now feel they need to mirror the Tea Party’s tactics and are becoming unyielding on any cuts to entitlement programs like Medicare. Republicans, emboldened by the success of their bullying, have closed ranks more solidly around a no-tax agenda. But the only solution to America’s debt dilemma will need to involve both cuts to entitlement programs and higher tax revenues. Even if the besmirched ratings agencies don’t downgrade America, we’ve downgraded ourselves. The system did not work.

Evidence of a working system would have been the adoption of a grand bargain almost forged between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner to reduce the budget deficit by almost $4 trillion over 10 years, a plan that might actually have been enforced, because both parties would have been invested in it, each having contributed to shaping it. The system would have worked if it had adopted some version of the Bowles-Simpson plan, which reduces the national debt by the same amount, with pain on both sides of the aisle, but in an even smarter way. This is how Congress used to work: grand bipartisan bargains to solve difficult problems with compromises by both sides. This is not nostalgia. It is how the system worked in the 1980s and ’90s to save Social Security, reform the tax code, rationalize immigration policy and close hundreds of military bases.

Instead, we have demonstrated to ourselves, the world and global markets that our political system is broken and that we are incapable of conceiving and implementing sensible public policy. What we have instead is the prospect of more late-night cliff-hangers, extreme tactics, budget guillotines, filibusters and presidential vetoes. It makes for good TV news specials, but it is a sorry picture of how the world’s leading country governs itself.

There is one silver lining. The sword of Damocles that hangs over Congress (steep reductions in defense and Medicare if the two sides can’t agree to a basket of other cuts) is supposed to make legislators act more sensibly. Actually, it might provoke something more important: a national debate on the role of government. This might well have been Obama’s calculation and his purpose in accepting the debt deal—that it would end the crisis, in which the Tea Partyers held the country’s creditworthiness hostage to their agenda, and force a broader national discussion, one he is comfortable leading. If so, such a debate is long overdue. For more than a generation, Americans have delayed it, at incalculable cost to the country.

The modern seesaw about the role of government began with Ronald Reagan, who rode to the White House in 1980 on a tide of frustration with high taxes and big government. He promised to cut both down to size. He succeeded with taxes, reducing rates across the board and closing loopholes. Although he raised taxes several times during his presidency, by the time he left office in 1989, taxes were at 18% of GDP, down from about 20%.

But what he did not do was cut spending consistently. Spending under Reagan averaged 22.4% of GDP, well above the 1971–2009 average of 20.6%. Yes, much of this was for defense, but almost everything went up during his Administration. Farm subsidies, for example, rose 140%. If you lower taxes and don’t trim expenses, there is only one way to make up the difference: by borrowing. The national debt tripled, from $712 billion in 1980 to $2 trillion in 1988.

Reagan reflected the American public’s basic preferences. We want big government but low taxes. The only way to make this work, short of magic, is debt. And government at every level—state, city and local—followed this pattern and took on ever increasing amounts of debt. In fact, because of weak accounting requirements, politicians at the state level have even resorted to a kind of budgetary magic to satisfy key constituencies. When public-sector employees want pay raises, politicians provide just modest step-ups in salary but huge increases in pension and retirement health care benefits. That way, the (fraudulent) budget numbers don’t look that bad until years later, when the politicians who did the damage have safely retired.

Over the past three decades, this pattern has persisted, with a few exceptions at the federal level. Tax hikes and spending restraint under George H.W. Bush and even more so under Bill Clinton brought the problem under control and in the late Clinton years even produced a budget surplus. Then came the George W. Bush tax cuts, expanded health care benefits and two wars—all unpaid for—without any tax increases. The result: the surplus disappeared, and by 2008, the debt had ballooned to $10 billion. The final blow was the financial crisis and recession, which meant that federal tax revenues collapsed, followed by more tax cuts and stimulus spending. The debt rose to its current $14.3 trillion.

We couldn’t be grappling with this at a worse time. Many economists believe that the economy is fragile and that it would be better not to cut spending or raise taxes at this point. It’s true. The sensible economic policy would be more stimulus now and major deficit reduction in a few years. But that kind of smart, sequenced public policy is simply beyond the reach of the American system today.

So far, the national debate has been built around the fantasy that we do not have to choose between big government and low taxes—that we can get both by cutting waste, fraud and abuse. But the money is in the big middle-class items, from Medicare to the mortgage- interest deduction. With federal taxes at 15% of GDP, a historic low, and spending at 24% of GDP, there is really no conceivable way to close the gap without increasing taxes—either raising rates or eliminating deductions and loopholes. And Republicans might find to their dismay that when forced to choose, Americans will decide that they like their government programs after all. Polls show that the public would rather raise taxes than, for example, cut Medicare. (In fact, we would have to do both.) The public may hate government in theory, but it has warm feelings about most individual government programs, from the space shuttle to Head Start to Pell Grants. This may be why Obama might be happy to have this debate in 2012 and urge a mix of cuts and increased revenues.

Whatever the outcome of the ideological debate, that outcome has to then be translated into public policy. For that to happen, we need a government that works. What the debt crisis has highlighted is that Congress—the heart of day-to-day government—is utterly and completely broken.

Can one measure this breakdown? Yes. Congress is more polarized than ever before. A National Journal study shows that, for the first time since the publication began tracking the divide 30 years ago, the most left-wing Republican is more conservative than the most right-wing Democrat. There is no overlapping set of moderates, who used to engineer congressional compromises. This polarization has resulted in paralysis. More than two years into the Obama Administration, hundreds of key positions in government remain vacant for lack of Senate confirmation. The Treasury Department had to handle the global financial crisis, recession, bank stress tests and automaker bailouts, as well as its usual duties, with about a dozen of its senior positions—almost its entire top management—vacant. Senate rules have been used, abused and twisted to allow constant delay and blockage. The filibuster, historically employed about once a decade, is now a routine procedure that allows the minority to thwart the will of the majority. In 2009, Senate Republicans filibustered a stunning 80% of major legislation. Given how the chamber is composed—two Senators per state, no matter how thinly populated—people representing just 10% of the country can block all legislation. Is that how a democracy should function?

American parties now function like European parliamentary ones, ideologically pure and with tight discipline. But we don’t have a European system. In parliamentary systems, power is united so that when, for example, the British Prime Minister’s coalition takes office, it controls the legislative branch as well as the executive. The Prime Minister is, in effect, chief legislator as well as chief executive. The ruling party gets a chance to implement its agenda, and then the public can either re-elect it or throw the bums out. The U.S. system is one of shared and overlapping powers. No one person or party is fully in control; everyone is checked and balanced. People have to cooperate for anything to get done. That is why the Tea Party’s insistence on holding the debt ceiling hostage in order to force its policies on the country—the first time the debt ceiling has been used this way—was so deeply un-American.

The strength of the Tea Party is part of a broader phenomenon: the rise of small, intensely motivated groups that have been able to capture American politics. The causes are by now familiar. The redistricting of Congress creates safe seats, so the incentive is to pander to the extremes to fend off primary challenges, rather than to work toward the center. Narrow cast media amplify strong voices at the ends of the spectrum and make politicians pay a price for any deviation from dogma. A more open and transparent Congress has meant a Congress more easily pressured by small interest groups and lobbyists. Ironically, during this period, more and more Americans identify as independents. Registered independents are at an all-time high. But that doesn’t matter. The system in Congress reflects not rule by the majority but rule by the minority— fanatical, organized minorities.

These dysfunctions have reached crisis levels at the very time the U.S. faces intense pressures from an aging population, technological change and globalization. We need smart policies in every field. We need to pare spending in areas like health care and pensions but invest in others like research and development, infrastructure and education in order to grow. In an age of budgetary limits, money needs to be spent wisely and only on projects that are effective. But in area after area—energy, immigration, infrastructure—government policy is sub optimal, a sad mixture of political payoffs and ideological positioning. Countries from Canada to Australia to Singapore implement smart policies and copy best practices from around the world. We bicker and remain paralyzed.

Some of those best practices used to be American. The world once looked at America with awe as we built the interstate highway system, created the best public education in the world, put a man on the moon and invested in the frontiers of knowledge. That is not how the world sees America today. People watched what happened over the past month and could not comprehend it. We have taken something that the world never doubted—the credibility of the U.S.—and put it into question. From now on, every time the debt ceiling has to be debated, the world will wonder, Will America honor its commitments? Will it keep its word? Will the system break down? We have taken our most precious resource, the trust of the world, and gambled with it. If, as a result of these congressional antics, interest rates on America’s debt rise by 1% —in other words, if the world asks for just a little bit more interest to lend us money—the budget deficit will rise by $1.3 trillion over 10 years. That would more than wipe out the entire 10 years of cuts proposed in the debt deal. That’s the American system at work these days.

June is/was daily month!

2011-07-07T18:16:00.003-04:00

My day lilies looked stupendous this year, despite the hail storm and despite the spring week of 90 degree temperatures, when I forgot to water! Of course we have had buckets and buckets of rain the past few weeks, so I really can't take much credit. Except for the fact that I go outside and visit them every morning and tell them how fabulous they look. Plus, I tell everyone in the house how beautiful they are and let them come out with me for the daily tour. I'm sure that has made a difference. (These pics look good, but other days were even better.)

Elizabeth and Aaron and friend Mera, and I all went to the Oakes daylily festival again this year. We all had $20 Groupons worth $40! Fun Fun.

New Creative Suite!

2011-06-27T19:19:00.003-04:00

So I got the new Adobe Creative Suite. But I'll have to relearn it all. Sigh. I'll probably never upgrade again. I went from CS 2 to CS 5.5 (5.1)

Conservatism is true

2011-06-25T15:27:00.002-04:00

How today's conservatism lost touch with reality by Fareed Zakaria, June 2011.

Paul Revere Ride

2011-06-18T13:01:00.004-04:00

The Paul Revere ride revisted (by Palin). I've been meaning to post this clip for a while. John Stewart also did a sketch of her Paul Revere comments. He includes a news clip of her commenting about "trick questions" from the media. So of course John Stewart played the question that elicited her meanderings. It was something like, "So what places have you visited, what has really stood out for you?" Anyway, this clip of from the Colbert Report is pretty hysterical.

PS If you look very closely, I believe you will see a bell in Paul's right hand--or, perhaps, a tree branch. Basically the same thing.

Dam June Cheers (pls vote)

2011-06-02T17:42:00.002-04:00

Dear Dam Runners,

Time is running out! You had better be in serious training mode now! Here are a few cheers to learn and sing during your workouts.

We will choose a cheer and chant it before departing for the big race on Saturday morning. (nk)

Who? Team Hall, hoo rahh hoo rahh

****************************************

Hey other runners,

your luck's run out

'cause the Halls are here

to sprint and shout!

On your left! On your right!

Then we're out of sight!

Bite the wall! bite the wall!

We're the Halls!

****************************

Oh Hall team runners are hard to beat

They're the perfect souls from head to feet

They've got the style the smile the winning way

When you see them you just HAVE to say

Now there's some folks I'd like to know

They've got that dam good runner pep and go

????

It's hard to beat totally awesome runners like the Halls, oh yeah!

[Could someone give me a little help here? (Val?) I can't remember all the words to the B. E. boy cheer!]

**********************************

We are the Halls

We're on the ball

We run the race

We set the pace

We're the best dam runners

**********************************

Vote for your favorite cheer: 1, 2, 3, or 4

Or submit one yourself!

Cheers

Rebecca

PS Happy birthday Brad!!

Stephen Graduates College!

2011-05-18T18:18:00.002-04:00

Stephen graduated from the University of Tennessee on May 12 with a degree in Journalism and Electronic Media! We had a party for him and his friends. It was a happy day. Oh happy day. Now what?

That Dam May Training

2011-05-13T14:01:00.005-04:00

Dear Dam Racers,

I apologize for being late with May’s inspirational missive. Finishing up this semester at Harvard was quite traumatic for me and Russel. But we have now recovered and are feeling much better; so is Mary.

May is a great month for training. Here are a few lines that MAY inspire you as you continue your dam training.

April is a promise that May is bound to keep.

~Hal Borland (That means you should have reached your dam goal of 4.7 miles in under an hour in May.)

He that is in a towne in May loseth his spring. ~George Herber (That means you should be in the country, Mantua, in July—that's possibly a bit of a stretch, but then stretching is important.)

"The world's favorite season is the spring.  All things seem possible in May." - Edwin Way Teale (That means it is possible to reach your dam goals.)

"By the time one is eighty, it is said, there is no longer a tug of war in the garden with the May flowers hauling like mad against the claims of the other months. All is at last in balance and all is serene. The gardener is usually dead, of course." - Henry Mitchell, The Essential Earthman (That means you’re not 80 yet, so you’re not dead, and you should be doing your dam training.)

'But I must gather knots of flowers,

And buds and garlands gay,

For I'm to be Queen o' the May,

mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.'

-Alfred Lord Tennyson

(That means each dam racer will come in first in his or her Dam Race age group.)

"Sweet April showers Do spring May flowers." 

-Thomas Tusser, A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry, 1557

(That should really say, “April showers Do spring May dam runners.)

Is it so small a thing

To have enjoy'd the sun,

To have lived light in the spring,

To have loved,

To have thought,

To have done [run]...

- Matthew Arnold (That means tis no small thing to have prepared for the Dam Race.)

May the dam force be with you and May you stay Forever Young.

Rebecca

Pic: The May Queen preparing for the dam race. (Barefoot, of course. It's all the rage.)

Rhodendrons

2011-05-07T18:18:00.003-04:00

Thankfully, in the big hail storm of 2011, my rhododendrons had not started to blossom; they were still in a very tight bud. Plus they were protected on one side by the house. So while pretty much everything else got stripped--the day lilies, the clematis, the just-purchased gerber daisy, the asian lilies that were doing so wonderfully, my rhododendrons survived. And they bloomed, just in time for mother's day. Now isn't that sweet?! Rhodendrons are tricky to grow because they like frequent water, but need good drainage. You have to plant them above the soil a bit. I should know, I have lost my share of them. This is the second season for this one, and it looks like it is going to make it.

I think my day lilies will comeback, since the stalks had not yet shot up. So, despite the mangled foliage, hopefully they will appear in June along with the magnolias.

Mary pr'd (personal record) today in three events at the heptathlon at Yale: the hurdles, the shot put, the 200. She was in first place until the 200's, because even though she pr'd, she's not that great at the 200s. So she is in second place going into day 2. . . . now if it just weren't for the 800s!

24 in real life

2011-05-03T07:49:00.006-04:00

The Navy Seal operation to get Osama looked like it was lifted right out of the show 24. On the television show when they showed the segments of the president and his/her cabinet watching a realtime dangerous operation going down via satellite, I thought it was pure theatrics. And the fact that the Seals all got out alive, was movie worthy as well--though these days in a tv show, a couple of Seals would have been killed. It's nice that at least in this case, real life was way better. Now in the tv series 24, all of them would have been killed, except one who was badly injured and one who heroically finished the operation and rescued the injured man. And that one heroic person would have been, uh, duh, Jack Bauer.

I saw on the morning news an interview with an ex Elite Navy Seal from team six who has written a memoir about his life as a Navy Seal; it is due out the end of May. Wow! what good timing. I'm getting it.

Hail Storm

2011-04-28T17:25:00.012-04:00

Speaking of the weather down here, it has been brutal. We had golf-ball sized hail--I mean really. I often hear weathermen talking about golf-ball sized hail, but I've never actually seen it hitting. Huge balls of ice smashed into our windows, and doors, and house. We were lucky, none of our windows broke. The car of a friend who is staying with us was dented all over. Fortunately my car was in the garage, and we didn't really care too much about Russel's old van.

There were 284+ deaths in Alabama and 34 or so here in East Tennessee; Alabama had 170+ tornados, one of them a mile wide, and we had an EF2 tornado--whatever that means. This morning when we walked around our subdivision, I was expecting a lot of damage, but mostly the streets were just littered with green leaves and debris, and the whole area smelled heavily of a combination of Christmas trees and freshly cut grass. We found a hawk or falcon with a broken wing--Russel and took it in to the UT wild animal hospital. Today is beautiful and sunny.

Easter in Pictures

2011-04-26T16:47:00.009-04:00

It was a glorious Easter. In fact it has been a glorious spring, and I meant to rave about the dogwoods, and then about the azaleas, and soon the rhododendrons--don't you love that name! I remember reading it in a book long ago and not knowing what rhododendrons were, but thinking the name was so intriguing and high brow! Anyway, we had a splendid Easter as you can see. Russel and I dressed the yard for most of the day Saturday, and then Sunday morning went to Easter service at 7:45. I know, crazy--but Aaron had to work at 11:00, so we went to the earliest of the 3 Easter services, then came home and made brunch--pancakes, ham, and eggs; stuffed Easter candy into plastic eggs, yes, this was for the grownup kids. Stephen won this year, Eliz usually wins of course.

The pics from top to bottom:

Russel refueling after hours of work--note the hose dreadlocks

Reb brandishing tools

Dogwood spring beauty (a week earlier)

Fruits of our labor--Azaleas and edged sidewalks!

Russ and Reb in Easter finery

Stephen and Joyanna in Easter finery

Russ off to church

Joyanna and Stephen off to church

Stephen's "If you take one more picture, Mom, I'm going to lose it" look.

The Easter Service

Back at home stuffing eggs

Having Easter brunch

Looking under the tramp for eggs

Leaping over the deck rail on way to eggs

More egg hunting pics

Counting the stash (Stephen wins!)

Coloring eggs

Egg wars: 1, 2, 3, 4, I declare an egg war! (My egg was the winner :))

The Dam April Workout

2011-04-01T12:59:00.008-04:00

Well, so, it is April and time to get in serious shape for the big dam race! (Prizes will be awarded--really good prizes!)

HERE'S THE APRIL WORKOUT SCHEDULE:

Five days of the week: a minimum 35 minute run (or run/walks, if you must!). If you are seriously out of shape, and neglected to do your March workouts, you can start at 20 minutes a day.

Sixth day: a minimum one-hour run/walk. (Keep track of how far you get in that hour, and try to increase the distance each week. The race is 4.7 miles, so you will want to cover that distance in under an hour!)

Three to Five days a week: Do your dam core exercises (and a little yoga stretching on the side)

For many people, especially the older you get, your training is slowed or sometimes interrupted because of a weakness in the core, which causes aches, pains and injuries--all can be avoided by strengthening the core!--and proper warm up before you begin.

You can follow this link to the core exercises and print out your own copy: http://www.bicycling.com/print/942

If you do not have an exercise ball, not to worry! Just do exercises 2, 4 ,5--ha! good luck with the transverse plank!, 6, 7, & 8.

I also suggest improving your diet by increasing fruit and veggie intake and cutting out sugar. I'm just sayin--you gotta get your mind in the game--we need total commitment from team Mantua!

PS: I am taking submissions for the 2011 Dam Race Hall Cheer. You may submit in text form or performance video.

OMG leather tiles

2011-03-25T12:26:00.004-04:00

I have been on a small HGTV jag (happens every few months), and today I watched a bathroom makeover. They put 18" ceramic tiles on all the walls, then put galvanized metal sheets on the floor, and then magnetic, leather, water resistant tiles! Amazing! They also put painted bead board on the ceiling. I think the leather tiles were kind of pricey ($500 for a medium sized bathroom--but hey! no grouting or buttering.)

PS We continue with our glorious spring. The red buds are now in full bloom, the pear tree blooms are heavily mixed with bright green leaves, our crab apple tree is in bloom, with such a heavenly scent; I spend a lot of time walking outside and inhaling--it will be gone in 5 days. The dogwoods are starting to open too.

All you can pass on is what you have become

2011-03-20T16:39:00.004-04:00

My daily meditation email, which I actually don't read daily, reminded me a bit of my bliss post. I thought such concurrence merited another post.

"All belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God" 1 Corinthians 3:22-23

All you can pass on is what you have become; that is your blessing and gift for your children, your loved ones, your neighborhood, and the next generation, “grace upon grace” (John 1:16). Divine love bestowed is repaid by love alone.

Our lives seem small and insignificant, yet one life is a significant piece of the eternal and cosmic Christ, a short moment of Incarnation that is building up the Body of God.

You belong to God’s universe because everything belongs. Every part of you belongs, and no part need be rejected or denied, but only educated, healed, forgiven, and set free in new form. . . .

Nothing is ever wasted in God’s economy. All is transformed. Grace is everywhere.

- Fr Richard Rohr

A Taste of Bliss

2011-03-19T07:52:00.008-04:00

It was one of those perfect moments, you know, when everything takes on a tinge of the archetypal. A warm spring day coming after days of clouds and cold.

I am driving down a street cluttered with signs and cars; the radio blaring with the heavy beat of rock and roll. Seemlessly, the world transforms. The huge, faded plastic sign hanging slightly askew, advertising goods and places that no longer exist, takes on an air of romance and perfection. The smell and feel of sunshine mixes with the beat of the music; I can’t remember if I am young or old. I open the window and the air of heaven fills the car. Most of the trees are still bare, but scattered along the roadside are huge ornamental pear trees in full bloom, bright yellow forsythia, and the pink-purple tinge of red buds about to bloom. Flags advertising condos and tax preparation services wave dramatically, a man walks confidently along a busy roadside carrying dry cleaning over his shoulder, cars that are dusty and dented have every bit of beauty and perfection as do newer cars. A utility truck makes a stunning turn across a parking lot. Spring green joins the sunlight. It is a day promising everything and nothing; all is present and perfect in the moment.

Guess what March 1st is?

2011-03-01T07:50:00.005-05:00

March 1st is the first day of your dam training! It promises to be a lovely spring day here in Knoxville, so I will be heading out for maybe a little 5K warmup. I realize that March may have sneaked up on the rest of you, so you can just do one or two miles today and slowly work up to more during the month.

March training will be unstructured, i.e. you can devise your own training schedule. However, come April I will be sending out detailed rigorous workouts. So don't loll about!

Also, you might want to start rereading this year's book: Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. I assume y'all finished it months ago, but now as you reread, you may want to make detailed notes, looking for trends and overall themes for the discussion. Please be sure to use specific examples from the book to back up your observations.

Go Dam Racers!!! (GDR) The race will be on July 16th this year.

Rebecca

Birthday Cake

2011-02-21T22:02:00.005-05:00

When it was Russel's b-day in January, I asked him what kind of cake he would like. I have a number of favorite from-scratch recipes I wanted to make. But he said he wanted a marble yellow cake with white frosting like his mother use to make him. So I didn't make him a cake. I got chocolates out that I had bought on clearance, and put some cute candles around them. I refuse to waste my calories on packaged cake-mix cake. True, it wasn't my birthday.

When it was my birthday a week or so later I made whole-wheat (from freshly ground flour of course), walnut carrot cake with cream cheese frosting--lots of walnuts! Hmm, I love that cake. And it got better everyday. With no kids around after the birthday, it actually lasted a couple days after the festivities.

Happy Birthday, Lloya. I would have sent you a piece had there been any left.

Reb's Delicious Whole Wheat Carrot Cake

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup applesauce

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pumpkin spice (or cinnamon)

3 cups grated carrots

1 cup chopped walnuts, or more

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter softened

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch pan.

In a large bowl beat together eggs, oil, sugars, and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in walnuts. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake in a preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes.

To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl. combine butter, cream cheese confectioner's sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in walnuts. Frost the cooled cake.

WWJD

2011-02-11T08:51:00.005-05:00

Budget Cuts and Bad Faith

Under the proposed budget cuts, deficit reduction will not come from the super-rich; it will come from the rest of us. And the poorer you are, the more vulnerable you become, and the more you will pay for the burdens of deficit reduction. For example, Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), a program that helps provide food to hungry mothers and their children faces a $758 million cut. Also, the proposed budget cuts $544 million in international food aid grants for organizations such as World Vision. AmeriCorps, a program that provides public service opportunities for our young adults, would be eliminated entirely. But our military and defense budget, which sends our young adults off to kill and be killed, would receive an $8 billion increase. It used to be very popular for Christians to ask, "What Would Jesus Do?" They even wore bracelets with the initials "WWJD." The bracelets acted as reminders that as Christians, our actions should always reflect the values and example we see in the life of Jesus. Already, in a first wave of response to the proposed cuts, thousands of Christians told their members of Congress that they need to ask themselves, "What Would Jesus Cut?" They believe, and so do I, that the moral test of any society is how it treats its poorest and most vulnerable citizens. And that is exactly what the Bible says, over and over again. I believe that vaccines that save children's lives; bed nets that protect them from malaria; and food that keeps their families from starving are more important to Jesus than tax cuts for the rich; bigger subsidies for corporations; and more weapons in a world already filled with conflict. I also believe that tested and effective domestic programs that clearly help to lift people out of poverty are more reflective of the compassion of Christ than tax and spending policies that make the super-rich even richer. And I don't believe, as the Republicans keep saying, that the best way to help everybody is to keep helping the super-rich. That's not smart economics and, as we say in the evangelical community,it's not biblical. So many of us in the faith community are ready to make a moral argument against the proposed budget cuts to our members of Congress, especially to those who claim to be people of faith. Organizations like Bread for the World and Catholic Charities advocate for critical nutrition programs that keep hunger at bay for millions of American families. Groups such as Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army, and the Christian Community Development Association deliver crucial health and human services around the country that hold neighborhoods and cities together. Government aid to programs like these is money very well spent, and many would have to shut their doors without it. Government funding is critical to the work that faith-based organizations like World Vision and Catholic Relief Services do around the world to bring millions of children and families out of poverty, and public-private partnerships pioneered by foundations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that are saving millions of lives.

In Great Britain, Prime Minister Cameron made the choice to delay a costly nuclear submarine program while also increasing funding for international aid. We can do the same. Look to leaders in the faith community to say that the choice to protect the rich instead of the poor in deficit reduction is an immoral one. Taking the cutting knife to programs that benefit low-income people, while refusing to scrutinize the much larger blank checks we keep giving to defense contractors and corporate executives, is hypocritical and cruel. I'll go even further and say that such a twisted moral calculus for the nation's fiscal policy is simply not fair, and not right. It is not only bad economics, but also bad religion. The priorities we are now seeing are not consistent with Christian, Jewish, or Muslim values. And if the super-rich and their representatives in Congress persist in this fight against the poor, they will be picking a fight with all of us.

Jim Wallis is the author of Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street -- A Moral Compass for the New Economy, and CEO of Sojourners. He blogs atwww.godspolitics.com. Follow Jim on Twitter @JimWallis

Happy II

2011-02-04T16:45:00.010-05:00

I was feeling quite so completely happy that I thought I would blog about it. But then knowing how things change quickly, I worried that I might bring myself a bit of bad luck by crowing about happiness. I came home that day and found my daily email meditation was about happiness. So today I thought I would go back to that meditation and paste it here.

But try as I might, I cannot find it. Maybe I dreamed it. At any rate it was something about falling through happiness (maybe happy circumstances) and coming through on the other side of circumstance to find that one is happy even without the right situations. I don't think I have quite fallen through the falling through to that point. I'm still driven by circumstances. I have a general sense of peace and happiness, but that is not really the same as a bubbling up of happiness. (Do you remember the happy vs joy SS lessons? That's not what I'm talking about.)

Daffodils are happy. I was thinking of Wordsworth's lines about daffodils and ee cummings. So here is a poem, in lieu of the happy meditation:

in time of daffodils by E. E. Cummings

in time of daffodils (who know
the goal of living is to grow)
forgetting why, remember how

in time of lilacs who proclaim
the aim of waking is to dream,
remember so (forgetting seem)

in time of roses (who amaze
our now and here with paradise)
forgetting if, remember yes

in time of all sweet things beyond
whatever mind may comprehend,
remember seek (forgetting find)

and in a mystery to be
(when time from time shall set us free)
forgetting me, remember me

Glass Flowers

2011-02-02T18:59:00.007-05:00

This past weekend, Russ and I went to the Museum of Natural History at Harvard to see the Glass Flowers exhibit. I had seen a glass art "installation" at the Knoxville Museum of Art--it was pretty over powering--pheonmenal, really! So I was expecting to see amazing glass art flowers at this exhibit as well.

But the flowers look so completely real, that you can't tell that they are even made of glass! At first I was a little disappointed, but then mostly amazed. And while you might think that such artistry and expertise must have been accomplished fairly recently with modern advances in glass working, these flowers were made in the late 1900's!

If you want to see the interesting story of how Leopold Blashka, a jeweler born in 1822 in Germany, and his son Rudolf, were recruited to do the flowers, you can click here.

Ah to be young and have a hollow leg or two!

2011-02-02T15:43:00.003-05:00

So Mary and Jonathan went on a double date with another track couple to P.F. Chang's restaurant. The meal was so delicious that after they finished, they decided to order second entrees all around!

Happy

2011-02-02T08:28:00.003-05:00

I'm happy. :)

pic: Me and Mary in her Cambridge apartment--just before Jonathan arrived to whisk her off to the Freshman Formal. More to come!

New Shabby Blog Background

2011-01-23T16:52:00.003-05:00

Well Shabby blogs got a new server and I had to "update the code" for my background. While I was at it I thought I would try a new background. There are so many marvelous designs to choose from! I'm not sure this one is a keeper, but I'll try it for a week or so. It was much, much easier to apply the background this time than when I first did it a year or so ago. Now all you have to do is copy the code and paste it into the HTML/JavaScript box under "Add a Gadget"! The only hitch I experienced was that at first the new background would not appear. I had to first "remove" the old code in the HTML/JavaScript box. Try it, you'll like it! Shabby Blogs.

The woman who is Ms Shabby Blog writes quite hilariously. I would love to meet her. Here's an example of her writing-- just in case you have not become acquainted:

I don't see my background at ShabbyBlogs.com anymore! What gives?
You're sitting down, right? Take a deeeeeeep breath. Okay. Some of our very early designs have been...retired. Eeeek!

and

"Shabby Blogs has switched to a new server so you need to be a dear and update your code."

Two Colbert snippets

2011-01-20T08:04:00.004-05:00

Okay, so I can't resist posting these hilarious clips from the Colbert Report. The first one is about a tea-partier who wants to re segregate schools in Wake County North Carolina (racial and economic re-segregation) so that the problems of poor schools will be more apparent. I kid you not: Disintegration

The second one is about Sarah Palin Fatigue. Does the media really have to play every clip of her comments? Super hilarious.

After Christmas Deals

2011-01-13T20:32:00.006-05:00

We have a snowman Christmas decoration we put on our table each year. It is made of wood, and the arms are stretched straight out. On the arms, I hang candy canes. When the kids were younger they devoured the candy canes with great gusto, and every year after Christmas I would load up on the 25-cent & 50-cent after-Christmas boxes.

Do you know what happens to sugar after it sits for several years? It begins to liquify. And my kids assure me it is not particularly tasty either. So this year, I swore off buying after-Christmas candy canes. Plus, I boldly tossed out all the old boxes I could find. I did not quite hold to my resolution. How could I resist candy canes that have porcelain ornaments of the Toy Story characters? And for only 50-cents!

Also, I couldn't resist the 75%-off chocolate cupcake truffles (see pic above). I ate one of the "truffles" on my way home from the store. "Mmm," I thought. "Pretty good--I think." I wasn't really expecting 95-cent Walmart truffles to taste very good, so I thought I had better eat another one, just to make sure. This time it reminded me of something, but I couldn't quite place it. Then it hit me, Crisco! "Surely not!" So I ate one more just to check, and, well, it really wasn't that bad. And on it went. Anyway, they were only bite-sized.

Don't you love the little after-Christmas-clearance candle decoration above? The star caught fire shortly after I took that picture, and I am looking for some fire retardant paint.

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-24T08:55:00.005-05:00

December 2010

Dear Friends & Family,

We had a lovely year, at least what we remember of it here in the throes of a wickedly cold December—very unusual for the South: snow, ice storms, and many nights and even days into the low teens.

A couple of the highlights of the year include Elizabeth’s graduation with a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from the University of Tennessee (Memphis) Health Science Center. She is now working at the University of Tennessee Medical Center here in Knoxville. She is a wee bit tired from the long, somewhat stressful hours, but is enjoying the experience and enjoying married life with Aaron.

Stephen had a semester abroad to Cypress in June, and this fall he had a media internship with Jupiter Productions. (Ever seen Snapped, the show on Oxygen about wives who kill their husbands? One of Jupiter’s fine productions.) Stephen has done well this semester and has been enjoying the companionship of a particular young girl--in fact the whole family rather likes Joyanna!

Mary has successfully completed her third semester at Harvard and has, in a single semester, attended more balls, concerts, plays, parties, teas, dinners, Finals Club events, theater, ballet, and other social scenes than her mother or father have experienced in a lifetime. She has also studied and agonized more about papers, problem sets, and exams this semester than Stephen has in a lifetime. She has been very happily dating a young man and fellow high-jumper at Harvard, whose only fault, apparently, is that he is from Southern California—that fault, of course, is from her mother’s point of view!

Russ and Rebecca hardly look a year older than they did last year at this time. In the summer they had a wonderful trip to California and Utah along with Mary, Stephen, Elizabeth & Aaron to see Julie, and then on to the big July 24^th celebrations in Mantua. And most of the crew finished the Dam Race in style! In November, near anniversary time, Russ and Rebecca took a quick trip to San Francisco (ostensibly, to go to an academic conference; we appreciate your tax dollars—and actually we did attend many sessions!). We saw Beach Blanket Babylon, the longest-running musical revue in history: 35 years. (I took my dear mother to see it about 25 years ago—and she loved it). We also ate at the Empress of China restaurant—fabulous—and took a guided bus tour of the city. It was the clearest day in a decade, said the bus driver, and temperatures were in the mid 70s. In the late afternoon, we took a ferry to Sausalito and watched the sun set behind the Golden Gate Bridge.

In Knoxville, of a winter evening, you are likely to find us enjoying a fire and watching The Office or House, reading, or perhaps reciting poetry: “Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and

blows . . . .”

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

The Hirsts

Garage Sale

2010-12-11T22:26:00.008-05:00

We had to get rid of stuff so that we could regain the use of some rooms and our attic. Soooo I bravely read a few chapters of Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, and then Russ and I ruthlessly pulled boxes out of the attic and from the corners of the bonus room. (True, Russ had a little more ruth and I had less.)

Then we had a spur of the moment garage sale on December 3rd & 4th and made about $200. After the sale, Russ took six boxes of leftover books to Mckays (the huge used bookstore) and we got about $75 worth of Mckays cash! Then we took two more van loads of stuff to Goodwill and one van load of stuff to the Burundian refugees.

I did pretty well, all in all; only sneaking a few items back into the house. All told we probably got rid of half of what we should have and a third of what we could have. But something is better than nothing, and our attic is now usable as is our bonus room. Next year we'll work on that other half.

"Do you own your stuff or does it own you? - Karen Kingston

Pie Story II

2010-11-29T18:20:00.009-05:00

Pie Story 2:

The day before Thanksgiving I peeled the apples (all by myself since Mary was gone, sigh) and put together the apple pie. True, I cheated a bit and used a store-bought, roll-out crust. Meanwhile Russel was painting my room--a long-overdue-event--and he ran out of paint. So I put the pie into the oven and drove off to Lowe's to get the paint, giving Russel careful instructions to take out the pie when the buzzer rang, if it was a golden brown.

While I was out I decided to call him, just to make sure he heard the buzzer. Which he had. The pie looked perfect he said, and he took it out.

A couple minutes later, I realized that I would be delayed and decided to call him back to tell him to put the pie onto a wire rack, thus avoiding the heat condensation that may make the crust soggy. I explained all this to him and continued my shopping.

I returned home and walked through the door, with the delicious smell of apple pie wafting through the kitchen: I look over happily to see the apple pie. And I do see it, there on the wire rack, looking rather odd. Something is amiss, but my mind does not immediately register what is wrong with the pie; my brain struggles and balks, and then I realize it: Russel has slid the pie out of the pie pan onto the wire rack! I cannot believe it. I stare and blink and stare, and yes I squawk quite loudly and for quite some time.

Even though Russel's mom, in addition to his own wife and daughter, has made countless pies, he seemed to think that sliding a pie out of its pan had been a perfectly logical action, given my request, to put the pie onto the wire rack!!!!!!!!

The story does not quite end there. I slid the pie back into the pan, and frankly it looked better than you might have imagined were you to try the same thing. Then I tasted a little of the apple pie filling that had dripped onto the counter. It tasted . . . rather bland. Since I personally had made the pie and placed it into the oven, I couldn't figure out how Russel could possibly have done anything to affect the taste. Though that seemed to be the only plausible explanation. Then it hit me. I had added flour, but had forgotten to add sugar to the freshly sliced apples.

So I dumped the pie into a bowl, added the sugar, chopped the pie all up, and poured it back into the pie pan. It was destined to be so. Aaron told me the next day that Olive Garden serves something very much like it, called an Apple Crostata. Before serving, I added a few graham cracker crumbs and powdered sugar on the top, and it looked, well, fine-ish. It tasted fine-ish as well, not quite like a real apple pie.

(Pie Story 1 was 7 or 8 years ago when Shelby, our dog, ate an entire pumpkin pie, completely unbeknownst to us until we started looking for it sometime after dinner!--We found a pie plate on the floor earlier, but it was so completely clean, that it did not dawn on me until later that the pan had at one time held our pumpkin pie!)

Note: The picture above with the pie out of the pan, is actually the second time the pie came out of the pan. After I realized I would have to chop it up because it lacked sugar, I slid it out again to take a picture for posterity. I hadn't had the presence of mind to take a picture of it when I first saw it. I just hoped it would look something like a pie after I slid it back into the pan.

Buffet: The rich should pay more

2010-11-21T16:41:00.003-05:00

WASHINGTON -- Billionaire Warren Buffett rebutted claims that the Obama administration is unjustly hurting business orders with high taxes by saying that in fact, the wealthy have never had it so good.

"I think that people at the high end, people like myself, should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we've ever had it," he told ABC's Christiane Amanpour in a clip played on "This Week" on Sunday.

When Amanpour pointed to critics' claims that the very wealthy need tax cuts to spur business and capitalism, Buffett replied, "The rich are always going to say that, you know, 'Just give us more money, and we'll go out and spend more, and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you.' But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on. See the video.

Picture: San Fran

Dear Uncle Sam:

When the crisis struck, I felt you would understand the role you had to play. But you've never been known for speed, and in a meltdown minutes matter. I worried whether the barrage of shattering surprises would disorient you. You would have to improvise solutions on the run, stretch legal boundaries and avoid slowdowns, like Congressional hearings and studies. You would also need to get turf-conscious departments to work together in mounting your counterattack. The challenge was huge, and many people thought you were not up to it.

Well, Uncle Sam, you delivered. People will second-guess your specific decisions; you can always count on that. But just as there is a fog of war, there is a fog of panic -- and, overall, your actions were remarkably effective.

Warren Buffet

Beethoven's Fifth

2010-11-21T16:18:00.004-05:00

Ok, so Lloya posted the cute rendition of Jonah and the Whale, so I feel totally within my rights to post the link to The Youngest Conductor. If you need cheering up in anyway at all, this will do it for you. Seriously. Three-year-old Jonathan conducting to the 4th movement of Beethoven's Fifth. Totally worth the view.

Picture: San Francisco, Union Square, 11/2010

Japanese Tea Garden

2010-11-19T22:45:00.005-05:00

Well, Russ and I decided to take a quick trip to see the Japanese Tea Garden. It was way cool. We looked everywhere for Lorien, but could not find her there. Makes me wonder if she really went.

Health Care Reform--defector spills beans

2010-11-11T17:15:00.008-05:00

Yes, the Republicans are going to huff and puff about Health Care Reform and make a lot of noise as if they were going to repeal it, but of course they won't. (But their huffing and puffing will play well for the livid base--the one that can't tell good from bad, but only understands mad.) One reason they won't repeal health reform is that of course Obama will veto the attempt. But you will see below another reason--the special interests in the Insurance lobby won't allow it. And they are paying and have paid the Republicans big time. But at least it will give the Repubs something to do now that they have made it to Congress--because you can bet they won't be working to cut spending or to create jobs.

Repeal and Replace?

Not so fast. An insurance-company defector explains why the most controversial provision of the health-care law will survive.

Michael Reynolds / EPA-Corbis

PHOTOS: How Obamacare Will Affect You

Conservatives who voted for congressional candidates because they pledged to repeal and replace the health-care-reform law are in for a rude awakening. Once those newly elected members of Congress have a little talk with the insurance industry’s lobbyists and executives, they will back off from that pledge. They will go through the motions, of course. They’ll hold hearings and take to the floor of both Houses to rail against the new law, and they’ll probably even introduce a bill to repeal it with much fanfare—but it will all be for show. That’s because health insurers, one of Republican candidates’ biggest and most reliable benefactors—the industry contributed three times as much money to Republicans as to Democrats since January—can’t survive without it.

Despite all the attacks on “Obamacare,” the new law props up the employer-based system that insurers and large corporations benefit from so greatly. It also guarantees that private insurers will get billions of dollars in new revenue. And the insurers won’t have to share a penny of that windfall with a government-run public option the president once said was necessary “to keep insurers honest.”

I know what the insurers are thinking because, not long ago, I was on their side. I am sorry to admit it, but over nearly two decades I had a hand in planning the industry’s PR and public-policy strategies to either kill or shape any health-care reform proposal that might hinder profits. I was part of the strategic-communications team that planned and carried out the successful attack on the Clinton plan in the 1990s as well as the one that killed the patients’ bill of rights a few years later. I left my job handling communications for Cigna in 2008 because I didn’t have the stomach to be part of yet another spin campaign to cheat Americans out of the reform they needed.

For months before I left my job, I worked closely with my counterparts at the other big insurers to develop the list of must-haves our well-connected army of lobbyists would take to Capitol Hill when lawmakers began drafting reform legislation. Despite their public statements to the contrary, insurance companies really liked much of what was in both House and Senate versions of the bill—big chunks of which they actually wrote behind the scenes—especially the requirement that all Americans buy insurance if they’re not eligible for an existing public program like Medic-aid or Medicare.

During the reform debate, the industry’s deception-based PR strategy had two active fronts. One was a highly visible charm offensive designed to create an image of the industry as an advocate for reform and a good-faith partner with the president and lawmakers in achieving it. The second was a secret fearmongering campaign using shadowy “AstroTurf” groups and business and political allies as shills to disseminate misinformation and lies—like the one about the creation of “death panels”—with the sole intent of killing any reform that might hurt the bottom line.

Although I was ashamed of many of the things I did during my career, I didn’t plan to speak out about the industry’s devious practices until I saw Karen Ignagni, president of America’s Health Insurance Plans, tell President Obama at the end of his March 2009 White House Forum on Health Reform, “You have our commitment to play, to contribute, and to help pass health-care reform this year.” Then I knew the industry’s disingenuous charm offensive had begun. Soon after that I read that, Aetna chairman and CEO Ron Williams, the driving force behind the industry’s effort to get the individual mandate enacted, had met with the president half a dozen times. I knew Williams was trying to persuade the president to drop his insistence on the public option and to embrace the individual mandate. Sure enough, Williams got his wish.

It is ironic, of course, that the requirement to purchase insurance has become the centerpiece of Republicans’ condemnation of the new law and their court challenge of its constitutionality. Insurers have no reason to worry, however, because they fare very well when the Republicans are in charge. Their profits soared—as did the number of Americans who are uninsured and underinsured—during the Bush years and Republican control of Congress.

The real reason insurers want the GOP leading Congress again is not to repeal “Obamacare,” but to try to gut some of the provisions of the law that protect consumers from the abuses of the industry, such as refusing to cover kids with preexisting conditions, canceling policyholders’ coverage when they get sick, and setting annual and lifetime limits on how much they’ll pay for medical care. Insurers also hate the provision that requires them to spend at least 80 percent of premium revenues on medical care, as well as the one that calls for eliminating the billions of dollars that the government has been overpaying them for years to participate in private Medicare plans. (Be on the lookout for a death panel–like fearmongering campaign to scare people into thinking, erroneously, that Granny and Pawpaw will lose their government health care if Congress doesn’t restore those “cuts” to Medicare.)

Insurers are not waiting for all their new members of Congress to be sworn in to get what they want. They and their big-business allies are already pressuring the Obama administration to waive or delay the implementation of provisions they don’t like, all the while working behind the scenes not only to protect the individual mandate but to have the government enforce it with much greater gusto. The one thing the industry didn’t like about the mandate provision was that the penalties for not buying their overpriced products won’t inflict nearly enough financial pain.

Retiring Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), who once had been a part of the repeal-and-replace brigade, provoked the wrath of conservative pundits shortly before the midterm elections when he said, in a moment of unguarded candor, that repealing the law was not realistic. Instead, he said, the GOP should focus on “retooling” it. You can be certain that insurance-industry lobbyists will be helping their newly expanded congressional caucus determine what needs retooling. As my former Cigna colleague Bill Hoagland, the company’s top lobbyist, told the Associated Press a few days ago: “If you ended up repealing [the individual mandate], the whole thing blows up. It doesn’t work. The cost would explode.” In other words, feel free to repeal those pesky consumer protections, but keep your hands off our mandate.

Potter is a senior analyst at The Center for Public Integrity. This piece is based on his book Deadly Spin, published this week by Bloomsbury Press

Marie Osmond on Oprah

2010-11-11T17:01:00.002-05:00

Just saw Marie Osmond on Oprah. (Not too late for you West Coasters!) I hadn't really kept up on her life, so I was surprised about a number of things. Not the least of which, she sings great opra!

Utah: the Promised Land

2010-11-10T07:47:00.002-05:00

Newsweek 11/15/10

Promised Land

How Utah became the new economic Zion.

Newscom

The Salt Lake City skyline

It’s said there are no bad jobs during a recession. But there are depressing ones—like trying to recruit new business. That was Jeffrey Edwards’s task as head of Utah’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC), a publicly funded carnival barker for new and emerging companies. Every state has a comparable office. But while nearly every local economy succumbed to the frozen credit markets, failing to grow much during the last two years, Utah has flourished. With Edwards’s help, it set its own records for new companies (more than 40) and capital investment (nearly $2 billion). That has helped sustain an average of 3.5 percent annual growth during the last five years, more than any state other than energy-rich North Dakota. “It’s a weird countercyclical phenomenon,” says Edwards, “but we’ve been busier than we’ve ever been.”

Why Utah? Founded by Mormon pioneers, the state, which has been called “a quasi theocracy” by the editor of its largest newspaper, is overwhelmingly white (93 percent) and Mormon (60 percent). Those demographics make for a socially conservative mind meld—no gay marriage, mixed acceptance of women in the workplace—that might seem hostile to the idea-swapping associated with a go-go economy. Mix in a thin coffee-and-booze culture, and you might expect Utah’s economy to be listless as well.

But the opposite is true. Greater Salt Lake City, the 75-mile corridor stretching from Ogden in the north to Provo in the south, has absorbed massive new data centers for eBay, Twitter, and Oracle; splashy new offices for Disney Interactive and EA Sports; and, just last month, a commitment from Adobe—the makers of Flash and Acrobat—to build a thousand-person software-development campus, where the minimum average salary will be $60,000.

Homegrown tech is booming as well. The University of Utah recently tied MIT for creating the most companies out of its patented research: more than 80 since 2005. Provo, home to Brigham Young University, has the most high-growth companies per capita in the country, according to Inc. magazine. Expressing a shared sentiment among many businesspeople who go to Utah these days, Sequoia Capital venture capitalist Michael Goguen said at a Salt Lake City business conference last month: “We’re noticing.”

From EDC’s Salt Lake City offices, with their view of the snowcapped mountains and horizon-to-horizon blue sky, Edwards delivers a compelling sales pitch. It includes facts like cheap energy, low taxes, and top billing from list makers like Forbes. And it follows a night on the town, where Edwards proves that “you can indeed get a drink,” and “a good cup of coffee isn’t that hard to find.” But the close is almost bumper-sticker simple: cheaper than Washington, cooler than Texas, as outdoorsy as Colorado … andnot California. Last year the EDC opened a recruiting center near Riverside, Calif., and Gov. Gary Herbert touts how he is “making the state business-friendly while California is doing the opposite.”

Defining itself against the liberal left coast is an act of jujitsu. Utah’s biggest potential liability—its conservative, religious populus—becomes an indisputable strength. Utah’s people are, indeed, an employer’s dream. They are healthy, hard workers (pouring in 48 hours a week on average), and exceedingly stable, with the highest birthrates in the nation. The large number of young Mormons who spend two years on a conversion mission also means a huge swath of the population earned its sales stripes in hostile terrain. This might not offer an easily replicable path for states looking to follow Utah’s economic lead. Then again, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is always looking to expand.

With Mckay Coppins