Elections are a week away, and the day cannot come too soon. Between the Truth Squad and the public events and all the rest of it, it’s kinda like: Enough yakking, let’s light this candle. Although I will say, I’m usually impressed by the questions people ask at events like Issues & Ale and the Ballot Bash we did a few days back. I only wish the advertising that’s spewing from the firehose was a match for it.
I guess it could always be worse. Charlotte, tell us what you know about Matt Rosedale.
I think I’m recovering from my cold, but I’m still going to bed early. The rest of you, enjoy this outtake from Kate’s senior-picture session. The photographer, Bobby, has a soft spot for street dudes and they flocked to us that night. It was, to be fair, the night of the Tigers’ final loss and exit from the postseason. This was across the street from the ballpark, and though the game had been over for at least an hour or so by this point, the bums and drunks were thick on the sidewalks. This guy just had a sense of humor:
Great lighting under that marquee, I will say that.
Have a good Tuesday, all.
Joe kobiels said on October 27, 2014 at 10:33 pm
Kate kinda has a wtf look but its a great shot. Can someone explain just who creates jobs? I always thought it was business and corps. But not according to Mrs C. Maybe it the job fairy? Seriously how do you explain or defend a statement like that?
Pilot Joe
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beb said on October 27, 2014 at 11:16 pm
What creates jobs is people spending money. If they don’t have money they won’t buy stuff, if they don’t buy stuff, stores can’t sell stuff and when business can’t sell stuff they lay off people, who, because they have no money don’t buy stuff either. It’s a death-spiral leading to a Great Depression. Which is why during recessions the government needs to borrow money and spend it. Infrastructures, prolonged unemployment benefits, lowering the age for retirement. That’s what creates jobs.
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MarkH said on October 28, 2014 at 2:57 am
“Infrastructures, prolonged unemployment benefits, lowering the age for retirement. That’s what creates jobs.” ????
Uh, beb? Doesn’t someone have to create something for people to spend money on? You know, stuff stores can sell? When people see something they want that someone created, that spurs demand, and they buy it. Then there’s a greater supply to meet the demand, ’cause there’s more jobs (that pay money for folks to spend) to make the stuff, and they buy more which spurs an economy. I’m no economic scholar, but yours is the most backward explanation I’ve ever seen.
And, Joe, Hillary has thankfully backtracked that entire statement.
Kate needs to go to New York, where she would fit right in with Seth Meyers’ Late Night 8G Band, where the incredibly talented, absolute fox drummer Kimberly Thompson rules.
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MarkH said on October 28, 2014 at 3:26 am
Nancy, here’s a primer on what you need to know about Rosendale, much what you expected, I’m sure.
https://votesmart.org/candidate/120815/matt-rosendale#.VE9Cazh0zIU
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alex said on October 28, 2014 at 6:47 am
Who creates jobs? Businesses create jobs when they anticipate demand for their goods or services. Which happens when people are employed and flush with cash and spending it. People. You know, those “takers” the GOP is so fond of talking about.
I love listening to the pickers from the dollar store warehouses — that’s the dream job that people around here aspire to these days because northeast Indiana’s economy sucks so badly — I love listening to these knuckleheads spouting off words of wisdom gleaned from Fox News about how their hard-earned tax dollars are paying for people of color (they use a different word there) to buy liquor and cigarettes with food stamps. Never mind that they themselves rely on food stamps and know damn well they cannot buy liquor and cigarettes with theirs.
Indiana is a fucking cesspool of resentful low-wage workers who can be counted on to vote against their own interests. There. Rant over.
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basset said on October 28, 2014 at 7:08 am
I can see how that setting would make a really nice pic… what happened to the old-style senior photos, generic headshot against a plain background?
And you don’t often see a Fender bass that color… maybe she’ll take a mind to paint on it with nail polish,just as George Harrison did with his blue Stratocaster:
http://www.feelnumb.com/2010/11/09/george-harrisons-rocky-fender-stratocaster-guitar/
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David C. said on October 28, 2014 at 7:25 am
In our senior pics, we weren’t allowed to have anything but gussied-up mug shots. But when I think what might have been my analogue to Kate’s bass or a gun-nut kid’s shootin’ arn (http://abcnews.go.com/US/nebraska-high-school-oks-guns-senior-portraits/story?id=26405288), I can’t think of one damned thing. Good lord, I was pathetic (probably still am, but I’m too
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basset said on October 28, 2014 at 7:55 am
Basset Jr. had our golden retriever in some of his senior pics… photo session was around a tree in the studio yard, we didn’t really click with those so we stopped in the park on the way home and I took some better ones.
In my senior pic, though, Washington, Indiana in 1972, we had to wear coat and tie… sit there, kid… click… we’re done.
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beb said on October 28, 2014 at 8:06 am
“Infrastructures, prolonged unemployment benefits, lowering the age for retirement. That’s what creates jobs.” ????
That puts money into the hands of people without any money. Then they can afford to buy things, which puts money in the hands of businesses who can in turn afford to hire more workers. There are already lots of things out there that people can buy – new cars, big-screen TVs, food, clothing, that vacation to some tourist dependent location. But when people don’t have money or are fearful of their job’s future they don’t buy these things and so the economy slows down. Republicans in the 60s and 70s and even the 80s understood this. When the economy slows down you need to “pimp the pump” with a jobs bill. Today’s Republicans are all about slashing spending and diverting money from the middle and lower classes to the upper classes. They’re tanking the economy.
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Jeff Borden said on October 28, 2014 at 8:28 am
I knew the U.S. ferried over a lot of high-ranking Nazis who’d be working on the V1 and V2 programs and put them to work on our missile projects, but today’s NYT looks at the hundreds of others we paid and protected after the war ended. Our fears of Communism apparently trumped our moral outrage at the Nazis.
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Wim said on October 28, 2014 at 9:29 am
There’s that magic moment when a girl becomes a young lady. No more adolescent self-conscious glares at the camera. Seems like only yesterday you were writing about war-dancing in middle school.
Is that a Schott jacket? It looks just like my old riding leather.
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Peter said on October 28, 2014 at 9:35 am
I’m sorry that I sound like an old guy watching Fox News in an Arizona trailer park, but parts of the new economy I just don’t understand.
In going from a manufacturing based economy to a knowledge based one, I can’t figure out how what some people do for beaucoup bucks. I wish I could give you a good example, but when I ask people what their kids do for a living, and then I ask them what does that job entail, they invariably say “I have no idea”. I mean really, how many web page designers and b-to-b expediters do you need?
OTOH, I did read many years ago that a high percentage of architecture grads go into game design instead of actual building design, which I thought was crazy, until I heard how much is spent on video games – isn’t it more than movies, CD’s, and football games combined? Isn’t that a bubble ripe for bursting?
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nancy said on October 28, 2014 at 9:42 am
I face the same mix of bafflement and irritation when I hear how many top med-school grads are going into dermatology and plastic surgery — because of the stupid-money they can earn, mainly without having to work 18-hour on-call shifts and suffer the other miseries most doctors have to endure. Surely we can design a better health-care system that doesn’t rely on rich women paying cash for microdermabrasion and face lifts to distribute the dough in a more sensible fashion?
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brian stouder said on October 28, 2014 at 9:38 am
Joe, HRC was certainly inarticulate when she addressed the question: “Who creates jobs?”. It is a chicken/egg style question: Which comes first – supply or demand? It more or less incorporates the “You didn’t build that” dust-cloud that my ex-party got all worked up about in the last presidential election. To wit – Henry Ford didn’t build the interstate highway system, or the paved streets in mostly all of our cities, nor all the bridges, nor the (never-ending) maintenance of all of that. So indeed, after a long discussion (or argument!), we might agree to disagree on at least one point: none of this is simple. Society (aka “government”) does have an indispensable role in the economic, job-creating stew-pot.
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Dorothy said on October 28, 2014 at 9:44 am
I love that picture sessions have evolved like this. It really allows the subject to show their personality if it’s done well. My neighbor across the street from my old house in Mount Vernon is a very talented photographer, and I follow her on Facebook. Photography has gotten so much better and I love that it’s done so well and seemingly so easily these days!
If Kate (and you) are amenable to it, I think the crowd here would love to see more of Kate’s senior shots when they’re available. This is a terrific picture. And what a great idea of having her pose on the street with her guitar.
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Deborah said on October 28, 2014 at 10:07 am
Kate is one cool looking young woman. If I had looked that hip in high school, my life would probably have turned out completely different. Maybe?
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Julie Robinson said on October 28, 2014 at 10:13 am
Ditto what Dorothy said. I love the new style senior pictures. And speaking of high school, I went to my 40th reunion over the weekend, and noticed the first victim of plastic surgery. Her face was so tight she had no eyelids and she had a snake-like appearance. I remember she looked nice at the last reunion and I just can’t figure out why she did it.
We also moved Mom here this weekend, and last night spent hours searching for her cat, who somehow slipped out yesterday morning. This woman lives for her kitty and I was SO grateful that she came back. It’s been a rough start.
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Judybusy said on October 28, 2014 at 10:24 am
Oh, Julie, so glad the kitty came back! I hope the rest of the adjustment goes more smoothly.
My niece is a senior and did get her shots done in various sites around her small town. She is posing with her hunting rifle in several. She and her younger sister went elk hunting again this year and the younger one got an elk. It’s an important part of their lives, but they also have other interests, thanks in part to some aunt who gets her to the big city on occasion! I am very curious how these young women will turn out and what they do with their lives.
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jcburns said on October 28, 2014 at 10:58 am
This isn’t a senior picture, it’s a Saturday Night Live cast photo!
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 28, 2014 at 11:54 am
And the debate over the role of capital versus labor continues. Why the Bull Moose Party never caught on, I don’t understand . . . the correct answer as to which is important seems to me to be “both,” but that never gets much polemical traction.
In central Ohio, we’ve got a definite slump in our history from a macro point of view, let alone the 2008-2012,’13,’14 recession. We’re like most of the Rust Belt: there was a boom period from the 1880’s through the Depression, which looked like it ended with the production boosts of World War II, but in fact the factories and plants and mills of that large, clanking, smoke-belching era were already on a downturn that started sputtering during the war years . . . trolleys stopped, our local tire plant (a second tier Goodyear/Firestone) closed, the streetcar building plant was shuttered.
Other than a big aluminum mill built during the war, there was almost no major new industry or innovation between 1930 and 1960 around here than the one saving grace: fiberglas, invented between us and Toledo but put into major production here in the late ’50s. The insulation & container plant for that material, even after Owens Corning’s bankruptcy, is the one legacy plant that has had new production lines and expansion (in plant facility, not in staffing, which steadily marched downwards in head count) which is still a going concern from the boom years. Fiberglas and Kaiser Aluminum, plus a small piece of the historic glass industry that once was half the local economy, four or five major plants, now a segment of one old plant making diffusers for street light fixtures.
But all the political energy and labor debate from the 50’s through 2000 was about holding more and more tightly to a fistful of sand, as Rockwell became Meritor became “Crate up and ship the line to Mexico, boys” or Wehrle and Roper and Styron Beggs and Pharis and Heisey became exhibits in the local historical society museum. The turn of the previous century vast brick rectangles steadily emptied out, automation was fought where it could be, tolerated when it was the last option to maintain a plant, bemoaned along with NAFTA when the smaller, lighter automated equipment left for the maquiladoras. Kaiser’s behemoth of a mill, with furnaces and extrusion lines and the occasional huge explosion (ah, the good old days before OSHA when we had one of those every month!) once employed 3,000, almost all men, almost all without high school degrees; it now produces by tonnage three times what it did with 300 employees, and when openings do come, they call for “bachelors degree preferred.”
We have frittered away (I know some prefer a more earthy metaphor here) the infrastructure, civic, industrial, and social that was built up through the World War II period. I don’t blame any one party, he repeated irritatingly, as much as I do both parties as partisan factions, not the civic institutions they once were, block by block, precinct by precinct. I don’t blame capital or capitalists per se as much as I do the shareholder sanctity movement, the “breach of fiduciary responsibility” orthodoxy that privileges quarterly profits over longer term stability and ongoing dividend payments. And I absolutely do blame a political placeholder class that has steadily become a permanent bureaucracy of pseudo-elected mega-incumbents who back-scratch each other rather than constituencies, who care for fellow officeholders more than even family members (“What’s a little nepotism if you keep it in the family?” ~ Richard J. Daley; or “What would you think of a father who refused to help his own children?”).
That last may sound like pure sarcasm, but believe me, it isn’t. I’d rather have more politicians trying to get people who live and work in their community hired than see them squeaky clean in some personal ethical checklist of detached indifference, but who route projects and programs to major funders and campaign supporters where overhead and administrative costs end up becoming the moral equivalent of profits (see entry: Ohio, charter schools). Let my state senator be able to push his idiot cousin for a custodian job in the local middle school (as long as he passes the background check and shows up for work) rather than go to Columbus and vote for quirks in legislation that make rent-seeking behavior more effective for the company who supports the PAC which supports his next campaign for higher office.
But my point, such as I have one, is infrastructure. We last had major transportation and utility inputs around here in the late 1970s, and since then, all the “state money” has gone into watershed & storm water projects, school construction which is both visually similar to and built by the same people who build our minimum security detention facilities (you can do the math), and new elevated or bermed roadways connecting one piece of converted farmland to another. The brick plants are mostly being razed for the salvage value of their steel (which then gets shipped to China for conversion, which strikes me as comparable to the ’49ers in California shipping their laundry to Hawaii) and for the good timbers to go into huge hilltop not-so-mini-mansions barely visible from the road all around the decaying former-industrial-small-cities of Ohio . . . and even those of us who know our towns and community leaders and economies ask each other “who the heck lives there? who can afford those, and what are they doing?” And, to be honest, “how do we get their names for the United Way or the Friends of Scouting campaign or the current Children Services levy fundraiser?”
I’m angry, and discouraged, because friends? — I am going to win an election next Tuesday, and I feel like a fool. A few of us had to band together, burn the midnight oil, not comment on blogs or see our families, so we could raise enough money to buy enough signs and pay for enough billboards and radio spots and banner ads online with the local paper, in order to get the county voters TO CONTINUE TO PAY FOR FOSTER CARE. Which legally, the county has to do, so if the Children Services levy were to fail (this is the fourth in forty years, we’ve passed by a decent margin each replacement ballot every ten years), the county commissioners would have to figure out where to take the money out of the general fund, and doubtless the overall quality of our care for children “in the care of the county” would decrease.
As I said, I am quite confident we’re going to win. Probably by a smaller margin than ten years ago, but by enough. But last year, the Developmental Disability levy (see legal note above) only passed by EIGHT votes, so we took no chances. We raised, and I’ve signed checks, for about $21,000. Chump change in the overall political landscape, I know, but here’s what I’m sick about. The number of hours spent by people, myself included, who could be doing so much more worthwhile things FOR children, FOR our social infrastructure, with the hours we’ve spent to raise and then effectively spend that $21K in order to ensure we can fund our 422 kids currently “in the care of the county” in a decent fashion. And that $21K? Don’t ask me how I’d spend that otherwise, or how much I think now CAN’T be raised because of donor fatigue on top of the $21K that went to the printers and radio stations and yes, to Gannett, God bless their tiny, tiny little hearts.
In Ohio, the amount spent by the state on children services (also called child protective services in some states, so CS or CPS) is . . . fiftieth. That’s right, Louisiana and Mississippi are ahead of us. And if Ohio were to double the amount spent by the state on CS programs? They’d move up to . . . fiftieth. That’s right, we’re THAT far behind.
Those decisions go back thirty, forty years, when for some reason we stopped spending on anything other than prisons and new highway into as-yet-unfulfilled cornfields. The infrastructure gap is a human gap as much as a facility and funding gap. I’m not sure how I’ve been spending my time the last three months is really addressing that. I’d like to smash something, but unlike Robert Irvine with his sledgehammer, I’m not quite sure what yet.
Anyhow, to anyone who has read down this far, thanks for letting me vent. This is a column I can’t write for the local paper that no one is reading anyhow, but it feels better having written it.
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brian stouder said on October 28, 2014 at 12:19 pm
Jeff – you are the man.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 28, 2014 at 12:30 pm
FYI – https://www.facebook.com/KeepCaringKids
And my apologies to anyone listening to Licking County area radio who is sick of hearing my voice right now. We had to start running ads Oct. 4; estimates are running as high as 40% of the vote could be DONE by 6:30 am next Tuesday. Used to be you put the big push on after Oct. 15, now with early voting and mail-in, if you don’t have a message out when those ballot packets hit the kitchen table at home, you may lose the election with the 20% who definitely voted BEFORE Oct. 15.
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Julie Robinson said on October 28, 2014 at 12:54 pm
Good luck, Jeff, you are fighting the good fight.
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Jolene said on October 28, 2014 at 12:59 pm
Oh, Jeff, your post made me want to cry. In fact, it did make me cry. We are so very, very, very lucky in this country compared to so many other places in the world, but we could do so much better than we do on so many fronts–healthcare, education, criminal justice, infrastructure (both social and physical), environment, and more.
But what to do to make it happen? So many people don’t care and don’t vote; so many are afraid of a future that won’t be like the past, and they vote to hold back change. Politics seems to be dominated by fear and anger, rather than hope, and those are not emotions that bring out the best in people.
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Charlotte said on October 28, 2014 at 1:09 pm
Go Jeff!
The social services thing is such a nightmare. I’ve got an acquaintance slowly dying because they won’t open the Medicaid rolls, and she can’t quite get approved for SS Disability, and she’s gone bankrupt. There’s a big dose of bad decision making and lack of support systems too … but really, if she could get on Medicaid it would help a lot. But no, as a nation, we’ve decided we’re okay with poor people just dying slowly, getting patched up in the ER every so often, then sent home with no real plan.
And Nancy — I have no idea who Matt Rosendale is — the Republican in that race is Ryan Zinke. I’m kind of hopeful that if there’s a secondary candidate that might help John Lewis, who is a decent guy despite having worked for the much-loathed Max Baucus for all those years. The race it looks like we’re going to lose is the Senate — i doubt that Amanda Curtis can pull it off against Steve Daines — he’s got lots of money and that affable white-guy pumpkin head that a big portion of the voters seem to find appealing. Helped start RightNow Technologies over in Bozeman, who did customer service software and sold to Oracle a few years ago — their CEO is a real right-wing religious nut who is eyeing the Governor’s race. I think Daines is awful, but the DSCC and local party so screwed up the race with John Walsh that I think that one’s all over.
As for “knowledge-economy” jobs — I’ve worked in technical documentation since 1999 — doing everything from editing, to writing (a little), to documentation design as we moved from paper to online to online help systems built right into the product and now we’ve got a bunch of apps in our group — so figuring out how to get people some instructional material on their devices. Sometimes it’s really interesting, sometimes it’s not — the thinky stuff is the fun part. How do we get exactly the piece of info the user needs to him or her at the time when they can’t make their program/phone/router/device work and they’re angry and frustrated and pissed off? I stumbled into it the old-fashioned way … via a contact from grad school (in creative writing, not computers). But it’s allowed me to work from Montana, and although I’ve gone from a salaried person with benefits to a contract worker with none — for me, getting to work part time was worth it. However, no job security at all. Which I try not to think about too much.
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4dbirds said on October 28, 2014 at 1:55 pm
Love Kate’s photo.
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Basset said on October 28, 2014 at 2:14 pm
Me too, oughta send that one to the yearbook. Decided on a college yet?
The drone guy looks like Oliver North.
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Dexter said on October 28, 2014 at 2:19 pm
I love the photo too. Made me recall a friend I made 27 years ago. This elderly man ran a small parking lot off Cochrane between Pine and Spruce, across the Fisher Freeway pedestrian bridge from Tiger Stadium. He only asked for $3 so I parked there for a few years when I went to games. This old man was jovial and liked to talk about anything, from the weather to traffic, all small talk, and then every time he’d tell me about his son, who he was immensely proud of. “My son, he’s a bus driver…drives a city bus, makes good money, too…and he’s fat, ye-uhh… he’s fat, he’s really big and really fat…like you!”, and then we’d both laugh like hell.
My older brother was a school photog for George Woodard Studios in Bellevue, Ohio and also for Root Photographers in Chicago for many years. In Ohio he made the kids smile for their portraits by telling them to say “cheese” or something like that…and the kids in a Cleveland school told him, “man, that ain’t cool…tell us to say Little Kings.” Every kid knew about Little Kings. Beer in 7 ounce bottles, easy to smuggle into schools. It worked. Also, the Cleveland urban males sometimes wanted to fan out a stack of benjamins from their suit coat top pocket for the photo shoot…money talks, and gets a fella some attention from some girls. Some girls anyway.
Memo to Dell Windows Vista users who use iolo System Mechanic Professional…iolo has current non-compatibility issues with Vista installs regarding their anti-clutter removal tools. After I re-installed iolo after my OS re-install, my system totally melted down AGAIN! Anyway…the guy in India got my System Restore to back track and he took the iolo off my computer and installed the new free microcoft essentials program for anti-virus and malware detection. All’s well so far today.
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Scout said on October 28, 2014 at 3:40 pm
Best senior photo ever. I think I’d use this one!
And I agree with beb. People ain’t got money, people don’t buy stuff. People don’t buy stuff, nobody gonna hire anyone to make stuff. It’s really simple and HRC was not wrong, just indelicate in how she phrased it. It was ripe for the whole GOTCHA culture of pouncing on every word out of a politician’s mouth. No wonder none of them say anything of substance.
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Sherri said on October 28, 2014 at 6:36 pm
Jeff, I’m going to start using the term “shareholder sanctity movement.” I’m tired of people looking at me like I’m insane when I tell them that it’s not a law that companies have to privilege stock price over everything else. These are people old enough that they should be able to remember that it was not always so, yet they seem to have forgotten that there is another way of doing things that also resulted in profitable companies.
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Sue said on October 28, 2014 at 6:38 pm
“Elections are a week away, and the day cannot come too soon.”
Oddly enough, things seem to be ending with a whimper here in WI rather than a bang. Here in deep red Walker country, you’d think things would be at a fever pitch, but there are very few yard signs, and even some signs here and there for Mary Burke. The phone is mostly silent, the mailbox remains un-crammed with brochures. Scott Walker is damning with faint praise the visit from Chris Christie and making it clear he expected more money than he got from the RGA, but he’s been getting millions in donations (coordinated or not) and the most he seems to have to show for it are a few – really very few – run of the mill attack ads. So the process we’ve been dreading based on how ugly things have gotten over the last few years hasn’t really materialized.
Although I’m endlessly amused by the Walker fanboyz around here. Not content to have a “Walker for Governor” bumper sticker or even an “I stand by Scott Walker” yard sign, they need stickers and signs that say “We NEED Scott Walker” and “Scott Walker is my hero”. All men as far as I can tell; what are they, 14? Still and again, not as many as I expected.
For myself, I will find it interesting no matter what happens. Walker has done some real damage to the environment and the communities affected are waking up to it and realizing they just might need clean water at some future date. If he’s re-elected he may have a little more trouble helping his friends at the expense of ordinary citizens and the organizations that are willing to sue on their behalf. Plus, if he’s elected, that big fat revenue hole that will open up in about 8 months – oops, too optimistic about the growth that all those tax cuts were going to bring about – will be his to deal with rather than Burke’s.
If he’s elected I won’t be too happy about whatever he’s got in store for the ladies and their parts, of course, but maybe I’ll leave that fight to the youngsters who didn’t bother to vote.
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Suzanne said on October 28, 2014 at 6:54 pm
I’m interested in the Kansas election more than ours. I have a high school classmate, and one that is no flaming liberal by any stretch, who lives in Kansas who has been posting a number of things on Facebook about how their governor, a tea party darling all the way, has pretty much bankrupt the state. Business taxes have been cut to the nubs all on the promise of the jobs, jobs, and more jobs that would be rolling into Kansas. It’ll be like Christmas every day!! But the jobs have not materialized and there is little money to pay for any kind of government services, even the basics. At least from her perspective as a wife, mother, church going and tax paying citizen, it’s a mess. But will he be re-elected? I’m curious.
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Sue said on October 28, 2014 at 7:14 pm
I do believe businesses and corporations create jobs, when they’re not sitting on their money or hiding it overseas. If our elected officials think tax breaks create jobs, then tie the tax breaks to actual jobs. They’ve gotten away from that kind of thinking and gone to the all-carrot-no-stick approach. You get a tax break to create jobs, you’d better create jobs, and not by moving a bunch of jobs overseas and then ‘creating’ crummier jobs at home, either.
Hillary Clinton put her foot in it with that comment and she should be well past that kind of mistake. If it’s too subtle to be explained with a crayon and paper with wide lines, break it down a few more notches and careful of the sound bite.
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Sue said on October 28, 2014 at 7:26 pm
without a crayon etc.
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Deborah said on October 28, 2014 at 7:28 pm
Jeff tmmo, I am in awe of your activism for important things like Foster care. I mean who could be against that? Getting kids out of really bad home life situations into place where they can thrive, I mean who’s going to vote against that? Monsters?
New Mexico is probably going to re-elect their Republican Governor, Suzanne Martinez. The Democrat running against her is lame. I’m still awaiting my mail-in absentee ballot from Chicago, mainly I want to keep billionaire Rauner from being the next guv of IL.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 28, 2014 at 11:13 pm
We do community meetings. People ask us why they tore down the county children’s home, aka “the orphan asylum.” I generally distract them with recollections of having my office in a building that juveniles and parents alike called “the haunted castle,” but some are persistent, asking why that wasn’t “the most efficient and effective provision for young unfortunates.”
And it always goes back to “I know that” or “my neighbor used to be” or “at my church, there was a foster family” that ends up in some form of “and they were just in it for the money.”
I have to bite down on the temptation to say back “Oh, and the orphanage staff through the last century was always working there out of sheer altruism. Right.” But the studies seem pretty darn consistent that a mildly indifferent foster family is better than a well-run, kindly-meant mass warehouse of misery. There are good stories out of the orphanage days, I know; many of them have been told to me with great heartfelt appreciation. But the mass of stories and the weight of data is that the big bulk solution facilities were rife with abuse, misconduct, and a growing detachment from social ties.
You know, like a British public boarding school of the sort we’re still oddly idealizing in Harry Potter . . .
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Jolene said on October 28, 2014 at 11:19 pm
They don’t have to be monsters, Deborah. They just have to be very stubborn Republicans. Here’s a graph showing that, by refusing to expand Medicaid (a component of Obamacare), some (not all) Republican governors are not only insuring fewer people, which you’d expect, but paying more to provide benefits to fewer people. It don’t make no sense.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/10/refusing-medicaid-expansion-costing-red-states-bundle
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David C. said on October 29, 2014 at 7:51 am
The company I work for, along with far too many others, are spending a lot of cash to buy back their own stock. Mine is doing it to pay back the Wall Streeters for not supporting one of our many corporate raiders when he tried to take over the company and rip it apart. It creates no jobs and only helps Wall Street and the upper management who receive stock options. Everyone else pays for it in worse medical coverage and stingy raises. I have no clue what can be done to unwind this mess, but I think a big opportunity was missed by not prosecuting anybody responsible for the financial meltdown.
Sue, our phone is ringing off the hook. I counted last night and in the past six weeks, I’ve added 27 numbers to our black list. I do see way fewer Walker signs than in 2010 and during the recall election though. If Mary Burke should win, she’ll still be saddled with a Tea Party legislature intent on throwing bombs, a State Supreme court willing to do the same, and I see way too many indications that she’ll be an Obamaesque “can’t we all get along” Governor. But, she’s surprised me so far and seems to be running a disciplined campaign, so there’s always a chance.
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Dorothy said on October 29, 2014 at 8:38 am
Dexter – years ago when my kids were little we switched from “say cheese” to “say pepperoni!” It works really well with little ones. “Little Kings”…. that’s appropriate I guess for where they were from. It’s fun to make up things on the spot when taking pictures. The element of surprise can bring about some great reactions.
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Connie said on October 29, 2014 at 9:16 am
My husband always says “say boogers”. And he gets great results.
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Jolene said on October 29, 2014 at 10:00 am
I think a big opportunity was missed by not prosecuting anybody responsible for the financial meltdown.
Amen. I think a few high-profile prosecutions would have done a lot to reduce the widespread sense that the government isn’t working and might have strengthened Obama’s hand in dealing with other issues.
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brian stouder said on October 29, 2014 at 10:08 am
A digression; I was struck all over again by the word-smithing (of Von Drehl?) repeated by our proprietress, from a Time magazine obituary for Ben Bradlee.
Specifically, the line ”Charisma is a word, like thunderstorm or orgasm, which sits pretty flat on the page or the screen compared with the actual experience it tries to name.”
Pam and I have conferences to attend today at our 10 year-old’s and our 16 year old’s school, and I was reading that very same Time magazine last night*, and that obit, and it was ringing a bell. And then it hit me that the one guy I know who exudes charisma is the principal of our 16 year old’s high school. The guy is indefatigable, and is always (always) at that school, and mostly all of its events (including flag corps/band, which is on the grow).
He will tell you straight-up that he became a teacher so as to be a football coach, and indeed, he’s a born coach. His motivation seems to be unflagging, and he exudes energy that in turn motivates all around him – students and teachers alike.
Last night was a fundraising night wherein the school got 15% of sales for a few hours at a local Chick-Filet (or however they spell it). Pam and I have a problem with spending money at that place, but how can you let the principal down, eh?
So the young folks and I (minus Shelby(!), who was AT her school, in flag practice) loaded up and went there, and the principal greeted us as we got out of the car, and held the door open as we entered – as he did for all who came.
Charisma, indeed
*and we’ll comment later on the mostly bullshit article in that magazine, and the absolutely bulshit cover – regarding teachers and tenure
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Deborah said on October 29, 2014 at 10:23 am
Off topic, but if you go to http://beaverbrook.com the first two photos in the tumblr are of the bathhouse/sauna we built last year in upstate NY, for that class I took. The owner finally had it finished and it’s in use. Funny how it looks like it has been there forever. That was such a great experience.
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brian stouder said on October 29, 2014 at 11:12 am
Marvelous photos, Deborah. (I saw the first dozen, give or take)
I think the secret to a happy life is just such experiences- where you plan ahead, and then you get there, and then you have the photos and memories and so on.
Our western trek this past summer was good stuff all around (one favorite thing: wait-staff in a river-front pizza/eatery in Pueblo had tee shirts on which said “Legalize Marinara”…plus, we got some delicious cupcakes from a bakery called “Eat Me”
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brian stouder said on October 29, 2014 at 11:37 am
…and btw, that IS an excellent photo of the Proprietress’s fine young daughter.
Our high school sophomore is dressing as Rosie the Riveter for Halloween. I’m not sure how many will ‘get it’ – but it’s all good. Looks like I’ll be stuck flingin’ weenies and ‘walking tacos’ at a Wayne HS football game on Halloween night, so Shelby (and one of her friends)will have the duty of accompanying Chloe all around the neighborhood, which is normally my duty.(Chloe will be dressed as Little Red Riding Hood; I think you’ll be able to see the FB results on Pam’s site…)
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Sue said on October 29, 2014 at 1:47 pm
David C, don’t you have a somewhat competitive local (district) race? Maybe that’s why you’re getting calls and I’m not. Below the state level there isn’t a single Dem on my ballot.
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Jolene said on October 29, 2014 at 1:51 pm
Cool pic, Deborah. It does, indeed, seem like a great thing to work with others to, literally, build something. So rewarding not only to be able to remember the experience but also to have a physical product to point to.
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Deborah said on October 29, 2014 at 1:54 pm
Little BIrd and I are taking the upstairs neighbor kid to a Halloween event Friday night at a local mall, costume contest etc, not too scary. His parents (his father and his father’s girlfriend really) have to work that evening, they’re both in the restaurant trade. They took him to a terribly scary haunted corn maze outside of town last weekend, the poor kid is only 10 and he and his best friend cried when they went through it. His parents maybe don’t have the best judgement. He’s a really good kid so his Dad has been doing something right, he doesn’t see his mother at all that I can tell.
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David C. said on October 29, 2014 at 2:17 pm
Sue, our Assembly race may be competitive based on the amount of mud I see being thrown at the Dem incumbent on pop up internet adds. That’s the only advertising I’m even remotely aware of. I don’t watch local TV or listen to local radio, and I don’t pick up the calls I get. I check the caller ID, Google the number, and add anything remotely political to the black list.
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Connie said on October 29, 2014 at 2:23 pm
We no longer have a landline, so we don’t get the phone calls, but by golly the mail. So many mystery groups are sending out flyers opposing my state rep, I worry that my mailbox will collapse from them. And I have actually gotten to know this guy and kind of like him even if he is a Republican. The local tea party opposed him in the primary. They posted signs next to all of his signs that said he had voted for Obamacare. Which I thought was sort of hard to do in the state legislature, but they actually meant he voted for the medicaid expansion.
Our incumbent in Congress lost his primary, the Republican opponent is a millionaire from doing foreclosures. Because this is Oakland County he will win.
Back where we used to live in southern Indiana the man we knew as mayor is running for Congress in the district that was repped by Lee Hamilton when we lived there. You gotta like a politician named Bill Bailey, he has his own song!
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nancy said on October 29, 2014 at 2:37 pm
Connie, I just Truth Squadded the Foreclosure King, here.
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Sherri said on October 29, 2014 at 2:46 pm
My phone is ringing off the hook, my mailbox is stuffed, and the TV is full of ads, mostly for my local state senate race, which has attracted a ton of outside money. I think there is more money being spent on the state senate race than on my Congressional race, even though both feature first term incumbents. My sense is, none of the millions (and yes, it is millions, for a suburban legislative race) being spent on the race are going to matter, because even though the area leans Democratic and the incumbent is a Republican, he’s well known in the community and has a strong base in the soccer community (which is large and strong in the area.) The challenger grew up in the area, but has been away (serving in the Navy) and isn’t as well known.
Getting rid of the landline is no panacea, either; I’ve received a call on my cell phone this cycle as well. Unless you never give your cell phone number to anybody, it’s not that hard to correlate databases to match up cell phone numbers to addresses as long as you’re willing to spend the money to buy the data.
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Jolene said on October 29, 2014 at 3:06 pm
I haven’t been overwhelmed by campaign phone calls or letters, but I have been absolutely drowning in fundraising emails. If you ever once gave money to a political party or candidate, all the rest of them will know about it. I haven’t counted, but, some days, I receive a couple dozen emails. A very cheap way to fundraise, I gather, and it seems to work.
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Jolene said on October 29, 2014 at 3:12 pm
Sue, your mention of there not being a single Dem in local races reminded me of an article I read a couple of days ago re South Carolina. Even though they are electing a governor and two senators (One is a special election, which is why there are two senatorial races in the state.), as well as, of course several U.S. Representatives, there isn’t a single competitive election in the state. A damn shame. If no one is challenging you, you could, quite reasonably, develop the erroneous idea that you are right.
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Deborah said on October 29, 2014 at 3:24 pm
Jolene, I too am receiving a ridiculous amount of fund raising emails. I did cough up some dough for a couple of candidates thinking it would stop but it only got worse. Silly me. Some of the pleas have been downright offensive. One chastised me for not contributing to a candidate.
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ROGirl said on October 29, 2014 at 3:35 pm
Thanks to caller ID I’m avoiding the robocalls, at least 2 to 4 a day for the past few weeks.
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jcburns said on October 29, 2014 at 4:21 pm
I’m assuming you’ll be getting Kate one of these when she graduates. (And take a second to read all the ad copy. My guess is the copywriter was on acid.)
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 29, 2014 at 4:32 pm
Just a few years later, I got the Smith-Corona with the side-insert cartridges for ribbon and correctype (or red, if you wanted, which I never did). It seemed like the coolest thing, and I typed my way through two bachelors, a masters, and a bazillion pieces of pay copy on it before we got our first Mac. But I still dream about that Smith-Corona.
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Connie said on October 29, 2014 at 5:48 pm
That could be the typewriter I got for Christmas that very same year. Like Jeff, I type my way through two degrees, many resumes, Christmas letters and more.
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Deborah said on October 29, 2014 at 6:55 pm
June 1972 was a month after I graduated from college. Yet that ad looks ancient. I don’t remember women wearing hats like that by then, earlier in the 60s sure. Those parents in the photo look way conservative for that time. We had acquired a second hand typewriter that my sister and I got from the next door neighbor’s father who ran a repair shop. I remember being appalled at how much it cost, maybe a $100, and that was as I said second hand. I have no idea what brand it was. I was a lousy typer even though I took typing in high school. I still use the two fingered hunt and peck method. I don’t understand how people can type with thier thumbs on thier smart phones. My thumbs are way too clumsy for that.
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Dave said on October 29, 2014 at 7:37 pm
Likewise, Deborah, June 10, 1972, to be exact. Why is it that I can pull out some dates without any thought and there are other events that I’m not even sure what year they occurred.
I had a Sears electric typewriter, I thought it was wonderful. In fact, I still have it, because I’ve dragged it around from move to move. It does work and frankly, I don’t know what to do with it, I don’t want it but what do you do with them, I hate the thought of things setting in a landfill for a thousand years. It looks like this: http://tinyurl.com/ou89hx2
Oh, and I can type, thanks to Mrs. Brooke, the longtime business teacher at Pickerington High School, and fondly remembered.
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Jenine said on October 30, 2014 at 10:06 am
@Dave: well, there are collectors out there. I have a friend locally who collects manuals. I’m sure someone specializes in electrics. I remember the IBM Selectrics we used to learn to type in high school. So much steel in one of those!
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