A Trip to Bartlesville

We went to Bartlesville early this morning for Bob's appointment with the eye, ear, nose and throat specialist. He checked out well. His hearing is still able to be improved with hearing aids and, of course, he wears hearing aids. So the audiologist who works there cleaned up his hearing aids and tested his hearing and said he should have his hearing aid specialist turn up the treble end of the scale a little. She sent him back with a copy of her report.

After we left there, we went to the mall where he bought a new pair of jeans and a belt. He has lots of jeans but most of them are 34X30's in relaxed fit and he now wears 33X30's in Levi 505's regular fit. He has lost about fifteen pounds the past two or three years. I should have such a problem.

We stopped for lunch at Caney and then we went to the Optometrist there for my new contact. I want to be able to read without cheater glasses. I have a new trial lens so we'll see how that goes.

Then we came on home so Bob could get his nap and later on this afternoon, mow the yard. I will go wash the car after awhile. It needs it badly after all the rain we have had the past couple of weeks.

We have no other plans for today. Tomorrow is another busy day though.

I had moved my hair appointment to Thursday since Bob had these appointments in Bartlesville Tuesday and Wednesday. After I get my hair done, we may go over to Sedan to take our daughter out to lunch. Then tomorrow evening I have an interview. Twelve of us have applied for the city commission vacancy. I probably won't get it but I certainly won't if I don't try.

From The Nation: Questions for the Candidates

• The business-financial establishment and leading corporate-financed think tanks are leading a major lobbying campaign to cut people's benefits from Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Will you promise to oppose these efforts?

• The United States is hemorrhaging debt from its trade deficits - $700 billion a year - what is your plan to stop the bleeding?

• We're losing jobs at an increasing rate. States and cities are gearing up for deep cuts in construction, schools, and health care. The Federal Reserve has committed over $500 billion to backstop banks and investment houses, and the Treasury has just guaranteed 5 trillion in loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. What is your plan to help kick start the real economy?

• Do you agree with Defense Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen, Chair of the Joint Chiefs, who insist that the Pentagon budget must grow?

• Why would you promote NATO expansion as a security building policy considering that had Georgia been a member of NATO when it launched its attack on Southern Ossetia, under the Treaty's Article Five guarantee the US would now be at war with Russia?

• The US has the highest childhood poverty rate of any industrialized nation with 20 percent of children under age 6 living in poor families, costing about $500 billion dollars per year to the US economy, or 4 percent of GDP. What is your plan to reduce childhood poverty during your administration?

• According to the New York Times, in 1995 Senator McCain promoted a moratorium on federal regulations of all kinds, saying that excessive regulations were "destroying the American family, the American dream." Does the Senator still feel that way? And what kind of regulatory architecture is needed to prevent the fraudulent gimmicks that led to our current financial crisis?

The View Interview

Speaking on “The View,” an ABC show popular with women, Sen. John McCain told a feisty pair of female interviewers that his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, had not asked the Alaska congressional delegation for special appropriations for her state.

“Not as governor she didn’t,” McCain said.

In fact, Gov. Palin had asked for about $200 million in “earmarks,” or about $300 for every man, woman and child in Alaska. Her request was the highest per capita request in the nation.

Now, asking for federal money for special projects is one of the things governors, representatives and senators do routinely — unless their name is John McCain. He doesn’t ask for earmarks for Arizona because he has long crusaded against the practice. He has carried the crusade into his presidential campaign and has promised, if elected, to veto any bill containing earmarks.

(Earmarks are targeted by reformers because they are appropriations that are tacked onto legislation just as it is to be voted on and thus are not subjected to consideration in committee and often become law without any floor debate, as well.)

Because he rarely makes a political speech without repeating that pledge, it is astounding that he was unaware that Palin not only was the first mayor of Wasilla to hire a lobbyist in Washington to get federal handouts for her hometown, but also jumped right on the earmark express when she was elected governor a couple of years ago.

What this probably means is that McCain didn’t do his homework on Palin. He had only spent 15 minutes with her before he called her to his Arizona ranch a few weeks ago and asked her to be his running mate. Apparently the subject of earmarks didn’t come up.

The other, less charitable explanation is that McCain knew Palin had her hand out for federal money but forgot when he got before the camera: short-term memory loss.

Palin, herself, has been having problems explaining her attitude toward federal grants for Alaska. Over and over again she has said that she turned down $395 million for the infamous bridge to nowhere, with a “thanks, but no thanks.”

The facts are that she campaigned for the bridge when she ran for governor in 2006, rejecting it only after Congress had killed the project because it had been so roundly ridiculed — and then took the money and used it for other projects. Her reversal on the bridge didn’t save the federal government a nickle.

In both of these cases, getting federal money for Alaska isn’t the issue. Every state gets federal dollars every year. Many states get earmarks. Those states with senior senators and representatives who have risen to powerful positions in Congress get the most. When the Kansas delegation in Washington included Senate President Bob Dole and Nancy Kassebaum, along with veteran congressmen like Pat Roberts who chaired the powerful Agricultural Committee, it did very well.

We’re not talking federal dollars; honesty is the subject at hand.

As much as Palin now wants to embrace McCain’s anti-earmark plank, she shouldn’t falsify her record. As much as McCain wants his running mate to be just like he is, he shouldn’t ignore what actually happened.

When these false statements were brought to the attention of a member of McCain’s staff, he said that the public would focus on “larger truths,” such as the fact that Palin is a woman, is a fresh, pretty face and a reformer. When those “larger truths” are taken into consideration, he said, those smaller untruths fade into insignificance.

Translation: forget the issues, forget the truth; pay attention to those sparkling personalities on the platform (and behind the curtain). They’re all that really matters — until after the inauguration.

From the Iola Register

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by Judy from Living On The Other Side of the Hill.

I'm supposed to answer these questions and then tag three other people.

1) Where was I - 10 years ago?
2) What's on my 'to do' list for today ?
3) What if I were a Billionaire ?
4) Places I have lived ?
5) Bad Habits ?
6) Snacks I like ?

Let's see, where was I ten years ago? I was living here in Coffeyville in 1998. I had just retired from my job at the Good News paper the year before and was doing some recruiting for my daughter, who at that time was a manager for the Prudential Life Insurance Company. It was a one year contract and I was ready for it to be over so I could enjoy my retirement.

What's on my "to do" list today? I am taking Bob to Bartlesville to the dermatologist. He has a couple of suspicious looking places on his skin...one on his right arm and one on the side of his head just under his ear. I suspect they are squamous cell carcinoma but only a biopsy can tell for sure. Then we will do some "shopping" before we come home. He is wanting to look for a pair of wheat colored jeans. He only has twelve or so pair of jeans...but what the heck!

What if I were a Billionaire? First I would pay off this house. We have no other debt. I would replenish our retirement funds so we wouldn't outlive them. I would get cocular implants for Bob so he could hear again. Then I would pay off all my children's debts and give them each a million dollars. Then I would give at least a million to my church. Then I would set up a foundation to help my community beautify the downtown area and resurface the streets. I would do matching grants to any one in the community that wanted to beautify their home and yard. If they would do the work, I would pay the bill for the materials.

Places I have lived? I have lived here in Coffeyville where I was born. Then our family moved to Bellflower, California when I was eight. Back to Coffeyville after less then a year of homesickness, after we married, Bob and I moved to San Antonio, Texas for him to finish out his Air Force enlistment , then back to Coffeyville for a year, then he went to work at Phillips Petroleum Company and we moved to Bartlesville, Oklahoma where we lived sixteen years, then we moved to Caney, Kansas for eleven years before we moved back to Coffeyville when I went to work at the radio station here in 1981. We moved briefly to Independence, Kansas in 2000 and left there to come back here in 2003.....and we've been here ever since.

Bad habits? I talk too much.

Snacks I like? I like ice cream.

That's about it. I am going to tag Nicholas (or Sansego), Clara at Clara's Corner, and Junie and Junie's Place.

They can copy the list from my page and answer the questions on their blogs and then tag three other people. It's fun being tagged because it makes you think back.

A Beautiful Sunday

It was a lovely day today but a full one. We went to church this morning and while there, learned one of the children wanted to be baptized. So we have planned a service for November 9th. That meant some juggling of the proposed schedule I had just recently completed but it could be done so we did it. We will have a full house that day so we will plan a basket dinner that day too after the services.

We have been growing lately. We have added a family of six and one of two and another single to our rolls. It's slow growth but slow growth is usually more stable.

After church, we took our son-in-law and daughter to Garfield's in Bartlesville to dinner as planned to celebrate his 54th birthday. We had a very good meal and they made the usual fuss over him.

I came home and started working on the revised schedule and the service. I e-mailed the worship commission and they will plan the service.

Later we went to our "Living the Questions" group and had a chili supper and wonderful dessert. We also had some wonderful fellowship. We are going to try to start another spinoff group. This one is up to thirteen now and eight is the best number for a small group.

The women from another small meditation group are going to Independence tomorrow afternoon to see the movie "The Women". I have been invited to go with them. I think that would be good for me. This next week is going to be a bear.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It has rained all day long and we really didn't do anything except sit out on the covered patio and watch the rain. The dog is sad that he didn't get his walk so all he has done is lay on the chaise and sleep. I finally tempted him to eat his food by giving him a piece of cinnamon toast...which he loves.

Bob slept off and on all day too, as did Missy Kitty the cat. I worked on John and Leslie's new home scrapbook after she sent me five new pictures of week nine. Then about four thirty we went out to their house for the fifth birthday party for Sage, our great grand daughter. I bought her a new purse. She loved it. Our daughter bought her a new educational game and she loved that too.

Leslie, our daughter, fixed lasagna and garlic toast. We took a large salad. Two extra guests showed up with their child so we quickly put another leaf in the table and another three plates on the table. Thank goodness that lasagna was a large dish and we had made a big salad. Jeromy, our grandson, brought an ice cream cake and Leslie had made cupcakes.

All in all, we all had a good time.

But I'll be delighted when the rain has ended.

Tomorrow, we will take Leslie and John to Garfield's in Bartlesville after church to celebrate John's 54th birthday. Today, he saw the scrapbook I'm making for them for the first time. He seemed impressed.

The Transcript of Charlie's interview with Palin

Charlie Gibson: Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine?

Sarah Palin: In what respect, Charlie?

Charlie: What do you interpret it to be?

Palin: His worldview.

Charlie: No, No, the Bush Doctrine. He enunciated it in September 2002, before the Iraq War.

Palin: I believe that what President Bush has attempted to do is to rid this world of Islamic extremism, terrorists who are hellbent on destroying our nation. There have been blunders along the way, though. There have been mistakes made. And with new leadership--and that's the beauty of American elections and democracy--with new leadership comes the opportunity to do things better.

Charlie: The Bush Doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory defense. We have the right to preemptively strike any other country that we believe is going to attack us.

The "Bush Doctrine" is the basis for our invasion of Iraq. It's kind of a big deal. Now, maybe a McCain-Palin administration would instead have the "McCain Doctrine", which would essentially be the Bush Doctrine but with even more aggressive rhetoric, or the "Palin Doctrine", which would be that... um... spreading democracy via offshore oil drilling is good, and stuff. Or something -- it's not clear. But this "justification for war" stuff is, you know, the sort of thing that's just a wee bit important for our purported future leaders to pay a little attention to.

What's goofy is that Charlie Gibson tried so valiantly to assist, and she still faceplanted. This does not bode well for policy-based discourse on the campaign trail. After this, they're probably going to put her back in her no-press box for a while.

What's really scary is that Palin obviously did not even know what the Bush Doctrine is. Can you imagine this woman as President of our country? There is a one in six chance, you know, that McCain would die in office at his age.