The old rugged cross--a Michigan gospel song

The publication I use with my morning meditations is called "The Magnificat" and is Roman Catholic using a liturgical year theme. I enjoy it because of its excellent stories, history, scripture and art. I was surprised that the hymn for today was, "The old rugged Cross," by George Bennard published in 1913. I was baptized in the Church of the Brethren and since 1974 have been Lutheran (ALC, ELCA, NALC synods but all the same congregation). That gospel hymn in the 50s and 70s when my hymn books were published was not sung in our churches, although I'd always known it. So as often happens I got sidetracked and researched this hymn which was consistently named America's favorite gospel hymn in surveys between 1925 and 1960. After reading about it in my own sources, I switched to podcasts, and found this one by Randy Melchert and his interview about the Old Rugged Cross Church and Museum in Pocagon, Michigan. Some of these interviews have been on TV. Enjoy--this hymn has a very interesting background. And if you live in the mid-west, it looks like a great site for a trip.

https://www.vcy.tv/our-christian-heritage-with-randy-melchert/videos/the-old-rugged-cross-church-with-bob-molly-shafer

Josh Shapiro

We all know Democrats dumped Josh Shapiro for vice president because he is Jewish and they need Michigan, but when Trump calls him a "Jewish Governor" they get the vapors and the liberal media pile on. Democrats have abandoned the working class, Blacks, Catholics and Jews all in search of power and their Marxist policies. Don't be fooled.

Michigan has shamed the nation

Just as many young Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries grew up thinking Slavery was a natural right, so we've had 50 years of young Americans being told abortion is a "right." Michigan voters have failed the country by passing issue 3, abortion as a right. We must work harder. Al Kresta of Michigan reminds us that after completing his tenure as president in 1829, John Quincy Adams was elected to the House of Representatives. There, he served for the last 18 years of his life, waging war against slavery in a pro-slavery House. "Duty is ours, results are God's," he said. The House established the "gag rule" because he introduced 900 resolutions against slavery in one day! He fought slavery because it was the right thing to do. He didn't live to see success of his cause. Just as fighting abortion is the right thing to do regardless of how successful we are in the short term.

Benjamin Rush (one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence) said that on the final judgment day God will say to all those who belong to Him through a relationship with His Son Jesus, “Well done thou good and faithful — not good and successful — servant.”

Michigan governor silent about a white, elderly woman shot

An 84 year old woman has been shot in Michigan for being a "right wing nut," but Michigan's governor is only silent. But she's certain vocal about being a wing nut for abortion, saying "“Now is the time to use every tool in our toolbox to protect women and reproductive healthcare,” she tweeted after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, adding on another occasion, “Abortion is still legal in Michigan, and I’ll never stop fighting to keep it that way.” No wonder Richard Harvey who shot Joan Jacobson thought he'd help the governor out with her "tool box." That type of inflammatory language gets Republicans put in jail even if they weren't anywhere near a dust up or riot. Michigan’s Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Ms. VP Harris, Speaker Pelosi, California's Mad Maxine Waters and other Democrat high profile women spew political hate speech--not just hate for the unborn, but hate for those who are pro-life, pro-patriotism, pro-law and order, pro-border, pro-Trump, pro-sensible treatment for a pandemic, pro-fossil fuel, etc. 

Judge: Man Who Shot Elderly Pro-Life Woman Will Go To Trial (dailysignal.com)

Think before you vote--it's still taking a life no matter what Democrats call it

If you live in a state that is going for a constitutional amendment for abortion (like Michigan) think before you vote. Especially if you are pro-choice. The amendment goes much further than Roe, and that's one of the slogans--return to Roe. That's a lie. It removes your parental rights, it forces you to pay for them, it removes your right to conscience protection if you are a health worker, and in the extreme since it could allow a 14 year old to decide to abort, it could remove her protection of current age of consent laws. If she can decide abortion, why not sex with an adult man? Liberals/progressives, Democrats, humanists just lie about important issues. I don't know why, but you always need to dig down deep for the truth. They also play with words. On the ballot, it will not be clear in most cases. Investigate before you vote. It's abortion anytime, anyplace, any reason. That could mean no regulation of clinics, or it could mean sucking out the brain the day before the due date. Although on that last one, if it's legal, I suppose the baby doesn't need to be dead before delivery to avoid homicide charges.

"Calling it a “hodgepodge of nonsensical gibberish” and a “word salad” of “incomprehensible argle-bargle,” opponents of the measure say it is so riddled with typographical errors that state officials should strike it from the Nov. 8 ballot.

“The text of the amendment is filled with run-on words that are incomprehensible, making an already confusing amendment impossible to understand,” Christen Pollo, spokeswoman for Citizens to Support MI Women and Children, a coalition of pro-life groups opposed to the proposal, said Aug. 16.

“Amending the constitution is serious business” she added, “and these people didn’t take it seriously enough even to proofread their own language.”" Oops! Typo-filled Michigan abortion amendment could have used a proofreader | Catholic News Agency

For those poorly catechized Christians who believe the liberals' lie that Jesus didn't address abortion, a common event in first century middle east, keep in mind what both the OT and NT says about taking care of the poor, weak and hungry. You can't find a better definition of a pre-birth baby.

Bad stuff in Fulton County, Georgia and in Michigan and Arizona

 MAJOR SCANDAL BREWING: 'Just the News' Investigation Finds More than 100 Batches of Absentee Ballots in Fulton County Could Be Missing (thegatewaypundit.com)

https://americasvoice.news/video/panRMiFEBJjrmeL

Georgia investigator's notes reveal 'massive' election integrity problems in Atlanta | Just The News

Georgia audit documents expose significant election failures in state’s largest county. Records suggest more than 100 batches of absentee ballots in Fulton County could be missing. | Just The News

Over 7,000 affidavits delivered to Michigan lawmakers claim election fraud | Just The News

Hundreds of people concerned about the integrity of the Nov. 2020 election gathered outside the Michigan Capitol Thursday to protest and deliver roughly 7,000 affidavits claiming fraud and demanding a forensic audit.

Mike Huckabee said in his newsletter of June 18, "Let’s go to Maricopa County, Arizona, where the forensic examination phase of that audit is going on, with the end of this month being the target for completion. CNN reported that ballots are being trucked to a lab in Montana for analysis and showed aerial video of the remote, private land it allegedly was on. “Is this the secure, private laboratory?” CNN’s Gary Tuchman asked. “Is Arizona voting data inside that cabin? We just don’t know –- but it could be.”

According to Ken Bennett, spokesman for the audit, the voting system data is being reviewed by subcontractor CyFIR. He says he doesn’t know where this lab is, which is causing CNN to report it as a big secret and to imply that the data might be non-secure and compromised in some way. They say CyFIR CEO Ben Cotton has taken data from Arizona to Montana. But Bennett speaks more precisely, saying Cotton has a COPY of the data created by Dominion from the hard drives and servers that Maricopa County used in the election. “The original data was left completely intact,” Bennett says. https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/arizona-audit-data-taken-secret-lab-rural-montana-analysis

Trump supporters are threatened

Cynthia Johnson, a Michigan politician, is threaten Trump voters, and urging the military to take them out.  Weren’t women supposed to bring something good to politics?

https://youtu.be/0xKyYX93Rck

Trump haters lose again

Great success for hydroxychloroquine study in Michigan. "Patients with a median age of 64 were among those analyzed, with 51% men and 56% African American. Roughly 82% of the patients began receiving hydroxychloroquine within 24 hours and 91% within 48 hours, a factor Dr. Marcus Zervos identified as a potential key to the medication’s success."

I don't know why Trump haters wanted people to die. And this one has been around for years and is inexpensive.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/07/02/michigan-henry-ford-health-study-finds-hydroxychloroquine-lowers-covid-19-death-rate/5365090002/?

Compare the costs of Remdesivir (about $3,120) to Hydroxychloroquine (about $1.00).

People are waiting too long for medical help

Here's how the virus kills--fear. In Michigan, 62% of the ambulance runs were too late--people feared Covid19 at the hospital. Stroke and cardiac coming in much too late.
(figure from radio report, but this article confirms)

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/05/05/er-visits-plummet-amid-pandemic-we-know-more-people-dying-home/3067993001/

Michigan Boosts Power to Intervene in Cities - WSJ.com

"DETROIT—Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law a measure that broadens state powers to intervene in the finances and governance of struggling municipalities and school districts, giving these local bodies a stronger hand in renegotiating labor contracts.

The law also requires local government to send financial projections to Lansing, the capital, which could lead to the state stepping in earlier in hopes of averting a crisis."

Michigan Boosts Power to Intervene in Cities - WSJ.com

Democrats are of course objecting. Public employees have 3 forms of representation--their unions, their Democrats, and their elected representatives. The people who pay their salaries and benefits have only elected representatives, who need to be very, very strong.

Friday Family Photo--Niagara Falls 1963

Yesterday there was a review in USAToday of a debut historical novel by a Canadian that's had some good reviews, The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan, although what interested this reviewer the least, the historical and scientific aspects of the Falls, would probably interest me the most.

The other day while looking through some photos to use as painting references, I came across a fat envelope of black and whites that had never been put in an album, nor identified. I remember the trip well. First we drove from Champaign Urbana to Kalamazoo to my brother's wedding, then on to Detroit, to Niagara Falls then into Canada, down through New York state, and to our final destination, New York City. It's a huge stack of photos from my husband's Boy Scout box camera mostly of the weird 1960s contemporary architecture and canyons of streets and the skyline of New York (without the twin towers of WTC which opened a decade later). I don't think there were any photos of the wedding, although those might be in an album, because I do have some of baby brother and beautiful bride. If I wrench the camera out of his hot hands, we might get a photo or two of people, but usually, we have mounds of photos of buildings--with many left over as unusable that are never thrown away. If there are photos of us together, someone has probably sent us a photo. But I did find two--this one of me standing in front of the Falls (I probably just stepped up) and one of me in a canopied I.M. Pei building in Detroit.

This trip was miserable for me. Our only child Stanley had died a few months before, I think I was crying every night in strange motel rooms and was not impressed with the scenery, the buildings, or the history. That's not a hump on my back--I'd lost so much weight that my clothes didn't fit. I couldn't wait to get home. It may sound odd, but seeing new sights and places is even more a reminder of the loss than being around the familiar ("I say, "There is no memory of him here!"/ And so stand stricken, so remembering him!" St. Vincent Millay). I probably sulked most of the trip and wasn't a good companion for my wonderful tour guide. And it's still hard to get people in his photographs 46 years later.

We visited Niagara Falls again in 2004 on a group tour with other architecture devotees (we do Frank Lloyd Wright and anyone or thing else interesting along the way). There have been so many tall buildings (casinos and hotels, I think) built along the river that it has changed air currents, and the Falls seems to be in a perpetual fog that doesn't lift. It was terribly commercial in 1963, and even more so in 2004. But still magnificent and impressive.

What are they drinking in Michigan?

Water directly from the Great Lakes? Unfiltered or non-purified? First John Dingell likens his constituents who came to the townhalls to the KKK, concerned loyal Americans who see Obama's grab for a huge sector of the economy and the pending loss of their medical choices, and now Debbie Stabenow (or Stabemlater perhaps) thinks turbulence when she flies is due to global warming. How do these people get elected year after year? Only Democrats know.

Via Morning Bell: In an interview with the Detroit News, Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow said, "Climate change is very real. Global warming creates volatility and I feel it when I’m flying. The storms are more volatile."

Thousands of feet of the Wisconsin ice sheet that once covered more than half of the North American Continent including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and down into Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio weren't melted by the hot air of Democrats plugging global warming, but I'll bet it could have been.

Sharia Law in the U.S. (Michigan)

A group of Americans at an Arab festival are assaulted, even though the booth invited them to ask questions after they were handed a pamphlet about Islam. They had already cleared their right to have a camera with the local police, but goons wearing "security" shirts assaulted them. Lessons from the Obamacare goons? Seems Islam is not quite so "peaceful" if you can't even ask a few questions when invited.



HT Bev

And now for an alternative view, the intention of the founders and promoters of the festival.

The Michigan Townhalls

This morning I've been listening to a Detroit local talk show (WJR), Frank Beckman, and the discussion is the various townhall formats held by Michigan representatives, Thaddeus McCotter (R) and John Dingell (D). McCotter really sounded more concerned about disruptions than hearing out his constituency. If I were a Republican living in his district, I'd give him the boot just based on the interview I heard this morning. And of course, being from Michigan he loves the cash for clunkers program, even though the sales seem to be helping the foreign car dealers more. (It's really a hurt-the-poor, green-go plan in my opinion, not a stimulus bill.) McCotter decided on a telephone townhall--wimp out. Dingell actually appeared at one, but apparently was more interested in listening to himself rather than the people who showed up. One woman caller said the only organized group she saw at the townhall were the pro-ObamaCare, Dingell people, and everyone else was polite and patient, with the exception of one man whose child had CP, and he was very concerned about losing his private insurance. Dingell was evasive, and noted that an amendment had been added to cover his situation. It was obvious to the callers to the show, and the host, that the bill has many modifications since they first tried to ram it through--so what's the rush? Why, if a very small percentage of poor AMERICANS, do not currently have insurance (they all have access), what's the rush?

This has been answered many times, in many ways by Democrats, from Obama on down through his former Clinton staffers who remember what happened in the 90s when people had an opportunity for input.

"Ram it,
jam it,
scam it,
don't let'em slam it
while the President's numbers
are high.
Of course, Obama's numbers are falling fast as Americans smell another high priced clunker like cap and trade rattling down the Obama pot hole scarred, torn up, out of date road to socialism which will continue to eat away at the prosperity of the middle-class.

Dr. Donald Palmisano of Protect Patient Rights and formerly head of the AMA was also interviewed. Maybe "Anonymous" True Believer in Obama needs to go to that web site, instead of this one?

Michigan needs more than a CYA speech

Up here where I get different radio stations and newspapers, folks have buyer's remorse big time. Even union members. Yes, folks, they can figure out that happens to water (Great Lakes leisure industry) in the north, and coal in the south, when cap and trade and green-goes put them out of work. There aren't enough green jobs in the world to replace what petroleum has contributed to jobs in Michigan and Ohio. He flies around the world giving purty speeches defending his socialist/marxist programs that can only be put in place if the economy remains in the pits. There are still those around who think he's a good speaker (I never have except for that very first one at the Democratic convention, and even that was a retread of his Illinois senate campaign speeches), but now would be the time for action if he had any intention of saving this country--and he doesn't.

President Barack Obama travels to Macomb Community College in Michigan today where he will unveil $12 billion in aid to the nation’s community colleges. According to Politico, the President’s message will be that “in a competitive global economy, the country’s economic viability depends upon the education and skills of its workers, who will increasingly need to have college experience.” True enough, but who exactly does the President believe will be hiring all of these workers?

The unemployment rate in Michigan is more than 14% and the state is projected to lose more than 310,000 jobs in 2009. A recent study by the Kaufman Foundation found that small businesses have led America out of its last seven recessions generating about two of every three new jobs during a recovery. Unfortunately the President’s top domestic priorities are set to cut off small business growth at the knees." Continue reading at Morning Bell, July 14, 2009

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick

At our home on Lake Erie this summer, it seemed all we heard about was Mayor Kilpatrick. Folks, this wasn't just about sex, as you might read in an AP story.

"Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to two felony counts of obstruction of justice on Thursday morning. Kilpatrick will forfeit his office and serve 120 days in jail, ending a scandal that began when the Detroit Free Press published raunchy text messages between Kilpatrick and his ex-chief of staff. Messages proving that, in spite of Kilpatrick's testimony during a civil lawsuit, the pair had, in fact, been knocking boots.

As much as Detroiters are relieved to be rid of their lubricious, dissembling mayor, Barack Obama has to be even more relieved." Story

Was it only this past May Obama was in Detroit seeking support of this super delegate?

OBAMA: So I want to first of all acknowledge your great mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, who has been...(APPLAUSE)
... on the frontlines -- has been on the frontlines doing an outstanding job of gathering together the leadership at every level in Detroit to bring about the kind of renaissance that all of us anticipate for this great city.

And he is a leader not just here in Detroit, not just in Michigan, but all across the country. People look to him. We know that he is going to be doing astounding things for many years to come.

And so I'm grateful to call him a friend and a colleague. And I'm looking forward to a lengthy collaboration in terms of making sure that Detroit does well in the future." Obama speech in Detroit in May, Right Michigan

If your city were dying?

The Forbes top ten list of dying cities includes four in Ohio and two in Michigan. The first half of the decade, they were growing and the unemployment rate was extremely low. Since the mortgage melt down and the high gas prices, these cities, all linked to automotive jobs, have suffered not only job loss, but population loss. If they were your city and you the mayor, you probably wouldn't discourage business by promising them a "windfall profit tax," would you? If there was an oil, natural gas or coal cache in your city park, you'd most likely vote to drill, aesthetics be damned. All politics are local and you'd be out of a job by special election if you acted so stupid. But Obama wants to put the whole nation on that list. Drive out the successful energy companies, the folks who will also invest in alternative technologies, because they make too much money (i.e., they are too successful) and because you are beholden up to your unusual ears to the e-fundie-mentalists. Forbid the one effort that will ease the gasoline crisis and restore businesses and workers that depend on it. Dear Readers, and those of you like Sununu who skip the good parts, don't believe for a minute the nonsense about the number of years it takes. Ask any speculator how fast the prices would fall if drilling next week in ANWR were announced. Not a drop would need to flow before you'd see the pump price dip to reasonable. Barack Obama is so committed to weakening the economy so it will be "fair" for everyone, he can't be truthful about how far down his plan will bring us.

Ohio Update: Four boys and one girl were born in Toledo hospitals Friday and Saturday, all apparently to married parents, going by the names. Congratulations to these new parents who are giving their little ones a good start. There are no guarantees, of course, but children of married parents have a much better chance of NOT growing up in poverty.

Jill and Timothy Thuston, Maumee, boy, Saturday.
Sandra and Edward House, Toledo, boy, Saturday.
Amy and Larry Ward, Sylvania, boy, Saturday.
Bonita and Dwayne Moreheard, Toledo, boy, Saturday.
Megan and Tray Boze, Toledo, girl, Friday.

Highway fatalities down

Ohio had six; Michigan three fatalities over the Memorial Day week-end. Lowest in 38 years. I would say a higher price at the gas pump was worth saving a few lives, wouldn't you? Maybe it was yours--or mine. It was hard for us to judge the traffic since we left on Thursday and came back Monday morning. We saw almost no one on Monday, and even getting stopped for a parade in a small town, we made the best time I can remember. But also we got 24 mpg, about 2 more than usual. I was listening to John Corby (610 a.m.) on Tuesday and one of his callers, a driver of a Volvo, said he got 29 mpg instead of his usual 24 by driving 65. Exceeding 60 mph hurts your car's fuel economy and makes you a more dangerous driver. EPA says each 5 mph you drive over 60 is like paying an additional $.20 per gallon.

Slow down. The money and life you save may be your own. Also, just for nostalgia, pretend it's the 70s and turn off your cell phone. That's dangerous, too.

Desperate and dateless in Michigan

Let's see. A failing economy. High unemployment. Tax increases. And a female leader at the wheel. That's the formula Republicans should be pointing out in Michigan, but they won't. They're giving the same happy talk you hear from Democrats! Jennifer Granholm, Michigan’s Democratic governor, just keeps doing more of the same. A real 1960s-1970s sort of gal (although I have no idea how old she is.) Tax her way out of the highest unemployment rate in the country; chase away the population that still earns money; cater to the unions. Is this the "change" the Dems keep talking about for the national level.

They always win in Michigan:

1992 Clinton
1996 Clinton
2000 Gore
2004 Kerry

Why bother? They just don't get it up north.

4103

A delightful group of young people

Christiane Anampour couldn't grasp the difference between women who dress modestly and radical muslims who force women to wear burkas and keep women out of school in her program on CNN, but the community of Saline, Michigan gets it. Last week at Lakeside we enjoyed a program of fiddlers from the high school in Saline (also included guitarists and cellists). The girls all wore swingy, fashionable skirts and collared shirts, and the boys wore neatly fitted jeans and collared shirts. No one was over weight or anorexic; no one was tattooed; no one had nose or eyebrow studs; no one wore too much make-up. What a fabulous group of young people, and Michigan should be proud.

Now in their 14th year, "The Saline Fiddlers represent the positive side of today's youth while reflecting the rural traditions of Saline and ultimately the country. The performers, all students at Saline High School, earn their places through competitive auditions based on musical ability and personal integrity. Each Fiddler balances academics, sports, school organizations, church activities, jobs and social lives with this demanding commitment to music."