Chicken Little strikes again

Obama: “Prepare for more bad news this year.”

I picked up the Des Moines Register this morning and was greeted by the above-mentioned headline. President Obama spoke at Georgetown University Wednesday, April 14. Scanning the first two paragraphs I see these words, written by Margaret Talev of the McClatchy newspapers; “Obama didn’t lay out any new proposals, but sought to justify the steps his administration has taken so far and to make the case for more regulation and spending. At the same time, he urged patience and lower expectations...”

Humh. I finished reading the article, and decided I needed to do some quick research into when he spoke at Georgetown, since the article didn’t mention that. Imagine my surprise when the first... the very first... hit that popped up was the following. “Sales down as Obama speaks of hope.” Humh again. The source for this different spin? www.aljazeera.net.  

Now, this is an entirely different spin on the tone I caught from Obama’s speech. Ruminate on the following quote.  “The severity of this recession will cause more job loss, more foreclosures, and more pain before it ends.” 

Here’s my point. I thought Warren Buffett already made it clear to the Obama administration that they needed to lay off the doom-and-gloom rhetoric. To coin an old phrase, when Warren Buffett speaks, people listen. I thought Obama was listening. Now I feel I was misguided in that thinking.  

Obama wants to have his cake and eat it too.  Maybe even worse... he’s turning into Marie Antoinette (let them eat cake!). Here’s my take on what I hear coming out of the White House.  “Things are bad. Really bad. And they’re going to get much, much worse. But hey, don’t give up hope! We’re not laying out any new proposals... we want more regulation and spending... so... lower your expectations and... have some hope!”  I almost sense a muttered-under-the-breath aside of, “Ya losers...”

I’d like to sit down with Obama and show him some old video of Ronald Reagan speaking to the nation. I felt safe, and yes I felt hopeful when Reagan was in office.  He was like the Dad of the nation. We thought he was a little off on issues at times, but he made us feel good.  Obama, make us feel good.  Stop the Chicken Little routine.

Iowa - we always knew we were happy

This morning I heard an interesting tidbit on the radio. Iowa has been ranked #2 as the happiest place to live, according to mainstreet.com and their "happiness index." This particular index measures financial happiness - unemployment, % of non-mortgage debt, and foreclosures. 

www.mainstreet.com

Evidently people in the midwest are less likely to live beyond their means - which is being equated to financial happiness.  I could've told them that. I grew up having the adage "if you can't pay for it DON'T BUY IT" drilled into my head.

We rank high in other areas as well (education comes to mind). I throw that in only to negate the comment I heard about "happiness can be equated to low intelligence." 

Sure we have crappy weather, but I think it makes us more adaptable people. We try to seize the day. In winter it's time for either going outside and sledding, or staying inside and eating soup (and in my case, knitting!). Spring brings us the fresh new start - Earl May garden center is jam-packed in spring with people buying seeds and flowers for their lawns and gardens. A lot of people are planting Recession Gardens - I guess they listened to me when I said we need to get back to the Victory Garden mentality.

Iowa is family-friendly. Our communities have their downfalls - everybody knows pretty much what everyone else is doing. But that brings with it accountability. We don't yell at people in grocery store parking lots about whether or not they put their carts in the shopping cart corral - because if we did, by the time we got back home 100 people would know about it.  (You think I'm kidding).

We also adhere to what some might call "quaint" values. I'm talking about going to church. I'm not in the least ashamed to say that my community has no less than (gotta stop and count!) 4 churches in town, one church directly outside of town, and at least 3 or 4 churches "out in the country." Does that make us small-minded? Maybe sometimes. Does it make us a little more accountable? Yes. It also gives us a strong sense of community. It's nice to know that every year the Methodist church will have their pancake breakfast, and the men of the church step up and do the cooking. I asked once why that was, and the reply was, "The women do a lot. We figure we need to step in and do this." 

I have to mention one more type of accountability - what most in small towns call "the old ladies." I like old ladies. You all know them, or remember them from your own childhood. The women who have lived a long life and weren't afraid to tell you (or anybody else) that you were acting like a jerk in the grocery store, or ask you why the heck you weren't in school. And you just KNEW she was going to go straight home and call your parents. Which is why Iowa kids generally don't skip school. Which is probably why we are ranked higher in education. (so there)

Bottom line is, I just had to brag on Iowa. It's a great place to live. And heck, we even ranked higher than Hawaii! Keep your stinking beaches. We have old ladies.

Bachelor Father

My family is hooked on a television show called Bachelor Father.  Thing is, this show premiered in the 1950s. The basic premise is that the main character, Bentley Greg, gets custody of his teenage niece after her parents die. There's also Peter, the Chinese houseboy... something that I supposed isn't "politically correct," but that was a reality back then.

Uncle Bentley is every woman's dream man.  Tall, handsome, well-spoken, a lawyer... and oh, is he smoooth. On a recent show he was talking to a woman who mentioned one of her father's best ideas.  Bentley's response?  "I'm looking at one of your father's best ideas."  Oooooh. Nice.

It's amazing to me that such an old show still has a broad enough appeal that it has a family that ranges from age 50 to age 9, completely hooked. Subjects that have broad appeal are presented, and solved, without any cursing or innuendo that might be inappropriate for the younger members of the family.

Subject matter ranges from Bentley's dating life, Kelly's (the niece) dating life - and Uncle Bentley's not-so-happy reaction to that, to simple everyday problems that affected people back then, and affect people today. This morning's episode followed Peter's efforts to make a little more money by selling his homemade fortune cookies to local restaurants. 

My (mostly rhetorical) question is this: Why doesn't someone make a show like that in this day and age? Something clean and simple, with people who handle their problems with dignity, and a good moral connected with the entire scenario.  Feel free to comment... I'm interested to see what people think about this.

Basketball

My family has basketball fever. We've all been following the NCAA tournaments, to varying degrees.  My youngest daughter doesn't much care... but.... she did sign up for summer basketball camp.  The middle daughter is pretty much obsessed with basketball. And my oldest daughter was right - yes, I'm going on the record as saying so - the team I picked to go all the way (Louisville) got spanked by Michigan. Which she said would happen. Needless to say, I *won't* be rooting for Michigan in the Final Four.  

... However ... I do have a prediction to make that concerns Louisville. My prediction is that, despite all his protests to the contrary, Rick Pitino will be accepting the head coach position at University of Arizona.  That's right.  Our beloved Lute Olson, that Arizona snatched from under our (Iowa's) very noses, will be replaced by Pitino. Despite my crushed dreams of Louisville going to the Final Four (okay, I just wanted to be right, really) Pitino will soon be coaching another one of my teams - the U of A Wildcats. Okay, the only reason I really like them is because of Lute, but now I have to remain loyal. Although... Lute can always come back to Iowa.  We'd welcome him with open arms.

Why I'm here in cyberspace, and other stuff

This is my new blog - timed to coincide with the start of my new business venture, selling AuraStella jewelry.  It won't be specifically dedicated to that, however. I'm going to talk more about life in small-town Iowa.  You'll be hearing about a wide range of topics; my viewpoints on sports, politics and life in general. I'll address some topics from a local angle, others from a state or national level. Basically I'm saying, there's a little of something for everybody.

I'll be putting a link to my AuraStella website here shortly. It's a great line of sterling silver jewelry featuring genuine semiprecious stones. One thing I can always get excited about is jewelry - especially if it's sparkly! :) Thanks in advance for your interest in my venture and hopefully I'll be adding you to my customer list!