The Land of Turkmenbashi
Turkmenistan was like a dystopian Oz. My husband, an Uzbek American, and I had no words as we stepped out of the airport of As. My three children, Viki, Jon, and Aron were amazed by the sparkling white buildings and golden statues dedicated to the past dictator of Turkmenistan, Turkmenbashi, leader of all Turkmen. The wide boulevards with names dedicated to the great leader and his family were quiet an empty though we saw an elderly Turkemn women in a colorful dress sweeping dirt off of the marble stair leading to the golden statue of Turkmenbashi. We heard music in the distance and on the way to walking towards the music met up with our guide who told us of the greatness

Vietnamese Vampires
I had this nightmare two nights ago but cannot forget it because it was so different. I was with a group of American students in Vietnam. We were told to stay around the University where we were studying. We made friends with the local kids and had fun eating at local cafes. One boy we met was Vietnamese but he had a French last name. His great grandfather was a French colonist. Therefore he as always interested in Western culture and was excited to be our guide. e told us to stay near him, but one night we went out alone. Somehow a group of us got lost and we found an old building that looked like it might have been part of the university. We were scared and had no place to rest

Beware!!
I saw this chart on a blog entry defending FDR. I have seen this blog entry quoted before in other forums, etc. The problem that I have with it is that it is misleading. The lowest dip in U.S. Industrial Production was in 1932 not in 1933. The market hit bottom on July 2, 1932 a day after the new taxes passed by Hoover went into

Hoover: Truth in the Middle
I did more reading on Herbert Hoover finding him a very interesting man the more I read about him. Hoover was a good man who meant well. He had success dealing with disasters in the past working as head of Committee for the Relief in Belgium (1914-1917), U. S. Food Administration during WWI under Wilson, (he was the one who started the “wheatless Wednesdays, meatless Mondays, victory gardens and successfully made sure there was enough food for the troops without any government control), American RElief Administration after WWI. By 1920, he was famous and was asked to run for president as a Democrat. He stayed with the Republican Party and was Secretary of Commerce under President

The Hoover Myth
This is the official history—Roosevelt’s successors, Republicans Calvin Coolidge and Warren G. Harding, “wanted to have so little federal government that, if it closed down, nobody noticed, and the main place most people saw the federal government was at the post office and only there.” Roosevelt started the Public Works Program of 1933. WRONG– Harding might have SAID he was against government involvement but BEFORE the economic collapse of 1929 enacted a government program to help farmers. He was also for price and wage controls and st