Blogs List
Momsense
 Betsy Bethel |
Working through griefThu, July 2, 2009 @ 11:29AM Grief is a strange thing. I go to a lot of funerals because people hire me to play the bagpipes. I am almost always touched by the services and wish I had known the person before he or she died. I also often am impressed by the minister's words of comfort as he or she quotes appropriate Bible passages and assures the mourners of the promise of a new and glorious life beyond this one. Now that I am facing the death of a dear friend, however, that comfort seems to be eluding me. My friend, Derek, is a high-spirited native of Glasgow, Scotland. He is 52 and serves as our pipe band's leader. Mustachioed, wiry and hilarious (if you can understand him through his thick brogue), he is a master level piper and a fantastic pipe major. He really has whipped our band into ship-shape since taking the helm last September. At the end of January, the cancer was discovered. It was in his bile ducts and throughout his innards. Stage 4. Nothing to be done. In May, however, he underwent a mega-dose of chemo. It may have helped shrink the tumors, but a few weeks later, he developed deep vein thrombosis. A week after that, he had a heart attack. The following week he came to band practice looking jaundiced and completely worn out. He had no appetite. He was functional, he admitted, only because of the oxycodone he had been prescribed. A few days later, high doses of blood thinners he was on made him bleed through his ski.
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Politically Fashionable
 Joselyn King |
Politics in the AirMon, June 29, 2009 @ 4:05PM The 2010 election season already has begun, and the recent vote on "cap and trade" legislation likely will fuel the political fires that burn next year. Consequently, the emissions from that fire could result in a change in the political landscape. The National Republican Congressional Committee immediately pounced on U.S. Rep. Zack Space regarding the "cap and trade" issue. First, because he chose not to comment as to his stance on "cap and trade," and later because he voted in favor of the bill. The NRCC apparently smells meat, and they're ready to barbeque. The propaganda is already spewing forth: "After days of silence from Zack Space regarding his position on the Democrat's National Energy Tax, Ohio families will now have to 'wait and see' whether their Congressman will choose to reverse his ill-fated support for this devastating bill," wrote Paul Lindsay, deputy communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee, in a press release last week. "Zack Space's 'wait and see' approach does not inspire confidence among the many Ohio families who are concerned about the drastic effects that this National Energy Tax will have on their way of life. Having already supported this bill despite its devastating impact on coal producers and farmers, Space's ambivalence is nothing less than insulting." No word yet on whether the Republicans already have someone in mind to run against Space next year.
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Myer on Politics
 Mike Myer |
Watch the semantics, please.Fri, July 3, 2009 @ 1:07PM I hate to admit this, but we in the press sometimes are the best friends liberal tax-and-spend types can find. Take a report I read about the process of balancing Ohio's budget: It noted - perhaps using the words of Democrat lawmakers - that unless Gov. Ted Strickland's gambling plan is adopted, about a billion dollars "more in punitive cuts" will have to be made in the budget. "Punitive?" My dictionary defines that as "inflicting, concerned with, or directed toward punishment." In other words, the liberals and some in the press who regurgitate their comments want anyone in favor of spending restraint to be viewed as punishing Ohioans. So who what happens if slot machines are allowed at Ohio racetracks? Thousands of Buckeye State residents get hooked on gambling. They are their families suffer. In my mind, that's "punitive." Let's use words honestly, please - and not in an attempt to make the good guys look like villain.
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Reality According to Rine
 Shawn Rine |
I Can't Believe I Just Did That ...Wed, June 24, 2009 @ 7:36PM I watched soccer today. If I go on to write for 31-plus more years, that statement will be at, or near the top of the most shocking thoughts I pen. But something drew me in today. Perhaps it was the historical value. I've watched a number of events in my lifetime strictly on the basis of potential history. Today turned out to be one of those days. I don't like the game of soccer, mostly because I don't understand the rules. That makes me somewhat of a hypocrite because of my feelings on the game of hockey. I contend people who don't understand the rules should just give it a chance. But I digress. Anyway, it's not like I watched the entire Confederations Cup game between the United States and Spain, the top-ranked men's soccer team in the world. Yes, the same Spaniards who had not lost in their last 35 matches (since a 'Friendly' in 2006). The same Spain team that had won a record 15 matches in a row. I did catch the second half, though. After flipping mindlessly through the channels in mid-afternoon, when nothing is ever on, I hit ESPN and noticed decidedly favored Spain was trailing 1-0 at halftime. How could this be, I asked myself. Should I give it a chance? Well the answer was 'yes,' I did give it a chance. And much like my Pittsburgh Penguins against the mighty Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final, the Americans had to hold off a barrage of shots in the second half of the game.
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"Out There"
 Phyllis Sigal |
Why Did the Turtle Cross the Road?Sat, June 20, 2009 @ 10:09AM What's going on, Mother Nature? Storms, death and destruction, floods .... feels like the plagues revisited. On my way to an early Saturday morning appointment, I made my way past a dead opossum (it may have been something else), a dead raccoon and a dead deer — all on just a-few-mile stretch of Wheeling, from Woodsdale to Elm Grove. Was it the storm that seemed to cause the demise of these creatures? Or just coincidence. Was it just their time to go? For some reason these three, sad lumps on the road caught my attention. Maybe because death has been on the forefront of my life this week. My brother's wife, Sandy, died at the young age of 53. A vibrant, brilliant woman, whose passion in life was rock climbing and mathematics, lost her near-decade-long, brave battle with Lyme Disease, breast cancer, intestinal surgery, mercury poisoning .... and more. Too much — too many struggles — for one body to endure. They made their home in upstate New York, which has the highest concentration of cases of Lyme Disease in the country. People move there to climb rocks. It's a gorgeous, mountainous area of the country. My brother, Ron — also brilliant — moved there to teach mathematics at State University New York (SUNY) New Paltz. There he met Sandy, who taught in the same department. Both in their 40s, they found that one plus one added up to marriage.
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Heather's Corner Desk
 Heather Ziegler |
Silly meTue, June 30, 2009 @ 1:10PM Silly me to believe the deer would leave my plants alone. I got up yesterday morning to find my sunflowers eaten down to the stalks and half my impatiens decimated. I was in shock. These plants are in front of the house, two feet from the front door. I bet if I look closer I will find deer fur in the chairs on the porch. They sure made themselves at home. I will now try the deer spray and we covered the hanging Topysy Turvy tomatoe plants with netting. So far so good, they did not pester the tomatoes last night. I expect the creatures to eat everything, say by the end of August, but not before the Fourth of July. Now I know how my Dad felt when he used to say, "Well, it's July 4... summer's over." He always said that even though it wasn't true. But with my plants gonr that's how I feel ..
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