sisu

Andrea Mitchell spilled the beans

Goompa's black beauty Lucie posed the eternal riddle of the sphinx atop the TV receiver Thursday in the post-Thanksgiving tryptophan haze.

Glenn Beck and like-minded thinkers and talkers and "Rodeo clowns" on the right side of the aisle are properly all over Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals and the Cloward-Piven strategy in light of President Obama's relentless Rahm-Emanuel-engineered assault on the institutions of this once Shining City Upon a Hill. If only they'd all been paying attention to Thomas Sowell and our own humble blog five years ago. Herewith republication of our post "Against the dominant orthodoxies":

August 17, 2004. "There always has to be a crisis -- some terrible reason why their superior wisdom and virtue must be imposed on the unthinking masses," says Thomas Sowell in a biographically-oriented interview of the pioneering black conservative thinker in The American Enterprise Institute:

It doesn't matter what the crisis is. A hundred years ago it was eugenics. At the time of the first Earth Day a generation ago, the big scare was global cooling, a big ice age. They go from one to the other. It meets their psychological needs and gives them a reason for exercising their power. Many intellectuals' preoccupation with the poor is very much the same thing . . . the poor are a lever to reach other, political, goals.

The very point we were making in our previous post re Bush bashers' use of disadvantaged Abu Ghraib torturess Lynndie English as a prop to further their anti-American agenda. Turning from the poverty industry to the War on Terror, Sowell notes

The tragedy is that the Left has never understood the importance of incentives in general or power in particular. That power is the only thing that deters power.

The only thing terrorists care about is their power. Depriving them of their power is the only way to change them. When they see the Taliban replaced in Afghanistan, and Saddam Hussein ousted in Iraq, that's a strong message.

Asked to assess the impact of his writing, "so much of it against the dominant orthodoxies of our time," Sowell notes with pleasure that his friend Shelby Steele, returning recently from Poland, reported "At the university there, people were all asking, do I know you?" Sowell's Basic Economics has been translated into Polish.  It's that New Europe thing again -- blogged here the other day re waiters in Warsaw wearing "W '04" buttons.  Having lived under the boot of a collectivist micro-managed economy within living memory, Poles are presumably more receptive to Sowell's free-market ideas than left-leaning Old Europeans.

As we blogged here, before the internet and blogging, we never knew any conservative black voices other than Dr. Sowell, introduced to us years ago by Goomp, who named his black-with-white pussycat Tom in his honor.  But times are changing, and for the better:

Someone recently asked me for a list of black conservative authors. Thirty years ago that would have been Walter Williams and me.  Today there are more than I could possibly keep track of.

Thanks to Goomp for calling our attention to this interview.

Related: "Soylent Green revisited," wherein Andrea Mitchell spilled the beans.

Update: "We noted last night that Editor & Publisher called for an end to objectivity in regards to 'Climate Change' back in 2007," writes Ed Driscoll with a linky lovely tip of his Fedora:

But Sissy writes that NBC’s Andrea Mitchell spilled the beans on its happening in the media almost 20 years ago, quoting from Insight magazine in 1990.

"Of course, NBC has gone beyond even that in recent years, moving from advocacy to near-eschatology," notes Ed.

We gathered together

We gathered together to ask the Lord's blessing Down East yesterday, and love was in the air. Our sis and her Barney II paused oven-side for a Pieta Moment with a twist, the son holding the mother up. 

We hadn't meant to brine the turkey, but since the bird required soaking in a sinkful of water for an hour before cooking to get out the final chill, we poured on the salt. According to Goomp it was the bestest, moistest turkey he'd ever had in all his ninety years.

 

Sweet and savory, light and dark, smooth and crunchy, the foodstuffs conspired to tempt and satisfy the discriminating eye and palate.

We'd been a little concerned when the homemade cranberry sauce didn't seem to thicken as much as expected. Following the recipe on the Ocean Spray package, you bring 1 cup each of water and sugar to a boil, add the cranberries and cook ten minutes, then strain to remove solids. As with everything else, the result though not as thick as your typical canned, was the best ever, a luminescent jewel.

The two brothers, our nephews -- one breaking bread with us in Maine, the other dining with friends where he lives in the heartland -- turned making a side dish into a spirited competition, each cooking the same casserole of julienned carrots and parsnips and agreeing that word of mouth would determine the winner. The recipe came from David, a fellow competitor. "What was the premise, again?" we asked our sis:

I never QUITE understood the premise, since each of the three would be playing to different audiences, but it was supposed to be based on preparation technique and audience response.  Christian and I agreed that if Goomp asked for seconds, Christian's was CLEARLY the hands-down winner. 

 

Continuing the theme of unprecedented excellence of our entire meal, we had to take sides, convinced that Christian's dish should win top honors. "What's it called, again?" we asked Susie:

I don't know, re: official name. I'll admit that "Carrots and Parsnips" doesn't sound too glamorous, but it is what it is. ): If you were the Food Channel, you would probably call it "Roasted Root Vegetables with Herbed Butter sauce."

Not having a mandoline in the home kitchen, Christian had julienned by hand, and consulting with a friend who happens to be a professional cook, he topped off the dish with a secret ingredient, Panko (Japanese bread crumbs).

The proof is in the pudding. We ate it all up, and Goomp did indeed ask for seconds. He'd apparently had a bad experience with parsnips in his childhood and had never tried them since.

"The women now went willingly into the field," revisited

"The daily news is like the wind-whipped whitecaps on the ocean, a lot of violent froth on the surface, dangerous to surfers and small craft, but having nothing to do with the larger movement of the sea," we quoted Baron Bodissey at Gates of Vienna in our post "A lot of violent froth on the surface" last year, where we used the above image of a reproduction of the Mayflower at sea from The History Channel's "Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower.

Editorial Note: This post — first published on August 15, 2007 — on the role of Adam Smith's "invisible hand" in shaping the American character — is timelier than ever today. Cross-posted at Annie Gottlieb's Cloven Not Crested.

"I thought that this passage reflected an early-American lesson that most people in the world did not learn until late in the 20th century," writes TigerHawk of the "tragedy of the commons" experience that taught the Pilgrims -- literally on the ground -- how Adam Smith's "invisible hand" works. We're not sure that "most people" -- yes you, Hillary -- have learned that lesson to this day, but before we get to that, here's the bottom line, from the book TH is currently reading, Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War:

The fall of 1623 marked the end of Plymouth's debilitating food shortages. For the last two planting seasons, the Pilgrims had grown crops communally -- the approach first used at Jamestown and other English settlements. But as the disastrous harvest of the previous fall had shown, something drastic needed to be done to increase the annual yield.

"In April, Bradford had decided that each household should be assigned its own plot to cultivate, with the understanding that each family kept whatever it grew. The change in attitude was stunning. Families were now willing to work much harder than they had ever worked before. In previous years, the men had tended the fields while the women tended the children at home. "The women now went willingly into the field," Bradford wrote, "and took their little ones with them to set corn." The Pilgrims had stumbled on the power of capitalism. Although the fortunes of the colony still teetered precariously in the years ahead, the inhabitants never again starved.

"Is it possible that collectivism never caught on here because early American utopians such as the Pilgrims tried it and learned that it did not work?" asks the Hawkman. One can only hope, but certain members of every generation seem immune to the Pilgrims' lesson. Besides, "there is something very American about the utopian movement," as Michael Kavanagh wrote re a Beinecke Library exhibition, "No Place on Earth," which "takes as its subject the American utopian dream, as expressed by the Shakers as well as some twenty other groups across four centuries:

The New World was the land of the frontier, that clean, clear space beyond which one could remake oneself into a better human being. America itself can be seen as the biggest utopian experiment of all -- embodied in the credo of the Land of Opportunity is the promise that it is always possible to reinvent one's relationship to society, work and nature.

Attempts to "reinvent one's relationship to society, work and nature" are fine as long as the reinventors don't deny the economic logic of nature and human nature and try to impose their "vision" of "the greater good" on the rest of us. That's why "progressive" governmental interventions — like the "'universal' health-care dreams in Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and other states [see 'Arnold's Health Flop' in today's WSJ] that were unveiled to hosannas but flopped once the fine print and costs were exposed" — are best left to the states, where well-meaning if clueless Utopianators can test their fantasies on a smaller scale. As for Hillary, the Mother of all Utopianators, The Barrister at Maggie's Farm explains:

Socialism advances via invented crises to alarm the people, or to seduce the people, into foregoing the markets for goods and services.

It is a deceptive strategy designed to prey on the worst, most infantile instincts of Americans . . . Hillary goes Shrillary over socialized medicine: Gateway [be sure to click over to watch and listen in horror as the junior Senator from New York doth protest too much that her plans for a national one-payer system have nothing to do with socialism].

I have no doubt that Hillary is a socialist, whether she admits it to herself or not. Anyone who wants the State to take over the medical businesses, which are 16% of our economy, and the oil industry, which is ? % of our economy, has a good start on taking over all of it.

As we said in TigerHawk's comments:

The lesson about human nature learned in the school of hard knocks by the Pilgrims -- "It takes incentives" -- has been lost on Hillary & Company, whose "It takes a village" collectivism would destroy this shining city upon a hill from within.

Is the electorate teachable? Get Prof. Thomas Sowell on the phone.

Update: "Women like to do for their families. So do men," comments Bird Dog at Maggie's in a Monday-morning linkathon.

We gather together

In the wee hours we awoke to find Tiny (above inspecting the Thanksgiving Lite table yesterday morning) and Baby still fast a asleep. Normally they would have been up and at our eyes, ears, nose and throat with their jaws, claws and crazy-hour dashes across our reclining self in the countdown to breakfast at 4:45 a.m. sharp. Tired but happy hosts of yesterday's gala blogfeast like ourselves, however, they overslept.

Plus ça change . . . Nothing changes but the date. Herewith a timely repost:

November 19, 2006. We awoke early morning to find the totally awesome General John Abizaid, head of CENTCOM, addressing an audience of the best and brightest in a C-Span rerun of a Friday forum at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where he encouraged his audience to "Think of [the War on Terror] as a chance to confront fascism in 1920, if we had only had the guts to do it." What a treat under any circumstances, but especially when the alternative was all-OJ-book-and-"TomKat"-wedding-all-the-time on the increasingly unwatchable 24/7 cables. The General is a user-friendly Rumsfeld/Cheney, a brilliant, articulate, congenial spokesman for what used to be called The Bush Doctrine and its key "strategery" that dare not speak its name, "stay the course." Abizaid prefaced his remarks with a humorous reference to his appearance before the Senate Committee on Armed Services a few days before, saying he had worn his medals then but was now wearing fatigues, as his formal attire had been bloodied.

Ken, Sol, MB -- who told Tuck she wants to move into our atmospheric Victorian-hunting-lodge-esque living room at once -- Jean and Tuck help themselves to the delights of the groaning board at our elegant Thanksgiving Lite gathering of local bloggers yesterday. It had the festive feeling of our long-ago Christmas parties of friends from the Art Institute, but this time, it was a meeting not of people who happened to work at the same place but of minds, a disparate group who happen to share an understanding of how the world works.

Searching cyberspace for a video of the Kennedy School event to review at our leisure, we came upon our blogfriend Laura Lee Donoho's insightfully titled "Senator Despair vs. General Abizaid," a reference to the moment of truth that we happened to have seen for ourselves last week, when Senator Hillary! in full sourpuss mode had the nerve to chide the gallant and soft-spoken General Abizaid for undue optimism, saying in that you'll-never-amount-to-anything voice that is her signature, "Hope is not a strategy." [Her words have been widely misquoted and are now being presented in news "reports," reflecting the General's response, as "Hope is not a method."] Madame Clinton's question was widely referenced in the media, while Abizaid's reply -- a keeper that belongs in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, not to mention the hearts and minds of his countrymen -- was widely ignored, as it was on Gwen Ifill's PBS show, where her self-satisfied, smirking circle of like-minded Hillary watchers chortled with delight at the General's bitchslapping. His reply resonates:

Despair is not a method. When I come to Washington, I feel despair. When I’m in Iraq with my commanders, when I talk to my soldiers and Iraqi leadership, they are not despairing.

Sol and Tuck and Ken and Teresa and our new blogfriend Jill of Business of Life -- who brought a homemade pecan-and-cranberry pie fresh from her oven -- come back for seconds.

Laura Lee's soldier son had this to say about it all:

I saw McCain and Clinton both beat up on General Abizaid. They are BOTH worthless. Abizaid basically said, hey this is what we are doing given the constraints you put us under, sure we could use more troops but we can’t send more given the military’s force structure (ie we don’t need more troops in Iraq, we need a bigger military period, I guess McCain thinks the Pentagon can arbitrarily make the military bigger whenever there is a need). I just saw Lou Dobbs ranting, Well what is West Point producing nowadays, Generals like Abizaid look like politicians. Another idiot who needs to pull his head out of his ass and figure out what he’s talking about.

Needless to say, Lou Dobbs is not in danger of figuring out what he himself is talking about any time soon.

Don't take my picture! Guests relax in the studio while SpongeBob (upper right) looks on.

Two other contenders for Bartlett's citation this week:

1. President Bush's Iraq/Vietnam analogy ["Peace with honor" need not apply]:

We’ll succeed, unless we quit.

2. US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton re the UN's toxic disingenuousness:

In a larger sense, the United Nations must confront a more significant question, that of its relevance and utility in confronting the challenges of the 21st century. We believe that the United Nations is ill served when its members seek to transform the organization into a forum that is little more than a self-serving and a polemical attack against Israel or the United States . . . The problem of anti-Israel bias is not unique to the Human Rights Council. It is endemic to the culture of the United Nations. It is a decades-old, systematic problem that transcends the whole panoply of the UN organizations and agencies.

Hope may not be a strategy -- or a method -- but national leaders like General Abizaid, President Bush and Ambassador Bolton do give us reason to not yet despair.

Update: Maggie's blesses us with a Thanksgiving Day link.

Soylent Green revisited

"The Tribal Filter on Green News," Insight July 23, 1990. Update: Click here for larger, legible image.

It's been nearly twenty years we've been calling out the warmenists and their media allies, wondering when, already, the truth would finally out. Now it finally has, as Drudge headlines "Climategate: 'Greatest scandal in modern science,'" and mainstream outlets can no longer deny there's something rotten in the state of warmening "science." Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhoffe says the leaked correspondence suggests researchers "cooked the science to make this thing look as if the science was settled, when all the time of course we knew it was not," and now "Congress May Probe Leaked Global Warming E-Mails." In celebration of this day of cleaning out the Augean Stables, herewith we offer republication of one of our earliest blogposts on the subject, "Soylent Green." Note Palinophobe Andrea Mitchell's unabashed confession way back when (1990): "Clearly the networks have made the decision now, where you'd have to call it advocacy." Enjoy:

January 3, 2004. Blogging is nothing new.  Before the glory of the internet, we were madly clipping and underlining and annotating the margins of tree-based publications.  Take this snail blog post, "The Tribal Filter on Green News," by Woody West, having "The Last Word" in the July 23, 1990 issue of Insight:

Only lately have the pooh-bahs of the national press felt secure enough to admit publicly that they filter the news through their personal-tribal creed. As a result, of course, they often report as fact that which is both unsettled and disputed.

. . . At a conference on the environment in Washington earlier this year, reported by The Wall Street Journal's David Brooks, Charles Alexander harrumphed:

"As the science editor at Time I would freely admit that on this issue we have crossed the boundary from news reporting to advocacy." There was applause from the pressies in conclave assembled, after which Andrea Mitchell, an NBC correspondent, said that "clearly the networks have made the decision now, where you'd have to call it advocacy."

It gets even better:

An environmental reporter at The Boston Globe, Dianne Dumanoski, is quoted as saying, "There is no such thing as objective reporting . . . I've become even more crafty about finding the voices to say the things I think are true.  That's my subversive mission." Then spake Barbara Pyle, environmental editor of Cable News Network, which shows distressing signs of aping the older networks in cooking the news: "I do have an axe to grind. I want to be the little subversive person in television."

Pardon our French, but, plus ça change . . . Oh, and Andrea, there's a message for you from someone called Alan . . . and David Brooks, You're the man!  Clearly.

Update: "Somewhere, a tree is planted." The Anchoress links, and links and links.

[Thanks to susis for title]

Beautiful dreamer

Because her fans demand it, a few shots from Tiny's latest fur fashion portfolio. (Tuck Willis photo)

She had to spend the whole day yesterday at the vet having a Blood Glucose Curve, where they draw blood and check glucose level every two hours. Tiny was not amused. Levels up and down. Adjusting insulin dosage for suitable long term.

Tuck was amused with our tales of stabbing ourselves trying to administer the dose. Nobody said it was going to be easy. Then, too, there's the twice-daily administration of Flovent by AeroKat inhaler. Incoherence sets in. And yet it's not a problem.

Update: All animals all the time at Modulator's Friday Ark #271.

New Girl Media Unplugs Old Girl Network

Pope Benedict met artists from around the world in the Sistine Chapel on Saturday and urged them to inject spirituality into their work, saying contemporary beauty was often 'illusory and deceitful," reports Reuters. Compare Papa Ratzi's open invitation to engage in an expansive search for truth with President Obama's secretive, craven attempts to use the art community as a tool of the state to propagandize his own not-so-hidden statist agenda. Grazie tanto to darling friend and blogbuddy Miss Kelly for the heads up. (REUTERS/Osservatore Romano photo)

"Like me, Jackie became politically involved because of Sarah Palin," writes self-described "California girl, proud conservative, palinista, future politician" Rachelle Friberg, bearing witness to the Amazonian clash between New Girl Media and Old Girl Network that played out upon the national stage last week when MSNBC warhorse Norah O'Donnell tried to play "gotcha" with fresh-faced 17-year-old filly Jackie Seal at a Sarah Palin Going Rogue book-signing event in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The usual suspects used the occasion to present Palin supporters as clueless cultists, but we're more interested in the folks who are paying attention. Here's Rachelle:

I actually got to know Jackie a couple months ago on Twitter. When I first met her, I was struck by how mature, articulate and intelligent a young woman she was. Like me, Jackie became politically involved because of Sarah Palin. She is an amazing girl, and I wish I had become politically aware when I was her age. While she may be young, she is already a very talented blogger who has a great future ahead of her. I actually recently wrote about her and other great, young conservative bloggers who are out there making a difference one post at a time. I find it so amazing and incredible that Sarah has brought so many people together. While Jackie and I do not know Sarah personally, we and millions of others have formed a bond that will last a lifetime.

"The so-called 'Staircase Group' by Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) is arguably the first major original painting in American art," writes collector and curator John Wilmerding in today's WSJ. Read the whole thing for its historically and aesthetically rich appreciation of the Philadelphia-based artist, inventor, scientist, soldier, writer, naturalist and museum founder. The take-home point for our discussion here: "The full-length format … speaks to its final originality. Heretofore it was reserved in the Old World for upper-class and royal portraiture. Peale inverts its use for American figures who are ordinary, relaxed and democratic." Sarah Palin and the Tea Party/Town Hall Movement come to mind.

Then comes Dr. Melissa Clouthier, who begs to differ with those like Politico's Kenneth P. Vogel who say the Tea Party Movement requires "the emergence of a national leader, group or structure" to become a "sustainable bloc with the power to shape the GOP and swing elections." Freedom Works Press Secretary Adam Brandon explains:

We were never looking to own or control it. The focus needs to be on the issues at hand.

Clouthier nails it:

Asking the “who’s in charge” questions about the Tea Party movement is to fundamentally misunderstand conservatives. Conservatives do not like being told what to do. The notion of subsuming self-interest for “the greater good” is anathema to them. That makes replicating the Borg-like work of ACORN and Moveon.org organizations nearly impossible on the right. When conservatives see a goal, they’ll take 50 roads to get there. The left will get on the Huffington Post highway and ride along together.

In related commentary, it's the town hall, stupid, Bill Whittle tells Scott Ott at PJTV:

Let's remind ourselves of what the essential part of a representative democracy is all about. It's a town hall meeting. Who's in charge of a town hall meeting? Nobody … There are rules and procedures so that equals can come to an assignment of responsibility based on their equality.

The final word goes to the totally adorable Tucker Carlson, who had this to say on Fox and Friends this morning:

There's something about Sarah Palin that drives a certain kind of liberal wild, and I don't know why. I'm not a psychiatrist.

But I personally wish she'd stop calling people "sexist." That's what liberals do.

Carlson may not know why Saracudda drives a certain kind of liberal wild, but we do. 'Been blogging about it for years: It's the tribalism, stupid.

Update: Instalanche! Thank you, dear professor.

Update II: "I am the last person in the entire b-sphere to link it, but I’m delighted to do so, writes Attila Girl." Never too late.

All Palin all the time and loving it, revisited

"We're savoring the joy of bloggers, politicians and media types who think McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as running mate is the best thing since sliced sourdough bread," we captioned this image in our August 2008 post dissecting opponents' false claims that the Alaska Governor favored teaching Creationism in science classes. "Not to mention the bewilderment of their counterparts on the other side of the aisle," we continued, "who, like the proverbial deer — moose? —  in the headlights, obviously didn't see it coming down the road to the White House.  Above, "This moose made it across safely, though several hundred other moose end up in collisions with vehicles on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, causing injuries, deaths and property damage." (AP Photo/The Peninsula Clarion, M. Scott Moon)

No, she doesn't think Creationism or Intelligent Design belongs in the science classroom, as we determined to our satisfaction way back in August of 2008 (see below). But tongues will wag in a desperate attempt to discredit Sarah Palin as her blockbuster Going Rogue: An American Life bursts upon a waiting, breath-bated world this week. A relevant excerpt:

Palin complains of several brushes with McCain's 2008 campaign manager. In one, he took her to task for her views on evolution: "'But your dad's a science teacher,' Schmidt objected. 'Yes.' 'Then you know science proves evolution,' added Schmidt. I said, 'But I believe that God created us and also that He can create an evolutionary process that allows species to change and adapt.' Schmidt winced and raised his eyebrows... But I felt I was on solid factual ground."

Pope Benedict XVI has often made very much the same point. Now, rather than reinventing the wheel, we herewith republish "All Palin all the time and loving it," written in the heat of battle during the first flush of our smittenness with the Woman Warrior from Wasilla:

August 30, 2008. "My only worry about Governor Palin had been what I would call a hysterical misreading of her views regarding the teaching of creationism in public schools, but Charles Johnson has put my fears to rest," we wrote in the comments at Dr. Helen's totally excellent "My Thoughts on Sarah Palin." More on her thoughts below, but first, here's what Charles Johnson had to say about how some of our fellow citizens on the left side of the aisle have distorted and will attempt to distort Palin's views:

LGF readers are probably aware that I am no creationist; in fact, I am strongly opposed to the teaching of “intelligent design” or “creation science,” or any other name the advocates for creationism concoct in their relentless quest to promote pseudo-science.

So I was disturbed to learn of Sarah Palin’s apparent support for creationism. However, as I posted in a comment earlier, she does not appear to be the fanatical type who wants to force or sneak the teaching of creationism into public school science classrooms.

But this is going to be a point of attack for the left, as Wired Magazine’s Brandon Keim demonstrates in this article: McCain’s VP Wants Creationism Taught in School.

Looks like Palin made an off-the-cuff statement during a debate on a hot topic, didn’t really expect the criticism she’d get, and then softened her position considerably in a follow-up interview. But to quote just the first part of her statements on creationism and ignore the second is misleading; because in the clarification she’s describing a position that doesn’t cause me (a staunch anti-creationist) any discomfort.

Phew. Now back to Dr. Helen (cross-posted at PJM), who thinks "Palin would focus on helping Americans achieve their dreams by staying out of their way":

For me, Sarah Palin represents many right-leaning libertarian ideas that I personally support: low taxes, gun rights, and smaller government …

While Democrats want to expand government programs to “help women,” I believe that smaller government and the policies of the libertarian right help women in many ways that are often ignored …

It seems that more and more women are going into business for themselves; in fact, a recent study shows that women are emerging as a fast-growing sector of new small business owners. That matches my experience: I hear women at my gym all the time talking about their start-up home businesses, such as working with Ebay selling furniture and other items. Some are making a very good living at it. A living, I am afraid, that will be eaten up by regulation and taxes if they are deemed “too successful” by the Obama camp. I hope Palin has more sympathy for entrepreneurs and those who run their own businesses, for they are the backbone of this country. Their success should be rewarded — not discouraged.

Lots of good, commonsense stuff. Plus, a great punchline: "And unlike some female politicians such as Hillary Clinton, Palin made it herself without the help of a career politician husband to give her an added advantage." You go, self-made woman!

90 candles make a lovely light

Just another day on the couch for Goompa's Purrky yesterday, but we had our eye on a bigger prize, our pater familias's 90th birthday.

We three children, two spouses and four grandchildren drove and flew in from points south and west to toast the Energizer Bunny at his Down East homestead, Camelot-by-the-Sea.

Formal posing for pictures? Never our thing, as we're totally into beauty in unexpected places, snapping the shutter early and often before and after formal "say cheese" set-ups to capture Cartier-Bresson's "decisive moment."

Ellen's Beef Strogie was to die for, a transcendent reincarnation of our mother's signature dish with salted butter and bouillon cubes front and center. VERY politically incorrect. She's promised to write it all down so we can publish here in our Cold Turkey Cookbook in the "Full of Calories and Loving It" section.

"Just had a nice chat with Dad," imails our sis this evening:

She: He did, indeed, enjoy his birthday celebration and was totally delighted that all four grandchildren were able to attend. He reports that the pumpkin muffins were so good that you had TWO!

We: Yes. Plus I took some home. Delicious!

She: I know that I took a Toll House Cookie, just to be polite, and THEN … I wanted to scarf down the whole container, but retrained myself.

We: Retrained yourself? Love it. You'd have to.

She: I love how all four grandchildren are great cooks. Whatever it took, and I'm sure that Mummy had a lot to do with it … my boys LOVE to cook. They are not slugs on the couch, watching football. They watch some football, then go whip up a meal. AND they do laundry and know how to iron. I think being a sluggard has helped me to raise capable children.

Update: Modulator's Friday Ark #270 now boarding.

"Other than a little hissing, she's a pretty easy cat"

In medical news,Tiny was diagnosed with diabetes on Tuesday and is responding well to insulin injections (twice a day following meals). You start with a low dose, vet checks glucose level periodically, and then you adjust as indicated. Symptoms — drinking excessive amounts of water, lots of urine in litter box, restlessness, losing weight — had developed in the last month or two and seem to be subsiding a bit already since we started injections yesterday afternoon. Because it was apparently caught early — due to our keeping systematic observational notes to guide treatment of Tiny's life-long asthmatic condition — she may be able to achieve remission, possibly within 4-6 weeks say the docs, but we'll have to see. A day at a time.

"She has a good heart, said Dr. Rossi of The Animal Ultrasound Clinic" in Salem, and "other than a little hissing, she's a pretty easy cat." The clinic has state-of-the-art equipment, identical to that used in leading hospitals for humans. Only difference is that TAUC's gets clogged with fur from time to time. We got to sit alongside the proceedings and watch the screen as the doc proceeded. Nerve-wracking but fascinating. "It looks like a weather chart," we noted, and in fact medical imaging involves the same Doppler effect, with sound waves bouncing off red blood cells instead of clouds. Tiny had to wear a wide conic collar and did, indeed, hiss the entire time.

X-rays and a battery of blood and urine tests through our local vet, together with the abdominal sonogram and echocardiogram referenced above, ruled out lots of frightening possibilities her symptoms might have presaged. Now the hard work begins, and indeed this very afternoon our first test. Just as we were about to jab the loose skin at the nape of her neck with the tiny syringe needle, she bolted. We jabbed ourselves with the needle, grabbed Tiny and tried jabbing her again. She bolted again and bent the needle. Not sure whether she got her 1U dose, but thanks to the vet's mini-tutorial and hand-out, we knew not to refill the syringe: "The danger is in insulin overdose, not short-term underdose." We'll just have to wait 12 hours and try again following breakfast. Gotta work on our bedside manner.

Earl Grey could not be reached for comment.

Note: Blogfriend Gayle Miller's golden boy Sam the Wonder Cat was recently diagnosed with diabetes and is doing fine. We invite Gayle and other fans of Tiny's to share war stories in the comments.

Update: Wonderful stuff in the comments: good wishes, good advice, helpful links and a sparkling emerald of a limerick from Elisson, Tiny's Poet Laureate:

Earl Grey dropped on by for a clowder
But Tiny was taking a powder:
An insulin shot
That will, like as not
Have her miaowing, before long, the louder!

Update II: More miaowing, woofing and such at Modulator's Friday Ark #269.

Update III, Friday morning: "This is very good," says local vet Dr. Beale re Tiny's latest blood glucose reading. Original=348=high. This morning=271=considered "under control," within 100-300 range. Will go next Friday for glucose curve, where she'll stay at the vet's all day so they can take a reading every two hours. Tiny will not be amused.