3622
Would you want this on your grave marker?
RIP (if you can)
Michael A. Dolen
Lawyer, Cleveland Council member
Chosen by the Governor of Ohio,
a Methodist minister,
to make gambling more attractive to
the middle class
Actually, almost no one, rich or poor, famous or humble, puts their profession and "accomplishments" on their tombstone. Pastor John writes in this week's Cornerstone newsletter, "When I listen to families talk about their loved one at the time of death, very rarely do I hear about their great wealth, power, or their achievements; I hear about their character."

Ohio started a state lottery in 1974. Many churches fought it--probably even the Methodists, among whom I think our Governor was a pastor at one time. It will help the children, we were told. (Loud guffaws in the wings). So what has happened? It used to be the only game in town for the poor. They made running numbers illegal, so they could only bet with the state. Then all the states around us said, "Hey, that looks like easy money." Kentucky's got its horse race betting, Michigan and Indiana have lotteries, Pennsylvania has racetrack betting and casinos now. Now the state has run out of poor people to fool, so they are going to try to make it more attractive to the middle-class. Yes, that's a quote from why Dohlen was appointed.

We take the poor's money with one hand, then tax the middle-class so we give back some of it, but not enough or as much as they lost. Makes us feel so self-righteous to be able to help not only the children, but the poor (and increasingly they are each other). State lottery--it's a two-fer. But now we'll have to hit up the middle-class double--first take it through gambling, then tax them through higher costs for just about everything. Plus, we get to raise property taxes and send more money to Washington so they can send part of it back, because we never did solve that silly old education problem. Columbus' graduation rate is about 45% and Cleveland's is worse. Imagine that. It's a home grown axis of evil.

Story from the Columbus Dispatch, March 25, 2007Source URL: http://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/politics
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3576
Advice for the 2008 presidential candidates
While cleaning out some files, I found this one written for the 2004 campaign. No one listened to me then, so I'll give it another shout out. This is for the Democrats or Republicans or Libertarians.

Jobs: Make Cleveland, Detroit, New York, etc. "union-free" areas--no unions in industry, in the schools, or any areas of government, or in non-government associations. Unions are strongest in cities with the most serious poverty problems. Time to run a test and see if there is a cause and effect relationship. Invite industry in. Let in some fresh air. If these cities can turn around in say, a decade, move the system to other cities.

The War: Let the Iraqis have as much time to settle into independence and democracy as the United States did--about 15 years--1775-1789 (I said this in 2004--so knock four years off the remaining time). Remove US troops as quickly as possible without endangering the Iraqi people. Rid America of the "instant solution" mentality (this is now called Murthanizing).

Energy: Allow drilling in Alaska as a trade off for more economizing and more fuel efficiency.

Health care: Introduce more competition, not less. Move away from government interference and control as quickly as possible, so we don’t lose the best system in the world.

Prescription drugs: Reduce the red tape and regulations for drug development to reduce the price of development.

Transportation: Get our passenger rail system going again. Terminals in every major city. Environmentally, it makes a lot more sense and is probably cheaper than messing with forests and farm lands for biofuels and windmills.

Nation building: Make English the official language of the US, but offer many more foreign language options, and make at least one a requirement for graduation from high school.

Terrorism: Secure our borders, improve our airport, train and bus screening. Use profiling to find terrorists.

And I ought to add something about global change.

Require anyone spouting hot air to answer questions from the press and audience. That will cool things down in a hurry.Source URL: http://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/politics
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3556
Talking to a Democrat
There is a talkative mid-life lawyer at the coffee shop who will deign to chat with me, a lowly, female retiree of a different faith and party, if there's no one else for him to talk to at. He's also trying to practice his Russian, so that makes for a pretty small group, plus he thinks all the men there are bigots and idiots (he told me one time) because they're talking sports. Anyway, today I made him the same offer that I did Chuck, as he scarfed down one of their fabulous muffins (he's put on a few pounds this winter). He could have my calories I wasn't using and they wouldn't count on him. He could eat with impunity knowing I wasn't. He didn't understand the Gore carbon footprint/exchange so I tried to explain it. I think his legal mind realized it is a scam, but he right away switched the topic to Gore's movie.

But when I said something about Clinton not signing the Kyoto Treaty, he went ballistic. Thought I'd have to scrape him off the ceiling. "You Republicans blame Clinton for everything!" he bellowed (I think he's a defense attorney and tries intimidation.) The fact that it just happened to be true and that Kyoto hasn't done a thing for those countries that did sign it, and that I had been a Democrat who voted for Clinton, also did little to defuse him. His mouth was like the roaring lion in the book of Daniel (no sinister allusions to Satan here--I know he is a liberal Catholic and has a good heart).

Since I'm probably 15 years older, I did a little history review with him and asked him to cite a single program proposed by the liberals in the last 20-30 years that had been defeated by the conservatives. Couldn't do it of course, because liberals try to put up conservatives, particularly Christian conservatives, as some sort of powerhouse bringing down the government. No one has been a bigger spender on social programs than the Bush administration. Medicare. Biggest gains under Republicans. Illegal immigration. Huge muck job by Republicans--who was president in 1986 for IRCA? Social Security. Reagan was President when I lost mine. Legal abortion. Last time I checked, we're still killing babies--what--25-35 million since Roe v. Wade? If Christian conservatives manage to roll back a week or two in a sparsely populated rural state, the Dems go crazy (oh no, a baby's made it out alive), but the law's still there. DDT. Last time I ran the numbers, we'd killed more Africans with malaria in the last 30 years than died being shipped across the Atlantic as slaves in the 18th century, but not a single bird, let alone human, ever died from spraying DDT on mosquito eggs in standing pools of swamp water. Rich Americans like Bill Gates are using their billions to buy mosquito netting and print brochures instead of reversing that disaster. Clean air laws. We've got bunches of empty factories in Ohio that have no smoke belching from the chimneys--the jobs went first to the southern U.S.A., then to Asia. Women's Rights. Leading cause of poverty in the U.S.A. is unmarried women having sex and babies before finishing school. The poverty gap is no longer racial, it is marital. And Dems have a fainting spell if someone introduces an abstinence program or a chastity pledge.

But he was so old-school-liberal in his views he only was willing to concede that blacks weren't being lynched and had moved a little closer to the front of the bus. Actually, I didn't get to bring up all these points for him--old Democrats wouldn't sit for that. His patronizing attitude for everything the liberals my age accomplished over the years is a real turn off--makes me think that nothing I did or supported for forty years mattered because it is never enough for them until we turn the country over and under.Source URL: http://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/politics
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3537 Speech code?

Barack Obama was in Columbus yesterday. I've been hearing snippets on the radio. Hmmmm. Seems to be a change in his speech--all of a sudden (or maybe not so sudden) he doesn't sound like a young educated white lawyer from Illinois. He sounded like a young Jesse Jackson, who also used to be from Illinois. Kind of reminds me of Edwards in jeans or Kerry in the bunny suit. You need to go with the flow when you're in politics. Read the polls and what the latest focus groups say. Now, the President? He always sounds like a good old boy from Texas and it sure makes his enemies mad. He certainly doesn't respond to polls or he'd know how unhappy conservatives are with him about his border follies.Source URL: http://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/politics
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What I don't understand about Republicans

Why are they considered the "social conservatives," when the only three guys who are getting any notice for 2008 from the party faithful all were unfaithful to their wives? Maybe more than one? I'd put McCain as #1 crumb-bum for leaving the wife who stood by him all the time he was in prison working for his release. By the time he got home she was disabled and no longer a babe, so he dumped her for one who had money and could fund his political ambitions. And Newt? Aren't he and Rudy both with wife #3, or did Rudy just not bother to get married this time? Then if you bring up Romney, who is squeeky clean, they back off because he's a Mormon (about the only group left in the country who take family responsibilities seriously).

You can beat your chest all you want about women and gays, and how our morals are collapsing, yada, yada, but fellas, the only people getting advice in the Bible about sex is heterosexual men. And there's bunches of it. Go look.Source URL: http://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/politics
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Are government officials blocking your mail?

Pat in NC says sending an e-mail from outside the congressperson's district is a hopeless task. She can't even get Nancy Pelosi to take her message.

"As I watch CSPAN, see news clips on TV news or read article quoting legislators, they speak of "the majority of citizens " feeling a certain way about an issue. How do they know this when they ignore or actually block opinions of the majority."

It's our tax money paying for their offices, staff, franking privileges, special jet planes with expensive staff, trips to foreign countries, etc., etc. The least they can do is accept an e-mail from out of district.Source URL: http://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/politics
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3369 Boxer's no champion for women

A commenter and story reported over at Amy's blog wrote:

"OK, Rice has no children serving in the military because she has no children. But Boxer also mentioned she has neither children nor grandchildren in the military. Therefore, why the hell does she get to serve Foreign Relations?"

Another news maven called Boxer's comment a giant step backward for feminists. It's the Kerry foot-in-mouth, garden variety, Democrat, double standard.Source URL: http://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/politics
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3292 More about Christmas letters

Previously, I posted about a Christmas letter I got from the OSU Medical Center, which hasn't yet deleted my name from its list of employees (6 years I've been retired). I just counted our printed Christmas letters on festive paper, fifteen, and our hand written letters and notes, also fifteen. This is a pretty skimpy survey, but based on past Christmases, I think only Democrats include political statements in their Christmas letters. Anti-Bush, anti-war, global warming, etc. Nothing like 2004, however. Although, I suppose if someone mentioned stem cell research or abortion (no one did), that would be a draw, because it could be considered a seasonal message, Jesus having been an unattached embryo at one point in his life. But I give liberals a pass on this, because I used to be a Democrat, and thinking back, I think I probably used my Christmas letter to smack others around too, but now I have blogs. Did you see me on the cover of Time Magazine?

We also received a lot of nice family photos. Most of the people we know seem to be repopulating the earth with grandchildren--5, 8, 10. Over the years, we've watched their kids growing up; now we're seeing the grandchildren. We love the family updates, and worry for a few moments over the people who are missing from the photos.

We've also received some wonderful original poetry and art. My friend Lynne (from high school) always has something fabulous. My brother-in-law is terribly clever, and our son-in-law-once-removed (brother of our son-in-law) also has a cute one. Several of our artist friends sent reproductions.

I just LOVE getting mail. Don't let any Grinchivious advice columnist tell you otherwise.Source URL: http://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/politics
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3269 How Women Work

Nancy Pelosi has selected former Border Patrol agent Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, whose ignorance on international matters is well known, to lead the House intelligence committee instead of Rep. Jane Harman, D-California, who everyone, even Republicans, says was eminently qualified and the best candidate. Why? She hates her, according to the gossip. That I couldn't say, but I do know this. For a guy in charge, that wouldn't make any difference. He'd want to select someone who'd make him look good. Not so a woman; the relationship is the primary focus. Who cares about Al Qaeda. Who cares about our security. If you've crossed her (not just Pelosi, but any woman) you're in trouble and it will never change.Source URL: http://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/politics
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