You Know That's Wrong, But I Wonder What's Right

Marian Burros of the NY Times delivers a puffer on Michelle Obama's new book about the White House garden. We note a tin ear for statistics here, on obesity and the importance of healthy eating (my emphasis):

“American Grown” is filled with advice for parents, schools, cities and states on how they can help combat the obesity crisis: how to start gardens, get children to like healthy foods and find more opportunities for exercise. It also provides recipes and some startling statistics. Lt. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, now the head of Army forces in Europe, writes that in 2004 only 4 percent of men and 10.5 percent of women failed the fitness test that is required to join the military. By 2010, 47.6 percent of men and 54.6 percent of women failed the test.

That is indeed a startling statistic. In fact, I would be more than startled - I would be astonished if it were true, and the good General actualy wrote what we are reading here without any caveats and qualifiers that got lost translation. That seems like far too big a jump over a six year period unless there was a dramatic change in reporting, standards or somethig else.

Yes, obesity is up, but this study on military readiness and obesity has much different stats (p. 14 of .pdf):

Mission: Readiness used Military Entrance Processing Command (MEPCOM) weight/bodybuild data for those who were rejected for medical reasons from 1999 through 2009. ...[The data] allowed us to estimate the proportion each year of those rejected for medical reasons who were rejected for being overweight. We then compared the proportions and found that the proportion of those rejected each year increased by 69.4 percent from 12.3 percent in 1995 to 20.8 percent in 2008.

I should add that this study includes CDC data on national obesity among 18-24 year olds. That has risen by about one-third from 1998 to 2008.

Now, obesity is not the only way to fail the fitness test. But let's hear from Gen. Hertling, who rolled out new fitness standards for basic training in 2010:

As a result, it is harder for recruits to reach Army fitness standards, and more are getting injured along the way. General Hertling said that the percentage of male recruits who failed the most basic fitness test at one training center rose to more than one in five in 2006, up from just 4 percent in 2000. The percentages were higher for women.

So the fail rate moved from four percent to twenty percent at one center, presumably selected for its shock value. Could it really be that the Army had a four percent fail rate in 2000 and 2004, which then moved up to twenty percent in 2006 and forty-seven percent two years later? And yes, we are mixing "Army" and "Military", but did the fail rates in other services spike as well?

Here is Gen. Hertling in another story:

“The major problem is that they are coming to us in [worse] physical shape than their predecessors,” Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, Training and Doctrine Command’s deputy commanding general for Initial Military Training (IMT), said at the Army’s recent IMT forum held at Fort Jackson, SC. “This has nothing to do with who we are recruiting today. It’s just a reflection of what’s going on in American society right now.”

...

The attrition rate for new recruits in recent years has been between 10 percent and 15 percent, Hertling said, and much of it was caused by stress fractures and other serious injuries.

That does not jibe with an attrition rate rising from 4 to 47, but it is in line with the attrition rates for 1996 and 2006 shown here.

One last bit of info:

WASHINGTON, DC — Although the United States military met its fiscal year 2009 recruiting goals, 27 percent of young people in the United States are too overweight to join the armed services, a recently released report found. And nearly 15,000 potential recruits who take the military's physical fitness entrance exam fail each year because they are too heavy.

Per this press release, the 15,000 fails were offset by roughly 165,000 new recruits to all four branches of the service (70,000 to the Army).

A 47 percent fail rate is nowhere in sight by these measures. I wonder what Gen. Hertling actually wrote, what Michelle's ghostwriters actually put in the book, and how the Times reporters and editors passed this factoid along so uncritically, despite their startlement.

Comments

[peter]

You assumed Michelle used a ghostwriter? She's a graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law!

[NK]

Peter@11:41-- excellent snark.

[matt]

This will, of course, be followed by her next bestseller, "Eat Your Damn Peas and Carrots, Kids!".

[Buford Gooch]

Her book following "Eat Your..." will be "How to Maintain Perfectly Toned Arms Without Losing Your Big Butt."

[Captain Hate]

Maybe now that Stedman has handled this so effectively he can contact Brian Terry's family http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/05/slap-on-wrist-for-prosecutors-who-changed-history-by-wrongfully-convicting-ted-stevens/

[rse]

You may have noticed that reference to well-being in today's post. It turns out that the UN agencies and international governments have started defining and listing the roughly 42 physical or social/interactive or emotional/psychological "needs" and "wants" they want schools keeping track of for each student. Over years.

That's another part of the longitudinal data systems funded by that most munificent of all govt honey pots-the 2009 Stimulus Act.

MO's physical fitness and diet pushes fit the physical components perfectly.

It is something I was going to mention in the next following post when I get to the accreditors as enforcers of an unwanted vision.

Isn't it amazing how their new 2012 quality standards mandate the collection of data on the physical, social, and emotional needs of each student.

With knowledge and academics generally omitted from the monitoring obligation. It's enough to make you think there's something else going on under the banner of education.

[Clarice]

Marion Burros must be sleeping with the right people or something. Her rise to fame was her authorship of the most disgusting recipe book ever written:The elegant But Easy Cookbook, jam packed with things that are hardly elegant but certainly revolting.

No one who knows a thing about cooking or eating will fail to recognize it as a monumental floppero.

[MarkO]

We need to accept the facts: we are fat racists.

[Appalled]

Clarice:

My wife informs me that the best cookbooks are the ones issued by small southern churches, or ones issued by the local southern city's junior league. She does, however, also endore the Times-Picayune Cook Book (her version is from the 20s, and she does cook out of it) and Southern Cooking by Mrs. Dull. My wife, if she were in Oklahoma, probably would have picked up Pow Wow Chow, but skipped Ms. Warren's family favorites.

Honorable mentions go to the Brer Rabbit Molasses cookbook circa 1948) and the Gephardt's Mexican Cooking (from about 1935, but my wife adds more spice).

[Clarice]

Here's my tips on making kids fitter:
(1) clamp down on violent crime so that parents will feel free to let their kids go outside and play like we used to do;
(2) encourage baby daddies to be daddy husbands so that families can do a better job of child raising
(3) reduce taxes so mothers can spend more time with their kids and families can eat healthier home made food.

[Rick Ballard]

It would only be fair if they loaded up Mooch and ran her over a set of truck scales to see if she set off any obesity alarms. It's just not right to use the Spratt Family average weight to determine that everything is A-OK at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They wouldn't be slapping in heavier floor joists if that were true.

[Appalled]

Clarice:

How much of #1 is perception? Crime has generally been declining for years.

[Sue]

I wonder if the cannibal in Florida looks like Obama's son? I wonder if the cannibal in Florida read Michelle's book?

[Melinda Romanoff]

Mostly true, Appalled, but here in Chicago, it stubbornly refuses to subside. Particularly the black on black rates. We have seen an uptick in 70's style crime, but I was expecting that as economic hard times go on.

[Jack is Back!]

Sue,

How to cook a Cowboy

You being a Texan and all......

[peter]

Clarice, you are so right about Marion Burros' cooking instincts. How the Times' food writers have fallen since the days of Craig Claiborne.

[Porchlight]

How much of #1 is perception? Crime has generally been declining for years.

Whether or not crime has subsided, the mentality among parents of my acquaintance is that it is Insanely Dangerous to let one's kids play outside unsupervised. I would love to send my kids to the local park on their own (only 2 blocks away) but I would probably have CPC called on me.

My husband won't even let them walk to school (next to the park) on their own. I don't agree. I think the neighborhood is perfectly safe as long as they watch for cars. They only have to walk half a block to get on sidewalk where they will be able to see the crossing guard in front of a school.

Incidentally there are several children that do walk to school from about the same distance. They are all minorities. There is definitely a racial divide, at least in my area, when it comes to these things.

[Granny Jan]

Michelle O has been exploiting the military from the beginning for her obesity program. Here she is at a military base on 1/11:

"Childhood obesity is "not just a health issue for children, it's a national security issue," Obama said while visiting the Army's largest basic training facility. "You have to get the whole country behind this because it's affecting our ability to protect our freedom."

She repeats over and over that this program doesn't have the heavy hand of government or infringe on parents rights but here's what she said 12/10 when the Health, Hungry Kids act was signed:

"But when our kids spend so much of their time each day in school, and when many children get up to half their daily calories from school meals, it’s clear that we as a nation have a responsibility to meet as well,” Mrs. Obama said. “We can’t just leave it up to the parents"

[Jane]

Janet,

Are you here?

I just went to my mailbox for the first time since Thursday. Inside I found a flag - tea party pin which I am proudly wearing and will wear every day from now to the election. Thank you so much.

And ftr - you are the inspiration around here, and everyone loves you for it.

[Porchlight]

Janet is the best.

OT,

I enjoyed asking for a Republican ballot in my liberal Texas precinct today and getting the polling folks all flustered. I cast my vote for Ted Cruz.

[Chubby]

if everyone would just work out their own issues, the world would be a better place. some people have the problem of obesity to work out, others have other issues. more attention paid to improving oneself instead worrying about steadying others' arks, and the world would be a better place. I'm sure that Michelle Obama has scads of issues she could be dealing with to make herself over into a better person, as do we all.

there are more important things to think about in this world than baby fat. I see a generation of food neurotics on the horizon.

[Captain Hate]

Here's the latest Kimberlin outrage I posted amidst the troll droppings on the last thread

http://theothermccain.com/2012/05/29/report-aaron-walker-arrested-after-maryland-hearing-on-kimberlin-case/

[tony]

You know what's wrong, but I wonder what's right?"

Sounds like a Romney soundbyte.

When asked about Trump’s remarks last week questioning whether Obama was born in the United States, Romney said he doesn’t agree with everything his supporters believe, but in the coming election he’ll need their support.

“You know I don’t agree with all the people who support me and my guess is they don’t all agree with everything I believe in,” Romney told reporters on an airplane before taking off for a campaign appearances Tuesday in Colorado and Las Vegas. “But I need to get 50.1 percent or more and I”m appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people.”

[tony]

You know what's wrong, but I wonder what's right?"

Sounds like a Romney soundbyte.

When asked about Trump’s remarks last week questioning whether Obama was born in the United States, Romney said he doesn’t agree with everything his supporters believe, but in the coming election he’ll need their support.

“You know I don’t agree with all the people who support me and my guess is they don’t all agree with everything I believe in,” Romney told reporters on an airplane before taking off for a campaign appearances Tuesday in Colorado and Las Vegas. “But I need to get 50.1 percent or more and I”m appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people.”

[tony]

In 2008, you had McCain.

In 2012, it's McBain.

[Sue]

Jack,

That's funny. But I'm gonna admit, I'm kind of creeped out by the cannibal story.

[Sue]

Porch,

I haven't voted yet.

[Porchlight]

I see a generation of food neurotics on the horizon.

Food neuroses are already rampant among parents. Funny, they are almost entirely white, upper-middle class, educated parents. I personally think it's a variant of Munchausen by proxy. Parents take pride in their children's food "sensitivities" and I think, in some cases, actively seek out these diagnoses. Their children are special, you see.

I don't think food sensitivities are completely not real, btw. Just overdiagnosed among a certain set. And for the wrong reasons. "Oh, his behavior isn't what you want it to be? It must be gluten!!" Etc.

My SIL is exhibit A. Her kids have had all the trendy diagnoses, in chrono order. First lactose intolerance, then peanut allergy (not the life-threatening kind although she makes you think it is), now celiac/gluten intolerance. She never misses an opportunity to tell you all about it. She can't wait to get the whole family on the gluten-free train. It is almost as if she is happy about it.

[Porchlight]

Sue,

I won't cry if Dewhurst wins. I don't think he's super terrible or anything. But I wanted to send a message, as they say.

[matt]

where the Times has fallen, the WSJ food section is rising rapidly. We seem to regularly be pulling recipes from their Saturday edition and making them. Almost all have been crowd pleasers.

There is a lentil soup recipe we are trying tonight. mmm mmm good!

As to obese recruits, flash back to Full Metal Jacket. There has been an obesity issue for far longer than Michelle's obsession with a smaller butt.

As a society we are more sedentary, which is a big cause for obesity. So turn off the TV kids, shut down the computer, and go out and play.

[Rob Crawford]

Porch -- I think some people like the extra attention they get from their "sensitivities".

[BumperStickerist]

I did a google on "recruit fitness" and hertling.

The result was a series of informative, on-topic articles.

http://www.dmholmeslaw.com/appiesboard/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1699

The articles bring up data that, if tortured sufficiently, could yield some sort of conclusion to what Michelle's book says.

One factoid I was not aware of was that the National School Lunch Program was started as a Defense Program in the 50's. Healthy kids make for healthy soldiers, that sort of thing.

Sort of like the US Highway System was designed to get troops to anywhere on the US coast to counter an invasion in three days or less.
_

[marlene]

Yes Sue,that "cannibal" story is creepy.He was allegedly high on bath salts,which has become a terrible problem for law enforcement,hospital emergency rooms and substance abuse facilities here in Maine. A long time drug addict who used bath salts gave an interview to the Bangor Daily News in January and said he"...became a bear...I was growling." Very scary!

[rse]

matt-Gourmet's all-time favorite soup recipe is brown rice and lentil soup to which smoked sausage can be added.

My mom swiped my recipe then made it for a family friend she had known from childhood dying of lung cancer.

Poor woman was quite depressed as she had been an avid smoker for years. The next day after dropping off the soup the phone rings "That was really good soup you brought us."

Soup good enough to rouse the dying from self-engrossed depression.

The even better thing is she did not really lapse again after that. She found old friends company to be pleasant again.

[Chubby]

Porchlight, I feel sorry for those children. Were they to survive a plane crash in the Andes, and the only food available to sustain them was peanut butter, wheat crackers, and dry milk, would they have to starve? I tend to think that in a survival situation, their food intolerances would fade somewhat.

[Jane]

I posted this on the other page, so excuse the repetition:

I just read at Gateway Pundit that Brett Kimberlin's accuser was taken into custody.

How long can we put up with this?

[Chubby]

maybe it's time for Obama to change his diet

src="http://g-cdn.apartmenttherapy.com/3464050/2012-05-29-CatsKitchen1_rect540.jpg">

>

[BumperStickerist]

actually - it's Bizarro World ... Brett Kimberlin is the defendant. Convicted Felon Brett Kimberlin is saying that Aaron's the threat, due to Aaron's writing of stuff.

It's a world gone mad.

--

Tom, Michelle's stat makes sense if you add the standard Obama Administration trick - estimate the total percent IF the First Lady's guidelines were not in place and her beneficent presence not inspiring them.

[Carol Herman]

Hillary also wrote coffee table books from the White House. Did anyone read them? Did they influence "taste?"

I used to think it was a way for publishers to stuff a First Lady with money.

Oh, "the queen" gets in on the act, too. People publish books detailing what she eats.

PS: Brett Kimberlin met the Internet, and got clobbered. Michelle, not so much.

[Chubby]

one more try

>"alt="kitty in pan">

[Jane]

Porch,

I actually went gluten free about 2 weeks ago in an attempt to figure out what is causing after having excema in my eyes for the 4th time this year. (So far I'm not cured).

All I can say about gluten free is it is very expensive, and most of the replacement foods you can buy are full of sugar which for me at least is more evil.

[Mark Folkestad]

Jane, I don't know why you characterize sugar as evil. I'm a type-II diabetic now, for about four years, and I was shocked to find that the vast majority of products marketed as "light/lite" are much higher in sugar content than the ordinary versions. It is only the fat they are concerned about. Thank God for Splenda. I don't miss sugar. I got a jar of peanut butter recently that had the warning icon that it contains peanuts. Duh. I'm not convinced that peanut allergy is as common as is claimed. Otherwise hundreds of thousands of kids would have died in the Fifties and Sixties, with school lunch programs pushing peanut butter on everyone.

[rse]

Oh chubby that's the expression I get when I get up from writing to go get some tea.

"That's not what you are here for."

[Rob Crawford]

I was shocked to find that the vast majority of products marketed as "light/lite" are much higher in sugar content than the ordinary versions. It is only the fat they are concerned about.

My favorite is the line of salad dressings bragging about ONLY 5g OF CARBS!!! Well, yeah. A few grams of starch, and the rest is fat.

[Janet]

Jane,
Glad you liked it....the tea party recommended candidates were all wearing them at that Republican convention. Saw them at my regular flag store.

Thanks for the Kimberlin update links. Wow, really scary stuff.

[jimmyk]

Here's my tips on making kids fitter:

(4) Stop diverting resources for biofuels that make agricultural products more expensive.

(5) Stop pushing low-fat high-carb diets (especially in school lunches) that leave kids craving for snacks.

[AliceH]

Here's my tips on making kids fitter:

(6) Quit giving them cash to use without any direction or supervision.

[JeanD]

(7) pack their lunches

(8) cook at home and make fast food a treat instead of a staple

(9) don't let them mainline juice, soft drinks and sports drinks; it wouldn't kill them to drink some water instead

[Neo]

InstaPundit opines:

If I read this correctly, Aaron Walker is in trouble because Kimberlin claims that his blogging has somehow led to other people making death threats. That doesn’t seem to pass the First Amendment smell test. Only if Walker were inciting those threats in a way that passed Brandenburg scrutiny would that work, and I don’t believe that’s the case at all. At any rate, under this approach George Zimmerman ought to be able to jail any number of journalists.

[pagar]

"Crime has generally been declining for years."

Has anyone made the criminals aware of this?

"He asked rhetorically, “Wouldn’t you think to have 41 people shot (in Chicago) between Friday morning and Monday morning would be much more newsworthy and deserve much more outrage?”

http://lubbockonline.com/editorial-columnists/2012-05-28/williams-should-black-people-tolerate-high-black-black-crime#.T8UVKcWwX3Z

I would not be at all surprised to find that leftist mayors telling their police depts to fudge the numbers.

[henry]

Pagar, the Milwaukee Mayor was caught fudging violent crime stats by the local paper plus FBI. It made a nice ad for Walker.

[pagar]

Thanks, Henry!
It is insane for Wisconsin voters to be thinking that they want Barrett as their governor after reading that ad.

IMO, there is simply no reason to believe that leftists are not going to fudge numbers. Look at every set of numbers that come from the Obama regime. Very few of them are correct judging by the revised numbers that we see. It is not just once in a while, it is every week for the weekly reports.

[Neo]

To think that the School Lunch Program was instituted by the Department of War to help with too many malnourished inductees.

[Neo]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- One never knows when the Supreme Court will hand down its last, often biggest, opinions of the term. But the justices' summer travel schedules make it a pretty safe bet that blockbuster health care and immigration cases will be decided by the end of June.

That's because Professor John Roberts, also known as Chief Justice of the United States, has a morning law school class to teach the first week of July. On Malta.

To the north, and at a much higher elevation, Professor Antonin Scalia, will put his law students through their paces in Innsbruck, Austria.

At least two other justices, Samuel Alito and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, also will spend part of July teaching American law students at summer programs in Europe.

[matt]

it's usually the first week of June, neo. Next week.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Heh.

Drudge updates that Lurch's yacht is still in RI and the MA taxes remain unpaid. I hope he holds out for two more years.

[jwest]

Thinks went poorly for Aaron Walker in a Maryland court today. Here’s the best account of what happened.

http://www.soopermexican.com/2012/05/29/judge-in-kimberlin-hearing-woefully-ignorant-of-internet-twitter/#more-1846

[Frank Skog]

These stats are fairly meaningless. The military raises and lowers standards as necessary to get the best available bodies to fill the billets. At one time the submarine service required 20/20 uncorrected vision and no more than three fillings (not cavities) in the teeth. In the 1970's with fewer volunteers, 20/400+ corrected to 20/20 was OK.

.

[Jane]

Lurch's yacht is still in RI and the MA taxes remain unpaid.

When Caro and I sailed to Nantucket to see OL Kerry's yacht was in the harbor. Of course that is no proof at all that he paid his taxes.

I actually thought it was a really nice boat - all polished wood, but I really know nothing about boats.

(Is it an insult to call a yacht a 'boat'? That's what I was hoping for.)

[jimmyk]

I would not be at all surprised to find that leftist mayors telling their police depts to fudge the numbers.

There's been some of that, though more for low-level crimes like burglaries. There's not much question homicide rates have come down, maybe not as much in some places as others. But I think porch's point is right: Parents have become hyperprotective, and even if you are happy to have your kids go out and play unsupervised, if no one else is, it doesn't really work.

[Lea]

Isn't 1998 the year they changed the standards of what is considered overweight? (googles) Yep.

"Using the old criteria, the average woman -- with a height of 5 feet, 4 inches (1.6 meters) and weighing 155 pounds (70 kilograms) -- was considered overweight.

Under the new definition, that weight drops to 145 pounds (66 kg). A person at the same height who weighs 175 pounds (79 kg) would be considered obese. "

It's like when they changed the autism standards and then said OMG so many people are autistic now!

[daddy]

Bob Dylan live on FOX right now at the White House, standing next to Tennessee Vol's B-Ball coach Pat Summit.

Both waiting to get the Medal Of Freedom.

Entering now, the gloating President Obama.

[rse]

Speaking of leftist mayors, one of the reasons the various UN agencies and connected NGOs are not too concerned with whether formal agreements are reached in rio next month is all the binding Agenda 21 initiatives and agreements with the various cities. and regional commissions.

Coming to you whether you like it or not. Or know about it or not.

Plus if you want to feel managed look at some of the online videos from the Smarter Cities campaigns.

[Porchlight]

Bob Dylan, huh? I remember this from the last time they met:

"He didn’t want to take a picture with me; usually all the talent is dying to take a picture with me and Michelle before the show, but he didn’t show up to that."

Our modest President.

[daddy]

President tells us that "Bob Dylan is still searching for a little bit of truth, and I have to say that I am a big fan."

[daddy]

"We need to accept the facts: we are fat racists."

Paging Big Chief Elizabeth:

[Jack is Back!]

Taiwan TV NMA animation of the Choomgang

Second one is in English for those who don't speak Mandarin.

[narciso]

This seems to fit the thread;

http://weaselzippers.us/2012/05/29/unreal-holder-to-brief-hundreds-of-black-pastors-on-how-to-campaign-for-obama/

[Janet]

daddy,
Your Pow Wow Chow coverage has been hilarious.
Elizabeth is an excellent writer like Obama too...
"This soup sounds weird, but everyone who tries it, loves it!"

Hahaha...

[Clarice]

The Walker case sounds outrageous.

matt: "How the Times' food writers have fallen since the days of Craig Claiborne."

You bet. I've been going thru over 50 yrs of my recipe clippings to put them in better order. I still have Claiborne's recipes hat I collected in college..and every one of his books.

Bittman..Pheh..Though he did bring Lahey (Sulliven St Bakery) and his wonderful no knead bread to my attention.

[Sue]

I wonder what makes it Mexican? After today, I half expected it to say look for a bandito and if one isn't available...

[Porchlight]

Actually oatmeal soup is delicious. But the recipe I use is Scottish in origin (as you might expect), not Mexican. It's called yellow broth. Mine's from a cookbook but I think this is the same one:

http://www.9and10news.com/story/15634901/yellow-broth-with-steel-cut-oats

[Porchlight]

Does anyone actually believe that Obama is a big Dylan fan? I bet he can't name five songs other than "The Times They Are a-Changin'."

[Janet]

I wonder what makes it Mexican?

Wouldn't that be a GREAT question for a reporter to ask?! She would talk herself in circles.
Ms Warren...how did a great Cherokee like you come by a recipe for Mexican Oatmeal Soup? What exactly make this soup "Mexican"? Is it really true that EVERYONE who tries it, loves it?...or do some people just find it "meh"? Do you have a recipe for Cherokee Oatmeal Soup?

[Sue]

None of the ingredients give you a clue. And Janet, I'd pay to hear those questions asked.

[Sue]

Google Mexican Oatmeal Soup. Not unique to Big Chief Elizabeth and they don't know what makes it Mexican either.

[Sue]

From The New York Times Bread and Soup Cookbook, by Yvonne Young Tarr (1972).

Hey Daddy, when did Big Chief Elizabeth contribute to the cookbook? Is she also a fake recipe submitter?

[AliceH]

Porch - about that recipe you link... I had the same exact question the only commenter had, to wit: "When do you add the spinach?". :-)

I read somewhere that being a cookbook editor was one the hardest jobs in publishing. The argument was that either you know cooking, and thus mentally fill in missing steps or correct errors (like TBS really should be tsp) without realizing it, or you don't and the same errors are missed out of ignorance. Oh - I figure the spinach is added after the broth is brought to boil.

[narciso]

A little context about that earlier piece;

http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/05/he-likes-to-push-that-drone-button/

[daddy]

Just FYI,

"Big Chief Elizabeth" is the title of Giles Milton's enjoyable history of Queen Elizabeth, Walter Raleigh, Indian Chief Manteo, and the history of Raleigh's Lost Colony in The New World. I think "Big Chief Elizabeth" was what the Indian's called her.

Book Description:

"In April 1586, Queen Elizabeth I acquired a new and exotic title. A tribe of North American Indians had made her their weroanza - 'big chief'. The news was received with great joy, both by the Queen and her favourite, Sir Walter Ralegh. His first American expedition had brought back a captive, Manteo, whose tattooed face had enthralled Elizabethan London. Now Manteo was returned to his homeland as Lord and Governor. Ralegh's gamble would result in the first English settlement in the New World, but it would also lead to a riddle whose solution lay hidden in the forests of Virginia. A tale of heroism and mystery, BIG CIEF ELIZABETH is illuminated by first-hand accounts to reveal a remarkable and long-forgotten story."

Some fun, good parts in it, tho' IMHO, MIlton's finish is reckless in saying he's figured out what happened to the Lost Colony---nobody knows. What I like about Milton in general is his familiarity with the documentation of the time.

[Captain Hate]

Does anyone actually believe that Obama is a big Dylan fan?
LOL no

[Jim,MtnView,Ca,USA]

Back to Europe....I don't read the icky NYT, but a blogger points out this article which says the money paid to Greece goes to an escrow account, then most of it is remitted back to Euro authorities to pay interest on previously loaned money.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/business/global/athens-no-longer-sees-most-of-its-bailout-aid.html

[Captain Hate]

Bob Dylan live on FOX right now at the White House, standing next to Tennessee Vol's B-Ball coach Pat Summit.

Both waiting to get the Medal Of Freedom.

How did Pat look? Her alzheimers forced her to retire.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Jim-

In a round about fashion, that's correct. The bailout was never for Greece, but Greek bondholders, which were primarily EU financial institutions, plus a haircut. One group owned the English law bonds and got paid in full, some dumb hedge funds who are predisposed to reading the covenants. Some arcane practice called "Due Diligence", I hear.

[daddy]

He also declared himself a "really big fan" of Dylan, who accepted his medal, stony-faced, in dark sunglasses."And I remember, you know, in college listening to Bob Dylan, and my world opening up, because he captured something about this country that was so vital."

"There is not a bigger giant in the history of American music."

"Dylan was in no rush and left the president waiting as he took his time getting down from the stage to receive his award"

[Captain Hate]

I'd be willing to bet that Dylan isn't a fan of the JEF and, even if he were, he wouldn't stand for being a campaign prop.

[daddy]

"How did Pat look?"

Pat looked great Captain. Looked a lot happier about being there than Dylan.

[Soylent Red]

I'd be willing to bet that Dylan isn't a fan of the JEF and, even if he were, he wouldn't stand for being a campaign prop.

Bob seems very anti-authoritarian to me. That puts him in conflict with elements of both the Left and the Right at times. I can live with that attitude, considering what he does for a living.

But one thing I know for sure is that he has always been at the vanguard of the anti-bullshit-arian movement, which puts him directly in conflict with the archetypical bullshit-arian, Barack Obama.

I'll bet he was counting the seconds until he could get away from the SCOAMF.

[narciso]

That expression says a thousand words, one is reminded of a novel about Marlowe, the Intelligencer, set in the same period, daddy,

http://www.lesliesilbert.com/author.html

[rse]

The bad news is that we are officially as a matter of funding and official policy going Lysenko.

The good news is the relevant report was contained in one of my industry emails. What an afternoon. I am out of copy paper. Again.

Needless to say I was not in the least surprised when Donna Lafromboise's mentioned the IPCC was adding a section on Human Security to its next report. LUN Tomorrow's post was already going to be named "If the Facts Won't Cooperate, There is Always Pedagogy".

But especially now that science from now on will be about practices as historians, philosophers, anthropologists, and sociologists have agreed upon for 60 years."

It's time for a stiff drink.

[pagar]

TK, this one's for you:

http://www.westernjournalism.com/hawaii-senior-elections-clerk-barack-obama-born-hawaii/

"Hawaii Senior Elections Clerk: “Barack Obama Was Not Born In Hawaii”

[daddy]

Breaking: White Hispanic punished for causing grief for a Black man.

Resigning communications chief for Cory Booker may be scapegoat for 'Meet the Press' remarks

"Anne Torres, the communications director for Newark Mayor Cory Booker and part of his inner circle for six years, may have been forced out of her post in attempt to make a scapegoat for the Mayor's controversial statements on "Meet the Press" earlier this month..."

"The source of the split seems to be Booker's May 20 appearance on "Meet The Press," when he said he was “nauseated” by President Obama's attack ads against Mitt Romney...Several people in Booker's inner circle told him that blame laid with Torres, which led to her resignation today..."

And in other news from the Plantation, Attorney General Eric Holder, the IRS, and the liberal lawyers at the ACLU will brief several hundred pastors in the African American community on how to participate in the presidential election.

[Jack is Back!]

OT: Anyone in the Denver area looking for a Catholic Church that meets their political philosophy standard?

I give you the antithesis of Father Plegler.

Meet Father Andrew

Me thinks Dolan has emboldened a new civil revolution of liberty and freedom and has let lose the dogs of war.

[Melinda Romanoff]

I have been stuck on a train for the last hour and will have another hour to go.

You all have my complete attention.

[henry]

No bar car Mel?

[narciso]

Because he's the acknowledged expert, wait what;

http://michellemalkin.com/2012/05/29/un-strikes-again/

[Melinda Romanoff]

Banned, because it goes through WCTU/Shakowsky-stan (Evanston).

[Melinda Romanoff]

henry-

Any plans Thursday?

[Jack is Back!]

Mel,

When you live an hour away from work you get bad reception.

When you get bad reception you can't log into your favorite webiste.

When you can't log into your favorite website, you go for a walk.

When you go for a walk, you see a train.

When you see a train, you take it.

When you are on the train, it breaks down or hits someone.

When it breaks down or hits someone you have nothing to do.

Don't have nothing to do - go to JOM:)

[Porchlight]

Oh - I figure the spinach is added after the broth is brought to boil.

Good eye AliceH! I can't remember if the same error is in the recipe in my book. That's when I would add it too. You're right, it is really, really hard to catch every error in a cookbook and you will never hear the end of it if you goof up.