Warning political ramblings ahead, nothing too icky, just one really really really frustrated citizen.

In Alaska we are electing both the congressman (one for the entire state) and a senator. Both our incumbents are republicans and crooks. Ted Stevens (senate) was actually indicted a couple of weeks before the primary. And Don Young (congress) is so close to being indicted (under investigation) he can already smell the court room. Both of them faced challenges in the primary from their own party. I'm registered republican; I'm fairly conservative (yes Elizabeth, we know this), and I voted against both of them in the primary.

On August 26th, Ted Stevens (actually indicted!) won his primary handily with something like 64% of the vote. Don Young was in a neck and neck race with the lieutenant governor Sean Parnell. They've been counting absentees, etc., for the last month. Last night, trailing by a mere 300 votes, Sean Parnell conceded. The race was close enough that the state would have paid for a recount. Everyone is commending Parnell for fiscal responsibility, not wasting the taxpayers money on a recount. However I wonder how much he's betting on getting to be governor in a few weeks.

And that brings us nicely to the presidential election. Don't like McCain, never have, can't imagine I ever really well. Not terribly fond of Obama either. Biden is more of the same old story as every other politician (he looks a bit like an aged Ken doll goes to Washington in his blandness). And while there are things I could like about Palin, I'm not totally sold on her either.

So four major offices, eight candidates, and not even one that gets me excited. Not one! Now I am not a naive fool, I know politics often means choosing the lesser of two evils. But even one person who I thought was at least a chance of a positive influence? Is that too much to ask? None of those people will come even close to representing me should they be elected. I've not missed a single election (minor or major) since I turned 18. And yet I am seriously contemplating staying at home with a glass of wine and a good book on election day. Perhaps a nice dystopian scifi adventure. It would suit my mood.

Oh and aargh! Happy talk like a pirate day me mateys!

Since Friday I have been inundated with IMs, emails, texts, facebook and lj mesages, and such asking me about Sarah Palin. Two things occur to me, 1. I have way too many ways to be contacted and 2. I am the only one people know who lives in Alaska. Thus I have decided to send out a mass email/blog post/message with the "alaskan reaction to Sarah Palin's choice as VP" that I have been asked for. Fortunately, I have recently been authorized to speak for the entire state and thus can answer the questions.

First question I've gotten a lot, what is the Alaskan reaction. The news broke on Friday morning here; most of us either woke up to it, or heard it on the way to work (me). Everyone was completely shocked up here. No one from Alaska has ever gotten very far in National politics (there was a secretary of the Interior under Nixon and that is about it). Up here there is a tendency to feel like less a full fledged member of the Union and more like the red-headed stepchild. So for Alaskans this is huge. Everyone was shocked and excited, but mostly shocked. Mostly there is a "well this won't be boring at least" attitude. I was at the State Fair on Saturday (914 pound pumpkin - very cool!) and there was a tshirt booth already selling McCain/Palin tshirts (they must have started printing them the instant they heard); the shirts sold out by midafternoon. I saw tons of people wearing them. The Republican Women booth was selling bumper stickers and they had people lined up to buy them. For many people, they are so excited about having someone on a national ticket, and someone so Alaskan, they're jumping up and down with joy.

Second question I've been asked, what should we know about her. Her family is very all Alaskan, and most of this is coming out in the media. Her husband is a former Army sniper, injured in Iraq, as well as a commercial fisherman, and an oil worker up on the North Slope, and a pilot. The only common profession/lifestyle he is missing is miner/Alaskan native. Husband also competes in the Iron Dog competition (which is exactly as funny as it sounds - I'd love to see that get national media attention). She also has an oldest son about to deploy to Iraq. And a pregnant teenage daughter. Also both common in Alaska. Three teenagers came into my library in the last two weeks alone either pregnant or with a new baby on their hip, two of the three were Alaskan Native, but that is another rant. I haven't been out with friends and coworkers since the news about her daughter broke, so I can't really give the reaction to that. She's been a pretty good governor. She used her veto to slash the budget, but she left library funding untouched (my priority).

Alaskan politics are rife with tolerated corruption (see Ted Stevens who is actually indicted, and got 67% of his party's vote in the primary, or Don Young who is about to be indicted and is leading by 150 votes for his party's nomination in that same primary, it's enough to make a girl give up entirely). However, Palin has done a lot to bring that to the light, particularly in regards to our last governor. Of course there is the question of if she got that trooper fired to protect her sister who was getting divorced (to be fair, if someone hurt my sister, and I had it in my power to get her husban fired, as much as I'd love him, I'd be sorely tempted because she is my sister). That's still under investigation, but people up here seem to believe it and not care too much (see the tolerated corruption).

Side note: A few weeks ago, she came to my library to film an endorsement ad for Sean Parnell (running against Don Young in the primary for the Republican nomination for Congress, current Lieutenant Governor). All librarians got an email if we'd be working that Saturday. She walked around introducing herself to people. She didn't make it back to Youth Services, but she waved at me. Thoughts: she's really pretty (runner up for Miss Alaska).

So that is what I know about it, and how people are reacting (provided those people are those who live in Anchorage and go to church with me or come to the library). In my personal opinion, it is pretty cool that which ever way this goes, we'll either have a woman or an African American in the executive office. That's pretty nice as far as history goes.

The environment and going green is obviously a huge thing. Whatever your opinion of global warming (and I'm not totally sold that it is absolute truth), you have to admit things need to change. We can not keep up our dependency on fossil fuels forever. $4/gallon gas should convince you of that. Environmentalism does not always mean living on a commune and growing your own food. There are a lot of really simple easy things to do, that everyone can do that could make a difference.

As a Christian, I believe that God created this beautiful world for us and gave it into our keeping. We often talk about being good stewards of what God has given us. We talk about that in terms of our money (and the church money). My church back home did an entire long sermon series on being a good steward. When you talk about stewardship, it is not only the monetary resources, but also your time and talents that you should be using in God's service. And of course you always have to talk about the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), where the servants who use their talents and prosper are rewarded. In the Genesis account, God gives Adam the garden to care for. He is there to care for the animals and the plants. It is clear that God expects humans to be stewards of all our resources. And one of the greatest resources the Lord has given us is our Earth. It provides for all our needs. It provides places for us to live, food, shelter, and so much more. God could have given us only a few plants to eat and yet He gave us a huge variety so that we could have splendid feasts. He could have made the Earth boring and repetitive, and yet He made it beautiful and varied for our awe of His glory. Thousands of years before we knew how to mine it, refine it, or process it, God buried oil for us to use. Within nature we have found so many wonderful things. Penicillin lurked inside mold waiting for us to find it. And who knows what other cures or wonders or miracles remain undiscovered in a corner of the Amazon or elsewhere. God has given us all we could ever need in this world, and we must take care of the resources He has entrusted to us. So environmentalism is a Christian value.

Here are a few things that I'm doing. Nothing radical, just a few simple things. You're probably already doing all or most of these things.

• Cloth bags at the grocery store. I have a few cloth bags that I keep in my car and carry into the grocery store (only occasionally do I forget). Much less plastic grocery bags cluttering my house and eventually the landfill.
  
• Recycle Is there anyone who doesn't at least recycle plastic bottles and aluminum coke cans? I collect a bunch of them up and drive them to the recycling center since Anchorage does not have the curbside recycling I was used to in Kansas.
  
• Reusable water bottle Rather than getting a new plastic bottle every day full of water, I have one that I refill. If you're really picky, get a britta pitcher to refill it. The vast majority of those aquafina (or any brand) water bottles are never recycled.
  
• Those special lightbulbs I don't have them yet, but I will as I replace my lightbulbs as they burn out.
  
• Composting I would like to point out that my parents have had a compost pile/bin/area since I was quite young, before being green got cool. Go mom and dad! And my home city has a program where you can put special markings on bags of yard waste and the city will pick it up and compost it. Very cool.
  
• Walking to work I walk to work when I get the chance. And I bundle errands as much as possible to cut down on gasoline. I am still spending less on gas (even with HUGE increases in prices and now driving an SUV) than back home because I live so much closer to work.
  
• Unplug unused appliances. Don't just turn them off, unplug them. A lot of electronics will still drain energy even while turned off. It's called a phantom drain, and some estimates say as much as 40% of energy consumed by appliances is done while they are powered off. Source Obviously not all your devices will this work, but you can save energy this way. Easiest way to do it is to have them on a power strip and hit the switch. Think of anything with a little LED light (cell phone charger, printer, etc) and unplug it.
  

And one of my favorite places for environmental tips for going green is Ideal Bite. They have a daily (work week) tip for going green. Most of it is easy, low key, and realistic. Occasionally it is more of a list of "eco-friendly" products to buy. However there are some good ideas in there. Especially if you scroll past the list of products. I like their stuff a lot.

Edited to add: Apparently there might end up being a wind farm on my grandmother's farm. She's meeting with the people about it. I guess you can do it and still plant crops. So not something I'm directly doing, but still very cool.

And thus endeth my rant for the day. These are only a few things. I'm sure I do more. And I'm sure you do too. I would love to hear what you all are doing.

It's election season, and it's already in the mud and I'm sick of it. I'd vote tomorrow if it would end the national election.

However, and here is the big deal. Local elections can be life and death to your community. I don't have any facebook friends in Anchorage thus far, so this is more of a general warning. Tomorrow there is a local election here in Anchorage. There are multiple bond issues on the slate, including one that would benefit the library. We need the money. We have a leaky roof. In addition, we have a lot of money in grants and private donations that can only be leveraged if we can match the funds. In a sense, the taxpayers would be getting double their money's worth. It is a good deal all around. And it all hinges on the people showing up and voting for it. I've done what I could. I was in the commercial for the bond, and I've promoted it to everyone I could, within the limits placed on me by the ethics rules of the city.

The other things on the slate? Assembly members, other local officials, etc. And additional funding for fire department (they need equipment and ambulances), police, roads, and schools. Should something bad happen to me, I would like there to be an ambulance to get me, properly equipped police, and decent roads that would not interfere with their progress.

Generally I'm a conserative Republican/libertarian. I believe in small government, and there is a small list of things to which I want my tax dollars to go. Schools, libraries, roads, police, and fire departments are all on that list. And it's all in a local election. Get out and vote in your area in every election. Don't wait until the big one in November. Yes, the president is important, but some of those life and death issues are decided in small elections that often have less than 10% of the popluation turn out to vote.

PS - this is a crosspost from a facebook note

Oh, Sam... I never had huge hopes that we'd have a Kansan for president (our last two tries being Bob Dole and Alf Landon and not being very strong candidates), but still. Your better than this.

On the plus side, it did put your name and candidacy in the national news, so good on that. I'm not sure who I want to back (personally, as much as my backing means anything) or root for, so until I figure it out, Brownback is as good a shot as anyone.

Should we give Anne Frank Honorary US Citizenship?

It's fairly ridiculous actually, and yet people are putting this in bills before the House. Her father apparently applied for citizenship in 1941. This is however about 60-70 years too late for us to grant it. If the family were in favor of it as a memorial or a way of raising awareness of all the people who are still persecuted, sure fine. However, they're not in favor of it. She's not an American, she's Dutch. Why are we trying to appropriate her? Plus it is a waste of time. Bleck.

And at the end of the article, Elie Wiesel comes out in favor of it. I'm a huge fan of his and have great respect for it. That is the only credibility this idea has in my opinion.

Only a few days behind breaking news, but on February 1st, 2007, the CDC, Center for Disease Control released their new recommendations for dealing with a pandemic flu virus. Scariest thing I've read in a long time. Warning, thinking about this too hard will give you nightmares. Failure to think about it may be fatal. ( Read on or not at your own risk. )

It's apocalyptic it is so scary. This is what keeps me up at night. These are the monsters that haunt my nightmares.

Here's an interesting phenomenom I've noticed. I've been paying attention for the last couple of years during election times and I've only seen one exception. And Kansas City, MO is electing various officials right now so I'm seeing a lot of signs on my way to work. When you are looking at campaign posters and signs (I'm primarily thinking of those yard signs you see in front of people's houses and at street corners), one of the candidate's names is always much larger. It usually has that name occupying one-third to one-half of the space on the sign and the other name is in much smaller text. This is a visual/marketing thing to draw your eye and make it pop. No problem with that. However what is curious is that the female candidates have their first name in the larger size and male candidates have their last name in larger size font. Some of the signs don't even have the male candidates first name at all. I've only noticed one exception, a female candidate who has her last name as the largest part that ran for a county office near me last cycle. I'm sure there is some sort of feminist conclusion I could draw from that, but I'll leave that to you good people. (Bri?) Maybe it is because men have use their last name a lot in sports and casual conversation, or because women lose their last name when they get married. I don't know; it's just interesting.

Also interesting is how the last song you hear on the radio is often the one stuck in your head all day. So I present you with some lyrics running through my head...

"1-2-3 like a bird I sing
Cause you've given me the most beautiful set of wings
And I'm so glad you're here today
Cause tomorrow I might have to go and fly away..."
-Tim McGraw, Last Dollar (fly away)

I'm not a member of the green party, but I like that quote. It's a tough year for Kansas Republicans. So far only one race that I voted in is going the way I voted. It's not unexpected. I knew that was most likely going to happen. Still it is important that I got out there and voted and expressed myself, blah, blah, blah. Sooner or later Dennis Moore has to retire, right? I don't know about the judges though, maybe some of those went better.

Thus far things are going much better on the Missouri side than expected. I don't live there, can't vote there, but I work there.

I know many of my friends don't agree with me politically. That's okay. We're still friends.

I used to always close each entry with a quote. There's only one that is appropriate right now.

******************************************************************
"And please don't forget you're a blond Republican girl and that nobody likes you."
-The West Wing

I was in Emporia for class again this past weekend, and yes that is two weekends in a row. After the driving in the snow adventure, it was so nice to drive down in beautiful sunny mid-50s weather. We had the warmest January on record. (The second warmest, which we barely beat, was in the 1930s.) Other than one (two-day) cold snap, we were 40s-60s the entire month. I'm not complaining, but it is a little odd. Are we going to get hammered this month? Or have a scary hot/humid summer? Who knows? (Well, God obviously.)

Class was good this weekend. Our professor did the best job of incorporating the readings into the class that I have ever seen. Too often I feel like I entirely wasted my time by doing the readings because they are never once mentioned in class. Of course, it isn't an entire waste of time; education for education's sake and all that. Still, I like to have some discussion or application of them in class.

Saturday night, we went to Applebee's as we often do. And our waiter remembered me. I've been thinking about this and the weekend before we didn't go to applebee's because we went to a movie, so this is from before xmas break, early december. Fairly impressive. He came up and said, "Welcome to Applebee's, we don't do things quite as well as in Kansas City, but we do our best." And I looked up and saw that it was the same waiter and started laughing. We had a lot of the same people there, because we're all in the same classes or some live in Emporia and just join us even if they don't have the same class weekends. Last time I'd been trying to convince him to do something that they don't do anymore by saying that they do it in Kansas City. Anyway, I'm nice to waiter/ress/(e)s and I tip well. This time, I can't just order normally. Oh no. I'm reading the menu and I see that they offer a Big Apple Burger. I don't see [Big Apple] Burger as in a burger in New York style, I see Big [Apple Burger] as in a large burger garnished with apples. I think, oooh, this seems interesting. At home we make porkchops and apples and it is amazing. Perhaps this is a burger with apples either carmelized or sauteed on top or in the patty (like a veggie burger). Then I read the description and realize my mistake. But at this point, I really want a big [apple burger]. And I already have a rapport with the waiter. So he comes to take our order, and I've been joking with my friends about this. I explain how I misread the menu, and ask if they can caremlize some apples and put them on a burger for me. He just shakes his head in disbelief. Than he explains that they don't have any apples in the restaurant. My friend points out it is Applebee's. But no. He offers that I can scoop out the insides of an apple pie. I go with my option B. I really do think an apple burger sounds good and I'm going to make one soon. I'll report back.

Yesterday was a big day for me. Had a dentist appointment. Argh. Hate those. And a couple of really exciting/but kinda stressful things too. I've told some people individually about those things, but I'm not ready to talk about any of them yet because I want to see how they work out first.

I missed both The State of the Union and Gilmore Girls last night. For the President's speech, I read the key points online and saw some of the highlights on CNN. For GG, I will read a summary online and catch it this summer in reruns. So not really a big deal.

As I was saying to the girls tonight when we were hanging at starbucks, and as I've been meaning to post for a while:

All political feelings aside, and no judgements on did he or didn't he, right and wrong, but what the hell kind of a name is Scooter Libby? It sounds as though he is the ten year-old kid who lives next door to the perfect nuclear family on 50s sitcom. Sort of: "Mom, can Scooter stay for dinner?" "Sure Junior, just let Mrs. Libby know." That sort of a thing...

I'm just saying, it is an interesting name for a grown professional man.

There is a new starbucks opening down the road from my library. They brought us some coffee and such to the library to engender goodwill/drum up business. It doesn't matter, I'm just thrilled to have the coffee. Yay for free coffee! And the quote on my coffee cup:

"The humble improve." -Wynton Marsalis, Jazz Musician

I now know why the United States so consistently rates low in education. It's because the children never go to school. The kids around here have the day off, which has tripled how busy we are during the day. No longer just preschoolers, but now kids of all ages. It's fun, but we don't have more staff to deal with the more kids. They've had the last three Fridays off for various reasons. Amazing. I believe that the children should go nation-wide to year round schooling. You get a two week fall break, a 2-4 week winter break (usually around three weeks), a two week spring break, and a 4-6 week summer break. There is sitll vacation time, but you end up with more school days. Being off three months is ridiculous, it is based off the agrarian schedule and the vast majority of the country is no longer adhering to that schedule out of necessity. We don't need kids off to work harvest in the fields. Study after study has shown that having that much time off causes the children to forget too much and spend the first month of the next school year reviewing. There is my two cents.

Also, I was watching CNN headline news this morning as is my habit. Today they are celebrating Jerusalem Day in Iran where they support Palestine and condemn Israel, to put it nicely. Well, the president of Iran marched in the streets chanting "Death to Israel, Death to America." And he also said that Israel should be "wiped off the face of the earth". Then as the CNN anchor went on to say, his aides/spokesmen "clarified" his response to mean that the president was trying to say that Palestinians should have free and open elections. I nearly fell off my chair I was laughing so hard. That is not so much a clarification of a statement as it is a total message change. Those statements bear no resemblance to each other. Nice try though. I've been reading these children's/teen books set in Jerusalem during the time of the Crusades (12th century) when the "Infidels" are recapturing Jerusalem from the Knights Templar. Fun and fascinating books. The first in the series is Pagan's Crusade by Catherine Jinks. It is interesting to read those and watch the news and realized that we haven't shifted the debate in the last thousand years, we've just sharpened the weapons. And weapons can be the rhetoric we employ and the means by which we disperse our message. The internet and worldwide media complex has certainly helped that.

I'm sitting in class and we're talking about having a balanced collection (in a library) and not letting your own political viewpoint interfere. My prof just said about the liberalness of the Oregon/Washinton/California, well it is the "left coast".

Hee....

That wasn't a judgement, just a discussion of balancing.

So here's the latest one...

Groups threaten to boycott American Girls

For those of you who don't know about American Girl, they are a series of books. There are several characters, each from a different period in American history. Each character has an introductory book, a birthday story book, a winter/Christmas book, so on and so forth. Characters include a girl in colonial times, a rich little Victorian girl, a girl whose father is off fighting WWII, a Sweedish immigrant during the pioneer days, etc. They add new characters and books constantly. Each book is short, and written at a mediocre level (in terms of children's lierature) by a series of women hired by the publisher. At the end of the book, historical information is given about the time period and relevant ethnic groups and celebrations. The truly brilliant part is that they send out huge catalogs and you can buy the dolls of the girls and all their accessories, clothes, so very much. I always got the catalog and drooled over them as a child, but I never got one because they were too expensive. Now they are an even bigger deal, more characters and books. Plus there are two American Girl stores, one in Chicago, and one opening soon in New York. Many other places such as libraries and borders hold American Girl teas. This thing is huge.

Well apparently there is a totally voluntary extra campaign where you can buy one of those little plastic braclets that says I Can and it supports a group that teaches girls to accept abortion and lesbians. Eh, if it disagrees with your political/social/religous views, don't buy that bracelet. None of the proceeds from the other merchandise will benefit this group.

Now by my count, here are the children's icons that conservatives have thrown a fit about (usually for the homosexuality):

• Barney
  
• Sponge Bob
  
• Teletubbies
  
• American Girl
  Did I miss any?
  

I was doing an unrelated search on Amazon to find a specific book for a patron and this one got pulled up. I don't know why. I think Amazon sometimes is grasping at straws. I know sometimes I am.

Help! Mom! There are Liberals Under My Bed!

Regardless of politics, it doesn't look that well written. (Of course I really can't judge without reading it, and my library system doesn't own a copy.)

Yes, many children's stories contain politics. (For the record, I didn't think that Heather has two Mommies was quality children's lit either, many of the political books are not that well written since the writers have greater ideological credits than authorial.) May as well have it fair and balanced and own two copies, one on each side of the spectrum, right? Than everyone is equally mad or equally happy. Nonetheless, the cover and the title are pretty funny.


So do any of you have that book in your library system?

Also, on a mildly related note, a few weeks ago Jon Stewart did an "Evolution, Schmevolution" series on his Daily Show. During that he mentioned some children's books that talk about the dinosaurs in light of Christianity/Intelligent Design. This was useful because the next day I had a patron who wanted Christian Dinosaur books. I wonder if anyone else has used Jon Stewart as a source when working at the (children's) reference desk.

There is no doubt that certain professions tend to lean a certain way politically. Military officers tend to be Republican/conservative. Academics tend to be Democrats/liberal. Librarians tend to be very Democrat/liberal. I am only halfway through my Masters of Library Science, but I can see it in my fellow students. I subscribe to the professional organization listservs and I can see it there as well on librarian communities and forums.

The Loneliness of a Conservative Librarian is an interesting article by this guy about this problem. The problem is not that a certain person has one political viewpoint or another, but that they politicize what should be an apolitical professional organization.

It amazes me that with everything going on down in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, that my life continues on as normal. Down there times are Biblical in proportion. (And no, I am not an end-of-the-worlder reading into this doom and destruction further and greater doom and destruction, I am saying that the scale of this tragedy is on the scale of what gets described in the Bible.) People are dying in the hurricaine and then later from lack of water and food. There are looters, chemical fires and explosions, people shooting at rescue helicopters, and armed bandits roving the streets shooting people and raping women. The troops that are being sent in have orders/permission to shoot to kill. This situation is completely out of control. Entire towns are just wiped off the map. Thinking about it boggles the mind and hurts the heart. Obviously relief efforts are being organized through every conceivable alley. Use common sense and donate to organizations you know and trust rather than individuals as there are those people who would take advantage in a time like this. If you live in the Johnson County area, you can drop off donations at the libraries and they will be delivered to the Red Cross and/or Salvation Army.

Perhaps this tragedy could have been prevented if people had evacuated when ordered to do so (and yes, I know some could not afford to, but some just chose not to). I do not like the idea of forcing people to evacuate, too much government control for me. Of course then the government has to go in and rescue them (and once again I'm talking about the people who chose not to evacuate, not those who were unable) at great expense and a process that is highly criticized (perhaps rightly) for the way and speed in which it is handled. It's an absolutely impossible situation. We could play what if, and coulda/woulda/shoulda for years, but that doesn't change anything. The reality at hand must be dealt with. A natural disaster unparelled in our nation's history has hit us and so many people are dying or dead, billions of dollars of damage has been done.

Some very difficult choice face us in the future. Is it economically reasonable to rebuild New Orleans? I adore that city, and I am so glad I had the chance to visit it. It is a beautiful, amazing city, but it is below sea level. (What were the French smoking when they concocted that idea?) According to the Weather Channel, hurricaine season should grow busier and more deadly in the next 20 years, these things apparently are cyclical. Is it a good idea to rebuild a city that could be destroyed again in three years? Of course the idea of permanently relocation millions of people is just as staggering as the idea of rebuilding the city after how much damage it has suffered. We're talking months and years of rebuilding for that city. My mom was saying that in their office in Houston, one of the managers has family from New Orleans who are staying with him. That family went out and put a down payment on a house in Houston, they do not intend to move back to New Orleans. Of course, that is not economically an option for everyone. (Not that they have a job to go back to in New Orleans since one can only assume that their place of business was also destroyed.)

And yes gas is high. One-third of all US produced oil comes from the gulf. Seven of the rigs are entirely out of commission and I am not sure that drilling has resumed/is up to speed on the others. Gas prices here range from $3.06 to $3.26. Yes it is expensive. Deal. You're still alive with a home to live in and a place of business to go to. (Though at some point, I'm going to do the math and realize it costs me more to drive 25-30 minutes to work than I earn at a 2 hour meeting that is all I am coming in for.) No, we shouldn't tap the reserves. The idea of the reserves is that they are there for our grandchildren. Gas makes our cars go, that is true, but it does a million more useful things. Oil has so many uses in industry and chemistry that I am amazed we use it as fuel. It is more useful in various other industrial projects, and someday we'll wake up to that. What we need to do is build a ton more nuclear power plants (we haven't built any in 30 years during which time France has built 40) and plug our cars in. Plus Americans have always paid less for gasoline than Europeans. Also, expect the price of everything that is delivered, the newspaper, the candy in the vending machine (the truck that gets it there), the produce in the supermarket, expect all of it to rise in price.

And that was a long and opinionated post when all I meant to say was it is amazing that my life continues as normal when so many people have had their life shattered just a few hundred miles south.

At my work we have a number of displays (of books). Most of them rotate about once a month and are seasonal or fun or whatnot. The two permanent ones are New Books (self-explanatory) and In the News (where we put books related to whatever has been on the news). After the tsunami, we put up books on weather. We didn't have any books on tsunamis then (I don't know that they were publishing any for kids, but you can bet they are now). So on and so forth. With big stories, it is easy to find books to put on there. We can always keep up a book about Iraq, but usually we're struggling to find stuff that was on the news and we have books on. So when I heard about Sandra Day O'Connor retiring as I was getting ready for work on Friday, the first thing I thought was, I know we have books and biographies about her in the library, I can put those on display when I go in. Plus we have books about the Supreme Court in general. We're good for months (or however long it takes to get a new justice). Isn't it funny that is the first thing I thought about?