FDR, Steve and me

My daughter takes a class on Presidential Rhetoric. As the (only) grade for the class each student picks a president, a speech and then travels to that President's library to do research. She decided to do a Presidential press secretary rather than a President and chose Steve Early who was FDR's press secretary for all four terms. He was also the first Press secretary ever and set the mold for all others. She asked if I would like to go along as her research assistant which took me all of two seconds to say yes. So early Wednesday morning we headed off to Hyde Park New York, arriving around noon at FDR's library.There we spent the next three days, arriving at our desk at 8:45am and leaving at 5pm when they closed the library.

It was pretty amazing. Early it turns out was a bit of an obsessive and a pack rat. He kept a daily diary for all four terms which Melissa poured over. He also kept scrapbooks ,huge, heavy scrapbooks, approximately two a year. They were my territory. In them he kept every newspaper clipping in which he was mentioned, which was a minimum of several a day all across the country, photos of every trip he took, menus and seating charts from any important dinner he attended, and every Christmas and birthday card he received over the four terms. He also ,of course, kept every handwritten note from FDR and Eleanor. It was overwhelming and absorbing.
What was amazing, in addition to the sheer amount of stuff, was that fact that we were allowed to handle it all. There I was holding drafts of FDR's speech to Congress with his handwritten notes all over them, personal handwritten notes from Eleanor, and letters from every famous person who passed through the administration.I found myself lost in their world,laughing at their inside jokes, worrying when Early's son was injured in the war, terribly sad when FDR passed and moved by the hundreds of condolence cards sent to Mrs. Early from every boldface name at the passing of 'Steve'.
Most everyone who worked at the library was super nice and helpful but of course there was the one archivist on a power trip. She spent every minute criticizing or correcting us on some weird issue which didn't seem to bother any of the other staff. For example, I couldn't carry papers from my desk to the copier which was about 2 feet away. She wanted me to place the paper on a cart and then wheel it to the copier. When I pointed out that the cart was larger than the space between my desk and the copier she 'compromised' by making me a cardboard tray out of a box lid on which I could carry the paper. She also freaked out every time I took my sweater off,insisting that I either had to wear it or put it in the locker. Since I was constantly taking it of and on (I got cold when sitting for hours but hot when lifting the scrapbooks) I would try and sit on it or hid it on the floor under my desk. She also objected to Melissa when she leaned over a folder or when her folder was not perfectly lined up on the desk. Won't miss her.
We didn't get to do any sightseeing. I've been in this area before and there's tons to see. I recommend a weekend trip if you have never been. We did get out to two meals. One at a local restaurant, Twist, which was decent and the other night at the Italian restaurant in the CIA ( the Culinary Institute of America). which was awesome and so much fun. Everyone, front and back of the house is a student and are very happy to talk to you about their schooling and career plans.
We

bits and pieces

A few random thoughts

Although my H is a long way from retirement the few conversions I had today made me realize he needs to begin preparing. No not financially, though that would be nice, but hobby-wise. While visiting my cousin's photography show at a local craft show we ran into a few men who were retired. One was planning the perfect way to rob a bank and seemed to have given the matter way too much thought. Another had purchased 50 Roman pillars and was planning to build a Chinese pagoda house as soon as he found the right piece of land. He mentioned his wife was less than pleased. Time to encourage the taking up of golf?

In a 'did I read that sign correctly' moment I saw the Gwynedd Mercy Academy's fall musical is Fiddler on the Roof. Worth the price of admission to see the lovely Catholic girl playing Tevya.

Supposedly the Dean of Harvard Law calls applicants on the phone for a 5 minute interview before final decisions are made. First there is the question of whether the Dean has something better to do with 42 hours ( Harvard accepts 500 kids; no idea how many phone calls are made).The question he uses his valuable time to ask? Why Harvard? Is you must be f-ing kidding me an acceptable answer?

what's the president done for me lately?

I know it's fashionable to complain about the president but sometimes it feels like we are a nation of adolescents whining about how our Dad just doesn't get us. Maybe when we grow up we'll realize he was actually doing his best and a pretty good job at that. So next time you hear someone complain ( or maybe it's you) that the obama admin hasn't doesn't anything here's a list. It's long so I divided it into the economy, health care, Israel, science, the environment, education, military & vets rights, so you can go to your interest.
This is a shorter version of a list of 244 accomplishments. Feel free to check out the full list at http://b4bmorenews.blogspot.com/2010/09/new-244-accomplishments-of-president.html,compiled by a university professor in Florida.

Economy

• Increased infrastructure spending (roads, bridges, power plants…) * Note: Bush was the first president since Herbert Hoover to not make infrastructure a priority

• Authorized the US auto industry rescue plan ,two GMAC rescue packages, the housing rescue plan and new FHA residential housing guarantees

• Authorized a $789 billion economic stimulus plan * Note: 1/3 in tax cuts for working-class families; 1/3 to states for infrastructure projects; 1/3 to states to prevent the layoff of police officers, teachers, etc. at risk of losing their jobs because of state budget shortfalls

• Authorized the federal government to make more loans available to small businesses and ordered lower rates for federal loans to small businesses

extended unemployment benefits for one million workers

Credit card companies are prohibited from raising rates without advance notification or arbitrarily if customers are paying bills on time

• Signed historic Wall Street reform bill * Note: Designed to end abusive practices and promote consumer protections

• Signed the HIRE Act to stimulate the economic recovery * Note: The bill includes: tax cuts for small businesses who hire someone unemployed for at least two months; small businesses can write off their investments in equipment this year; etc.

Health Care

· Signing laws to expand children's health insurance (financed by a 61-cent per pack increase in the federal cigarette tax).

- Prevents insurance companies from denying coverage to individuals/family members with pre-existing health conditions

- Prevents insurance companies from placing lifetime limits on benefits

- Bans “rescission” so insurance companies can’t cancel coverage if individuals keep their policies current or if they become ill

- An individual’s out-of-pocket healthcare expenses are capped

Closes the “donut hole” (Part D) for Medicare prescription drug coverage

all large (over 50 employees) employers must offer health insurance to employees or pay a fine

- Small businesses can get a tax credit if they offer health care

- There are hardship exemptions if individuals can’t afford health insurance

- Families can keep their children in college on their plans through age 26


•Israel

• Renewed loan guarantees for Israel

• Signed the USIFTA trade agreement with/for Israel

• Authorized a $550m advance for Israel (six months prior to the scheduled date) in order to accommodate Israeli’s economic and financial needs

• Continued agreements with Israel for cultural exchanges, immigration, etc.

Environment


· Put a hold on Artic oil exploratory digging until environmental impacts are clear.

• Reengaged in the treaties/agreements to protect the Antarctic * Note: These were suspended under Bush

• Reengaged in the agreements/talks on global warming and greenhouse gas emissions * Note: These were suspended under Bush

• Overturned Bush-era rule that weakened the Endangered Species Act

• Announced plans to purchase fuel efficient American-made fleet for the federal government

• Ended the Bush-era policy of not regulating and labeling carbon dioxide emissions

empty nest/nesting

So my last one went off to college in August and I thought I would soon thereafter be writing my 'empty nest' blog. Ha. This is the least empty empty nest I have ever seen. Shortly after leaving both kids were home for Rosh Hashona, then again for Yom Kipper, then again for Fall break,yes both of them, which was immediately followed by Parents weekend. Yes, for both of them. This weekend all the Penn State kids are home so my son decided to come home also. Now I know I'm very lucky to have them so close and also that they obviously love us and like coming home. But really, how am I suppose to experience the despair and anguish of empty nest-hood if it's always full?

On a pat on the back note, I cleaned out several of my basement closets. Just so you understand what a feat this was among the treasures were the dress I wore to the rainbow room for my 30th birthday, a Laura Ashley dress purchased in London during my jr year abroad, numerous suits, skirts and blazers last worn before I was pregnant with my oldest and several million stuffed animals. I also threw out all the cans I had put away just before the millennium in anticipation of the end of the world. Felt great. It will feel even better when I throw out the 25 white trash bags and get the 15 black ones to Impact!

the worst trip ever

Just back from a one day Dental solutions for sleep apnea course in Atlanta. Well really in a hotel next to the Atlanta airport. The course was great but getting to and fro was a nightmare.
Flew Air Tram out Thursday night. We boarded (four of us) an hour late and then proceeded to sit on the runway for over two hours in the pouring rain. To make it lovelier water was dripping on everyone's head the entire two hours. It's hard to read a water soaked magazine. Well not the entire time. There was the dry, and very hot, 15 minutes when they turned off the engine. Did I mention the poor baby who screamed most of the two hours and the stink bug that kept flying around? The crew kept us 'informed' but announcing every 20 minutes that they had no idea when we would take off or even if we would take off at all. We did finally,and managed to get into bed by midnight to catch a terrific six hours of sleep.
The course ended a little early Friday and we were at the airport by 4pm for a 7:30pm flight. Great, we figured, maybe US Air can put us on the 5:30 flight home instead. Ha, ha.
It took 20 minutes to even find a US air person to talk to as the only one at the counter, Clarissa, was 'on a break'. Her replacement informed us that the Air Tran guy in Phila, Larry,must have ripped off both our out going and return tickets and therefore we 'didn't have any tickets' to Philadelphia. (For some bizarre reason Travelocity had issued us paper tickets- they're on my sh-t list too) We pointed out that our receipt showed our reservation, we had confirmed our reservation online, and selected our seats, and we had ID to prove we were who we said we. Her response; too bad. We asked to talk to a supervisor. Supervisor Gail responded, 'that's a problem' before walking away.
We headed down to Air Tran to see if they could help. They were very nice but needed to talk to Philadelphia to see if they could find our torn tickets. After an hour they realized the Air Tran people in Phila are nasty and unhelpful. It looked like our only option was a 10:00pm flight out of Atalanta on Air Tran. As you can imagine, this did not go over well with 4 people running on minimum sleep and all facing big days ahead. (Baseball tournament, church festival and a dinner party to throw, respectively).
Finally, the Air Tran supervisor, Alma, figured out a way to process us onto the US airways flight with a trip interruption form and at 6:00pm walked us down to US Air. Guess who's back? The 'I'm on a break ' girl. First she tried to ignore us and then tried to insist that she didn't know how to process it but Alma, our hero from Air Tran, made her. When she printed up our boarding passes I noticed they said Row 25. Our reservation was in Row 10. When I pointed this out to her she said, And I swear this is true!, "Well you weren't here on time to check in so we gave your seats away". I have no idea what stopped me from leaping across the counter and strangling her to death. I'm sure no jury would have convicted me. Alma was so appalled at the way US air treated us that she said she was going to process four business upgrades for us on AirTran. She was so nice I didn't have the heart to point out that AirTran was being bought by Southwest who doesn't have business class. We hugged good bye and went off to security.
When we got on the plane we discovered that it was 3/4 empty and not only was row 10 open so was row 11-20. In fact the only rows not open were 22-25!
Glad to report we are all home safe and sound. No names have been changed in the telling of this story as there are no innocents to protect. Could someone please, please, buy US Airways and fire everyone who works there?

meeting sestak

I've been volunteering at the Sestak for Senate campaign off and on. A bit more off recently with the holidays but hopefully more on in the future. Today I got to spend a few hours handing out literature and stickers at an event in King of Prussia and was lucky enough to hear Admiral/Congressman Sestak speak.
He was terrific, well spoken, passionate but not shrill or overly polished, just a guy with no jacket, shirt sleeves rolled up, talking about his wish to make our country a better place. He spoke about Tikkun olam , the Jewish responsibility to repair the world and how that was the duty of all Americans. He said that his 31 years in the Navy made him not an ideologue but a problem solver and that he wanted to be not a politician but a public servant.
Later he passed me in the hall and I called out great speech. He stopped and said really, I just came from two veteran's funerals and felt bad I didn't get to mention that. I told him he came off very real and not to change his style at all. I got a big hug before he went off to the next meeting. Being the good jewish mother that I am I stopped his handler on my way out and gave him my bag of soft pretzels so they wouldn't be hungry. He said he would try and get him to eat.
The man who introduced him noted that Sestak's opponent, Toomey, represents some of the worse aspects of present day politics; the revolving door and the desire to eliminate any discussion or difference of opinion. After having worked on Wall Street Toomey then went to Congress to pass laws to end financial regulation and oversight of Wall Street. We all know how well that worked out. He also worked for a lobbying group whose main purpose was to eliminate any moderate voices in the Republican part, allowing the tea party to flourish. He said what people need to realize is that this is not your grandparents, or even your parents, Republican party. The Republican party has destroyed itself, giving up their ideas and beliefs and nothing seems to be left but fear and hate. The alternative to the Democratic party is no longer alternative ideas but is instead anger and divisiveness.

It felt great to give some of my time to such a great guy and hopefully have hugged the next Senator from Pennsylvania.
Want to learn more? Go to JoeSestak.com

colorado

Just back from an awesome trip to Colorado. Flew into Denver and spent the day wandering the city which was very nice and had some great restaurants. They managed to save all their old factories and have turned them into terrific looking loft apartments and bars and restaurants. In the middle of the city is the baseball stadium which looks great and really gives a city a nice vibrancy. Sorry ours isn't located in our downtown area. The next day we drove an hour away to Colorado Springs. Toured the air force academy which was really beautiful and huge. The cadets do their line up at lunch which was great fun to watch. There they were marching in perfect precision on two sides of a field when suddenly they starting screaming and running madly toward each other, flags and bayonets in hand. It looked like a scene from Braveheart or Robin Hood and we thought they had all gone mad and we were about to witness a carnage. However someone explained to us that the next day was the opening football game and this was their version of a pep rally. Then off to tour the Olympic training facility which was a bit dull unless you are an Olympic geek like me who gets ecstatic looking at the pool Michal Phelps swam in and the weights Apollo Ono lifted. Finished the day at the Garden of the Gods, a beautiful area of red rocks.
Left the next day at 9am for Rocky Mountain National Park,and spent till after 6pm that night driving and exploring. The park is amazing, mountains, trees, wildflowers, lakes. Denver is a mile high, 5280 feet above sea level and we went to over 12,000 feet in the park. At that level you are officially in the tundra eco system ( remember 5th grade?), above the treeline and the temp dropped to about 55 degrees. The road we took through the park is one of those winding edge of the cliff things and for some unfathomable reason has no guard rails. Not sure they would have helped with a 10,000 foot drop but still...I spent much of the ride leaning towards Ken as if my weight shift would prevent the car from crashing over the edge. We survived.
Near the end of the day we pulled over where some people were standing and wound up no more than an arm length away from a mother and baby moose. The were so close you could see how soft and velvety their fur was and look right into their eyes. It's easy to see how people forget and reach out and try to touch them. Not a good idea as a female is usually around 700 pounds. Then we all spotted the Dad maybe about 15 feet away laying down in the woods with an enormous set of antlers. ( Insert 'what a rack' joke here) We waited,along with 20 of our new friends and got the treat of a life time. He stood up and wandered into a clearing incredibly close to us where he proceeded to eat, scratch his massive antlers against a tree and make the most bizarre noises for over 30 minutes. I can't believe how lucky we were. Ken of course has it all on photo and video.
The next day we were headed back to Denver for 2 nights and decided to stop in Boulder along the way. We took a walking tour with a Univ of Boulder sociology professor who was so terrific and so enthusiastic that by the end we can cancelled our hotel in Denver and had hotel and dinner reservations in Boulder. We loved Boulder. It is really special place. An incredibly beautiful and walkable 'downtown' all perfectly maintained where no building is over 3 stories so you see the very blue sky and breathtaking mountains no matter where you go. Of course everyone is into hiking and biking and is very environmentally and health conscious which we kind of expected. The city is full of attractive and fit people. What we didn't expect was that the combination of the university and several federal research facilities has made Boulder a center of entrepreneurial activity and bought in amazing wealth in search of start up companies. The restaurants are expensive, with innovative and amazing food and 20 page wine lists and were filed with the kind of well dressed, sophisticated looking crowd you expect to find more on the east coast. Except everyone is wonderfully nice and friendly! The town has it all. We went to a farmers market, saw the Univ of Colorado stampede (a pep rally that marches through town before the big football game), took a walk along the foothills of the mountains, and shopped and ate! Did I forget to mention that Colorado has medical marijuana and Boulder seems to be its center? It's fascinating socially and legally and I'll put that in another post. But all good things must end, so we said our goodbyes to the mountains and the moose and headed home.