Friday, February 5, 2016

February 4 Link Log

(Reclaimed from Blogjob. Ben Carson, bigotry against Americans in Kuwait,chewing qat in Kuwait, Flint Water Crisis, homophobia in Kuwait, Iowa primary elections 2016, Michael Moore, Roger Penske.)

How convenient...I didn't get time to post this one on Blogspot yesterday, but since Blogjob is closing down for maintenance this morning, I have just exactly enough time to post it here. Categories: Animals, Civil Rights, Flint, Food (Yum), Gardening, Politics. (The book link will appear after maintenance.)
Animals 
I suppose bears shouldn't go extinct, but I'm completely cool with the idea of all bears being maintained on islands, with deep moats and steep fences.
Now, here's an animal that I would not mind seeing go extinct.
Civil Rights 
This is about two U.S. veterans who are reportedly being held in prison for sampling qat, a mild recreational drug that is traditionally and legally chewed by Kuwaiti and other Arab-type people.
Today's book link features a book that discusses the use of qat by visiting Americans:
Well, that, and being strong, free, American women. Who appear to be Black. And who call each other "partners," an inoffensive word considering that they are in fact working as partners. If Kuwaitis feel all that threatened by these women, the position of this web site is that Kuwait should send them back home. We can deal with them according to our laws. If that means celebrating their return as honorable U.S. veterans, what business is that of Kuwait's?
Flint, Revisited
Republicans want to switch that city manager who switched the water supply for Flint, Michigan, to a more polluted river? Go for it! Robby Soave suggests privatizing the city water supply...unlikely to be a worse idea than the city manager's, anyhow. This web site continues to call for wealthy Michiganians to take care of their own. We're not going to hound Henry Ford's grandson's widow, because she looks too old, but this web site particularly wants to see what Michael Moore is doing, what Roger Penske is doing...and, if this is going to get political, what Ben Carson is doing. The doctor has been based in Maryland for a long time, yes, but he grew up in Detroit; arguably Flint is as close to being his home town as some say it is to being Michael Moore's (Moore's home was, technically, in more of a suburban area).
Food (Yum) 
Here's a yummy fruit salad...good with or without the yogurt.
Gardening 
Hardy, pretty native plants that want to adorn your garden...if they're in a row of vegetables they can fairly be called weeds, but many of them are worth keeping as flowers.
Politics 
Dave Barry goes to Iowa.
Publius Huldah explains the problems with Candidates Cruz and Rubio:
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Thursday, February 4, 2016

Why Social Media Have to Sound As If Everyone Else Is Happy

(Retrieved from Blogjob, where it was tagged: Angela Nissel’s Broke Diaries, Arthur Brooks’ Conservative Heart, envy as cause of depression, happiness through distraction from self-obsession, Ozarque aka Suzette Haden Elgin, Scott Adams’ Dilbert Blog, Steve Milloy’s Junk Science, The Daily Kos, The Drudge Report, the writing life, YsabetWordsmith aka Elizabeth Barrette.)

This post began with a reaction to a study reported by Arthur Brooks in this book:
Because the part of my reaction that was finished, yesterday, suggests that there may be a sense in which blogging is bragging--at least, bragging that we're still alive--it seems to have made readers feel defensive for totally wrong reasons. I apologize for that.

http://priscillaking.blogspot.com/2016/02/do-you-try-to-look-good-on-social-media.html
What Arthur Brooks reported was that researchers found that a lot of people out there, not bloggers so much as social media users, are feeling discouraged by what they see on social media. Everyone else seems to be having more fun than they are, so they feel worse about their lives than they otherwise would.
I suspected that @angela was observing a defensive reaction among people who may be deliberately misrepresenting their lives on social media, pretending they're having more fun than Taylor Swift or Tim Tebow:

I'd like to describe a coping strategy that we can use to protect ourselves from feeling envious and miserable of the people we e-meet on social media. Here's what I do: (Breathe.) Understand that it's not lying (breathe); it's publication.
Nobody wants to read all the details of anybody's life, least of all of Anna Nicole Smith's life. Do you?
I'm a celiac. For about twenty years I've enjoyed roaring good health by simply eliminating wheat products (and cheese, coconut, a few chemical additives and pollution-prone meat products) out of my diet. Suddenly, due to bioengineered crops and the overuse of pesticides as food preservatives, I'm out of control of the Family Curse again..."But how can anybody tell that you don't just enjoy the attention you get by having some sort of minor health problem every few days, Ms. King?" I don't, but there's a way people can tell all right, a dramatic, unmistakable, visible symptom. Two obvious reasons why I don't post that: (1) You didn't even want to know that I look into the toilet after sitting on it, did you? and (2) I wouldn't enjoy taking those photos either. Nobody really wants to follow the daily details of private miseries, not even their own.
There are excellent blogs (Angela Nissel's comes to mind, and, more recently, Elizabeth Barrette's) that are about living with some sort of unpleasant conditions--low income, disabilities, full-time home care of someone with extreme disabilities--but, in order to be excellent, these blogs have to transcend the unpleasantness in some way.
Among the great, legendary, superstar bloggers, which are your heroes? Matt Drudge, Brad Hicks, Michelle Malkin, the Nielsen-Haydens, the Daily Kos? (Yes, I'd like to know, even though it's tangential to this paragraph.) Whoever they are, they did not become superstars by posting a steady stream of consciousness of their problems. Great blogs are not about "me, me, me, me, me" every day. They're about news and/or writing and/or science and/or even sports or video games. Blogs are personal, so they contain occasional notes on personal details like "I'm sick" or "my dog died" or "my car's in the shop again," but occasional is key.
What we post on the Internet is, or should be, what we'd be willing to publish in the newspapers...which is not an honest display of "See how self-obsessed and boring I can be." It's like conversation; it needs to be interesting to someone other than ourselves.
So when I use the Internet, as when most of my e-friends use the Internet, it's not to publicize every detail of our lives, every family fight, every pair of shoes in the closet. It's to publicize the most interesting highlights of what we do with and for other people. A good blog (or social media stream) is at least as much about its audience as it is about its author.
Some people just don't produce great blogs (or social media streams), because their talent is for something else. What they post is strictly for their friends and family, or, if they're celebrity actors, athletes, musicians, etc., for their groupies. Nobody who's not acquainted with these people would follow them online. In the case of teenagers, I suppose a boring blog may at least offer some safety benefit.
Anybody can post a picture of an expensive product and suggest that s/he owns it, but is that the content of a blog worth following? Even before the Internet, there were photo-fake shops, at beaches and amusement parks, where you could have your face pasted into an image of a spaceship, racing car, muscle man or bikini beauty...well, it was a souvenir of your trip, anyway, and that's about all that could be said for that kind of thing. As blog or even social media content...boring, boring, boring.
So, if everybody on social media appears to be less miserable than you are...first of all, weed the bores out of your contact list, unless they're a lot more fun to know in real life than they are online. Pity the poor dweebs who have nothing more interesting to post than "me, me, me." Follow the blogs, streams, and sites from which you're actually learning something--not only the names of the writers' pets, either.
Then, if it still seems that everybody is less miserable than you are, please understand that a lot of us blog about our passions partly to take our minds off our problems. Yes, we're alive, literate, online, and at least we're healthy enough to take an interest in global weather patterns, recipes, games or whatever. Does that mean we're all perfectly healthy, immensely wealthy, young, and "in love"? Hah. Some of us are middle-aged, widowed, and dyspeptic; some of us, like Stephen Hawking, are crunching numbers and proving theories mainly to distract ourselves from our horrific fatal diseases.
Then, if you're still not having fun, please post something about one of your passions--not an "honest" expression of your misery, not a "lie," but something that educates your audience about something you like to do, make, or study...and, bingo, now you are having fun.
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Beaches of Vietnam: Another Hack Writing Job

(Reclaimed from Blogjob. I was supposed to have been paid $10 for this and I never was paid $0.01... and it was a source of cyberpain to the computer, as well. Blogjob tags: Cape Mui Ne beach, Doc Let beach, hack writing,Lonely Planet, My Khe beach, Nha Trang beach,Phu Quoc island, Travel Channel, travel writing, Trip Advisor, Vinpearl resort. And, would I personally want to visit these beaches? Whatever for? Assateague is only a long drive away.)

How accurate is this post? How would I know? It was written from research, for payment; the site fouled up--in such a way that I've deleted some of the source links cited, as suspected vectors of computer virus and/or spyware--and the client didn't pay, so I have to publish the article somewhere...and I'm glad Blogjob exists, because one of the members of the Blogspot doesn't like to be reminded of anything about Vietnam.
Nevertheless. Wars end. Nations move on. The Travel Channel has recommended beach resorts in Vietnam even to U.S. viewers. I was asked to gather more facts and quotes to add to their Top Five list. The client asked for information about certain details about each beach, and it had to be compressed into approximately 1000 words. Here's what I found:
Vietnam has many beaches and enjoys lots of beach weather. Here are five of the best rated beaches in Vietnam.
1. City Beach, Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province
Nha Trang is a bustling, tourist-friendly city that takes pride in staying quiet, clean, and "walkable." Beach weather can be expected for most of the year. From the beach, hotels, restaurants, bars, nature walks, and cultural tours are easy to reach on foot or by air-conditioned bus. Island visits are another popular attraction.
How to reach: Although Tranh Phu Street is a busy thoroughfare, Vietscape and other reviewers recommend it for "Zen walking."
Some reviewers wish there were more lifeguards.
The Travel Channel describes the coral reefs and caves as "some of the best diving in the South China Sea." Wakeboarding, kite surfing, and banana boat rides are also available.
Several hotels and some guided tour services advertise wheelchair accommodations.
Public toilets are free of charge. There's a small fee for showers, and changing rooms may be available on only part of the beach.
Sunbeds, chairs, and umbrellas can be rented.
Local people mostly cycle, and charge a low fee for bike parking.
Nha Trang offers so many attractions that some visitors are even beginning to complain. The Vinpearl luxury resort, with its cable cars across the ocean, is especially notable.
2. My Khe Beach, Da Nang
Although Da Nang is a big city, efforts have been made to preserve My Khe Beach as a tourist attraction.
How to reach: Da Nang is accessible by air, sea, train, bus, car, or bicycle. Ba Na, the mountain resort, is accessible by a scenic 5-km cable car ride. From the airport, the beach is a 25-minute taxi ride.
Waves can get a bit rough at My Khe; some Trip Advisor reports suggest that lifeguards may seem too cautious.
My Khe is famous for surfing and also invites kite surfing, fishing, water skiing, and yacht racing.
Da Nang doesn’t get top ratings for wheelchair accessibility, or even walkability. Some hotels offer wheelchair-accessible rooms.
Changing rooms, showers, and public toilets are free to the public, and likely to be uncrowded and clean during the heat of the day.
Sunbeds, chairs, and traditional thatched umbrellas rent for reasonable rates.
Car parking is available.
Other attractions nearby: Da Nang has a full range of hotel, restaurant, and bar accommodations. The city also offers museums, cultural attractions, and football.
3. Cape Mui Ne, Phan Thiet
Famous for its dunes or sand hills, Mui Ne is “moving upmarket,” with more hotels and less camping on the beach.
How to reach: Phan Thiet can be reached by bus, train, taxi, or private vehicle; a discussion of the pros and cons of each method appears at
Some resorts advertise lifeguards, sometimes specifying that their services need to be rented by the hour.
Mui Ne offers a variety of beach sports, including all-terrain vehicle cruising on the dunes, surfing, kitesurfing, windsurfing, paddle surfing, kayaking, and sailing. Fishing dominates the north part of the beach; swimming is recommended along the south part.
A few hotels and resorts claim to be wheelchair-accessible.
Changing rooms, showers, and toilets seem to belong to hotels and resorts rather than being offered to the public.
Sunbeds, chairs, and umbrellas can be rented from the hotels and resorts.
Car parking is possible in town, though not recommended. However, small motor vehicles can be used on parts of the beach.
Although Phan Thiet consists of one long street, its rural atmosphere is favorable to interesting wildlife. In addition to the resorts, the town offers a variety of bars, restaurants, and sightseeing tours.
4. Long Beach, Phu Quoc
Long Beach, the center of tourist activity on Phu Quoc Island, can be reached by air or by sea. It’s slated for massive “development,” but currently it still has a remote, rural quality that prompts several sites to urge visitors to visit Phu Quoc while the beaches still look like this one:
“Hurry up…before the golf balls start flying past your head,” urges [a source I don't know well enough to trust] of Bai Dai Beach.
Some of the hotels offer lifeguard service.
Snorkeling, swimming, kayaking, jetskiing, paddle surfing, and other water sports are available, and tourists can fish for squid.
Even the “luxury” private hotels on Phu Quoc aren’t rated wheelchair-friendly.
Trip Advisor mentions changing rooms, showers, and toilets only in the context of hotels:
Some hotels and restaurants rent out sunbeds, chairs, and umbrellas.
Roads have been built, and are being built, to accommodate motor vehicles.
Other attractions nearby: About 70% of the island is being preserved as a national park, so scenery and wildlife should continue to be available. Meanwhile, hotels, restaurants, bars, guesthouses, and spas are preparing for increasing levels of tourist activity.
5. Doc Let Beach
The Hon Khoi peninsula, which includes Doc Let Beach, is about 33 km north of Nha Trang. While most beach areas in Vietnam are open to the public, Doc Let may charge a minimal fee if visitors aren’t staying in one of the peninsula’s hotels. Some visitors think it’s worth paying to visit “one of the best beaches in Vietnam.”
Some hotels employ lifeguards.
Doc Let Beach is best rated for swimming.
Some of the hotels are wheelchair-friendly, although let means “lag” and this beach was named for the high dunes that slowed visitors down.
Hotels and resorts offer toilet and shower facilities.
Sunbeds, chairs, and umbrellas can be rented.
Hotels and spas offer car parking. The peninsula can be reached by car.
Other attractions of the peninsula include tours of nearby islands, views of the salt “pans,” boating, fishing, and kayaking.
A final thought…
Even luxury accommodations in Vietnam usually cost less than comparable accommodations in many other countries.
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Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Do You Try to Look Good on Social Media?

(Reclaimed from Blogjob, where the posts for which Blogjob paid can still be found and used by advertisers. This one appeared without tags.)

Maybe it's because I don't hang out with a lot of teenagers on social media, or encourage the teenagers I care about to use social media...I hadn't thought about the phenomenon of lying on social media until I read a description of it in Arthur Brooks' Conservative Heart.
For my e-friends and e-acquaintances, I think, and for me, social media works differently than the way it works for the people Brooks describes, or the ones @angela describes here:

For me and the people I know, our social media image isn't a lie; it's an advertisement. You don't advertise everything about yourself, or even every thing about your products. You advertise things you want the world to know.
I have seen a couple of blogs where people (Taylor Swift comes to mind) just posted pictures of everything in their closets. Y'know what, I didn't even recognize this as bragging. Because TS did it on Tsu, I thought, "She's trying to get paid for the maximum number of posts per day." Seeing a young woman do it on an unpaid Blogspot, I thought, "She must have promised some relative she'd post something to prove she was alive, and this is all she can think of, poor kid."
On my blogs, I post a lot of links. To somebody out there that might seem like a sort of bragging, too--"She's showing off how much she reads, or what interesting e-friends she has." To me it's always felt like a sad excuse for not being able to buy the material and publish it in a Real Magazine, actually, although after a few apologies for "reading my e-mail at" readers I've been informed that sharing links was what the first and "best" blogs were all about.
Maybe all blogging is bragging, on some level. Even if what's in the blogger's mind is "I have to collect my payout for the day" or "I have to prove to my aunt that I'm still at this school," in a way that might be considered boasting.
(The computer center is closing for the day. I apologize...I'll have more to say about this in the morning.)
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Book Review: La Bouche Creole

(Reclaimed from Blogjob, where it's been showing with ads as if it had been paid for, and it's never been paid for. Tags were Cajun cuisine, cookbook,cooking with native vegetables, cooking with spices, cooking with wild herbs, Creole recipes,dairy-free recipes, gluten-free recipes, locavore in Louisiana, recipes for wild game, vegetable recipes.)

Book Review: La Bouche Creole
Author: Leon E. Soniat, Jr.
Date: 1981
Publisher: Pelican Publishing
ISBN: 0-88289-242-8
Length: 244 pages plus index
Illustrations: drawings by Marlene Bettale
Quote: “[A] well-seasoned cast iron pot with a nut brown roux; in this pour finely chopped onions, celery, and peppers. From here you could branch out into a thousand different directions, and still wind up with a Creole culinary masterpiece.”
La Bouche Creole is written in English. French words, including the phrase “la bouche Creole” (the Creole mouth), are used sparingly and explained in the text.
The good news is that savory vegetables and outrageous spices will give these dishes a ragin’ Cajun flavor even if, as most modern readers will, you automatically reduce the fat. Do you really need to start a gumbo that will get plenty of fat from chicken and sausage, and plenty of carbs from rice, with 5 tablespoons of oil and 6 tablespoons of flour? If you’re serving it in one-tablespoon-size plastic sample bowls, as an historical novelty, why not? If you’re actually cooking it for people you care about, you could use some of the chicken stock to lubricate the pan while slowly softening the vegetables, skip the roux, and let those who want thick gumbo add fat-free, lower-carb filé powder at the table. Soniat explains how to use filé powder (and other regional specialties) in the text.
As given, most of the recipes are high in carbs, saturated fats, and sodium, as well as being on the oily side. However, if you want to sacrifice authenticity to nutritional value, it’s seldom hard to do.
Most of the recipes focus on vegetables and proteins. Surprisingly few call for dairy products, and few call for legumes. These tendencies seem to have anticipated today’s awareness of food tolerance issues. Most of the people who invented these recipes could practically live on pungent yellow onions and cayenne pepper, but many found milk and bean proteins hard to digest. However, Soniat includes a few recipes for those who want to use milk, cheese, or beans.
A few recipes demand authentic regional supplies. People who live far from the coast can buy canned or frozen oysters, but Soniat warns that recipes that call for fresh oysters won’t taste right unless they’re prepared within an hour from the oyster bed. One recipe calls for a local specialty of “unbleached white flour with wheat germ”; Soniat suggests substituting regular whole wheat flour, again admitting that it won’t be the same. Filé powder is available in most of the United States, but is not always sold in every grocery store. (Your grocer can order this kind of thing online.) Then there are recipes for cooking marsh hens and possums...Soniat says he left them in for historical interest only.
Zatarain's Pure Ground Gumbo File 1.25 oz
The quantities and combinations of spices suggest that they were originally used for medicinal purposes. Those who have the Creole Mouth would see no reason not to use one big yellow onion, one or two garlic cloves, and a teaspoon of pepper, thyme, sage, allspice, and maybe cinnamon, per person. Such combinations certainly add enough flavor to help people who are trying to reduce their salt intake, and may have some other health benefits. Using smaller amounts of spices may be less authentic but will make the dishes suit an English Mouth, or even a Scottish Purse. When I use these recipes I usually include all the suggested spices, but I use a sprinkle where Soniat suggests a spoonful.
Phytochemicals found in garlic, cayenne, sage, thyme, oregano, and other spices have medicinal properties; if you need an antiseptic, anti-hypertensive, laxative, carminative, or other herbal effect associated with any of these tasty herbs, La Bouche Creole offers a few dozen delicious ways to take your medicine. If, however, you don’t eat possums, or marsh hens, or hogs tame or wild, you might not need as much herbal medication as those who do.
 Soniat no longer has any use for a dollar, so this is not a Fair Trade Book. However, if you send $5 per copy + $5 per package + $1 per online payment to either address at the very bottom of the screen, you may add a copy of La Bouche Creole to the same package with one or two Fair Trade Books and pay only one $5 shipping charge.
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Flint Update (Nag?)

The e-mail from the Rising Mom known as Dream, below is about a time line. Gentle Readers, we in Virginia started hearing that Flint, Michigan, had a water problem...last year. Did everyone see Congressman Griffith's comments, posted here?


http://priscillaking.blogspot.com/2016/01/morgan-griffiths-snow-days.html


(Riff on the old traditional pun about "denial is not just a river in Egypt" pre-deleted here. You're welcome.) The position of this web site is that Michigan can and should take care of its own one-time crisis, preferably without any new tax-and-spend schemes, because whenever government is authorized to raise taxes to address a crisis, the crisis may be resolved before the tax money can be collected, but the tax never, ever, goes away. We may be talking about some low-income neighborhoods, but we're still talking about one of the richest parts of one of the richest countries in all of human history. Michigan should be able to raise funds without raising taxes.


http://priscillaking.blogspot.com/2016/01/what-in-flint-rant-followed-by.html


A city manager just "switched" from the existing water supply to a more polluted water supply...and, yes, this does sound as if it's time for the city to switch managers.


"
I wanted to make sure you saw the outrageous news coming out of my home state, Michigan. It was maddening to learn that emergency managers, appointed by Governor Snyder, sacrificed the health of children to slash costs. Until recent evidence, we believed state and city officials believed what they were saying when they told residents of Flint that their water was safe for drinking and bathing.
But while state and city officials were telling the general public to pour their children lead contaminated drinking water, they were buying themselves coolers of clean water. Elected and appointed officials told the families of Flint to use water they wouldn't consider drinking themselves. [1]
What happened in Flint, Michigan is disturbing, terrifying, and unacceptable to say the least. The people of Flint need us to stand with them during this time of crisis. They are telling us what they need: drinking stations, no barriers to relief—everyone, including undocumented families, should have access to the relief water being sent to Flint. But just as important, Flint residents deserve accountability and—finally—transparency.
We must continue to stand with them as they demand justice from the state legislature.
Please take a moment to add your name.
**When you click this link, you instantly sign on if we already have all your information.
http://action.momsrising.org/sign/Flint_2016/?t=2&akid=7573.1995681.4eO_6J
Families in Flint knew there was a problem but officials denied anything was wrong. We are outraged. It's time for urgent and comprehensive action on behalf of the families in Flint.
"
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Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Morgan Griffith on Allergy Shots

From U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA-9):

"
Recently, I was contacted by my allergists about the United States Pharmacopeia’s (USP) proposed revisions to sterility standards for the compounding of drugs, including allergen immunotherapy. USP is a non-profit organization that publishes drug formularies and quality standards, and these standards are sometimes enforced by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for drug manufacturers and pharmacies. My allergists are concerned that these new standards may have adverse effects on the availability and affordability of allergy shots, so my office is reviewing the proposal and plans to meet with USP to discuss it.

As you are aware, I led the charge in Congress to enact new, common-sense regulations on compounding pharmacies which distinguished them from illegal drug manufacturers like the New England Compounding Center, whose tainted sterile injections led to a fungal meningitis outbreak of 2012. In fact, the bipartisan legislation that I worked on called at one point for national adoption of USP sterility standards for all compounding pharmacies. I believe we need such a standard to protect the public health of our citizens, but likewise, I want to ensure that any revisions do not become so burdensome that we eliminate affordable access to useful treatments like custom allergy shots that many in our tree- and forest floor-rich area receive.

If you, like my allergists, may have a federal problem, please don’t hesitate to let my team and I know. Part of my job as your Representative is to try and help you address federal issues you may be having. Of course, I can’t work to fix a problem if I am not aware it exists.

If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov. Also on my website is the latest material from my office, including information on votes recently taken on the floor of the House of Representatives.

"
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Morgan Griffith on Operation Fast and Furious

From U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA-9):

"
Though it didn’t receive widespread coverage in the press, there have been recent developments related to Fast and Furious that I want to be sure was brought to your attention.

As you may recall, the Fast and Furious program was run through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives ostensibly in an attempt to track the sale of weapons to Mexican drug cartel leaders to help lead to their arrest. However, an estimated 1,400 of the 2,000 guns involved in the operation were lost* and few high-level cartel leaders were arrested, thus leading me and others to believe the operation may have been designed in part to politically move more Americans to favor gun control.

Bloomberg recently reported that U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington rejected the President’s assertion of executive privilege, ruling that “The Obama Administration must hand over documents sought by a congressional committee that has been reviewing the failed U.S. Justice Department weapons-trafficking probe known as Operation Fast and Furious.”

Additionally, a .50-caliber rifle funneled through Fast and Furious was among the weapons found at the hideout of the drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman who had escaped from a Mexican prison last year. At the time of the writing of this column, we can find no information as to a criminal charge related to the .50-caliber rifle.

As you may recall, in June 2012, my colleagues and I in the House of Representatives voted to hold then- Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena issued by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform requesting documents related to the Fast and Furious operation. To many of us, it appeared that Holder intentionally had misled Congress.

These developments ought to make clear that the Fast and Furious gun-smuggling scandal is not actually over. Rest assured I am continuing to track this important matter.

This Administration has repeatedly advocated more gun control, turning tragedies where a gun is involved into political opportunities. While certainly our laws should be reviewed periodically, the acts of terrorists or deranged individuals should not be used to take away the gun rights of law-abiding citizens. I will continue to protect our Second Amendment rights and also will continue to work for better mental health options in order to hopefully prevent as many mass shootings as possible.
"
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Prizes for the First Ladies of the United States

(Retrieved from Blogjob, where it was tagged with: Anna Harrison, Dolley Madison, First Lady of the United States, Harriet Lane,Hillary Clinton, Jane Pierce,Julia Tyler, Laura Bush,Margaret Taylor, Martha Jefferson, Martha Washington, Nancy Reagan, Sarah Polk, U.S. history.)

It's been a long, discouraging day of hack writing. Anything that comes to my mind at this time in this day is probably best not published. So, here's a batch of fun facts I put together several years ago. Some of the more obscure ones came from this book:
1. Best Adjusted to Her Job: Dolley Madison. Many of our First Ladies seem not to have liked their job. Martha Dandridge Washington said it was “more like [being] a state prisoner than anything else.” Margaret Smith Taylor called her husband’s election a plot to shorten his life. Dolley Madison, however, loved being First Lady. She played hostess for Thomas Jefferson before her husband became President, and for Martin Van Buren after James Madison died.
2. Worst Adjusted to Her Job: Margaret Taylor. Margaret Smith Taylor liked fresh air. Though born into a very rich family in Maryland, she escaped early and never complained about camping with Zachary Taylor in the wildernesses of Florida and Mexico, or about their children being born in army camps. She did complain, bitterly, about having to live in the White House.
3. Myth-Makers (jointly): Nancy Reagan and Hillary Clinton. Those who recommended that Laura Bush bleach her hair “so she would look more like other First Ladies” didn’t know what they were talking about. Of course, only twentieth-century First Ladies have had their looks preserved in photographs showing what they looked like by the time their husbands were elected; our first First Ladies are remembered by paintings of the way they looked in youth. Presumably most First Ladies have always had grey hair...and most of them had black hair, once. Hillary Clinton, who has always been blonde, was an exception.
4. Most Embarrassed by Her Hair: Martha Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson's daughter had hair concerns that went beyond the question of silver versus gold. Nobody really knows what Martha Wayles Jefferson looked like. The painting of her that survived was an artist’s composite of verbal descriptions by people who had seen her during her short life, and was generally considered inaccurate. She did have red hair, and Sally Hemings had an African grandfather, but everybody guessed that Sally and Martha were half-sisters. Oddly enough, Martha Jefferson Randolph, the daughter of red-haired Martha Wayles and red-haired Thomas Jefferson who sometimes served as her widowed father's First Lady, had black curly hair and dark eyes.
5. Not Even Married to the President: Dolley Madison...but several of our first First Ladies were either blood relatives or political allies of unmarried Presidents. Andrew Jackson identified the wives of two nephews as his First Ladies. Grover Cleveland’s sister served as First Lady during his first term. The idea that male politicians should be judged partly on their respect for women coincided with the struggle for voting rights for women.
6. Never Seen at the White House: Anna Harrison. William Henry Harrison was married, but Anna Symmes Harrison never came to Washington. At the time of the inauguration, both the President and Mrs. Harrison had flu. She stayed home in bed during the festivities. He made it to the Inaugural Ball, caught pneumonia, and died before Mrs. Harrison felt well enough to come to Washington for the funeral. Upon recovery Mrs. Harrison gave her husband a second funeral back in Ohio, where she lived for several years after him.
7. Barely Half His Age: Julia Tyler. John Tyler was the first President who openly admitted an interest in younger women. Fifty-three when the first Mrs. Tyler died, he married a 23-year-old debutante later that year. Each wife had seven children. What was remarkable, in those days, was that all fourteen lived to grow up.
8. Nerdiest: Sarah Polk. Although she was the youngest first wife ever to serve as First Lady, Sarah Childress Polk was known as a puritanical intellectual snob and blamed for her husband’s social failures. For example, the Polks probably deserved some sort of prize for the most disappointing Inaugural Ball. They had enough supporters to throw a $10 ball and a $5 ball. The more expensive party was of course intended for the wealthier supporters and diplomats, the less expensive one for White House staff...but some loyal staffers bought tickets to the $10 ball, to which someone forgot to invite the diplomatic corps, who went to the $5 ball instead. At one point an embassy wife was shocked to find herself dancing with the Polks’ gardener. Mrs. Polk was not blamed for that...because when she finally showed up, very late, at the $10 ball, she made people stop dancing and stand in a receiving line.
9. Most Depressing: Jane Pierce. After her son died in a railroad accident, Jane Means Pierce became an invalid, generally considered a psychosomatic invalid, who was said to have “banished all animation in others.” Franklin Pierce was known as a heavy drinker.
10. Most Morally Questionable: Harriet Lane. James Buchanan never married; rumor consumers never made up their minds whether he was homosexual, or unofficially married to Harriet Lane, a much younger relative he presented as First Lady. Americans officially recognized Lane as Buchanan’s niece or cousin, but in Europe she was introduced as Mrs. Buchanan. Nevertheless, she found a young man to marry shortly before Buchanan died.
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