Ahab and Jezebel. Who’s the better comparison?

Hillary Clinton at the Cummings memorial on Friday compared our president and FLOTUS to Jezebel and Ahab, another power couple of the ancient Jewish scriptures. They've been used in the past to describe Bill and Hillary Clinton--perhaps she was aware of that book.

"Throughout his 2017 best-seller “The Paradigm: The Ancient Blueprint That Holds the Mystery of Our Times,” Jonathan Cahn explains how ancient paradigms have predicted political outcomes like Donald Trump’s presidential victory and Hillary Clinton’s defeat years before they happened.

Clinton said, "Like the prophet, our Elijah [Cummings] could call down fire from heaven, but he also prayed and worked for healing." "He weathered storms and earthquakes but never lost his faith. Like that Old Testament prophet, he stood against corrupt leadership of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel."

In "The Paradigm," Cahn made several parallels to both Hillary and Bill Clinton in relation to Queen Jezebel and King Ahab.

Queen Jezebel was raised under the worship of the goddess Ashtoreth and thus was an advocate of female power. She also championed Baal Worship involving the offering of children. Hillary Clinton has been considered a lifelong advocate of feminism for quite some time and was voted the chief advocate of abortion by Planned Parenthood – a lifelong issue for her.

Queen Jezebel worked with her husband Ahab to overturn traditional conservative values. King Ahab reigned in government and on the public stage for a period spanning 22 years. Hillary Clinton has been working with her husband Bill to overturn traditional conservative values for years. Bill Clinton also presided in government and on the public stage for 22 years from 1979 to 2001.

Finally, the reign of Ahab and Jezebel was marked by personal scandals. Specifically, the fall of Ahab was linked to the tribe of Levi. Similarly, the reign of Bill and Hillary Clinton was also marked by the Whitewater controversy and the Lewinsky scandal. The fall of Bill Clinton was linked to the Lewinsky – translated to ‘Levi’ in Hebrew – scandal."

No, I'm no O.T. scholar. This showed up in my e-mail from Cahn's PR company. I just thought it interesting that Bill and Hillary are a much closer match for Ahab and Jezebel as a power couple, than Donald and Melania.

Bush 41, 1992, and thoughts

I never voted for GHW Bush because I was a Democrat then and apolitical. Clueless on campus described me, even though all my values were the same then as now. I was pro-life, pro-capitalism, pro-America.  However, I remember telling my Republican friends in 1992 that they had elected Bill Clinton by voting for the 3rd party candidate Ross Perot who got 19% of the vote. You do have to wonder how different the executive office might be today, and the world, if Bush 41 had had 2 terms.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda is useless, but it's still a good reminder that Republicans don't work together for a distant goal the way the Democrats do. Think of McCain and Flake--completely defying the people who elected them--Republicans; thus we still have Obamacare and stymied court appointments even thought we have a Republican president. Right now, the Democrats' goal is some sort of socialist globalism. It may look like they only have name calling and bullying and no policy, but they are very well organized and have many non-profits and billionaires funding those goals.

How the Clintons became so wealthy and powerful

An article from 2015 reminds us of how the Clintons became fabulously wealthy--and powerful. "Clinton Foundation has basically been a foreign money-laundering operation. The scheme works like this: collect millions of dollars in foreign money, dump it into a foreign charity, pretend that the law prohibits you from ever disclosing the identities of those foreign donors to the foreign charity, then have the foreign charity bundle all the cash and send it to the Clinton Foundation. Then, when the time comes–whether it be a Clinton Foundation conference or a lavish Clinton Foundation trip overseas–make sure those individuals get some me-time with the Clintons."

http://thefederalist.com/2015/04/29/is-the-clinton-foundation-just-an-international-money-laundering-scheme/?  Good links.

Let's blame Trump

Remember when Bill Clinton . . .

Will Gennifer Flowers be at the debate--I doubt it

Diane Blair was Hillary Clinton's closest friend and confidant who died in 2000. Her papers, diaries, interviews, memos and notes were released a few years ago, and I think the Main Stream Media ignored them until recently when I saw a glam photo essay in Washington Post of fancy ball gowns, big smiles and happy background music. Ms. Blair's archives included the name Gennifer Flowers, who has recently popped up as a possible invite to the debate. Notice how her aides (including Loretta Lynch) intend to deal with Flowers: expose her as a fraud, liar and possible criminal. A Clintonian knee capping. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

"The Clinton camp found itself dealing with Bill Clinton’s infidelity early on. In a confidential Feb. 16, 1992, memo entitled “Possible Investigation Needs,” Clinton campaign staff proposed ways to suppress and discredit stories about the then-Arkansas governor’s affairs.

Campaign operatives Loretta Lynch and Nancy McFadden wrote the memo, addressed to campaign manager David Wilhelm.

The first item on the itinerary discussed “GF,” a reference to Gennifer Flowers, the actress and adult model who had recently disclosed her 12-year affair with Bill Clinton.

“Exposing GF: completely as a fraud, liar and possible criminal to stop this story and related stories, prevent future non-related stories and expose press inaction and manipulation,” said the memo.

In 1998 Bill Clinton admitted he had had a sexual relationship with Flowers."(Washington Free Beacon)

 http://freebeacon.com/politics/the-hillary-papers/

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/02/10/the-four-most-notable-nuggets-from-the-hillary-papers/

 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/us/politics/clinton-scandal-of-90s-resurfaces-with-papers.html?_r=0

Downsizing for seniors

Everyone I know has this problem.  Stuff.  Except maybe my cousin.  She moves too often to accumulate much. Today I stopped at Half-Price Books and bought. . . are you ready for this. . . .Bill and Hillary paper dolls.  At $2.00 it was such a bargain.  I also bought yet another How to draw book.  We must have at least 5.  If books could tell you how to draw or paint, I'd be a famous artist.

We actually thought we were downsizing when we bought this condo in 2001.  And we were, sort of. The problem is it actually has an attic over the garage and storage space in the basement, two storage areas we didn't have in our home on Abington.

Here's advice from AARP on what to get rid of.

Know anyone who collects paper dolls?

Ten, twenty, thirty and forty years of presidential popularity polls

An interesting look back through the polls. 10 years ago, Americans were clearly disenchanted with the Iraq War (supported by both parties originally) and GW Bush's approval was at 49%; 20 years ago, Americans were unhappy that Hillary had tried to take over healthcare, and President Clinton with approval ratings close to Obama's now signed the toughest anti-crime bill which probably accounts in part for a 20 year drop in gun violence; 30 years ago the U.S. was recovering from a recession and unemployment was still a major concern, and Reagan's approval rating was recovering at 55% but had been as low as 35%; 40 years ago Nixon resigned because of a cover up of a scandal (just one!) and his approval rating had been as low as 24%, which was still higher than Harry Truman's in the early 1950s. (Gallup.com June 6, 2014)

Madoff, Dreier and Blagojevich

Marc Dreier, the big spender and power hungry lawyer, has losses alleged to be $380 million plus a bunch of staff and partners wondering where their next paycheck is coming from (jail?), and the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme could be $50 billion, an amount hard to hide, so Rod Blogojevich trying to weasel a paltry $500,000 and a job for his wife looks like small potatoes doesn't it? Plus, the outrageous other stories make Obama a charmed politician again--pushed the criminal activity of the Illinois governor right off the front page. But then, Obama hardly knew him. Helped with his campaign, his staff talked to him recently, but really, he's absolutely clean. All the media say so. And look how they sniffed out all those other stories of corruption! Yah! So much for investigative reporting.

Really, I've never been so discouraged or dispirited with both our government and our greedy, power hungry movers and shakers. It's hard to say which is more corrupt. Who do you trust these days? Certainly not George Bush who has allowed the government to slide into socialism using the economy as an excuse--after he became the all time big spender; and certainly not Barack Obama who will finish the job with his marxist buddies; and not an ex-president who took millions from foreign interests who hope his wife will stroke them; and not scummy Wall Street CEOs buying art collections and mansions, and not the inept union bosses; and not an ex-vice president in business with Hank Paulson to sell phony carbon credits; and not the people we elected who promised so much and then threw it all away; and not the regulators they appointed and hired to see that everything was done right and then didn't notice a thing was wrong despite a ballooning staff and budget. . .

I think we all, especially me, need to apologize to the welfare cheats and illegal, criminal aliens who have been stealing from us for the past 20-30 years. To all the lazy bums we've griped about, my sincere apology. Yes, you screwed up, but you didn't reach for the stars, didn't set high enough goals in your petty crimes. Some of you went to jail, and Dreier and Madoff are out walking around, or on "house arrest." Is that fair? I wish now you were the only crooks we needed to worry about. These small time criminals have allowed our prejudices toward the poor and stupid to take our eye off the rich and smart crooks. I think I can even say the little guy had limited options. But what do you say about the guys who went to Harvard and Yale, who cheated the friends and charities and staff who trusted them, who sat in the pew or synagogue when not jetting around the world, who threw lavish parties, and moved in all the right social circles, who sold the voters down the river, and partied and parceled out the pork 'til they couldn't hold any more?

List of Madoff's Clients, NYT

4569

Pay day loans--more guilt from the rich

“The American dream is founded on the belief that people who work hard and play by the rules will be able to earn a good living, raise a family in comfort and retire with dignity.”

How many times have you seen a version of this? The latest was January 24, and the authors were Bill Clinton (a very rich man demanding thousands for his personal appearances who struggled to the top from nothing) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (also extremely rich who came to this country from Austria, also with nothing, and who married a Kennedy).

President Clinton's dream: play hard, hardly work, don’t follow rules for a good life--or any rules, don’t support my idea of what constitutes a family, live way above the level I would define as comfortable, and refuse to retire with dignity, running around trying for a 3rd term, embarrassing the country and his wife. President Clinton lives a different dream, and tries to pass it off as ours; but it's certainly our nightmare.

Now Clinton and the Governor of California think short term loans are THE problem for the poor. Lack of access to some things we middle class take for granted may be a problem for some--but the poor also don't use the interstates, suburban libraries, private jets or farm subsidies. That's not why they are poor (women who don't marry the father of their children are a major cause of poverty in the USA) and these quick-serve loans serve many outside Clinton's target. There is no shortage of BMWs, Mercedes and Cadillacs in front of pawn shops and loan stores. Some people do not use bank services for very pragmatic, personal reasons--hiding assets, living on the edge, gambling debts and bad money management, to name just a few. There is also no shortage of private and government agencies already set up to assist the poor who want to break out of this bind (see CFED, for example, which has a 25 year record).

A socialist/progressive’s version of the American dream includes the above, but inserts a phrase about the gap between groups and leveling differences. We have a marriage gap, not an income gap. Male heads of household have net assets of $82,400 compared to a woman head of household's $48,500. Hello! He's married; she isn't. If liberals really care about poor children, they would encourage marriage.

No article on poverty these days talks about housing, food or automobiles because the American poor have those--it’s only about inequality, the gap between classes. We import poor to use our services. They are called illegal immigrants. Then the Conservatives say the American dream has died because government regulations, taxes and labor unions have destroyed initiative, steal from the people who work hard, and ship jobs overseas.

The term “American dream,“ first appeared in a book written (according to Wikipedia) by James Truslow Adams entitled The Epic of America (1931).

"If, as I have said, the things already listed were all we had to contribute, America would have made no distinctive and unique gift to mankind. But there has been also the American dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement." [p. 404]

Martin Luther King, Jr. said the substance of the American dream could be found in the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by God, Creator, with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." Today's liberals think that Happiness is the right. That "no gap" is the right. MLK said “The American dream reminds us that every man is an heir of the legacy of dignity and worth.” It’s a long way from Adam’s and King’s dream to a poor man’s store front payday loans and an even longer road from that to a foundation being set up to shelter a rich man's money.

Clinton’s article says poor working people are paying $40 to payday lenders and pawn shops to cash their checks. He wants to put a stop to this by opening up more banking opportunities (with money from his foundation). Wasn't it about 3 years ago that all the social, economic and political wisdom colluded to encourage poor people, including immigrants with false documents, to buy homes without investing anything, because owning real estate was supposed to be part of "the American dream?" We now call that dream the subprime nightmare. Now Clinton thinks the money not spent on payday loans will be invested in the stock market. Wow. That’s a huge stretch even for Bill--but doesn't it have a nice capitalistic ring to offset his socialist wife taking over healthcare? Then after we get them paying checking account fees, let’s issue them credit cards, "another day older and deeper in debt."

WalMart probably charges under $5 for the same service. But Democrats don’t like WalMart because it is successful, the real American dream. Some city councils and zoning boards work very hard to keep them from building in their jurisdiction especially if they provide jobs and services for low income people--like inexpensive clothing and appliances and banking services. Some states have passed special laws to keep WalMart out of the banking business.

I'm sure glad I'm not rich. I don't think I could carry around all that load of guilt--and BS.

The intolerant left

Arthur C. Brooks has an article in the WSJ today titled, "The intolerance of the left." For absolute hatred, scorn and intolerance of leaders, candidates and beliefs, the left is way over the edge.

Comparing the hysteria of right wing pundits in 1998 for President Clinton, on a temperature scale where zero was freezing, Gore and Clinton got the lowest score from 28% of the right wingers for an average temperature of 45. Bush-Chaney got an average temperature of 15 and 60% of the left have them a zero. More lefties would support Saddam Hussein than Bush, and routinely compare him to Hitler.

This week I heard a Christian woman say she was really torn by the Biblical command to pray for our leaders because she hoped Bush would be assassinated in his latest mideast trip. Need I suggest which political party she belongs to?

I said I didn't support Hillary Clinton for President, but if that was the nation's choice, I would certainly be on my knees every night (and not in a Monica way) in prayer for her and the nation! So when you hear liberal pols or preachers bemoaning how intolerant and hostile our politicians or public square have become, nod your head. It's true, especially of the liberal you're probably listening to.

Thursday Thirteen

A week ago we returned from a fabulous trip to Ireland, the ancestral home of about 45 million North Americans. Here's a few of the things I saw in Ireland that were new, unfamiliar, or unexpected.

1. Laundry drying on the clothes lines--rural and urban communities both. In many U.S. neighborhoods this is against zoning or neighborhood regulations. You don't realize it has disappeared until you travel where it is common.

2. Unusually large windows, even in modest homes--there used to be a "window tax" in Ireland, but they're over that now! Glass enclosed entry ways for front doors of homes and town houses so the house can be open but not exposed to the weather.

3. Very strict no-smoking rules. Fines for public places could be over 3,000 euros (over $4,000).

4. More auburn and red-haired people in one location than I'd ever seen in my life, and I married a red head. Even so, most are brunette with very pale skin and light eyes. Recent DNA testing show the Irish are probably not Celtic at all, but descended from an area of Spain from which they migrated after the last glaciers melted in Ireland (earlier global warming). When the Celts arrived from Europe, the native Irish absorbed them and took over their culture.

5. Dark skinned, head covered nannies pushing prams of chubby, pale Irish babies on cobble stone and brick walks. The Celtic Tiger has spawned 2 income couples with few or no children.

6. Immigrants from many countries--Eastern Europe, Africa, middle east, far east, Pacific islands, even the U.K. and Germany. They were working primarily in the tourist industry (I'm guessing strict unions keep them out of the skilled trades), so that's who the tourist from America sees. Looks just like home!

7. More Mercedes and BMWs than I've ever seen in Central Ohio, even in our wealthiest suburb, Dublin. However, there are one-car garages attached to the most upscale, newest, elaborate homes. There might be 4 or 5 luxury cars in the drive-way, but the building space is being used for the house, not the automobile. A welcome change from our pattern where the garages often dwarf the main house and the cars are still in the drive-way.

8. Platters of food with mashed potatoes hiding under the fish, and roast potatoes mixed with either parsnips or rutabagas on the side.

9. The most beautiful large, healthy grass-fed animals I've ever seen--the soil is very thin and rocky but extremely nutritious. Pastures are ribboned in stone fences, with cattle lying down, calves frolicking, and horses grazing.

10. Brightly painted stucco homes of yellow, maroon, blue and red in the city and white stucco houses on the farms. An artist's dream (except for the barns which aren't very attractive) when found on curving streets and gentle hillsides. Our Midwestern climate has such extremes that stucco is not a good finish building material--Ireland's climate is very mild with few extremes.

11. Public toilets in Ireland are very clean and modern with ample t.p., but with the same long lines for women as we have in the states. Separate spigots for hot and cold in the sink; every toilet is water-saving, which means you flush 2 or 3 times. Yes, Ireland like all the EU is very "green."

12. Very exotic landscaping. Some yards looked like postcards from Florida or Hawaii. Fabulous flowers, especially roses.

13. Bill Clinton is Ireland's newest saint. He is revered everywhere for helping to broker the current peace in the North. That achievement abroad and welfare reform at home (forced on him by the Republican Congress in the 90s) should be enough legacy for any 2-term President, without the need to be First Laddie, and we can all be proud.