Someone didn't connect the dots in federal-state partnership

Tip lines and 250 agencies can't take the place of old fashioned common sense.

"Innovative Anti-terror Information Sharing: Maryland’s Federal, State, and Local Partnership Model," Chapter 11 in Safeguarding Homeland Security; Governors and Mayors Speak Out was just released Sept. 18. 2009. Former Maryland Governor Robert Erlich wrote about how Maryland was connecting the dots through an innovative federal-state partnership, but they seemed to have slipped up on Maj. Hasan who lived, worked and worshipped in Maryland.

Chapter summary: Maryland created the first fusion center which collects and analyzes disparate data or information to try to “connect the dots” to prevent acts of terrorism. The public is encouraged to provide information through a “tip line.” The Center has federal, state, local, and private sector participation representing 250 agencies or organizations. The Maryland Center is led by members of all three levels of government. A principal objective of such a fusion center is to develop a pattern of cooperation and information sharing.

Maj. Nadil Hasan had communicated 10 to 20 times with Anwar al-Awlaki, an imam released from a Yemeni jail last year who has used his personal Web site to encourage Muslims across the world to kill U.S. troops in Iraq. No formal investigation was opened into Hasan. Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said it was his understanding Hasan and the imam exchanged e-mails that counterterrorism officials picked up. Hoekstra requested that the CIA, FBI, NSA and DNI preserve all documents relating to the Fort Hood attack and related matters for potential investigation by Congress, so this isn't swept under the rug as just some demented soldier going crazy.

Dr. Val Finnell a former classmate of Hasan in Public Health (in Maryland) says Hasan was always focused on another subject. "He would frequently say that he was Muslim first and an American second. That came out in just about everything he did in the university," said Finnell. Hasan would become visibly upset when people challenged him about his beliefs, but no one ever thought he would resort to such violence.

"Instead of being investigated and punished for his treasonous behavior, political correctness assured that Hasan was fast-tracked through the Army ranks and allowed to continue as a psychiatrist treating soldiers returning from the front.

Political correctness is a lie employed by liberal elites to preserve myths about favored groups. It is sold as a way to ensure that society treats people fairly. But it is actually a derangement whereby normally lucid people disregard inconvenient truths and willfully reject facts to avoid confronting uncomfortable realities.

On Meet The Press last Sunday, Army Chief of Staff General George Casey now infamously said about Hasan’s rampage, “As horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse.” Gary Bauer

Subsidyscope to track the bailout

There are many websites to track government money, and although I haven't determined if this one, Subsidyscope is biased, it is by Pew Charitable Trusts, which is usually reliable. I would call your attention to SIGTARP quarterly report, although it does have its own website. It's easier to work back and forth to different programs if you stay at Subsidyscope. Neil Barofsky needs to watch his back. He was an end-of-term Bush appointee to keep an eye on TARP money as the Special Inspector General (SIG) and so far he doesn't like what he sees. He's supposed to go after waste, theft and abuse, and it has become the Democrat's candy shop. Ought to start with Obama, then Geithner, then Frank, toss in Pelosi just to make sure we have diversity of gender, color and religion, but doubt that will happen. I'm just saying. Cute logo, too.

TARP inspector general Neil Barofsky agrees that the mortgage modifications "will yield no direct return" and notes charitably that "full recovery is far from certain" on the money sent to AIG and Detroit. Mr. Barofsky also notes that since Washington runs huge deficits, and interest rates are almost sure to rise in coming years, TARP will be increasingly expensive as the government pays more to borrow. Link to WSJ article

Smells like Murder episode of The Closer

The Closer, starring Kyra Sedgwick, is my husband's favorite show. In the summer he goes to a neighbor's to watch it, so I don't see the episodes until they are reruns. Last Monday was "Smells like Murder" which I think is the fourth one that had Charlie (Sosie Bacon, her real life daughter) Brenda's rebellious, risk taking niece. In this episode there's a sub-lot about Charlie receiving a package of marijuana from a friend and then baking it into brownies. From the IMDB.com summary:

"Back at home, Brenda arrives to find Charlie cooking. Brenda asks what the delicious smell is. Charlie says it's a surprise, but she promises they're going to have a lot of fun tonight.

Brenda sniffs her way through the house and finds brownies in Charlie's room. She takes one. [If you don't watch this show, Brenda is a chocoholic and sugar addict, always sneaking food she shouldn't be eating, rolling her eyes and then hiding the leftovers in her purse or desk.]

Later, she wobbles out into the dining room, a little too relaxed. She tells Charlie they need to talk. She had a brownie. Or two, or three. Charlie looks totally freaked out. But Brenda says they're the best brownies she's ever had in her entire life. Brenda is stoned.

Later, lying on the living room floor, Brenda talks through the case, trying to figure out who could have done it. But then her words start to sound funny and she's singing Willie Nelson.

Fritz comes home to this scene, his wife on her knees, singing to him. He looks at her eyes, immediately figures out what's up and asks Charlie what's going on. Brenda shows him the brownies. He suggests she go to bed.

Fritz [a recovering alcoholic] is not amused. "Who the hell do you think you are, bringing marijuana into my house?" he asks Charlie. He figures her friend sent her weed - and he signed for it. He asks her if she knows what could have happened if he'd eaten one, telling her he's in AA. He's yelling. "It's not my fault you're a drunk," she says, snottily.

He picks up her phone and finds her friend's number. He's calling her parents. He tells Charlie to go to her room and that she's going home as soon as possible.

Brenda comes out, asking about the fuss. Fritz tells her they're sending Charlie back. This spurs a Brenda realization, even while stoned. She writes down "send back." And then she takes a nap."

When I checked this episode on-line, some viewers (younger than me and apparently wise to the ways of this drug) either thought it was a lame episode and not realistic, or they thought it was hilarious. It was neither, but it was realistic in some parts. People still do this either as food poisoning or a prank.

The October 21, 2009 issue of JAMA had a lengthy article from the CDC MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) about a group of preschool teachers who ingested brownies with marijuana that had been purchased and shared by one of the staff from a vendor who claimed to be part of a church group (that was false). They experienced nausea, dizziness, headache, numbness and tingling of fingertips, face, forehead, arms and hands. When the director discovered her staff was ill, all with similar symptoms, the LAPD was called and the Dept. of Public Health of California. Only one staff person spit it out immediately noticing the unusual taste, and the other six, although they thought the brownies had a medicinal aftertaste, ate them anyway. One woman was a breastfeeding mother; two required medical attention at an urgent care facility. All had blood and urine tests. Symptoms lasted 3-10 hours; all recovered. The sidewalk vendor was never found.

Accidental ingestion of marijuana has led to coma in children. THC is the major psychoactive ingredient and it rapidly distributes to the adipose tissue, liver, lungs, and spleen, and then is released back into the blood stream where it is converted to THC-COOH which can be detected for anywhere from days in infrequent users to weeks or months in frequent users.

I'm guessing that because this happened in California where the DPH may be accustomed to some strange drug episodes and the staff of the pre-school were cooperating with the investigation, it was cleared up pretty fast. In some other states, they might have had to hire a lawyer and lost their jobs.

Teaching pre-schoolers to use the phone

I've been updating the family address and phone list. Everyone seems to have 2 phone numbers and work numbers, and e-mail, and they keep moving! It's getting a bit long now that more of my nieces and nephews' children are college age and they too have cell phones. My niece told me a funny story about her youngest, a very lively and challenging little boy.

"When he was three, we let him have an old cell phone to play with. I was having an especially crazy morning (oversleeping, running late, getting Wy ready for school, the dog had terrible "stomach" problems all over the carpet, etc. etc.) Wy was having a very long "conversation" with his sister on his cell phone. I was impressed at how long the conversation was and actually was thankful. . . it gave me a chance to clean up the carpet mess. I finally told him he had to tell her goodbye so that we could leave for pre-school, to which he said goodbye and then told me that she wanted to talk to me. I took the phone and quickly said goodbye. . . only to hear someone say, "Hello... Hello..." I was dumbstruck and asked who it was. She replied that she was the 911 operator. I was mortified. I had no idea that old cell phones, even when they didn't have service, could still dial 911. The pre-school had been teaching the little ones what to do in an emergency. . . dial 911. Upon further investigation, it seemed that this was the 3rd call that he had made that morning. He told her ALL about my bad morning, including all the gory details about the dog's mishap. I told her how sorry I was and she just laughed and said it was the best call she had ever gotten. Shortly after that is when I started noticing numerous white hairs. Wy definitely keeps us all on our toes and laughing pretty much on a daily basis.

Obamacare won't help these women

On the way home today I was listening to WOSU (to avoid football games) and heard two women being interviewed about their health problems and insurance. Both had insurance--one had a combination of private and Medicare, the other, much younger who had Lupus, was on disability and was a widow with death benefits. The older one for some reason thought if the current health care "reform" passed, no one would be suffering the way she is--she and her husband have sold their "dream home" and moved to less expensive housing away from the city because of their high medical costs. The younger woman, ironically, was caught in a catch-22 situation only our government could dream up. When her death benefits were increased slightly over $100 a month, (I assume it was a private pension, but didn't hear that part) it put her over the maximum to qualify for the Medicaid benefits for her son who has an expensive disability and also needs speech therapy. Between her death benefits and her disability payments she is squeaking by but there is no extra money for additional speech therapy and her son only gets about 15 minutes a week at school which isn't enough to make any permanent changes.

Nothing in the current plan makes anything better for either woman, regardless of the clucking and tsk-tsking of the host. They probably both have better coverage right now than people in their situation will have in 3-4 years when these expensive "reforms" kick in, especially the older woman as Medicare benefits are cut and nothing is done about the fraud and mismanagement currently in the system.

The older woman was angry--"Health care should be a right"--that in her retirement years her money was going for her medical bills (I think she wants us to pay for it so she can live in her "dream" home). She thought it was very unfair--but she said she loved where they had moved. The younger woman with the disabled child was more philosophical and spiritual, believing she was fortunate to have what she had.

Climate politics

My thoughts exactly. From a letter to the WSJ

"The politics of global warming is an updated version of colonialism by the developed nations, which want to impose regulations on the "primitives" through the threat of denial of finances. This is to be done while ignoring the more pressing needs of the subjugated people under the guise of saving the planet, and it is really no different from previous colonial powers that also ignored humanitarian needs with the theological rubric of saving souls. Now it will be the United Nations that is the colonial monarch that dictates to the developed nations and takes ransom via global taxation.

Zev Joseph

Charleston, W.V."

Serendipity is a librarian's best tool

Yesterday as I stepped through the door of Panera's, Tina gave me a shout out--"Norma! We don't have any coffee!" I could have had espresso with some water added, or hot tea, but instead I headed two blocks south passing up a Starbucks to Caribou which used to be my morning spot. While there I picked up a "free circ" I'd never seen before--The Garage Slab. It wasn't a vol.1 no.1, but it was on a topic I'd recently covered in my blog--garages. If you've got any guys on your Christmas list who are hard to buy for, this is it. Four issues for $12.95. Not only is it about the style and contents of garages, but beer, sports, tools and cars. And each issue has a "guest mechanic" so if you like to write, you might just submit something. From the web site: instructions Although this issue's dedication to Aldrich Hamilton, a former newspaper man and printer, who "died," was resuscitated, and 20 hours later was photographed and interviewed reading his issue, would be hard to beat. I think he was interviewed by his son.

If you could visit anyone's garage whose would it be?
My son's, he has half of my tools! He hasn't changed a bit!!
There's even an advice column called Peg's Board. "Dear Peg, How do I get my buddies out of my garage without getting flack from them about being old and boring now that I have a wife and kid?" Seeking sleep in Solon, Ohio.

Dear Sleep Seeker, (gives a list of suggestions and etiquette rules), then, "Barring that just kick 'em out when you're ready for bed and blame it on your wife. She'll never know."

Attractive design; clever theme; humor; great photography; good quality paper; nice graphics and layout; an abundance of advertisers; published and printed in Columbus by Greasy Shirt Publishing, but available in 11 other states.

Site Meter Reports foreign visits

In the last few hours I've had visits from

A Corua, Galicia, Spain

Brussels, Belgium

Perth, Western Australia

Via Del Mar, Valparaiso Chile

Saint-Mand, Ile-de-France

Leeds U.K.

New Delhi, India

Seoul, Korea

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Tel Aviv, Israel

Burnaby, British Columbia

Many cities in Ontario

Zagreb, Croatia

Pretoria, South Africa
I hope they found what they were looking for.

Site Meter Reports

It's been a reasonably busy week here at the old blog, now over 6 years old. About 3,750 pages were viewed--that's about 1,000 more than "visits." Even so, that's not an indicator of readership, because Google or Yahoo any number of other crawlers might find my blog and so it shows a "hit list" but the searcher might choose 2 entries above it, read that and never get to mine. And the search engines might pick up words randomly on the page like something from the quote at the top, a line from poetry, and then a recipe causing some real head scratching. This past week my blog on Neal Boortz's story (fictional) on the Carrington Automotive Enterprises was picking up 20-30 hits per 100, or about 40 a day, and something on guy paper dolls I did years ago was grabbing about 15 a day (100 is a free service and so that's my ideal price range, nor do I pay to see who is visiting--but many do). The first week in November my issue three (guest blogger) was very popular--wish I'd written it! The Carrington story is zipping around the internet via e-mail and it's very good. It's an illustration of small business taxes and just how easy it is to be called "rich" in Obama fantasy land of redistributive wealth. At least one of my anonymous readers, probably John, just goes bonkers that it's not a REAL example of a REAL Sub-S corporation. There's a lot of truth in fiction, parables, myths, legends, fables, morality plays and fairy tales--maybe moreso that the evening news. In order to disagree with the truth, some go after the genre. Like the conversation with my shoulder pads when it was finally time for them to go. Honest, I really don't talk to my clothes.

I'm happy for her, but. . .

My daughter stopped by last night to drop off some magazines. I'm thrilled that she's dropped 4 dress sizes because she was dangerously close to being a diabetic and has a full range of other endocrine problems including thyroid cancer, Hashimoto's and metabolic syndrome. We can't do much with the genes we were given, and the endocrine system can get out of whack causing severe problems. She was always beautiful at any size, but I'm thrilled she's healthier--the labs are all back to normal. And it's all been through a very disciplined exercise program. Thyroid medication and diets did nothing for her. Exercise did. She's switched to an exercycle (mine, since I wasn't using it) after an injury, but is ready to return to the treadmill in her basement. For some people it's diet, some it's exercise, some it's both. The point is to get healthy and hit a balance.

However, when she told me she thought she'd need a size 8 pair of jeans next, I had flash backs to 23 years ago when she used to borrow my clothes. In her senior pictures she's wearing one of my dresses and one of my suits. I don't think kids dress up for school photos anymore, but in the 80s they still did that.

This morning I took my closet apart, rearranging summer and winter clothes, hanging by color, storing some, pitching others, but was really looking for a size 8 Tall pair of Bill Blass jeans that I'd never shortened, and then "outgrew" so they'd been hanging around feeling blue. After an hour and not finding them, I decided I'd given them away. Then moved my hand to the back of the closet and found them--still with the tags. I have on the other pair (shortened, Easy Fit, "antiqued"), but I'm more than happy to donate to the cause of good health.

Spreading a big TARP over a sink hole

From Forbes.com: - the $700,000,000,000 bailout will most likely fail according to the government's auditor Neil Barofsky. Some programs, such as $50 billion in mortgage modification subsidies and incentives, were not designed with any reasonable opportunity for a return to taxpayers. . . As of Wednesday, the Treasury said it had received repayments of $73.02 billion and had collected dividends, interest and warrant sale profits totaling $13.03 billion. How did we get here?

Remember how TARP, Troubled Asset Relief Program, had to be RUSHED through with no thought or the world as we know it would come to an end? But never waste a crisis. Obama's thuggery has stolen our freedom and our economy . When the state controls the owners of business you have Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. When it owns the business you have post-1920 USSR. Are these the "progressive" choices you want--national socialism or communism? Didn't we fight this in WWII and even longer in a Cold War in Europe and some hot spots in Asia called Korea and Vietnam? Why did we ask such a sacrifice of generations of our military if we would just give it all away in an election?

And it continues unabated. Our elected Congress is being pressured to rush health care bills, rush climate change bills, rush anything called eco- or sustainable or green, rush confirmation of cabinet, czars and judges so only socialists and/or communists get a seat at the table, rush, rush, rush. Or Obama's plans could collapse. So far, he's won all the battles; his plan is working, folks.

Housing program doesn't work so give them even more money

USAToday reported in October on a money black hole (under Bush and predecessors) so Obama has decided it just needs more money

Federal funding for a housing counseling program carried out by local non-profit groups such as ACORN has more than tripled since 2002, even though it has been criticized by government auditors for failing to show results.

President Obama's budget calls for a 54% increase next year — $100 million in all — for the program, which helps people buy or refinance a home, prevent a foreclosure or find rental housing. The Senate agreed, while the House of Representatives suggested $70 million; final negotiations over the bill are pending.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been unable to provide much proof the program works, according to government reports, despite an increase in funding from $20 million in 2002 to $65 million last year." Link for details on the failures.

It's very hard to ever defund a "poverty" program, and even harder if it is for the "working family" or "low to moderate income" even if the program doesn't work. For instance, after forty plus years and billions of dollars for Head Start, studies show after a year or two in school, most gains are lost due to the children's home environment. It would be political death to NOT vote for the Head Start fantasy. Same with the "right to home ownership" dream which both parties claim and Bush really loved. At its worst it did nothing more than push already economically fragile people into debt beyond their wildest dreams; and at best, it funneled them into foreclosure workshops and refinancing failures. Either way, the agencies, groups, churches and nonprofits keep their own staff employed.

Yesterday it was announced that NeighborWorks America (created by Congress) received almost $5 million from HUD to provide training for housing counselors through its various agencies, so it would seem the first payouts are forthcoming.

"Today NeighborWorks America announced that it received $4,860,802 in funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which will support training and certification opportunities for thousands of counselors from HUD-approved nonprofit counseling agencies, as well as nonprofit housing counseling at local NeighborWorks organizations. Link to details

It's a revolving door, but it keeps the staff of foundations, non-profits, churches, and government offices employed. With unemployment at the highest levels since Jimmy Carter days, now is hardly the time to hand out tax dollars to training classes for luring people into mortgages.

Finally, some transparency!

At last Obama is being absolutely clear and transparent in this move of the trial of 9/11 perps to New York where they can enjoy all the rights and benefits of citizens.

Attorney General Eric Holder made official Friday morning what was reported by the media for hours beforehand, the Obama Administration's intention to bring the alleged 9/11 conspirators who've been held at Guantanamo for years to trial in New York. . . Holder said five defendants would be tried in New York. Besides KSM, they were Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin 'Attash, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi. Mohammed and the four others are accused of orchestrating the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001.

They've already had a trial and pled guilty. There's no doubt of their guilt--we all know and they know and are proud of what they did. So why would Obama do this?

That's where it's so transparent. This allows terrorists a global stage to bring their case to the world--a way for Obama to again tell the world what a terrible, awful, yucky country we are--they are probably getting bored with his monotonous presentations, so here's his opportunity to pass the baton to some jihadists. Also, it allows him to put George W. Bush on trial. See? Has there ever been a move more transparent than this one?

It's very clear
Obama's here to stay,
Not for a day
forever and a year. . .
Have you noticed? He doesn't even try to hide what he's doing anymore. It's so pathetic. His poll numbers are in free fall, but it doesn't matter.

New Yorkers don't want this; 9/11 families don't want this; sensible, safety minded Americans in the rest of the country don't want this. They know it's wrong, that it violates all our laws and common sense. It doesn't matter. Obama has taken control.

We're probably the only country in the world whose Congress and President cheer wildly a bill which would put its citizens in jail for not buying health insurance, and then turn around and give away our most treasured rights and military intelligence to committed, non-citizen terrorists who want to destroy us.

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.

President Dithers

Ten months and he's still studying Afghanistan! Now he's decided they have corruption and that changes the game plan. Why? We've got loads of it in our own government, and it never stopped us before! We've got Barney Frank who assured us everything was fine in Fannie Mae, and Timmy Geithner who couldn't figure out his taxes so he just didn't pay them, and bunches of people from Chicago knee capping everyone and taking names, threatening news outlets. We've got eco-lobbyists and rich marxists camping out at the White House. This whole Afghan dither thing is so blatantly political I would think even his most loyal, boot licking supporters would have it figured out and show some concern for the lives of our military and those of our allies. Or on a good day, perhaps they could show a little caring for the people of Afghanistan who must really be confused by a President who says victory isn't necessary, especially since a year ago he said this was THE WAR. Giving speeches to our military 3 days in a row first at Ft. Hood, then Arlington, and today at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska do you suppose he ever got an inkling what war is about? Apparently not. The speeches looked like they were given through clenched teeth and drawn from a heart of stone.

Obama is terrified of offending his far left base. Or maybe the Chicago goon squad he brought with him to DC. Whichever, he won't do anything to offend them for fear of losing support for health care (which he just had to rush through with no one seeing it) or cap and trade so together they can kill all our economy. He just had to rush rush rush the stimulus package or something really awful like 9% unemployment could happen, again without anyone knowing what was in it. And it has all sorts of surprises that had zip nada zilch to do with stimulating the economy, but which affect health, taxes, and especially energy. Little bombs of excrement that his closest advisors tucked inside and none of our elected representatives got to debate.

But he must deliberate even longer on Afghanistan and not let it detract from his war on our economy.

Media starts to report on health care costs

Maybe it's just because Fox is cleaning their clocks, or perhaps there are just too many lies to ignore it any longer.

"Could it be that the press is finally catching on to the fact that the Democrats’ health care reform bills don’t decrease costs? New York Times columnist David Leonhardt rips up the House bill in a column today. He writes, “Making the medical system more efficient is, in short, about saving lives and giving Americans a long overdue raise. It is arguably the single most important step that the federal government could take to improve people’s lives. And the bill that the House of Representatives passed last weekend simply does not get it done.”

The Politico also gets in on the act, writing “Barack Obama ran for president on a promise of saving the typical family $2,500 a year in lower health care premiums. But that was then. No one in the White House is making such a pledge now. It’s one of the most basic, kitchen-table questions of the entire reform debate: Would the sweeping $900 billion overhaul actually lower spiraling insurance premiums for everyone? No one really knows. …. [MIT health economist Jonathan] Gruber, the favorite economist of the White House, said the bill “really doesn’t bend the cost curve.” … Reminded that Obama demanded a bill that lowers health care spending, Gruber said: “That is what he would like to do. But he’s not doing it.””

And ABC News corrects the Democrats’ claim that insurance company profits are responsible for increasing health insurance costs. ABC News reports, [T]he companies’ profits still represent a miniscule percentage of the $2.5 trillion Americans spend every year on health care. “Insurance company profits in the large picture have very little to do with the overall rising cost of health care,” said health care expert Henry Aaron, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.” Link

St. Algore the Green

“I’ve done a Christian [-based] training program; I have a Muslim training program and a Jewish training program coming up, also a Hindu program coming up. I trained 200 Christian ministers and lay leaders here in Nashville in a version of the slide show that is filled with scriptural references. It’s probably my favourite version, but I don’t use it very often because it can come off as proselytising,” Gore tells Newsweek.

Right. Someone might think you were a Christian instead of just a eco-capitalist.

HT Lookinferlearning via Soylent Green

Thank you President Bush

Hillbuzz is not a blog I follow, but this essay, from a former Bush detractor is very touching and so true. After commenting on his strength after 9/11 and his quiet visit last week to Ft. Hood to comfort the troops, he comments:

"Thank goodness George W. is still on his watch, with wonderful Laura at his side. We are blessed as a nation to have these two out there…just as we are blessed to have the Clintons on the job, traveling the world doing the good they do.

And we are blessed to have Dick Cheney, wherever he is, keeping tabs on all that’s going on and speaking out when the current administration does anything too reckless and dangerous.

Cheney’s someone else we villainized and maligned in the past who we were also wrong about. There has never been a Vice President, including Gore, Biden, or Mondale, who was more supportive of gay rights than “Darth Cheney”. There has never been a Vice President more spot-on right about the dangers facing this country from Islamic terrorism.

We live in strange, strange times indeed.

We are now officially committed fans of George W. and Laura Bush. We are fans of Dick Cheney. Our gratitude for them makes us newly protective of them, and the continued role they play in this country."

Strange times indeed.

Looking back at the origins of FHA

The right margin of this interesting article from Woman’s Day about an early FHA backed mortgage is missing because my grandmother who clipped it was interested in the quilt pattern on the other side (Star and Ring). From the clothing and hair styles, I’d place it about 1948 because the husband isn’t in uniform and those drapes look familiar.

FHA has had an interesting history. On the one hand, it allowed generations of Americans to own their own homes, but the unintended consequences are it contributed mightily to our current recession brought on by the collapse of the housing market.

It was created in 1934 during the Great Depression because housing loan periods used to be much shorter with a final balloon payment, and when the economy failed, many people lost their homes. But there were also some fairly stiff standards on the quality of the home, a modest down payment and the ability of the buyers to pay. After 25 years or so, politicians decided this was unfair to African Americans who were being left behind in the decaying inner cities as whites moved out to newer housing stock (like in the picture of the Knudsen family home near Washington D.C.).

So that’s how we got all this “creative financing” with the seller, instead of the buyer, providing the down payment, but not really, because it actually came from a non-profit organization like a church or community group (think ACORN) which got the money from the government. In 2000, these types of mortgages made up less than 2% of FHA insured mortgages. By 2007, that percentage jumped to 35%. And I guess you know the rest of the story.

“The FHA’s standard insurance program today is notoriously lax. It backs low downpayment loans, to buyers who often have below-average to poor credit ratings, and with almost no oversight to protect against fraud. Sound familiar? This is called subprime lending—the same financial roulette that busted Fannie, Freddie and large mortgage houses like Countrywide Financial.” WSJ, Aug. 11, 2009

To be fair, conventional loans during the same time period were also requiring nothing down, so there’s plenty of blame to go around when mortgage lenders, non-profits dependent on government grants, home flippers with venture capital and politicians collude.

But this is just a reminder that more government interference in the housing market is not necessarily a good thing. The current housing credit of $8,000 for “first time buyers” (and there’s tremendous fraud in this) is costing us taxpayers something like $48,000 for each one.

Incidentally, Dorothy Ducas, the author of the Woman's Day article had a very interesting career and would make an interesting topic for a thesis if it hasn't been done.

A generation raised to expect breakfast

The man in front of me at Panera's today (fabulous bakery items, in case you've never been there) was buying a delicious selection of breakfast goodies--dense in calories and nutrition. In jest I said something like

"You must be really hungry today."

"These are for my employees. I love to see their smiles and they work harder."

"How nice," I replied. "All I ever got was a paycheck for working hard."

When we were out of earshot of others, he explained in hushed tones the real reason.

"I'm a contractor and I've learned that most of my mid-20s employees grew up getting breakfast, lunch and snacks provided to them by their schools. They have no idea how to feed themselves and they expect to be fed by whoever is in charge. When I give them a job to do, they say, 'But we haven't eaten yet.' "

Most are on food stamps and they come to me from an agency. If I want them to work, I have to feed them."

I'm still in shock. What have we done?

Fascinating radio lead in

While driving to the coffee shop this morning, the radio announcer provided the lead in to two news stories, but by putting them in one sentence, he created a startling word picture.

"A stench returns to a Cleveland neighborhood and the President still hasn't made a decision on Afghanistan."

Stench indeed. And the smell of politics is overwhelming that of the dead bodies hidden by a serial killer of women. He'll sit on it until he gets his way with health care, endangering the lives of our military and Afghan allies. The man has no shame.

Cite your sources, please

Today I was reading a passage about Leo Tolstoy in the book A Faith and Culture Devotional. Parts of the book are used in an on-line guide, so this link is to that. I have the print copy. (It's a wonderful book in case you're looking for Christmas ideas.)

The passage about Tolstoy’s treatment of his wife Sophia and their children was used to show how a quest for holiness and perfection may backfire in the lives of those nearest and dearest.

“There is so little genuine warmth about him; his kindness does not come from his heart, but merely from his principles.… no one will ever know that he never gave his wife a rest and never—in all these 32 years—gave his child a drink of water or spent five minutes by his bedside.”

But Philip Yancey, the author of the essay on Tolstoy, provides no citation. Yancey is an editor of Christianity Today and should know better. Oh well, now we have the internet and it shouldn’t be that tough to track down, right? Wrong. I spent about 45 minutes (it was an interesting search) and still don't have the exact source. I did find a wonderful source at NPR with photos of Sophia and a new book about the family, but not that passage. However, I kept finding this same quote in numerous sources, all without a citation. It was like trying to track one of those viral e-mails or an urban legend.

Eventually I revised my search and found a partially scanned copy of Sophia’s autobiography with extensive notes at the end about the battle of the diaries. I looked through it quickly, and I’m guessing this popular legend about Tolstoy's family life came from her book, translated and published in 1922. Autobiography of Countess Tolstoy [Sophie Andreevna Tolstoy] By Sofʹi︠a︡ Andreevna Tolstai︠a︡, translated by S. Koteliansky and Leonard Woolf. 1922.

However, in reading the extensive notes at the end (more interesting and complicated than my original quest), it is easy to see that wives of famous people (Mary Lincoln comes to mind) don’t fare well at the hands of male historians and biographers. They seem to grasp that although she was caring for 9 children when Lev decided to go on his spiritual quest and give away all their wealth and possessions, and that several of her 13 children died, and there were family squabbles enough to populate several large Russian estates, she was the one who was crazy. Go figure.

Did she say what I think she said?

"On Tuesday, that heavy task [of facing grieving Americans] fell to President Obama. At a memorial service five days after the largest mass killing on a U.S. military base, he reached for words of sorrow and solace, then summoned determination." Ann Gerhart, WaPo, Nov. 11

Yes, I think she just called it. He's a cold, cold caricature of a caring person, of a decent, warm human being. He reached, couldn't find it, so he just went on with banalities. As a eulogist and comforter, he flunks. That speech combined with his bizarre behavior last week at the news conference in which a stunned nation waited while he just announced more wealth redistribution and gave shout outs, have pretty much confirmed that we've got President Robotic Obama in office. Nothing will detract him from his agenda or his focus on himself.

Atlantic and NYT, ever the apologists, ever the big O cheerleaders, swooned over this cold collection of dead words and slipped in their own spittle.

Take back America in 2010

It's up to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=UZkvkLmkYVg

Veterans Day

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. I've told the story of how my parents, who were very young children, heard about the end of WWI. Because WWII was the defining event of their young married life, I'd never thought to ask them about WWI, until. . .

"I didn't hear about WWI memories until sometime in the early 1990s. I had interviewed my father for an oral history to include in a family recipe collection for a reunion of the descendants of his parents who had died in 1983. I had interviewed my mother about her parents' personal library for two articles I wrote. Both recalled in their 80s the first Armistice Day (now called Veterans' Day) even though they were 5 and 6 years old. I imagine they listened in on adult conversations and caught the fear and dread that gripped their communities. My mother's father who was 44 was registered for the draft. And although I haven't seen the record, I would assume my father's father, who was a much younger man, did too. There were no radios or television, and newspapers would have been too slow. So the plan was to ring bells when word came to the nearest town that the armistice had been signed. The church bells would be rung; then each farmer would begin to ring the bells they used on the farm; then the next farmer a few miles further away would hear and begin ringing his bells. Both my parents had exactly the same memory of that first Armistice Day--hearing bells tolling throughout the countryside from all sides. The war was over."

Armistice Day now honors all Veterans, living and dead. On this day I think I've shown photos of Uncle Clare, and Uncle Russell (Joe) and Dad, so here's a photo of Uncle John, Dad's brother. Dad's brother John was inducted into the Army in December, 1942. He served with glider troops in North Africa and Sicily. In England during preparation for the invasion of France, he served as glider instructor. He took part in the invasion of Normandy and was wounded then and again in Belgium. He was discharged in June 1945. Uncle Russell, Dad and John's younger brother (probably still a teen) served in Sitka, Alaska, and then was with the first wave of Marines who stormed Iwo Jima and was wounded; he was awarded the Purple Heart. Dad's cousins Andy, Bill and Phil were in the Army serving in Europe, Philippines and Korea; his cousin Wayne and brother-in-law Glaydon (Gramps) were in the Navy and served in the Pacific; cousin-in-law Harlan served in the Army in New Guinea and the Philippines; brother-in-law Johnny was in the Coast Guard; brother-in-law Charlie was also in the service, but I don't know the branch. Another brother-in-law, my mother's brother Clare, was in the Army Air Force and died in the China, Burma India Theater in 1944. Dad served on the U.S.S. Mayo and made two trips across the Atlantic and one trip each to Okinawa, the Philippines and Japan. Not bad for a farm kid who had probably not been further away from home than Chicago and never learned to swim. All but two of these men were from the same town and all are deceased now. [Service records and photos of over 400 men and women for a town of less than 3,000 appear in "War Record of Mount Morris" edited by Harry G. Kable, 1947.] Even the town band was part of the National Guard and served in the Fiji Islands. (From a blog I wrote 11/10/05)

Best carpet spot cleaner I've found

A bottle of glass cleaner--can be Windex, or just a blue or green knock-off. We have a cat. Hair balls and vomited dyed cat food (that's for owners since I think cats are color blind). The first time I grabbed a bottle of window cleaner it was because it was handy. In my office and our lower family room/laundry room level we have very tightly woven, expensive commercial carpet that could serve a busy theater lobby it's so good. This stuff cleaned it like a dream and left no light spots. So the next time she tossed her cookies on the white living room thick shag, I tried it on that. Works like a dream.

Today I'm taking a bottle with me to exercise class with a heavy cloth (paper towels are OK, but can come apart and then you're cleaning up paper pieces). The carpet in our fellowship hall is disgusting. People are very careless with food and coffee spills, and I think I'll try some spot cleaning. I've made no progress after a year+ of complaining about the pink soap dribbling and staining the white counters in the ladies room. I even brought one of the pastors in to show him. Our maintenance staff must not notice the pink stains turning gray. It's useless to remind people to be cleaner and cautious because of the flu if the rest rooms and carpet look grubby, don't you think? I'm a visual person. The visual environment counts too!!

Sensitivity vs. stupidity; fairness vs. foolishness

Apologists and victimologists for Nadil Hasan who can only find evil motives on the Christian far right could benefit from Eugene Robinson's column today. He says there's a difference between being sensitive and being stupid, and apologists are actually hurting American Muslims by refusing to see that the military had plenty of warning about this guy and dropped the ball.

• He had told people of his serious doubts about U.S. military campaigns
  
• He made no secret of his reluctance to serve in Afghanistan
  
• Army doctors told their superiors of their concern about his divided allegiance
  
• Fellow officers had complained about his anti-american rants
  
• He was possibly a follower of a radical cleric.

And if you've been following the story you know there were more speculations, some being investigated, others being buried.

If you disagree, please contact Mr. Robinson, eugenerobinson@washpost.com

How to understand what's happening

to the Christians in the United States. Lutherans are in grief and shock--well, maybe not those who think only the local congregation matters. But the August "Church Wide Assembly" which approved gay pastors and marriage after 20 years of nibbling around the edges, for some reason, surprised some (not me). Here's one of the best explanations I've read by David Housholder to catch you up, just in case you're not a Christian, or you only show up for weddings, funerals and Christmas Eve.
Full document here.

"There are two emerging Christianities.

1) One is a postwar liberal movement with roots in the 19th century social gospel, liberal German theology from that same era, and flavored with a shot of very resilient Marxism. This faction has firm control over most mainline Protestant North American denominations, colleges, and seminaries. Their preaching is cool and reflective and nuanced.

"Let us then go forth brothers and sisters to renew our efforts to establish justice and peace throughout God's creation. For the sake of the greater Gospel and the Christ who was crucified."

2) The other was born around campfires on the mission field and the songs of slavery. Its piety is "warm to hot," expressive, potent, and unpredictable. There is a supernatural vibe to the body language and speech. It is a high-touch world of prayer and laying on of hands. It can be found in storefront churches full of immigrants in any major world city."

These two, writes Housholder repel each of like two poles of a magnet--in some ways they gain identitiy by NOT being like the other and each sees their group as an upgrade over and against the other. They are mutually patronizing. When I (Norma) used to be on Usenet (all text) for a writers group, the Christian groups were the most vicious and snarly so I never joined any of those groups. Liberationist or charismatic or dispensationalist, it made no difference.

The fault line is not whether gays are saved by the work of Jesus Christ (Christians can't work their way to salvation), but whether they can be pastors in committed relationships or can be married in the church. In the good old days of theological splits and snipes, writes Housholder, traditional family morality was upheld by both groups (even as our divorce rates soared). Now that is gone. The Protestant denominations are unraveling. Yours too, in case you aren't there yet, there is a study group or task force planning to take you for a free and painful ride until the crash at the end.

All the king's horses and all the king's men will not be able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. A community cannot be held together with two sets of rules on the big-ticket issues. There may be more understanding and consensus on the abortion issue than this one which goes to the heart of biblical revelation from Genesis to Revelation.

The grand coalition of North American Protestantism has unraveled, he says. Liberals will retain control of the mainline denominations, Housholder predicts, and the conservatives will either 1) stay and keep quiet, 2) leave the mainline world and join a non-denominational group, or 3) be visionary and creative.

At last, an honest Democrat

"Mr. [John] Cassidy is more honest than the politicians whose dishonesty he supports. "The U.S. government is making a costly and open-ended commitment," he writes [on the New Yorker web site]. "Let's not pretend that it isn't a big deal, or that it will be self-financing, or that it will work out exactly as planned. It won't. What is really unfolding, I suspect, is the scenario that many conservatives feared. The Obama Administration . . . is creating a new entitlement program, which, once established, will be virtually impossible to rescind."

Why are they doing it? Because, according to Mr. Cassidy, ObamaCare serves the twin goals of "making the United States a more equitable country" and furthering the Democrats' "political calculus." In other words, the purpose is to further redistribute income by putting health care further under government control, and in the process making the middle class more dependent on government. As the party of government, Democrats will benefit over the long run." Review and Outlook, Nov. 10

I would modify that editorial just a wee bit. Democrats will benefit over the short run; and in the long run, they will destroy the country. Think about what they were celebrating at the Berlin wall site yesterday--and now we're building one.

Where are your "green" priorities?

Certainly not with saving lives. We're about to repeat the slaughter of the disastrous malaria resurgence where our western environmentalists killed millions and millions of Africans every year for the last 30 by prematurely withdrawing DDT from the market because a bird egg might die (none have). On the advice of a non-scientist, Rachel Carson.

So now we're going to launch, with the blessings of our global power hungry president and congress, a war against all poor and undeveloped nations. From yesterday's WSJ

"Getting basic sanitation and safe water to the 3 billion people around the world who do not have it now would cost nearly $4 billion.

By contrast, cuts in global carbon emissions that aim to limit global temperature increases to less than 2 degrees Celsius over the next century would cost $40 TRILLION a year by 2100. These cuts do nothing to reduce the number of people without access to clean drinking water and sanitation." Bjorn Lomberg, WSJ, November 9.

Why Obama isn't at the Wall

Sure, he doesn't want to celebrate the fall of communism in Europe, flying a big RED flag that his socialist, statist policies won't work. There's a bigger reason, however. HIS EGO! He'd have to share the stage! Have you seen the photos!!! OMG! Every important president, chancellor, premier and former-anybody of Western Civilization is there.

• UK Premier Gordon Brown
  
• French President Nicholas Sarkozy
  
• Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel
  
• Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
  
• German president Horst Koehler
  
• Poland's Lech Walesa
  
• Hungary's Miklos Nemeth
  and even
  
• the former USSR's Mikhail Gorbachev

Who established our institutions of higher learning and why

Interesting introduction in the book by James Anderson Hawes, Twenty Years Among The Twenty Year Olds A Story Of Our Colleges Of Today, (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1929) which attempted to explain to students of 80 years ago how much better off they were than those who had come before them. He probably wrote it before October (stock market crash).

"Harvard was the first college or school in America and was founded in 1636 by a vote of the "General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay," which agreed "to give four hundred pounds toward a School or College," for the purpose of educating a selected few for the Church from their earliest days, "dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches when our present ministers shall lie in dust."

The next educational institution founded was the Collegiate School of the Dutch Church in New York, . . . The third institution William and Mary was not chartered until 1693, when it was organized by the Church . . . with a similar object, "that the Church of Virginia may be furnished with a seminary of Ministers of the Gospel, and that the youth may be properly educated in good manners, and that the Christian faith may be propagated among the western Indians to the glory of Almighty God."

In 1695 St. John's College at Annapolis, Maryland, was founded. . . Sixty-five years after Harvard, Yale was founded largely to supply a local demand for the early training of ministers and because Harvard even then began to be looked on as rather too liberal in theology for the good old Puritan Fathers.

Therefore the first five institutions of learning on this Continent were founded as schools to train young boys of a select class, as leaders in Church and State. Please note that the founding of all our early colleges was to provide the advantage of training selected leaders, and never apparently for the purpose of offering free higher education to any and all who might wish to learn something of almost anything. They certainly had no purpose of helping all-comers to get jobs or secure wealth for themselves. The principal object of the founding of these early colleges was frankly theological and for many years a majority, or at least a very large proportion, of those who graduated entered the ministry.

. . . the fact must be remembered that our entire educational system from top to bottom was instituted and for many years carried on directly by the Church in every one of our colonies. Not only was this the case in New England, but Princeton, founded next, was a product of the interests of the Presbyterian Church. The next founded was Pennsylvania, in 1750, when Benjamin Franklin interested the cultured Quakers in a center of learning for their city and section. . . the first with any definite idea of charity in helping the poorer classes.

The next in order was King's College in New York, changed at the time of the Revolution to Columbia. This institution was founded largely by the Episcopal Church and supported by Trinity, perhaps the richest private church corporation in the world. It was essentially aristocratic in its organization and a school for the better class of New Yorkers, especially of the Episcopal Church, as the charter reads,
“The chief Thing that is aimed at in this College is, to teach and engage the Children to know God in Jesus Christ, and to live and serve Him in all Sobriety, Goodliness and Righteousness of life, with a perfect heart and a willing Mind.”

Rutgers followed on a foundation by the Dutch Church . . ."

It takes a Romanian village

Matthew Dalton has an article in the WSJ today about fighting obesity, and why the "village" approach (i.e., government control) is needed. Except the fat women were gathered in a Romanian village. I don't know why they think these Romanian women didn't have "walk to school" days when they were children or that they should stay away from those Big Macs down the street.

"Instead of hoping that individuals can muster the self-discipline on their own to avoid processed foods, fast food and days without physical exercise, the idea is that governments must actively work to change environments and reduce the menu of harmful options available in everyday life.

As a result, hundreds of towns in Europe and elsewhere have adopted a version of this strategy, aimed particularly at preventing children from becoming overweight and obese. They hired dietitians to counsel children and their families in schools, organized walk-to-school days, hired sports educators and built new sporting facilities. The U.S. government, meanwhile, is increasing its funding for cities and towns to pursue so-called community-based obesity prevention, in an effort to gather data about which kinds of tactics work best."

Last night our condo association had its annual potluck. I overate. Now, why would a sensible, healthy eater who goes to exercise class 3 times a week, and eats 3-4 vegetables for lunch do that? Because everything tasted good and the fellowship was great, and it was 2 hours past my regular meal time. The artichoke dip was particularly wonderful both as an appetiser and a dessert. I'm not all that far removed from the village square in Romania.

So what about the government hitching a ride in your grocery cart or camping out in your pantry, telling you what to eat and when? This isn't about safe or nutritious food, you know. We're way past that. This is about control of every little aspect of your life.

I'm not sure if anyone understands the chemistry and biology and culture of obesity. But every time I read Junk Food Science by Sandy, I learn a little more. And she's not writing about food that's junk--it's the science.

Blood vessels might predict prostate cancer

"The study of 572 men with localized prostate cancer indicates that aggressive or lethal prostate cancers tend to have blood vessels that are small, irregular and primitive in cross-section, while slow-growing or indolent tumors have blood vessels that look more normal.

The findings were published Oct. 26 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. OSU news release. . .

"It's as if aggressive prostate cancers are growing faster and their blood vessels never fully mature," says study leader Dr. Steven Clinton, professor of medicine and a medical oncologist and prostate cancer specialist at Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center-James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute.

"Prostate cancer is very heterogeneous, and we need better tools to predict whether a patient has a prostate cancer that is aggressive, fairly average or indolent in its behavior so that we can better define a course of therapy surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormonal treatment, or potentially new drugs that target blood vessels that is specific for each person's type of cancer," Clinton says.

Isn't that just so silly? Everyone knows who's been following JAMA for years that nothing happens in medicine that isn't about poverty, race, education or poor nutrition. If it were, there might be more grant money released for true research instead of keeping all those social science folk employed writing papers and applying for more grants.

Christian Dispensationalists and Israel

Prophecy and end times are not Biblical concepts in which I spend a lot of time. But many Christians do, and they spend years and forests debating each other--not unbelievers. Dividing the Bible into time periods (dispensations) with a message specific to certain groups or reading scripture like it was a daily newspaper is not what I do. However, some who do often provide interesting insights into history. Although I think Israel should be our ally regardless of what we believe about end times or find in Ezekiel or Zechariah, it is an amazing country (we were there in March) as pointed out by David Reagan at www.worldviewtimes.com .

"Another accomplished fact is the revival of the Hebrew language from the dead. When the Jews were scattered from their homeland in the First and Second Centuries, they stopped speaking Hebrew. The Jews in Europe mixed Hebrew with German and created a new language called Yiddish. The Jews in the Mediterranean Basin mixed Hebrew with Spanish and created a language called Ladino. But the Bible prophesied that the Hebrew language would be revived in the end times (Zephaniah 3:9), and that is exactly what happened in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries through the efforts of one man - Eliezer Ben Yehuda. Today, the people of Israel speak biblical Hebrew.

Equally certifiable is the reclamation of the Jewish homeland. As pointed out earlier, the Bible prophesied that it would become a desolation after the Jewish people were expelled from it. But the Bible also prophesied that when the Jews returned to the land, it would once again become a land of milk and honey:

"The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passed by. And they will say, 'This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.'" (Ezekiel 36:34-35)

When the Jews started returning to their homeland in the late 19th Century, it was a total wasteland. Nearly all the trees had been cut down and the soil was badly eroded. The land resembled a desert. Most of the valleys had become malaria-infested swamp lands. The Jewish pioneers began planting trees, reclaiming the soil, and draining the swamps. Today, Israel is the bread basket of the Middle East.

Another prophecy that has definitely been fulfilled in our times is the resurgence of the Israeli military. Zechariah 12:6 says that in the end times, God "will make the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples..."

The fulfillment of this prophecy can be seen today in the incredible military power of Israel. It is one of the world's smallest nations, yet it is ranked by all experts as one of the four top military powers in the world."

It isn’t me, honest

I found someone on the Internet with my name leaving comments at bars, restaurants and hotels about the quality of food and service over a two year period. She must be quite a traveller and loves to eat and party. I have no idea where Kalamaki or Zante-Town are, but she really likes to go there. Also, it’s not American English. And I wouldn’t order lamb or rabbit.

We drank here whilst we were on holiday in September. Staff very friendly. We had a breakfast here one morning and it was very nice. Hopefully we will see you the guys again in the future. Iguana Bar Kalamaki

After reading all the comments we were looking forward to eating here. What a disaster!! My husband had mousakka it was vry sloppy. I had grilled king prawns on a skewer looked very nice until I turned the skewer over and the prawns were burnt. I wanted to send the meals back but my husband did not want to make a fuss. Neadless to say we would not go back to this restaurant. Olive Tree Kalamaki

On our last visit to Kalamaki this was our favourite restaurant. Unfortunately things have changed. Frozen vegatables rather over grilled sword fish and very very dry Lamb Kleftico. Sorry we will not be eating here again. Zepos Kalamaki

We had disasterous meal here. The waiter could not speak good english and screwed up the order. Our main meals were ready before our starters arrived. So therefore the main meals were only aired. My son had Rabbit Stamas and it was full of bones. The location is lovely pity about the food. Village Inn Zante-Town

This is the real Norma, at our favorite date place, The Rusty Bucket, a sports bar in Upper Arlington. Not exotic--no prawns, rabbit or lamb on the menu--but I do love their Philly Cheese with fries and my husband loves Gary's 3-way.

Might this have been the source?

Apologists and victimologists are digging deep for accounts of discrimination and hostility toward Hasan for his faith. Could it be that he "started it?"

According to The Washington Post, Major Nidal Malik Hasan was supposed to make a presentation on a medical topic during his senior year as a psychiatric resident at Walter Reed Medical Center.

Instead, Hasan lectured his supervisors and two dozen mental health staff members on Islam, homicide bombings and threats the military could encounter from Muslims conflicted about fighting against other Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A source who attended the presentation told the paper, "It was really strange. The senior doctors looked really upset."

The Powerpoint, entitled, "The Koranic World View As It Relates to Muslims in the U.S. Military," consisted of 50 slides, according to a copy obtained by the Post.

Why would you think fellow military and physicians should have quietly accepted his beliefs uncriticially?

I'm just asking. Because Hasan had access to returning military who may have needed counseling, was the long term damage and planted bombs he imposed on the military the advice and counsel he was allowed to give as his supervisors looked the other way? Is the Army so PC that no one suggested he was unfit to treat anyone, even himself?

You can do anything, but stay off of my Darwin!

Ray Comfort and actor Kirk Cameron plan to give away 100,000 copies of a special edition of Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species" on 100 university campuses for the 150th anniversary of the book. Their book challenges the theory of evolution with a 50-page introduction that includes an overview of Darwin's life and presents a case for a universe created by God. [OMG--how shocking, just shocking!] Although I wouldn't expect this campaign to get many followers, or converts to Christianity, the vitriol and hysteria from their detractors are off the charts. Just google "Kirk Cameron Darwin" if you want to see how far we haven't evolved in terms of allowing someone with a different viewpoint freedom of expression. You can read the introduction at
Living Waters web site.

Someone once graciously said, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” However, it seems that some contemporary atheists don’t share such honorable convictions. When they learned about this publication they threatened lawsuits, book burnings, and even censorship in vowing to tear the Introduction out of the book. If the Special Introduction has indeed been removed from this publication, you may view it freely on www.livingwaters.com to learn what some don’t want you to know.

It was Irish playwright and skeptic George Bernard Shaw who warned, “All censorships exist to prevent anyone from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions.” Ray Comfort

I'll fight you for the library

I laughed so hard tears were streaming. . .



And on the impotence of proofreading

Slow Reading

Now I can feel good about it. Slow Reading by John Miedema. You'll feel better about all the time you wasted in speed reading classes.

Monday Memories--CBYF visits Chicago

CBYF is Church of the Brethren Youth Fellowship and I think this photo of the group from the Mt. Morris, IL church is Spring 1954, but I can't be sure. The young woman whose face is almost hidden left school to marry probably around 1955 and isn't in that year's annual, so that's how I'm dating this. There were more in the group--perhaps 20 if all showed up--but this was probably a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry and other sights. The first seven of us from the left, all went to Manchester College, a Brethren school in North Manchester, Indiana, but I'm thinking that because of transfers and marriage, maybe only one or two graduated there (we all did graduate, though). The young man in the photo didn't fare so well--he's in prison for killing a policeman when he was drunk, and he already had an artificial leg from a drunk driving incident. I'm not sure who took the photo--probably our Sunday School teacher, Forrest, a jolly farmer who put up with a lot from us. Pastor Dean Frantz is at the far right--he would be about 90 now.

When I see how nicely we dressed in the 1950s, I always feel a little sorry for today's teens trapped perpetually in jeans and t's. My dress (I'm 4th from the left) was a very delicate aqua in a "bubble" embossed, shiny cotton with cap sleeves and a circle skirt.

Lords of Entitlement

WSJ Review and Outlook, Nov. 9, 2009:

"Speaker Nancy Pelosi defied policy logic and public opinion late Saturday night, ramming through the House a nearly 2,000-page health-care leviathan that counts as the biggest expansion of the federal government since the New Deal. As President Obama likes to say, this was a "teachable moment" about our current government.

The vote was 220 to 215, with 39 House Democrats joining all but one Republican in opposition. Mrs. Pelosi had to cajole and bribe her way to the magic 218, and the list of her promises must be stacked to the ceiling. . .

Mrs. Pelosi's craftiest political turn was a last-minute compromise to strip federal funds from insurance plans that cover abortions. The deal—negotiated by Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak and supported by the National Right to Life Committee—gave cover to 40-some Democrats to support the larger bill.

However, as subsidized costs soar, government will have no choice but to ration medical care, starting with the aged and grievously ill. Is pre-natal life more valuable than the elderly? We're reminded of the way pro-lifers supported Anthony Kennedy over Laurence Silberman for the Supreme Court in 1987 merely because Mr. Kennedy was a Catholic who claimed to personally oppose abortion. Mr. Stupak played the right-to-lifers like a Stradavarius."

So while the rest of the world celebrates the fall of the Berlin Wall today (without our president who is just too busy to travel if the celebration isn't all about him), and debates who deserves the credit for bringing down that symbol of Communism and the dictator state, our own elected officials continue to build a wall, law by law, regulation by degree, czar by czar, to keep out freedom, economic prosperity, entreprenuership, and free speech, while opening the gates to every crack pot, old failed European theory of government control we've fought against for 100 years.

Seems like an awfully weak link

"Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army major suspected of killing 13 people and wounding 29 others at Fort Hood, worshipped at the same mosque as two of the 9/11 terrorists.

According to the London Sunday Telegraph, Hasan attended services at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Va., in 2001 at the same time as Sept. 11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hamzi and Hani Hanjour. Funeral services for Hasan's mother also was held at that mosque."

His faith may have influenced his killing rampage against his fellow soldiers, or he could have a brain tumor or a mental illness, but attendance at the same mosque with Islamic jihadists? I don't think so. Thirty two years ago a member of my church bought a gun, practiced at a shooting range, then one day murdered her husband, her children and the family dog before killing herself. Her family and our family had carried the advent banners down the aisle just the week before. Do you see any relationship between us there? And what about all the other law abiding, good citizens who attend that mosque in Great Falls?

Clarification update: From WaPo today, Hasan attended the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church in 2001, when its spiritual leader was Anwar al-Aulaqi, a figure who crossed paths with al-Qaeda associates, including two Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers, one senior U.S. official said.

Since Aulaqi left in 2002 and settled in Yemen, his lectures promoting the strategies of an al-Qaeda military leader have shown up in computer files of suspects in terrorism cases in the United States, Canada and Britain, officials said. It is not clear whether Hasan knew the preacher well then or only later through his lectures on the Internet."

Their first mistake was letting Democrats define "reform"

Roman Catholics have more than 620 hospitals in the United States. At this time, nurses and other staff still have the freedom to pray with patients and to talk about spiritual matters. According to First Things, the bishops have a few simple but important priorities.

"First, everyone should have access to basic health care, including immigrants. The Church would hope to see that access broadened as widely as possible. But at a minimum, it should include those immigrants who live and work in the United States legally.*

"Second, reform should respect the dignity of every person, from conception to natural death. This means that the elderly and persons with disabilities must be treated with special care and sensitivity. It also means that abortion and abortion funding should be excluded from any reform plan, no matter how adroitly the abortion funding is masked. Whatever one thinks about its legality, abortion has nothing to do with advancing human “health,” and a large number of Americans regard it as a gravely wrong act of violence, not only against unborn children but also against women.

"Third, real healthcare reform needs to include explicit, ironclad conscience protections for medical professionals and institutions so that they cannot be forced to violate their moral convictions.

"Fourth—and this is so obvious it sometimes goes unstated—any reform must be economically realistic and financially sustainable. We can’t help anyone, including ourselves, if we’re insolvent. If we commit ourselves to health services, then we need to have the will and the ability to really pay for them. That’s a moral issue, not simply a practical one."

So, by definition of the bishops, this isn't reform at all. All you boomers who think abortion is simply a woman's right, better watch your back, because this "reform" is going to shred Medicare--instead of taking out the fraud and waste, it will just cut benefits. And you're now done having babies and abortions and thinking about knee replacements and kidney dialysis.

Generally, there's little difference between the parties except on two issues: 1)Democrats talk a good game about protecting the weak and helpless, but will cut them out with legislation and regulation at both ends of life, and Republicans don't. 2) The Democrats pander to minorities and special victim groups and put in place programs to keep them weak for their political gain, and Republicans don't. Other than that--deficits, lobbyists, corruption, lying to constituents, manipulating the immigration issue, growing government, breaking campaign promises--they are Siamese Twins.

*I haven't heard that foreign born people in the USA with green cards or student visas or spousal visa have had a problem with insurance, so maybe the bishops are being less than truthful here. Also, no one is denied access to health care because of lack of insurance. Illegals get much better care in the U.S. than they would in their homeland.

Pelosi Broke her Pledge

to put the final health care bill online for 72 hours before the vote, so why should we believe anything else about protections, cost savings, keeping private insurance, rationing, and abortion that she used to twist arms and can she even be trusted by the blue dogs to pass out the pork she promised at our expense? She can't keep a simple promise, nor can the President. Obama broke his campaign promise for transparency and being honest with the American people. That was to be part of the "hope and change." What a team of liars those two are. She calls it a victory; Obama says it's the most glorious event of their careers. I don't have enough bad words in my vocabulary to even describe them.

American Cubans cry foul

Capitol Hill Cubans find this very odd--the duplicity of a prominent environment organization which claims to work with business and governments to promote a healthier globe. Coziness with Castro doesn't sound very business-friendly to me, and I remember his promises from the 1950s! Interesting web site.

"The Environmental Defense Fund ("EDF") is an advocacy organization that vehemently opposes oil drilling, whether in mainland areas such as Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or off-shore in the Gulf of Mexico and other U.S. coastal zones.

Therefore, it was shocking to read the following press release:

Environmental Defense Fund will send a team of experts to Havana, Cuba, on Sunday to discuss ways to eliminate overfishing, protect coral reefs, conserve coastal areas, and tap potential ocean energy - a signal that greater environmental cooperation may be on the horizon.
"...and tap potential ocean energy"?

Their website further elaborates:

Environmental Defense Fund has been in Cuba since 2000, working with our Cuban partners on scientific research and strategies for protecting coastal and marine resources. Our experts are working with Cuban scientists on research to ensure that if Cuba taps offshore oil and gas reserves, it is done right — in an environmentally sustainable way.

"...if Cuba taps oil and gas reserves"?

In other words, the same organization that absolutely opposes offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, or off any U.S. coast, is now looking to work with the Castro regime in order to ensure that they drill "in an environmentally sustainable way."

It's fascinating how the EDF is willing to provide such leeway to the Castro regime, whose environmental record includes grazing half of the island's eco-system for overambitious sugar cane harvests and polluting Havana's skyline with sulfuric acids, while being absolutist in their opposition to drilling in the U.S."

Also read at their site what happens when bloggers displease a totalitarian, statist government.

Sunlight is the greatest disinfectant--Obama

HT Murray

If the IRS and Medicare had a baby

it would look like this

A shocked nation watches Obama's reaction to Ft. Hood

"President Obama didn't wait long after Tuesday's devastating elections to give critics another reason to question his leadership, but this time the subject matter was more grim than a pair of governorships.

After news broke out of the shooting at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas, the nation watched in horror as the toll of dead and injured climbed. The White House was notified immediately and by late afternoon, word went out that the president would speak about the incident prior to a previously scheduled appearance. At about 5 p.m., cable stations went to the president. The situation called for not only his trademark eloquence, but also grace and perspective.

But instead of a somber chief executive offering reassuring words and expressions of sympathy and compassion, viewers saw a wildly disconnected and inappropriately light president making introductory remarks. At the event, a Tribal Nations Conference hosted by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian affairs, the president thanked various staffers and offered a "shout-out" to "Dr. Joe Medicine Crow -- that Congressional Medal of Honor winner." Three minutes in, the president spoke about the shooting, in measured and appropriate terms. Who is advising him?

Anyone at home aware of the major news story of the previous hours had to have been stunned. An incident like this requires a scrapping of the early light banter. The president should apologize for the tone of his remarks, explain what has happened, express sympathy for those slain and appeal for calm and patience until all the facts are in. That's the least that should occur . . . "Robert George NBC Chicago

More and more this man is daily showing what he truly is. Aloof, uncaring, unamerican.

President and Mrs. Bush quietly went into Ft. Hood today to visit and console the wounded. The Bushes entered and departed the sprawling military facility in secret, having told the base commander they did not want press coverage of their visit. Class act, as usual. If and when the Obamas visit, it will be all about him.

In the vitals today

In the vitals today
a poem about love lost and names
November 7, 2009

Love has turned sour
and gone its own way
leaving these marriages
in the vitals today

Abdirashid from Safiya
and
Wendkieta from Katyia

David from Dianna
and
William from Milana

Hassanatu from Abdulai
and
Katrina from Kyei

Jimmy from Equane
and
VaShon from JaQuine

Elgio from Yazmin
and
Jessica from Adem

Chaunte from Diante
and
Christopher from Ute

Hassan from Sadia
and
Alc from Theresa

Shana from Aric
and
Jennifer from Patrick

Laurence from Aisha
and
Anwar from Ayesha

Frank from Melissa
and
Benjamin from Schlelia.

Michael from Shelley
and
Mindy from Stanley

Tesfamichael from Senait
and
Merhawi from Ghenet

Janelle and Derrick
and
Irina and Eric

Deborah from Delron
and
Jodi from Shawn

OSMA oppose the house health bill

From Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland.com:

"WASHINGTON, D.C. The Ohio State Medical Association, which represents a majority of doctors in Ohio, this afternoon [Nov. 4] announced its opposition to the current health care reform bill working its way rapidly through the U.S. House of Representatives.

The association, an affiliate of the American Medical Association, has applauded the general concept of extending health care to more Americans. But it worries about the lack of a long-term fix for the budget rules that are supposed to require Medicare cuts to physicians' fees every year.

Congress every year sidesteps this with a single-year exemption, but doctors find it waring and unpredictable. The latest House bill, which could get a vote as soon as Saturday, does not include a fix, handing the matter off to a separate piece of legislation that may or may not pass sometime. Some doctors as well as tax groups say this is duplicitous."

The OSMA says it has glaring deficiencies, it adds hundreds to the Medicaid rolls of Ohio, it will cripple hospital expansion, and it fails to curb law suits.

Ellen Goodman supports the women Bush freed

She needs to talk to Obama instead of blaming Karzai. Their fate is in his hands. And he doesn't give a whoop. A dead woman won't do well in school, Ellen. What's next for the women of Afghanistan?

Saving 400 jobs

This is how it's done (and I'm guessing Obama will get the credit for this one).

Little Tikes Co. has been offered $4.3 million in incentives from Ohio and local (Hudson) officials to stay in the state.

We, the tax payers of Ohio, have saved 400 jobs and possibly added 66 by bribing the company with tax breaks. . . we pay more, they pay less.

We have a Democratic administration in Ohio, but both parties do this. Businesses have been taught to shop around for the biggest tax breaks, playing one city or one state against the other, and the cheapest labor. Powerful unions are a big reason to look elsewhere. That's why some go overseas.

I wasn't surprised, were you?

"Mr. Obama made a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room, seizing on the endorsements in an attempt to provide a final burst of momentum." WSJ

He has hung his brief career and reputation on the passage of an unnecessary, over priced, economy-killing health care bill. Why would anyone be surprised he shows up to give the old Chicago land knee capper if this ends up in the crapper?

We all know the Democarats needed no help from Republicans to pass this monstrosity, but I really would have liked to see them put up more of a fight to the death.

• The first thing is they needed to line up behind Joe Wilson and denounce ALL the lies, beginning with the one that they hadn't presented any alternatives, and
  
  
• secondly, they should have never, never used the word "reform" when speaking of this evil take over. Once illegals were eliminated from the count, and people who qualified for other government plans but hadn't bothered, and those who were between employer plans, we were left with about 5% of the American citizen population. Anywhere from 80-85% of Americans were perfectly happy with their insurance. Fraud and waste are and will continue to be a huge problem in the government health care we do have. This is not "reform." It's the equivalent of flesh eating bacteria for our economy's recovery.
  
  
• Third, the lie that somehow, this weakened, lily livered group of Republicans could hold anything up, including their spines, should have been broadcast from the halls of Congress, but I guess that would have been hard to admit.
  
  
• And finally, trying to tweak a really, really bad bill by reaching an agreement on abortion just proves how weak the Republicans are and all they care about is getting reelected because that plays well at home, just like their Democratic twins.

Donating blood--bring your itinerary

Today I was signed up to donate blood and I was at the church about 5 minutes early. I read through the instructions; I told the sign-in lady that I had had a long 20 minute conversation with someone at the 800 number about my trip in March--Greece, Turkey, Israel and Egypt. I was told then (2 weeks ago), that all the cities were cleared for malaria, and I should just report the conversation. She took me in to consult with some one in maroon medical garb and a stethoscope. "Were you there 5 years?" he said. "No, 10 days." "OK."

So after having my blood tested, my temperature taken, my blood pressure measured and my pulse checked, and answering all sorts of questions about AIDS, vaccinations and people I have sex with, the young woman who was recovering from the flu and still on antibiotics got to the travel part. Again I told her, Greece, Turkey, Israel and Egypt. "Which provinces or cities?" she asked. Well, I hadn't brought along my itinerary, and Turkish names don't exactly tumble off my tongue. But I did remember Antalya and Mersin, which were flagged, so I couldn't donate blood. "But I was told. . . " just didn't cut it.