Obama then, Obama now

Will the real Obama please stand up? Is it the guy on the campaign trail without the teleprompter, or the one who spoke to us last night looking at the words on a giant TV screen (who is the guy at the keyboard behind the screen telling him what to say)? On the campaign trail, he promised to spike our energy costs, promised to destroy Ohio's coal industry by making "retrofitting" so expensive no one would stay in the business. Then last night, he says the "new energy prices" can't be a shock to the consumer. It's called a tax, whether you think it's that or not. Oh yeah!

“These undisputed, audio-taped remarks, which include comments from Senator Obama like ‘I haven’t been some coal booster’ and ‘if they want to build [coal plants], they can, but it will bankrupt them’ are extraordinarily misguided.

“It’s evident that this campaign has been pandering in states like Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana and Pennsylvania to attempt to generate votes from coal supporters, while keeping his true agenda hidden from the state’s voters.

“Senator Obama has revealed himself to be nothing more than a short-sighted, inexperienced politician willing to say anything to get a vote. But today, the nation’s coal industry and those who support it have a better understanding of his true mission, to ‘bankrupt’ our industry, put tens of thousands out of work and cause unprecedented increases in electricity prices.

“In addition to providing an affordable, reliable source of low-cost electricity, domestic coal holds the key to our nation’s long-term energy security - a goal that cannot be overlooked during this time of international instability and economic uncertainty.

“Few policy areas are more important to our economic future than energy issues. As voters head to the polls tomorrow, it is essential they remember that access to reliable, affordable, domestic energy supplies is essential to economic growth and stability.” Mike Carey

Is the real Obama the guy who claimed to be a Christian on the campaign trail, and is now going to punish those who make the majority of charitable contributions in this country? Liberals outnumber Conservatives, but they are pikers at the collection plate. Look at Biden's record. Look at Obama's before he decided to run for President and one of his savvy aides noticed he was a cheapskate.


Biden's charitable donations by % of income. Of course, they didn't mind accepting money from AIG for their campaigns.

Updating my trip log

I'm still writing about our Holy Land Cruise in early March, but it's dated March 18 so I can keep it all together, consequently it doesn't appear at the top of the blog. Here's our first day in Israel.

That's me by the fence.

The Obamacons

No, Barack Obama is not to blame for the years and years of marxists and socialists with which we have peopled our Congress [beginning in the 1920s], but he has given them permission to act like fools. First, he appointed a tax cheat as Secretary of Treasury, Timothy Geithner, who skipped ethics class and church, to lead us out of a mess created by years and years of government tampering with the economy to the tune of trillions and trillions in bad paper. Second, by having zip-nada-zilch business experience and being the titlular head of ACORN, President Obama helped create the mob mentality in Congress and in front of the AIG execs' homes, the very people the Obamacons hired to get us out of the mess. Creating and inciting mobs to violence (someone had to pay for the bus, the meals, the driver, the "community organizer" to gather them up from street corners and bars) is resorting to the old USSR and Chi-Com tactics of decades past. Worked then, why not today?

In today's WSJ, Hernando de Soto says something very important about contracts--something so key to this trumped up AIG bonus frenzy, he probably didn't even realize it, since I don't think he's that sympathetic to capitalists, and writes about the disparity between the poor and wealthy.

"Ever since humans started trading, lending and investing beyond the confines of the family and the tribe, we have depended on legally authenticated written statements to get the facts about things of value. Over the past 200 years, that legal authority has matured into a global consensus on the procedures, standards and principles required to document facts in a way that everyone can easily understand and trust.

The result is a formidable property system with rules and recording mechanisms that fix on paper the facts that allow us to hold, transfer, transform and use everything we own, from stocks to screenplays." WSJ article

What he left out is that Congress has violated this long tradition of honoring a contract. Everyone (at least on their staff) from Obama on down through the newest elected Representative, like Mary Jo Kilroy from Ohio, knew that the people getting the "bonus" (i.e. a salary due at the end of a service) were not the people who ran AIG into the ground. They were the people hired to fix the mess. Now, given how they were treated, how mobs were hired and their families threatened by the likes of Barney Frankenstein in trumped up phony televised hearings, would you want to sign on for government service to help your country?

If the contracts with AIG are worthless, so are your mortgage, your college transcript, your bank CD certificate, your credit card interest agreement, your auto lease, your pension plan payout and the menu at your favorite restaurant.

Catch the Green Scum Scam before it devours you

The Global Warming steam roller will demolish that part of the economy Obama hasn't. (I hope those of you buried in the most recent blizzard in the west are listening.) Even GWB couldn't protect us from the EPA, the endangered polar bear crowd, and Algorism. The greenies plan to kill us just like they did the African children by removing DDT, their only hope of survival. They thrived during the Bush years while he looked away and ignored Toto-Kyoto. Go here to read Dispelling the Global Warming Myth. The architects and building trades are so covered up with this nonsense I can hardly open my husband's e-mail.





"Due to the efforts of Heartland and others, the public is beginning to catch on to the cosmic scam that Al Gore, James Hansen ("an embarrassment to mankind") and others--mostly not scientists--have been perpetrating. Meanwhile, the Obama administration, seemingly determined to inflict the maximum possible damage on the economy in the shortest time, is trying to ram a cap-and-trade carbon tax through Congress before opposition can be mobilized. It's easier to do that, of course, when you know that Congressmen won't read the statute before they vote on it. So our only hope is an informed citizenry."

2009 International Conference on Climate Change Don't miss John Theon!

“I have publicly said I thought Jim Hansen should be fired,” Theon said. “But, my opinion doesn’t count much, particularly when he is empowered by people like the current president of the United States. I’m not sure what we can do to have him get off of the public payroll and continue with the campaign or crusade. I think the man is sincere, but he is suffering from a bad case of megalomania.”

Sometimes Christians have to hold their noses

Thousands of Roman Catholics are protesting Notre Dame's honoring of the President. Story here. It does seem odd that the only pro-abortion President (public) in our history will be honored by one of the most famous Catholic institutions, but then as an ELCA Lutheran (the group that for six years has been trying to write its own mushy, obfuscating response to God's plan for marriage), I'll have to sit this one out. Any man who is the offspring of a 17 year old, unmarried at his conception, impregnated by a married man must have some self-hate and loathing either for himself or his parents to be such an advocate of murdering the unborn.

Protest in Fairfield, Conn.

"The identities of most current and former AIG employees remain private, for now, but for those executives whose names are known, life now includes security guards at their homes, reporters in their driveways, and vehicles invading their neighborhoods. Nobody was hurt and the protest went off without incident, but the event should serve as a dire warning for anyone even thinking about participating in Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s new Public-Private Investment Program. Morning Bell, March 23, 2009"

Thanks, Barney Frank. One more notch in your belt. You just didn't get it when accused of "McCarthyism." It's the techniques--smear, innuendo, fear, blame by association, and you have them all. But you're the one, with your Congressional colleagues who signed the AIG bonsus contracts.

Through its power to subpoena witness and hold people in contempt of Congress, HUAC [formed in 1938] often pressured witnesses to surrender names and other information that could lead to the apprehension of Communists and Communist sympathizers. Committee members often branded witnesses as "red" if they refused to comply or hesitated in answering committee questions. In perhaps its most famous investigation, HUAC-member Richard Nixon, after weeks of dramatic hearings, was, at the final hour, able to reveal that Alger Hiss, a former State Department official, had lied to them about having "ever been a Communist." More importantly, however, the questioning style and examination techniques employed by HUAC served as the model upon which Senator Joseph McCarthy would conduct his investigative hearings in the early 1950s. Following Senator McCarthy's censure, however, and his subsequent departure from the Senate, the American public grew increasingly wary of the "redbaiting" techniques employed by HUAC and others. The work of the committee continued to decline in importance throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s until the committee itself was renamed the House Internal Security Committee in 1969, prefiguring its eventual abolition in 1975. GWU site

Protest with tea bags

"You're sending Mary Jo Kilroy a letter?"

"It's a tea bag."

Strange look.

"You know, like the Boston Tea party in 1773."

"Is it used or unused?"

I also sent her an e-mail.

"The behavior last week of Congress, particularly your Democratic colleagues, was outrageous. I was never so embarrassed to be a voting American. That Congress would propose a special tax to punish people with whom they signed a contract is beyond belief and beyond the Constitution. I suggest you all start reading all documents that affect our future and our economy. There is going to be a voter revolt."

UA athlete loses legs

I first heard this yesterday in church, in prayers for this young man, the captain of the rowing team, who has had both legs amputated to save his life from "flesh eating bacteria." Story from Dispatch. In this day of modern miracles in health care, this hardly seems possible.

Necrotizing Fasciitis

Is it a joke, an insult, or a snub

I'm inclined to think the whole story is a scam--the one that President Obama wrote to the former President of France, Chirac, and not the current president, Sarkozy. I realize he was running for President and was out of the office when Sarkozy was elected, but surely he picked up a newspaper from time to time. Everyone seems to be relying on the same story (in French) and you know how many of us took a foreign language in our government schools. True, he's none of the things the liberals thought he was, but he's not that stupid or poorly informed. Still, if this had been a Bush mistake. . .

Juvenile Offenders and Victims Report

The 2006 report seems to be the latest on line and in print. The print copy check-in date for OSUL gov docs is April 19, 2006, so I don't know if there is a more recent one. If you've never seen the report before, it looks alarming, however, it says that juvenile crime has been decreasing since 1994, and is the lowest since the 1970s. That's good. The crime for females is increasing, especially assault. That's not good. The report confirms the importance of in tact families--fathers in the home and mothers of the children married to the children's father.

A recent study by McCurley and Snyder explored the relationship between family structure and self-reported problem behaviors. The central finding was that youth ages 12–17 who lived in families with both biological parents were, in general, less likely than youth in other families to report a variety of problem behaviors, such as running away from home, sexual activity, major theft, assault, and arrest. The family structure effect was seen within groups defined by age, gender, or race/ethnicity. In fact, this study found that family structure was a better predictor of these problem behaviors than race or ethnicity. Chapter one

Perhaps the entertainment industry, which glamorizes single parenthood, promiscuity, disfunctional families, and irresponsibile behavior, needs to foot the bill for this? If Congress wants to levy special taxes on groups that cost the taxpayer money, how about the entertainment industry?

The annual birth rate for females ages 15-19 declined substantially between 1950 and 2000, while the proportion of these births that were to unmarried women increased. In 1950, 13% of all births to females ages 15-19 were to unmarried women. By 2000, this proportion had increased to 79%. Even knowing all the problems this brings, from poverty to low birth weight to crime to poor health to less education, women both educated and unschooled, both poor and well off, continue to pursue motherhood without marriage. Here's a mystified reporter on ABC, clueless:

The birth rate rose slightly for women of all ages, and births to unwed mothers reached an all-time high of about 40 percent, continuing a trend that started years ago. More than three-quarters of these women were 20 or older. For a variety of reasons, it's become more acceptable for women to have babies without a husband, said Duke University's S. Philip Morgan, a leading fertility researcher.

I wonder if he's turned on the TV recently? And to think they ridiculed Dan Quayle. Wouldn't Murphy be a grandmother by now, based on statistics?

The great American tea party

I agree with most of this except compulsory 2 years of service. A volunteer military has served us well; I don't want conscripts in control of the government or the military.

HT Murray.

Information for the Ohio Tea Party, April 15, tax day.

Ashley Judd, myob

Ashley Judd

HT Patrick Joubert Conlon

A book I don't intend to read

The front page editorial of our church newsletter this week was on the Christian's image problem, based on the book unChristian by Gabe Lyons and David Kinnaman, published in 2007.

First of all, Christians don't get their marching orders from outsiders who hate them, they get them from Jesus. Second, any book about Christians that comes highly recommended by PW is suspect in my opinion. Librarians are 223 to 1 liberal to conservative, and based on my own PL's collection, they are quite hostile to Christianity and particularly conservative Christians unless the book was written by Rick Warren or Billy Graham and has appeared on the best seller list for at least half a year. It's the #1 way to ban a book--just don't buy it! If it's hostile to Christians, buy 10 copies.

"This is a wonderful, thoughtful book that conveys difficult truths in a spirit of humility. Every Christian should read this, and it will likely influence the church for years to come."--Publisher's Weekly -- Publisher's Weekly, starred review"

Third, non-Christians get their image of Christians about 90% from the media, Hollywood, TV, college professors (who take delight in shredding the freshman's faith) and gossip. They are completely uninformed. Who is it that has told them we are knuckle dragging dopes lynching homosexuals? Katie Couric and Dan Rather? Most gays are killed by other gays. How homophobic is that? We watch a lot of "Law and Order" reruns. I know if a priest or pastor appears in the script, he'll be the slimeball abuser or murderer. How could non-Christians possibly have any other view than that "Christians are judgemental, homophobic, hypocritical, too political, too sheltered and too insensitive?"

Imagine if Christians came out with a survey that smeared the character and patriotism of millions of their fellow Americans of a different faith? Now that would be one way for Christians to make the prime-time news, wouldn't it? The Kinnaman/Lyons survey uses a pretty broad brush for Episcopalians, Lutherans, Catholics, Orthodox, Pentecostals, Coptic, Amish, Mennonite, Baptists, Nazarenes, UCC'ns, Disciples, Salvation Army and all their various subdivisions that run hospitals, hospices, food pantries, after school programs, recreation centers, nursing homes, private schools, prison ministries, housing programs, AIDS ministries, clothing resale shops, day camps for kids, domestic violence shelters, adoption programs, foster homes for neglected children, medical clinics in poor neighborhoods, athletic camps, afterschool supervised care, and hundreds of others, in addition to the primary work of the Christian, the marching orders from Jesus, which is evangelizing the uninformed, uneducated and unbelievers who responded to the Kinnaman and Lyons polls.

The author of the article suggests we read the book and then pray and ask God for a changed heart. So, if this is what he's seen at UALC, then why is he still on the staff taking their money for his salary? If Jesus hasn't changed the hearts of our members, why should a book based on interviews with unbelievers do it?

"I'm tired," by Old Jarhead

This post by Robert A. Hall , a Vietnam vet is flying around the internet via e-mail, which is how I first saw it. It's well worth reading in its entirety. Here's the opening paragraphs

"I’ll be 63 soon. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce, and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I’ve worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven’t called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn’t inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there’s no retirement in sight, and I’m tired. Very tired.

I’m tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth around" to people who don’t have my work ethic. I’m tired of being told the governme nt will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy or stupid to earn it.

I’m tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes." Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I’m willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the leftwing Congresscritters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community investment Act that created the bubble help them—with their own money.

I’m tired of being told how bad America is by leftwing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the religious freedom and women’s rights of Saudi Arabia, the economy of Zimbabwe, the freedom of the press of China, the crime and violence of Mexico, the tolerance for gay people of Iran, and the freedom of speech of Venezuela. Won’t multiculturalism be beautiful?"

Obama sends a message of weakness to Iran

Sixth Grade teacher’s lesson in socialism

The following appeared in the Casper Star Tribune, March 20, letters to editor.

"I am conducting an experiment in my classroom for the benefit of my pupils. The results so far have been not only telling but also very entertaining.

The children liked the idea behind the story of Robinhood. They seemed to think that President Obama was a modern day Robinhood.

So I proposed that we also share, taking from the haves and giving to the have nots. The children thought that this was wonderful!

I told them that what we will do is average grades in the classroom. Those scoring an A can surely afford to accept a B or a C in order to transfer some of the value of their scores to students that were not doing so well to help them out.

On the first test the average score was a B-. Some students that has studied hard we a bit unhappy, but others that had not studied as hard were very happy.

The average score from the second test was a D. Without the motivation of a reward for their hard study, few of the students bothered to study at all. Those few that did study (and carried the class to the D) were very upset, as were most of the other students whom thought that they would "ride on the coattails" of the harder working students.

I cannot wait for the results of the next test and to see the reaction of the students. This little experiment in socialism is turning out just as expected. However, for my pupils a life lesson is being delivered which they had not anticipated, and that is the real value of this exercise."

Actually, I always felt this way about group or team projects where you received a grade or bonus based not on your own effort, but the group. There usually were at least one or two deadbeats who let others do the work while they complained, showed up late, or slept in.

Is this English?

". . . health disparities for disenfranchised individuals who are the victims of violence through ecologically-based interventions."

Yes, this is in Amy Bonomi's CV and she's an OSU professor on Facebook.

I think the problem grew when "wife beating" became "domestic violence" became "spousal abuse" became "intimate partner violence." The language is completely out of control.

Does she mean liberals?

Liberals have been in charge of the education of our young people, especially on the college campuses, for the last 40 years at least. So is it them she's writing about?

"[Susan] Jacoby argues [in her book The Age of American Unreason] that a mutant strain of public ignorance, anti-rationalism, and anti-intellectualism has developed over the past four decades and threatens the future of American democracy."

If she were a conservative, she wouldn't be speaking on the college campuses, right? Maybe she should have a heart to heart chat with the various feminists, area studies administrators, and feel-good, non-intellectual professors and see what they can contribute to her theories? Could they be squelching honest inquiry? Surely not! I still remember the young man who worked for me who was taking a women's studies course as an elective, and was terrified to use the word "human" (because it contained the word "man") in his paper. And then there was the OSU student I worked with during the McCain campaign:

"He told me that he has seen every one of Michael Moore's movies in his college classes! It was required. One was a biology course, one was a political science course, and I've forgotten the other two. For one class final in a Latin American history course the only question was to write an essay on the seven best things Fidel Castro had done for Cuba. In another course where the students needed to write a persuasive paper, he chose "Why the U.S. needs to drill in ANWR." His instructor, an honest but not particularly ethical woman, told him at the outset he'd need to choose another topic. She'd have to flunk him because he'd never be able to persuade her, no matter how good his argument or bibliography, she said. He says the ridiculing and trashing of the Bush administration has been relentless in all his classes."

Oh yeah. That really encourages intellectual honesty and debate. I looked through some reviews and found the usual collection of villains--fundamentalists, conservatives, Bushies--really odd since they haven't been in charge of Hollywood, the media, TV late night, gaming industry, cable entertainment, and have a tough time getting their books on to the shelves of the public libraries. Straw man up; knock him down. Yawn. Maybe she needs to check under the covers elsewhere?

There are 3 copies in our public library, which is going for another bond issue. Yes, right on top of all the stimulus applications our city government plans. Maybe we could get a 2-fer? Just got one about 2 years ago--maybe 3--I voted against it. Now that they don't have to buy 16 copies of anti-Bush titles, they should have enough money to run the place without putting their hand in our pockets again.

What did Peggy expect?

Peggy Noonan didn't like George W. Bush--I think because he didn't use her writing skills to promote his administration. As the years rolled on and the phone didn't ring, she went from wistfully subtle to wonkishly snark. Then during the 3 year long 2008 campaign she snuggled up with the Obama loving journalist crowd, lusting for his smooth talk and sexy ways. Party's over:

"These are the two great issues, the economic crisis and our safety. In the face of them, what strikes one is the weightlessness of the Obama administration, the jumping from issue to issue and venue to venue from day to day."

Sorry, Ms. Noonan, you lost me some years back. Maybe it just struck you, but most conservatives knew he was a wimp on security and profligate spender, way back. Don't come looking for safety and sound economics now. That's not what he signed on for.

Updating my trip log

It's a bit tedious, but I am continuing the trip log of the cruise, "Steps of Paul," but I have redated all of them for March 18 so they will be consecutive. So you won't see them at the top of the blog page. Yesterday I did a print preview, and although I'm not yet to Israel, it was over 30 pages. Yes, I'm old fashioned. I don't trust technology and I print anything I want to really save. Here's my Holy Land tour. The photo album is already put together, thanks to my husband who feels better than I do and is a tad more organized. He took over 700 photos, winnowed that to about 500, then bought an album that holds 402, so still had to make some painful decisions. He had it ready to show his breakfast group on Thursday.

What is a googlebot?

Occasionally this site is visited by "googlebot" located somewhere in California I think. For a 24 hour period it visits often and long. What is this? A person? A bot? Anyone know? Does your site get this? One visit last night was for 150 minutes or something like that. Is it updating my secret files?

Poverty study features tiny demographic

There's a new poverty report out on gay and lesbian couples who are poor (saw it in USA Today). Someone was running out of things to study, because in cities the poverty rate for male couples is 3.3% and for married couples 5.1%. Gay men are the wealthiest and best educated democraphic in the country--and yes, I'm sure some might be poor and uneducated. It's a tiny demographic to begin with. And children of same sex couples are less likely to be poor than children of single women simply because there are two incomes and 4 eyes. Apparently the study authors want to prove that lack of marriage benefits hurts children. Sorry, won't wash. For years no one but us paid our insurance, we had no retirement plan until we were in our 50s and I'm not eligible for my husband's Social Security because of my teacher's pension. Neither the government nor marriage can fix some things.

Traditional marriage between a man and woman, with the woman married to the father of her children, is statistically best in every study done for children in every category. That doesn't mean there aren't individual exceptions or that you didn't have a wonderful step-father, or a fabulous single mom. Think big here. Very few children grow up in poverty when it's done the way God planned it.

Friday Family Photo--Victory Garden

I see the First Lady is planting a Victory Garden on the White House grounds ala Mrs. Roosevelt, I guess because of her husband's deficit--certainly it's not because of the war. Those may be the most expensive beans and tomatoes she'll ever eat by the time you add in the cost of civil service employees to tend it, chase the rabbits away, and tote the water.




My father, who was in his 30s, enlisted in the Marines in March--and we appear to be in summer clothes, so this must be a few months later as we posed for our "victory garden" photo for Mother to send to him. Later we would all drive across the USA (I thought it was a great adventure) in that Ford to be near Daddy, and that's why I attended school in Alameda that fall.

Where's the teleprompter when you need him?

James Taranto's Great Orators of the Democratic Party

• "One man with courage makes a majority."--attributed to Andrew Jackson

• "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."--Franklin D. Roosevelt

• "The buck stops here."--Harry S. Truman

• "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."--John F. Kennedy

• "So for everybody in Washington who's busy scrambling, trying to figure out how to blame somebody else, just go ahead and talk to me, because it's my job to make sure that we fix these messes, even if I don't make them."--Barack Obama

Call in the reserve team

Why can't you find a single government official who will claim responsibility for those bonuses? Now it's Holbrooke, in addition to Dodd, Frank, Pelosi, Bernanke and Geithner who didn't know. Tweet! Is there anyone left on the bench to call to the floor?

WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama administration special envoy Richard Holbooke was on the American International Group Inc. board of directors in early 2008 when the insurance company locked in the bonuses now stoking national outrage.

Holbrooke, a veteran diplomat who is now the administration's point man on Pakistan and Afghanistan, served on the board between 2001 and mid-2008. During that period, AIG undertook the aggressive investment strategies that led to a near-collapse and forced a multibillion-dollar federal bailout.

President Barack Obama has insisted his administration was not responsible for AIG's financial woes, and a White House spokesman said Thursday that Holbrooke was unaware of AIG's decision to award retention bonuses to key employees.

"Mr. Holbrooke had nothing to do with and knew nothing about the bonuses," spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

The press would have crucified Bush for this one

Jay Leno slip. I'm not a very good athlete, but it would have never occurred to me to compare myself to the people who challenge themselves to compete in Special Olympics. They are true athletes in very sense of the word--heart, courage and ability. Is this something people joke about? If so, I've never once heard it. Poor TOTUS.



Here's what Special Olympics does for families with children who want to participate.

Airline with no heart

Our flight between Athens and JFK was on Olympic. I don't do a lot of flying, but it wasn't as nice as Lufthansa. Grumpy staff. Choice between a movie, cartoons and Frazier TV show. With tourism struggling, I think they could do more to be accomodating, pleasant (like smile), and we'll never know what made many of us sick--the water, the food or just a stomach bug we passed around, but some people have been extremely ill. Me? The works. There's a bathroom 5 ft. from my desk.

One woman in our group (but not on our flight) fell in the Cairo hotel and fractured bones in both legs. In other words, was totally disabled for a 31 hour trip and in horrible pain. Unfortunately, they apparently didn't get the medical flight insurance that one of our members had recommended (it's quite cheap). Anyway, although (I heard this 3rd hand) there were 6 empty seats in first class, they wouldn't let her and her husband sit there to have more room for her legs. So one in our group, who did have first class (and her husband was ill), moved to coach and let the injured woman have her seat. But the injured woman's husband and another man had to come from the coach section and carry her to the rest room. This happened on Delta.

Bad. Bad for business. We had a number of Greek Americans on our flight, but I don't think there were any on hers. On the other hand, other than complaining in Greek, I don't know what help they would have been. I don't know if there are any other airlines to take you to Athens.

P.S. The barf bags on Olympic are much more durable than Delta's. If you get sick, be sure to take a number with you as you exit the plane. We had about 10 between us and used them all.

The cost for hope and change--women and minorities hit hardest

“President Bush ran budget deficits averaging $300 billion annually. After harshly criticizing Bush's budget deficits, President Obama pro­posed a budget that would run deficits averaging $600 billion even after the economy recovers and the troops return home from Iraq. [Where, oh where, are all the weepers and moaners who decried the cost of the war for 6 years? nb]

The President's tax policy is the only sharp break in economic policy. President Bush reduced taxes by approximately $2 trillion; President Obama has proposed raising taxes by $1.4 trillion. In doing so, President Obama has rejected the most successful Bush fiscal policy. In the 18 months following the 2003 tax rate cuts, economic growth rates doubled, the stock market surged 32 percent, and the economy created 1.8 million jobs, followed by 5.2 million more jobs in the next 27 months. Not until the housing bubble burst several years later did the economy finally lose steam. Pro-growth lawmakers should embrace tax relief policies that have proven successful, while rejecting the runaway spending that has been business as usual in Washington. . . President Obama's pledge to halve the budget deficit by 2013 is hardly ambitious. The budget deficit will quadruple in 2009 to $1.75 trillion, and cutting that level in half would still leave deficits twice as high as under President Bush.” The Obama Budget

Will Congress stop the mob mentality and accept the blame?

Little in our congressional history can match the ridiculous behavior of this past week's hearings and mob scene over these bailout bonuses, written into a contract Congress hastily made in the final months of the Bush administration and early weeks of Obama's. They have embarrassed the entire country and the new President acting like gangs of thugs looking for blood. The bonuses are "retention contracts" to save AIG--or does Congress want to destroy a company it just bought? And $165 million is pennies next to the trillions they are sprinkling around, including to the willing hands of my own wealthy suburban government here in Ohio, and the combined losses to our retirement funds and other investments. The phony outrage is cover for the fact that neither Geithner or Paulson nor Congress or Bernacke have a clue about how to "bailout" the economy--they should have just let it recover on its own with the laws and regulations already in place and stop trying to "save" bad investments and failed government programs. A decade of failed programs in the 1930s and 40s taught them nothing except how to throw good money after bad.

“WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner confirmed yesterday that his department urged Sen. Chris Dodd to water down the executive-bonus limits included in last month's stimulus bill, a move that allowed the payment of $165 million in bonuses to American International Group employees.

As the House readied legislation to crack down on the outrage-inspiring bonuses, Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who chairs the Banking Committee, and Geithner appeared at odds over who was really responsible for Congress' failure to prevent them in the first place.

Dodd, on the defensive over a loophole that enabled the bonuses to go forward, claimed the Obama administration insisted he modify his proposal to rein in bonuses at companies getting billions of dollars in financial bailouts so that it would only apply to payments agreed to in the future - thus clearing the way for the AIG payouts.” From Combined News Services report.

I hope the President enjoyed looking silly on Jay Leno's program; I awoke for a moment and heard him stammering at one soft ball questions, and pushed "click" for the 1970s reruns. Apparently the teleprompter (i.e. TOTUS) wasn't allowed on stage. See his blog for more on Obama's ad libs and the embarrassment it causes TOTUS.

What has happened to your nest egg?

Millions in bonuses for Fannie Mae Execs

"Say it ain’t so. But looks like it is. Here we are, clutching our devastated 401Ks, howling for scalps at AIG, dizzy with the zeroes of the $3.55 trillion budget and the $797 billion “stimulus” and the $700 billion TARP, and the election of a President whose answer to all ills is to frag bomb the capitalist system, spend us into hock unto the umpteenth generation, blow out our currency in the process, and usher us into an era in which ACORN helps with the census and government doles out the ensuing rations.

And, over at the outfit that primed the sub-prime fuse for this chain reaction, Fannie Mae, the top executives are now going to rake in six or seven-figure bonuses over the next year — in some cases double what they got last year. Here’s the AP reporting on Fannie Mae plans bonuses of $1M for execs." Rosett Report.

Obama's triumph?

"Last week, President Obama removed virtually all restrictions on fetal stem cell research, claiming a triumph of science over “ideology.” The hope, of course, is that science may find new ways to prolong and improve our lives, now that the shackles of moral restraint, humility, and ethics have been removed. It seemed fitting, therefore, to repost this older essay, pondering whether the “victories” which science now has in store for us will be indeed Pyrrhic." Continue here with Dr. Bob on what does it mean to be human.

Health Disparities in the U.S.

This is certainly puzzling. The March 18 issue of JAMA has an article on health care in the U.S. that reports the U.S. has the 3rd highest poverty rate in OECD countries, below Turkey and Mexico, and that the U.S. poor have such poor health care that some are in poverty because of health expenses. Hmmm. That's odd. "Our poor" have government sponsored and paid for health care--it's called Medicaid, and SCHIP, plus all manner of other benefits under other programs of HHS and USDA. Isn't that what Obama wants for all of us? Obamacare doesn't work you say?

Also, when I read these articles comparing the U.S. health care to other countries, I notice our illegals are not separated out in the census count, even though other countries are much, much tougher (Mexico, for instance) on illegals invading their countries and asking for social services. I wonder how much medical care an illegal Guatemalan receives from the Mexican government? Or how does an illegal Pakistani worker get medical care in Turkey?

As much as I enjoy reading JAMA, it definitely runs like tarbaby through the brairpatch chasing social issues instead of medical cures and disease findings. They haven't a clue how to control obesity, smoking, alcohol/drug abuse or sexual promiscuity, the big four of personal behaviors causing health problems, so they just move on to the economy, job losses, stress, and housing crises. More grant money from the government for the folks with MPH, PHD, and MSW behind their names, so at least their jobs won't be at risk. Just churn out more studies.

Maybe we should have the UK healthcare as reported by users recently in the Daily Mail, per Belmont Club.

Some readers of the Daily Mail sent accounts of their own experience.

“My wife had treatment at this hospital and it was beyond belief. Staff tried to get my wife to believe she had already been given her tablets when they hadn’t; later admitting they ran out and did not want to call out the Pharmacy! People were screaming for the toilet as their requests for assistance went unheeded.”
Mick, Stafford

“My mother in law died at a hospital where her ‘care’ was almost non-existant. She died screaming in pain because nobody could be found to replace her morphine pump.” Claire, Norfolk

“When my father was in hospital for months, he lay in a bed with dirty, torn blankets and grubby sheets. I asked to see the Hospital Manager and was walked through the most plush of offices. I was sickened and told her so.” Sammy, UK

“My sister recently qualified as a nurse. During her training a fellow student commented to a manager that a doctor hadn’t bothered to change his scrubs after undertaking a minor operation on a patient and wore the same ones for his next operation. She was warned any whistle blowing of that sort would result in her being kicked out.” Jo, Middlesex

Congress runs amock and violates the Constitution

Special tax on AIG bonuses after Treasury and Fed agreed to the contracts for the bonuses last fall. Link. Why is Congress trying to destroy AIG after they bought it with our money? Obviously, they want it to fail, right?

Bills of Attainder prohibited by the Constitution. Have any members of Congress ever read the Constitution?

Tim Geithner created the problem. Time for Tim to go!

Who's next? Beware the awful precedent this after-the-fact 90 percent tax grab will set. Michelle Malkin.

While the beltway sinks, the President flees to the Left Coast to appear with a comedian. Figures. What a classy guy.

The face of greed in the suburbs

"With billions of stimulus dollars making their way down through federal, state and local levels, Upper Arlington officials hope to use some of the finds to make improvements here." (Upper Arlington News, March 18, 2009) Our city officials are applying for 10 projects totalling more than $7.8 million. I sure hope the rest of you enjoy helping out one of the wealthiest communities in Ohio.

If you're interested in a Holy Land Cruise

Here's one sponsored by Catholic Heritage Tours that sounds exactly like ours, although it doesn't mention the name of the ship (ours was MV Cristal), and ours was a little less expensive (although this is still quite reasonable). This one starts in Cairo, where we ended; but it describes our original plans to begin there. There were several Catholic groups on our tour, but none by this name.

Unintended consequences of having too much

Not money, but information.

". . .we have found that no matter where students are enrolled, no matter what information resources they may have at their disposal, and no matter how much time they have, the abundance of information technology and the proliferation of digital information resources make conducting research uniquely paradoxical: Research seems to be far more difficult to conduct in the digital age than it did in previous times." Project Information Literacy Progress Report, Feb. 2009

I used to teach research skills and methods--whether it was called BI (bibliographic instruction), User Education, or graduate research seminar. Here was my method. Begin with a wide survey using tertiary sources (textbooks, essays, encyclopedias), narrow and redefine your topic, move on to secondary sources (bibliographies, databases), further refine, then tackle the primary sources (original research). What I didn't usually include in my lectures and handouts is that I myself never used that method. Oh, I suppose if you assigned me a topic on how to hit a golf ball, I might read up on it first, but for my own self-selected topics, I started with my own conclusion then worked backwards to justify it. If it had to be changed along the way, so be it; if not, I was happy. Then I relied as a fallback on serendipity--those items I might have on my office shelves, or which spoke to me ("here I am, take a look") as I wandered through the stacks in a particular call number range. One of my most successful projects, from which I got a number of published articles and which lead to further research, was a box of my grandmother's scrapbook clippings and a box of handwritten index cards for my grandparents' library. That pushed me into all kinds of areas about 19th century publishing, church history, serials and farm magazines, and reading patterns of rural people.

The only time I really relied heavily on information technology to write and publish an article was in writing about how to do it, and I tracked what I did to prepare for a speech at a conference (even where I was and how long it took to receive off campus material) and then wrote about it. It helped me in my teaching, however, I've since forgotten what it was I wrote about.

Research--it's tough to explain to people who don't do it or like it.

Lobbying activity increases under Obama

Wow. Now that's change you can count. And mighty fast, too. It's only been 2 months!

"Early numbers suggest that the first quarter of 2009 has seen lobbying in the nation’s capital spike by nearly 22 percent over last year, which would be the largest ever increase in lobbying activity — and a strong indication that President Barack Obama has helped usher in a Golden Era for K Street." DC Examiner

If Congress would stop acting pious

maybe I could get my trip log finished. Today WSJ confirmed the "outrageous" bonuses that members of Congress have received from AIG in the form of campaign support, with Chris Dodd being the all time leader. Also, the "bonuses" that executives at the failed Fannie and Fred have received while helping prop up people who should have never bought homes. If ever a government official should fall on his sword behind Geithner, it ought to be this phony, pious, pompous player. He's chair of the Senate banking committee and was taking money from the people he regulates. That's a wide rest room stance, don't you think? A bit more serious than overtures from a gay guy in the next stall for which "outraged" Dems tried to push out a Republican. Dodd was receiving payments from the very executives of the financial products division of AIG (the one that lost so much) he was castigating.

If Republicans are supposed to be the evil, rich guys, the greedy capitalists, why do large companies contribute so heavily to the Democrats? AIG used to distribute campaign money evenly to both parties--but since 2004 according to WSJ, like many corporations, have been swinging over to the Democrats. Capitalism doesn't need a party or a government system to survive except for the small guy--the big capitalists do well in China, in Russia and in Sweden. Al Gore is making money on this global warming scam in all countries. The idea is to make money. George Soros for all his communist drivel, is an ardent capitalist. The guys at the top of ACORN probably have fat investments and they've invested heavily in Democrats too--especially the President who is indebted to them for their success in getting out the bussed-over-state-lines vote. Power and wealth know no party loyalty.

What capitalists need in the USA are legal ways to destroy the competition, and what better way than through regulation and tricky tax codes? (cap and trade, pollution, safety, set-backs, green spaces, etc.) That's where the Democrats excel and they do it by hyping the taxpayer with phony outrage and classism, pitting lower against upper class, rich again poor. "Working people" against--who; certainly not against those who don't work--that would be the welfare class--but against the successful who paid through the nose for their educations and work 80 hours a week to get to their $250,000 a year jobs.

Campaign contributions by AIG

I haven't checked the sources, but noticed this on Newsmax about other "bonuses" received by politicians

". . . the $101,332 that the Obama campaign received [from AIG] was larger than the amount AIG donated to any other candidate except Sen. Chris Dodd, according to Opensecrets.org.

Newsmax reported on Tuesday that the Connecticut Democrat, who received $103,100 from AIG, inserted language in the $787 billion stimulus bill that allowed all bonuses awarded before February 11, 2009, to be paid to AIG executives.

AIG contributed to 18 Democratic members of the Senate in the last election cycle, including Hillary Clinton ($35,965) and Joe Biden ($19,975), and 34 Democratic House candidates.

The insurance firm also contributed $59,499 to the Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain ($59,499), 14 other GOP senators and 21 Republican House candidates."

Rather than say this is bogus because Newsmax reports it, check it out. Lobbying and earmarks matter, dear fellow taxpayers, no matter which party is the recipient. But some parties, i.e., a certain party, tries to claim a holier than thou stance in that stall. So yesterday's hearings, another waste of taxpayers' dollars, could have been avoided if Chris Dodd had just been honest about why the bonuses were left in place for the bailout agreement. Next to The Barn (Barney Frank) and The Tax Cheat (Geithner), Dodd is looking like the Dopiest of the Dems.

Even so, I'm far more worried about Obama's indebtedness to George Soros and ACORN than to AIG.

If you’re headed for a cliff

you’ve got to change direction says our President.

"Our public policy definitely needs a change in direction. But the Obama Administration’s budget is not a change in direction. Instead, it is a foot on the accelerator taking us off that cliff . . . The only sharp break President Obama takes away from President Bush is the amount of money he takes from the American people. President Bush reduced taxes by approximately $2 trillion; President Obama has proposed raising taxes by $1.4 trillion. Yet even after taking $1.4 trillion more out of the private sector, Obama’s budget still would double the public debt level to $15.4 trillion. Between 2008 and 2013, the budget will add $5.7 trillion ($48,000 per U.S. household) in new government debt. The annual interest on this debt would nearly equal the entire U.S. defense budget by 2019.

Read the entire entry here.

Maybe the problem is Geithner?

“Obama said that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is trying to resolve the matter with AIG's CEO, Edward Liddy. "This is not just a matter of dollars and cents. It's about our fundamental values," the president said.”

Or maybe he didn’t just hire a tax cheat, but a complete incompetent who isn’t up front with his boss on anything. Geithner arranged the first bailout when he was with the Fed. The contracts for bonuses were well known then. Why did Obama have to learn about this “outrage” from the newspapers? Why call it greed when it is government incompetence? These are the Stooges we want running our economy? Democrats expected Bush to be able to anticipate the severity of a hurricane, but ignore that the Secretary of Treasury can't read an employment contract and anticipate what will happen in the public eye if they are met.Link.

Buyer's Remorse

Sorry, Mr. President and Mr. Frank. You agreed to this deal. You just had to bail out AIG, and you did so knowing about those contracts. Are you going to set aside the union contracts? Of course not. Now, are you going to just say other contracts aren't binding or just those who create money for the economy? This outrage about the bonuses for AIG is outrageous. We own it; we bought it as is, and we knew all about it--assuming the "we" are the political whiz kids we elected. You guys are the proverbial bulls in the china shop and don't want to pay for the damage you've done.

Is it time to kill off Fannie and Fred?

Here’s a list, in reverse order, of WSJ articles on the poorly run Fannie Mae--back to February 2002, early in the Bush administration, the earliest one in Feb. 2002 comparing the risk to Enron. Was anyone listening?

"As for interest-rate risk, Fan and Fred hedge with a giant and complex program using all manner of derivatives. At the end of 2000, their combined derivative position was valued at $780 billion. Even scarier, these hedges are only as good as the counterparties' ability to pay up. But Fan and Fred don't disclose the identity of their parties, so investors have no idea how much risk comes from possible counterparty failure. (By the way, last year Fan's derivative strategy went, um, somewhat amiss and she had to write down shareholder equity by $7.4 billion.)

Fan and Fred also pool mortgages and then sell those securities -- that is, they retain the credit risk since they guarantee the soundness of the mortgages and buyers assume the interest-rate risk. But Fan and Fred have recently been buying back their own securities; each now holds 30% of all mortgage-backed securities outstanding. Simply put, they are re-assuming interest-rate risk. Not necessarily a terminal practice when interest rates are stable, but dangerous if rates turn volatile."

We know Fan and Fred and their federal co-conspirators in Congress (called committee "oversite", or fox guarding the hen house) are in part to blame for the current meltdown and housing crisis. The like to blame a corporate "greed", but it's bad loans chasing even worse risks. Then there is today’s alarming editorial in WSJ that points out that in addition to our $6.6 trillion debt held by the public (up from $5.3 trillion a year ago), you and I are guaranteeing $5.3 trillion in Fannie and Fred liabilities!

So I ask you, what if there had never been a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac?

“In 1938, the Federal government established Fannie Mae to expand the flow of mortgage money by creating a secondary market. Fannie Mae was authorized to buy Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages, thereby replenishing the supply of money to lend to future homeowners.

Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned corporation chartered by Congress in 1970 to keep money flowing to mortgage lenders to ensure that there was funding available for future homeowners. Freddie Mac purchases single-family and multifamily residential mortgages. They help homeowners and renter get lower housing costs and better access to home financing.” from Singing Blog

So Fannie is a holdover from the Depression era and Fred from the 70s. Maybe they should have been killed off when WWII and not FDR's socialist programs restored the economy? In theory, the interest rate is supposed to be 1/4 percent lower, but considering how mortgage loans have fluctuated from 4.5% (about 5 years ago) to 10.5% (about 22 years ago) during my own mortgage commitment years (we've owned 5 homes since 1961), how really has that 1/4 percent made a difference to home owners, who seem to find the means no matter what the rate, other than to encourage bad behavior and poor credit? Plus, it's one more playground of regulation for the likes of the Barney Franks of Congress. In truth, I can't blame all this on the old Barn--he hasn't been in charge long enough to have created all the mess, but I'd like to see every chair of that committee still alive and not in a nursing home testify before the American people about why we the people need Fannie and Fred and to hear a few mea culpas.

President Teleprompter

"After only a few short weeks, the use of the Obama teleprompter is beginning to expose Obama's incapacity to function properly without one." Craig Meister on the St. Patrick’s Day gaffe. I guess we can retire all the complaints about Bush's gaffes and malapropisms. I think Obama's already outdone Bush's 8 years with his two months. And Bush could laugh at himself--something I don't see Obama doing.

Live blogging Liddy’s testimony

Obama spends trillions, frets about millions, and defends Geithner‘s duplicity in passing him the buck. Can this guy even make change? Link to WSJ blog.

"1:41: Kanjorski recognizes the repayments, but still wants to know why the details haven’t been provided earlier. Liddy basically calls it a business and legal judgment to prevent the FP unit from collapsing. “There’s risk that that would blow up,” he said. “If it were to blow up,” he adds, it would cause “irreparable damage.” In the big picture, Liddy suggests $165 million was a good trade-off to keep that from happening.

Liddy, upon questioning about who knew what and when, says “everything we do we do with the Federal Reserve,” which sits in at board meetings and compensation committee meetings. He says he’s been discussing the issue with the Fed for three months, and assumes the information went to Treasury via the Fed. “There was no intent to deceive or hide anything,” Liddy says.

1:47: Rep. Scott Garrett (R., N.J.) asks more about the timeline. Liddy said that talking last week to Tim Geithner, the Treasury secretary, Geithner indicated he learned about the bonus issue the prior week. That appears to conflict with the timeline put forth by the Obama administration, saying Geithner only learned last Tuesday (March 10)."

So let's see. Talked last week to Geithner who said he knew the prior week--that's before we left for the Holy Land. Wonder why it's just an outrage now? Besides, Geithner was with the Fed when AIG got its first bailout. Did this tax cheat guy even graduate from college? Did he pass math?

Just having fun--miscellaneous photos

Being an architect, my husband takes mainly photographs of buildings--over 700 this trip. A few slip-ups--here are some of people and animals.

With Dottie on Mars Hill

Resisting in one of the approved shopping sites

Gene, also an architect, inspecting the softness and quality of Turkish rugs, while the rest of bus 5 boldly looks on

Clothing contrasts in Turkey, the traditional woman

and the modern teen-agers
Our neighbors and fellow members of UALC on the Sea of Galilee

Mentors and friends for over 30 years

At the Church of All Nations

At the foot of a pyramind, early for the peace demonstration

Always, always listen to your tour guide. Don't even make eye contact. This guy stole 50 euro from us.

Joyce and I window shopping in Cairo before the stores opened. The painted sign probably says SALE!

Cairo Kitties waiting for lunch. I think there were 7 or 8 in that bin.

Some in our group used the hotel pool; some just used it for drinks.

The Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations

If my photos are in order, we saw the Garden and the Church after we saw the birthplace of Jesus.

In the 4th C a church was constructed at this place, but was destroyed by the Persians in 614AD. It was rebuilt by the Crusaders in the 12th C, but was destroyed by the Arabs in 1187. A Catholic Franciscan church was built in 1924 by donations from many nations--thus its name, Church of All Nations (also called Basilica of Agony). The remains of the Crusader church were embedded into the modern basilica. It is located on the east bank of valley Kidron at the foothill of Mount of Olives.

Cemeteries all around us, before we enter the Garden. Some walked down from this point.

I took a short cut and rode the bus, meeting them at the bottom.



I don't know the age of these trees, but they are very old, and in the Garden.

In The Garden
(written by C. Aus­tin Miles)
Verse 1:
I come to the garden alone,
while the dew is still on the roses.
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear,
the Son of God discloses.

Chorus:
And He walks with me,
and He talks with me,
and He tells me I am His own;
and the joy we share as we tarry there,
none other has ever known

The front of the church, facing the temple mount, is covered by a large mosaic picture. According to the Gospels, this is the site where Jesus had his last prayer before he was betrayed and arrested by the Romans.

According to tradition, this is the Rock of Agony where Jesus prayed.

If it's Thursday, is this Bethlehem?

Oh little town of Bethlehem,
how strange you seem from the bus.

It certainly doesn't look like the Bible stories we heard in church (and in school) or the carols we sang. But we knew it wouldn't. Still, it's a shock. Early tradition says Jesus was born in a cave, although that's not the Biblical account. I think people hid in caves to worship after converting, however. Anyway, another church over another sacred place--Justin Martyr mentions it in the mid-2nd century, as does the Protoevangelium of James (2nd century). Origen notes that the cave of Jesus' birth was pointed out in his day, and that was most likely where the Byzantine church was erected.

That said, we didn't see anything fearful and awful the way some Christian and anti-Israel tourists have reported--at least I didn't. Maybe it looks worse if you walk in. Our Israeli guide had to leave us, and a Palestian guide boarded the bus. Tourism is an essential industry but we saw many small store front and kiosk type businesses. We had a wonderful Palestinian Christian guide who was so informative and kind. He also pointed out to us the area believed to be the fields of the shepherds "keeping watch over their flocks by night." We had a bit of a wait at the guard house to enter the Bethlehem section, but I think that was a paper work snafu, or an irritable employee.


The entrance to the Church of the Nativity is so small, only a child could walk upright--a good message.







A member of our group (bus 5) read the Christmas story from Luke, and we all sang "Silent Night," the prettiest I've ever heard.

I'll do a bit more research when I get back from our Easter travels. Some of our photos from this church are a bit fuzzy, and I may have to borrow some from others on our bus.

Church of the Holy Sepulcher and The House of Caiaphas

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher according to tradition is built on the hill of Christ's crucifixion and the tomb of his burial--although there are disagreements. The other location of the tomb was found in the 19th century, so on strength of tradition, it would be the Church. It was first built in 330 AD, destroyed in 614, rebuilt, destroyed in 1009 and rebuilt by Crusaders. The line to visit the tomb (there's a rotunda over it) was too long, so we didn't stay. (And neither did Jesus, come to think of it.) But we were close! In fact, Israel is so small, you're never far from anything or anyplace even if you're not sure of the location.

"The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built by Constantine I the Great during the fourth century, after he became christian, and turned Christianity to the official religion of the Roman empire. In the year 326, Constantine I sent his mother, Helena, to seek the Crucifixion location in Jerusalem. Helena found the place and also found the remains of the cross itself. In that same place, 7 years later, Constantine I founded the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the year 333." Trekker

The facade is from the crusader era. The architecture and art is a real hodge podge, reflecting the many Christian groups and cultures that have cared for this church. Byzantine, medieval, Crusader, and modern elements mix and each Christian community has decorated its shrines in its own distinctive way.

This is possibly the place of the crucifixion; we waited to be able to touch it.

This is thought to be the stone where Jesus' body was prepared for burial.

After Jerusalem's occupation by the hands of Tslah A-Din in the year of 1187, The Holy Sepulchre Church was given for safe keeping to two Moslem families, the Nusseibeh and the Joudeh families, who own the place today, and currently hold the keys to the church.

Church of St. Peter on the eastern slopes of Mount Zion was erected in 1931 to commemorate Peter's denial of Jesus and his remorse.

Beneath the church are a series of carved-out chambers from the Second Temple period which Catholic tradition says is the site of the palace of Caiaphas, and therefore Jesus may have been imprisoned in one of these caves.

Click to enlarge for the explanation why this is thought to be Caiphas' house where Jesus was imprisoned and where Peter denied his Lord.

According to the Wikipedia site, a Byzantine shrine dedicated to Peter's repentance was erected on this spot in 457 AD, but was destroyed by Muslim invaders in 1010. The chapel was rebuilt by Crusaders in 1102 and given it's present name. After the fall of Jerusalem the church again fell into ruin and was not rebuilt until 1931. Today a golden rooster protrudes prominently from the sanctuary roof in honor of it's biblical connection.

I know that these are not in chronological order; we saw these on Wednesday March 11, scenes of the last hours of Jesus' life, but on Thursday March 12 we traveled to Bethlehem for his birthplace, and also then saw Gethsemene. Others in our tour group (about 170 of us from Upper Arlington Lutheran Church and Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church of Columbus plus friends and relatives) saw these sites in different orders.

St. Anne's church and the Pool of Bethesda

The Church of St. Anne is a 12th-century Crusader church of Romanesque architecture, built between 1131 and 1138, and erected over the traditional site of the birthplace of Anne (Hannah), the mother of Mary. In 1192, Saladin turned the church into a Muslim theological school, which is commemorated in an inscription above the church's entrance. It was restored in the 19th and 20th centuries, but most of what remains today is original.



The church is right next to the Bethesda Pool, believed to be the site where Jesus healed a paralytic (John 5:1-15). There are also ruins of a Roman temple to the god of medicine and remains of a Byzantine church built over the temple.

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"

"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."

Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked." John 5:1-9