Monday Memories--John Stolzenbach

John is retiring and Sunday June 26 will be his last Sunday to preach at Lytham Road campus of UALC where he pastors the two traditional services. When we began attending UALC we met John and Sue in the new member's class. They had started attending at the invitation of his brother Jim (now deceased), and we came because I had attended a women's event at UALC and met a number of women who formerly had been members of the church we were attending. Four couples in that class formed a small group Bible study, and four years later John who was a school teacher when we met him, became a Lutheran pastor. There are several fare-well events for John, and there will be another one on June 26. We attended one on May 26.

John's special gift from the Lord is a Servant's heart for the hurting Servants--like those grieving, divorced, addiction/recovery. He sees the many funerals he does as an opportunity to reach the lost as well as the family. He's also known for his sense of humor. After our daughter's wedding a Jewish friend said, "I don't think I ever had such a good time at a Christian wedding."

Our Savior, the Democrats | The Weekly Standard

"How does Wallis—the old Students for a Democratic Society agitator who touted the Vietcong in the 1970s and the Sandinistas in the 1980s, who denounced welfare reform in the 1990s as a betrayal of the poor, and whose funding by George Soros was exposed last year—enlist Catholic bishops and mainstream evangelicals in his endless political campaigns?"

Jesus can forgive the SDS stupidity, and he died for Wallis' sins against the poor and lying about Soros funding, but enlisting Christian leaders for a "circle of protection" around federal programs that primarily line the pockets of the well heeled government staff? Um, no. Even Jesus has his limits.

Our Savior, the Democrats | The Weekly Standard

Palin’s End Run

Canada Free Press: "The mainstream media have indignantly reported on Governor Sarah Palin’s barnstorming “One Nation” bus tour across the Eastern United States with sputtering speculation, crafty criticism, risible ridicule, and, as usual, insufficient insight. The reason for the media apoplexy is simple. Palin is the first potential national candidate to successfully demonstrate that today’s news organizations are yesterday’s news."

But that's not all. She's a woman who didn't ride into town on her husband or father's coattails, and the media just can't or won't accept that. They are very 20th century.
Palin’s End Run

School Application Criticized For Birth Questions

What is going on in California? Limits to the number of straight guys (2) on a soft-ball team and the judge says it's OK. Anti-semitism reeks in the anti-circumcision literature. Now a school asking for birthing delivery information?

School Application Criticized For Birth Questions « CBS Sacramento

81% of US Mosques Promote Jihad

"The minarets are our bayonets, the domes our helmets, the mosques our barracks and the faithful our army." Turkish nationalist poet Ziya Gokalp, 1912

Interesting survey which includes extensive links to sources on how American Moslems perceive themselves in a non-Islamic culture.

81% of US Mosques Promote Jihad

I didn't have a recipe, but. . .

I decided make mushroom soup. I knew I didn't have all the exotic ingredients chefs call for, but I did have chicken broth, olive oil, onions, celery, some butter and flour and ordinary not-so-wild mushrooms. Then as I was tasting it I thought, Hmm, a little wine might pep this up. But all I had was Merlot. After a few tablespoons I could see we would have pink soup, so I stopped there. However, a few hours later, it's just a nice taupe. I don't think it makes much difference in the flavor. I checked my blog and the last time I used beef broth and did use Merlot, but since it was darker, you couldn't see the color.

Unintended consequences again--hookworm

It seems a little might be good for you.

The Smart Set: Take Two Hookworms and Call Me in the Morning - May 6, 2011

Why we need legal immigrants

This morning I was shopping at a small center near Kenney Road and Old Henderson Road, the northern boundary for Upper Arlington, an up-scale suburb of Columbus, Ohio, where I live. As I looked around the stores, I decided over 50% are probably owned by immigrants. There were 4 or 5 hair and nail salons with English names, but Asian writing on the windows; a Turkish bakery; a Thai restaurant; an Indian restaurant; a belly dancing studio; a martial arts studio, a photography studio and some others I couldn't identify.

Owning your own home is not "the American dream," that's shelter and a hole in the financial boat, but owning your own business with the chance to become wealthy or have something to pass on to your children has been a dream of just about every immigrant group that has come by ship or plane, or on foot. I think Americans are sitting on their hands and wallets waiting for the government to do something about the economy, but immigrants are not waiting. They've escaped dictators, Communists, Socialists and anarchists. They've struggled and sacrificed and are willing to work 18 hour days, 7 days a week just for the opportunity to be in business.

I welcome these immigrants to my neighborhood.

Misquoting Republicans is a cottage industry for the media

Sarah Palin never said she could see Russia from her house. So who did say it?

It was actually comedian Tina Fey, who was impersonating Ms. Palin on Saturday Night Live who uttered this line that is now widely attributed to the former Alaska governor.

The basis for this line comes from a September 2008 interview with ABC News's Charles Gibson, who asked Palin what insights she had from her state being so close to Russia. She responded: "They're our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska." Christian Science Monitor

But never mind the truth--ridiculing Republicans, especially if they are women, gets more sales.

The same article, however, really splits hairs about Al Gore's famous, "I invented the Internet." He used the word "created." Well, that's a short stretch isn't it?

Thousands of drug offenders will return to the old neighborhood early

What is Obama smoking? asks WSJ commentator. Would you want your neighborhood terrorized this way? Leftists think they do blacks (50% of the victims) a favor by releases black prisoners. Fewer policemen, more ex-cons--now that's not a good equation for black neighborhoods.

John Edwards charged with using campaign money to hide affair

. . . I was a creep, "but I did not break the law." Oh, come on John. How can anyone believe you about anything? You lied to your wife, your staff, your mistress, your children, your volunteers, to the American people. And to think you thought you could be the President of the United States. Your narcissism and delusion exceeds that of our current President.

John Edwards charged with using campaign money to hide affair | World news | The Guardian

A bad apple

This morning when I sliced the gorgeous, shiny red Braeburn apple for my breakfast, it turned out to be brown on the inside. No indication when I looked it over at the store and put it in the bag. Kind of like Rob Bell, a popular Christian preacher in the "emerging" tradition.

When you open up his teaching/
preaching/ books, the latest being "Love Wins" you'll find the shiny red part, i.e. God is love, in great shape and quite attractive. However, everything else--theology, church history, exegesis, eschatology, Christology, and Jesus is . . . well, brown and tasteless, with a slight whiff of mold--going back to at least 19th century universalism, and maybe to various heresies over 2,000 years.

If you are in an emergent church, head for the nearest exit, regardless of how friendly the congregation or engaging the pastor. They are playground Christians, and it's the historic meaning of words they are playing with.

See Kevin DeYoung's review of this book--it's excellent and thorough written with tough love. Also, be sure to read the nearly thousand comments: an engaging, popular preacher [Bell] also wins--people don't want the truth of Scripture. But as DeYoung notes, "The emerging church is not an evangelistic strategy. It is the last rung for evangelicals falling off the ladder into liberalism or unbelief."

Dumb and dumber jogger

A lady jogger appeared from nowhere crossing McCoy Road in Upper Arlington (35 mph, 4 lanes) in front of me. I braked. Thinking she must be heading for the sidewalk, I watched in the mirror, but she continued to run against traffic in the street--pushing a one-seat jogging stroller with 2 children, a toddler and an infant. With the canopy down, she can't even see the kids. If you jog, concentrate on the jogging; if you're watching children, do that. Don't multitask at the risk of your children's lives, or causing an accident crossing busy streets.

I wonder if it was the same gal, but with more clothes on? Same neighborhood, same coloring, similar build.

What becomes of electronic waste?

Today I control more electronic gadgets in a day in my own house than what I would do in a year in 1977 when I returned to work in a high tech computerized library at a university of 50,000. Three digital cameras (there's a 4th in a drawer), a video camera, 3 scanners, 2 printers, 2 computers (a 3rd not connected), 2 email accounts, a phone/fax, a cable network, a wireless network, a copier (2 if you count the one in the scanner), 12 blogs with the information stored off-site, Facebook account, 3 cd players, DVD player and VCR, 6 or more remotes, microwave, various digital clocks that blink and flip if the power goes off, an i-pod, 2 cell phones one with a camera, and 3 cordless phones one with an answering machine. We have 6 TVs (4 cable connected, 2 with antennas). We also have 6 radios in the house, but the one with batteries which would be useful in a storm I can't find. In 1977 we had one TV and one telephone and maybe 2 radios. If we had batteries, they were in the car or flashlight.

In 1957, the year I graduated from high school, my parents had electric clocks with moving hands, maybe 3 radios, but no TV, or AC or even an electric fan in the house. Only children rode bicycles. The U.S. mail was delivered twice a day by mailmen who walked, we received 2 newspapers at the door, and one local weekly, plus numerous magazine subscriptions. Thirty five or 55 years ago, the American family had a much smaller footprint, even with a car that only got 11 miles/gallon, but I don't know very many greenies who would give up their computers, cell phones, or cameras. Do you?

Our kitchen clock when I was growing up.



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Your home is shelter, not a retirement nest egg or a bank or a tax shelter

"Since the housing market began to turn in 2007, Washington has tried to keep prices from falling with every policy gimmick known to politics: Foreclosure mitigation, more guarantees from the FHA, higher guarantee thresholds from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Fed purchase of mortgage assets, and the $8,000 home buyer's tax credit promoted by the White House and Georgia Republican Senator Johnny Isakson.

Their main result, other than subsidizing some Americans at the expense of others, has been to sustain the housing recession over a longer period of time. The price decline would have been sharper without them, but the recovery would have happened sooner." Review & Outlook, WSJ, June 2, 2011

Investigators Track Osama bin Laden's Couriers

Interesting verbs in this article: channels of inquiry; probe; detained for questioning; pursue connections; under scrutiny. If you had to be interrogated about terrorist connections with the couriers for bin Laden, Abrar and Ibrahim Said Ahmad (killed in the raid), which would be more harsh, the Pakistanis or the Americans?

Investigators Track Osama bin Laden's Couriers - WSJ.com

Chicken Littleism: More Weather Deaths?

The warmist mongerers are at it again. They claim deaths from weather caused by fossil fuels are on the increase. Really?

The annual number of deaths caused by tornadoes, floods and hurricanes, of course, varies. For example, the number of persons killed by these weather events in 1972 was 703 while the number killed in 1988 was 72. But amid this variance is a clear trend: The number of weather-related fatalities, especially since 1980, has dropped dramatically.

For the 30-year span of 1980-2009, the average annual number of Americans killed by tornadoes, floods and hurricanes was 194—fully one-third fewer deaths each year than during the 1940-1979 period. The average annual number of deaths for the years 1980-2009 falls even further, to 160 from 194, if we exclude the deaths attributed to Hurricane Katrina, most of which were caused by a levee that breached on the day after the storm struck land.

This decline in the absolute number of deaths caused by tornadoes, floods and hurricanes is even more impressive considering that the population of the United States more than doubled over these years—to 308 million in 2010 from 132 million in 1940.

And I guess death from heat exhaustion in the summer from lack of electricity for fans and AC or pneumonia and colds in the winter from lack of heat don't count.

Donald Boudreaux: More Weather Deaths? Wanna Bet? - WSJ.com

Duke University Lacrosse players rape case redux

Usually, I don't cite Wikipedia, but this case has so many links and details, it's the only reasonable thing to do. The Duke University Lacrosse players rape charges by a stripper, Crystal Magnum.

If ever there has been a gender/race/class case where educated, informed liberals, both academics and journalists, behaved this badly, I've missed it. Anyway, Crystal Magnum continued to get in trouble with men, and now is behind bars for murder, having stabbed her boyfriend in April, and he died a few weeks later. Before that she had been in jail for arson. And I don't think the Gang of 88, the Duke Faculty who sign and published a letter against the team, ever recanted or apologized. That's racism run amok.

There are probably people who continue to pay the high tuition costs of Duke, but if I were a parent, I wouldn't even consider letting my child step foot on the campus. The behavior of Duke's faculty, those tenured hoodlums, is the flip side of lynching in the days of Jim Crow, and white men just aren't safe in that atmosphere.

45 Seconds: Memoirs of an ER Doctor from May 22, 2011

A doctor on duty when the tornado hit the hospital in Joplin describes his experience of treating patients with no pain meds, no electricity, no equipment and leaking methane.

"“Like a bomb went off” — That’s the only way that I can describe what we saw next. Patients were coming into the ED in droves. It was absolute, utter chaos. They were limping, bleeding, crying, terrified, with debris and glass sticking out of them, just thankful to be alive. The floor was covered with about 3 inches of water. There was no power, not even backup generators, rendering it completely dark and eerie in the ED. The frightening aroma of methane gas leaking from the broken gas lines permeated the air — we knew, but did not dare mention aloud, what that meant. I redoubled my pace."

45 Seconds: Memoirs of an ER Doctor from May 22, 2011 « The Central Line

Preparing for summer

Most of my on-line subscriptions come to my OSU mail box, which doesn't have a very large cache. Since I can't always get to it in the summer through webmail, last night I went in an began "unsubscribing." I must have cleaned out 15-20 things that appear with some regularity. Some I don't remember subscribing to--I think they must have sent out cookies if I visited their sites. Hopefully, this will help with the crush.

What Lake Erie looks like on my morning walk in the summer.

Weiner Fights to Control Lewd Photo Scandal

I don't care for Weiner at all--his attacks on Glenn Beck were just silly. However, I don't think he's stupid enough to send a photo of his arousal (or a stock photo of one) to a college co-ed through his Twitter account, and if making that mistake, would make the keystroke mistake also and send it to all his followers. These hackings are not impossible to track down, and in the meanwhile, I'll just say it couldn't happen to a more deserving creep.

Dem Weiner Fights to Control Lewd Photo Scandal

Will they survive?

When these flowers were planted I think it was about 50 degrees (on Saturday) and we were running the furnace. Then on Sunday we had 2 hours of thunderstorm warnings and strong wind. On Monday the temperatures soared into the 90s. I hope they can survive our no-Spring Spring.

"Scooping up the useful idiots"-- or "free Palestine"

Too bad if you missed Glenn Beck this evening. He had some great video of a Socialist/Communist speaking at a conference explaining why they were joining forces with Muslim radicals. Why slogans about pushing Israel into the sea were useful, but they believe they will in the end come out the winners in the struggle for the globe--not the Muslims (good luck on that one). They will use the Muslims to defeat capitalism, and then when that is achieved, dump on them. But even Glenn admits he missed the Palestinian flag appearing in all the various riots that have been occurring from Greece to Scotland to Egypt this Spring (he then showed the photos, and there they were, hiding in plain sight). That is the one rallying cry, the socialist explained with a smile. This is how we will defeat capitalism.

Yes, this is what sucks in the western liberals. Such tender, foolish hearts. Especially church types. Oh my, how they weep for Palestine. What fools. Useful idiots, opined Glenn, being scooped up by the Marxists.

Sports Illustrated investigation on Jim Tressel, Ohio State

Not a flattering story. This is apparently what prompted OSU to dump Jim Tressel, and why it appeared on a holiday. The magazine was coming out late on the 30th.

Sports Illustrated investigation on Jim Tressel, Ohio State - SI.com - Magazine

How Lutherans define God--from the Augsburg Confession (1530)

"Our Churches, with common consent, do teach that the decree of the Council of Nicaea concerning the Unity of the Divine Essence and concerning the Three Persons, is true and to be believed without any doubting; that is to say, there is one Divine Essence which is called and which is God: eternal, without body, without parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, the Maker and Preserver of all things, visible and invisible; and yet there are three Persons, of the same essence and power, who also are coeternal, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And the term "person" they use as the Fathers have used it, to signify, not a part or quality in another, but that which subsists of itself.

They condemn all heresies which have sprung up against this article, as the Manichaeans, who assumed two principles, one Good and the other Evil: also the Valentinians, Arians, Eunomians (extreme Arians), Mohammedans (Muslims), and all such. They condemn also the Samosatenes, old and new, who, contending that there is but one Person, sophistically and impiously argue that the Word and the Holy Ghost are not distinct Persons, but that "Word" signifies a spoken word, and "Spirit" signifies motion created in things." Book of Concord, (1959, translated from German)

The Roman Catholic Church and all orthodox groups of Christians accept this without qualification, although if you really investigate today's seminaries, the teaching of Jesus as a separate created being lingers in academe and there are priests and pastors alike who are playing word games, speaking with forked tongues and crossed fingers.

The Augsburg Confession's teaching of the Trinity has been held throughout all the generations of the Church. But after this point, Christians start to diverge. And if there is a sect today that gains popularity and is considered heretical by other Christians, this statement is usually the problem.

There's a reason the church needs creeds and confessions; error and heresies just keep repeating themselves in each generation. Arianism, whether lite or extreme, is an attack on the diety of Christ, and that along with Gnosticism (attack on his humanity) seem to be at the root of most of today's false teachings. Either way--whether you're marketing the church's message of good works and personal growth ala Rick Warren type stuff never mentioning the saving work of Christ or you're caught up in DiVinci Code type speculation and titillation, you're just repeating the old problems foretold in the New Testament, particularly Jude. The early church fathers had today's emergent/emerging church trends in their sites.

Although Lutherans and Catholics link arms in many areas of politics, social justice, abortion, euthanasia, prison ministry, health issues, disaster relief and care of the poor and homeless, they are as divided today as they were in the 16th century on doctine--grace, faith, justification, the role of (Peter) tradition in the church, the sacraments, indulgences, purgatory, and the role of the priesthood.

Memorial Day--Poppy Day--Monday Memories

The Junior Auxiliary was selling poppies in Forreston, Illinois--probably 1950. My dad was the 13th District Commander of the American Legion, which had a total membership of 6,500 when he was membership chairman, and he was post Commander of Forreston in 1950.

Occasionally the viral messages get it right

This one came through this morning. I don't pass them on usually, but this one was good, whoever wrote it.

As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. . .

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging. Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM or sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 - 70's, and if I, at the same time, to weep over a lost love. . . I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.

They, too, will get old. I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

First person, that's our President, all the time

It's all about me
It's all about me (Oh yeah)
Me, myself and I
It's all about me
It's all about me [you know it's all about me]
It's all about me, me, me me me [you know it's all about me]
Everybody knows i'm fly [you know it's all about me]
It's all about me 
Murray sent the follow comparisons of a Bush achievement and an Obama achievement. Something was very wrong with our president's upbringing. Or maybe he was born with a narcissistic personality, and all the training in the world can't undo it?

George W. Bush speech after capture of Saddam:
The success of yesterday's mission is a tribute to our men and women now serving in Iraq. The operation was based on the superb work of intelligence analysts who found the dictator's footprints in a vast country. The operation was carried out with skill and precision by a brave fighting force. Our servicemen and women and our coalition allies have faced many dangers in the hunt for members of the fallen regime, and in their effort to bring hope and freedom to the Iraqi people. Their work continues, and so do the risks. Today, on behalf of the nation, I thank the members of our Armed Forces and I congratulate 'em.

Barack Obama speech after killing of bin Laden:
And so shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al Qaeda, even as we continued our broader efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat his network. Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground. I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan. And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and I authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice. Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan."

Did You Know--New York (the state)

For every American who comes to New York, roughly two depart for other states. Why? Terrible business climate, cost of living, high property taxes. Link.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's love child--and more to come?

His biographer says he's a womanizing scum bag, and many people seem to know, but the Kennedy name offered him protection.

The number of women who claim he has groped their breasts are legion, including his Terminator co-star Linda Hamilton, British TV presenter Anna Richardson, waitresses across LA and production assistants on his films. Yet despite the evidence of his womanising, sadism and sleazy past, Schwarzenegger still managed to become Governor of California and stay married to Maria Shriver for a quarter of a century.

Part of the reason for his success, and his survival, has been the protection that his marriage into the Kennedy clan has, until now, afforded him (John F. Kennedy was Maria Shriver’s uncle). In short, having the imprimatur of America’s royal family has enabled Arnold to behave as he wishes, without suffering any of the consequences.

And though I researched and documented the real story of Arnold’s infidelity in my 1990 book Arnold: An Unauthorised Biography, the majority of the American media chose to turn a blind eye.

Arnold Schwarzenegger love child: Biographer says the dark truth is still to emerge | Mail Online

Comparing Social Security with private investment for retirement

One of the better and easy to understand explanations I've seen. Especially that 100% death tax.

Christian and Jewish Leaders Respond to Obama's Attack on Israel

Probably a good thing he flew off to Moneygall--things are pretty hot here at home. Pamela Geller summarizes some of the outrage in this piece (although she didn't include me). How many of these concessions have worked in the past? Is his intention to destroy Israel, or maybe, to destroy his chances of a second term--'cause maybe he's just tired?

Christian and Jewish Leaders Respond to Obama's Attack on Israel - Atlas Shrugs

Lutherans weren't worried about May 21

The secret rapture, where some people are snatched away and others left behind for a second chance, isn't familiar to most Lutherans (or really most Protestant groups), unless maybe they've joined a neighborhood Bible study outside their tradition. The "rapture" is when Jesus returns, the dead in Christ are raised and then immediately comes the judgement of the living and the dead and the reward. See Matthew 24-25. It is also described in 2 Peter:10, but what follows is what is important: "Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness . . . so make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. . . "

So, although there were a lot of jokes about May 21 (like what did you pack for the trip), at least a few people probably stopped to think about whether they were ready. In God's economy, nothing is wasted.

Netanyahu, the anti-Obama

Nine months ago, George F. Will nailed it. He compared Netanyahu and Obama. . .

"Netanyahu, the former commando and fierce nationalist, and Barack Obama, the former professor and post-nationalist."

"Netanyahu, his focus firmly on Iran, honors Churchill because he did not flinch from facts about gathering storms. Obama returned to the British Embassy in Washington the bust of Churchill that was in the Oval Office when he got there."

George F. Will - Netanyahu, the anti-Obama

10 Tips For Downsizers With Too Much Stuff from Forbes Magazine

I did a little downsizing this week. Very little. It's tough to part with stuff! In putting away the laundry, I counted my husband's pj's--12--and eliminated 3. Found some lacy lingerie I'd never worn that went into the giveaway box, and some of my own pajamas that had moved from Champaign to Columbus in 1967--still looked good, but a bit smallish, so that went into the trash. Then I found a box with my mother's tablecloths. Wrong size, wrong colors, wrong era--I'll never use them--but they went back in the box. Too many memories. The entire New Testament on cassette tape went to the library sale along with dups from my magazine collection. I seem to have lost my little Walkman cassette player.

This Forbes article is mainly about selling; that's a hassle too, isn't it? In fact, it's against our condo rules to have a garage or yard sale, and I think for a tag sale you have to go off the grounds. Even carting off donations isn't easy--each place has its own rules and own drop off sites. I usually just take it to the church bins (if clothing) and let the sorters deal with it.

10 Tips For Downsizers With Too Much Stuff - Ashlea Ebeling - The Best Revenge - Forbes

But I did make headway on my magazine (first issue) collection, which if stacked would go floor to ceiling. We painted the upstairs hall and shelves earlier in the spring, and they all had to be moved. About 2/3 went into a wooden box, formerly the children's toy box from the late 1960s, then a box for old architectural drawings, then a box for old VHS tapes, and now the home of magazines tied up with ribbons by subject matter--life style, travel, minorities, animals, technology, wealth acquisition, women, families, children, cooking, and so forth.

This is what the hall shelving used to look like with my magazines leaning and lurching.

I had to wait about 2-3 weeks for the paint to really set before I could move anything back, but the new trim color really brightened the hall.

These colorful boxes only hold some of the magazines, most of which are now in the family room in the former toy/drawing/vhs box/coffee table. The color doesn't look very good because I took it with my cell phone which doesn't have a flash.

Mark Levin: Why does Obama hate Israel?

Listen to yesterday's audio.

Does Obama understand anything? The Turks controlled Palestine from 1291 to the end of WWI. Then the area was a British Mandate until 1948. They aren't Palestinians either. There were always Arabs there; there were always Jews there; there were always Christians (at least since the time of Christ). The Palestinian Arabs who live in Israel have it better than Palestinian Arabs who live any where else. No one wants them except for political clout and pawns to beat up on Israel.

You know, I don't doubt Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate, but I do doubt what planet he's from--he is an alien to everything that is American.

Obama's May 19 speech

The advisers, czars and minions of the Obama administration have skillfully placed dynamite in the cracks of our culture--a deteriorating, decaying hodge-podge of special interests, academicians lusting for government grants, rabble rousers of multiculturalism, diversity and feminism, greedy union thugs, weak churches of all denominations and sects, government controlled and regulated capitalist-cronyism, environmentalist green-pantheists, and voters who have become couch potatoes, slugs and voyeurs watching celebrities copulate and the obese, brides and dancers frolic on reality TV.

If there is a Jonah or Noah or Moses out there struggling with God about who he should send to warn, rescue or lead us, I hope God wins the argument, but it’s just possible He’s looked at this mess and said, "You’ve got just what you deserve," and this is the man I've chosen to blow up an interesting experiment.

President Obama’s Message To Israel: Go To Hell

Jewish donors warn Obama on Israel

Israel Expects Obama to Take Back ‘1967 Lines’ Demand - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Column One: Obama’s war on Israel - JPost - Opinion - Columnists

Arkansas man first convicted under hate crime law

The wildly ridiculous act which will cause much mischief down the road, "The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act" which was tacked onto a military appropriations bill in 2009 and signed by President Obama has claimed its first headline--a 19 year old arrested for doing something that is always a crime, but somehow based on the color of the skin of the perp and the 5 targets, becomes a worse crime. I mean, a 19 year old Mexican American chasing and threatening 5 Mexicans wouldn't have been a hate crime and the U.S. Dept. of Justice would have ignored it. Same with blacks--even though most heinous crimes against minorities, particularly women, are committed by members of that ethnic or racial group.

Crimes against Euro-Americans because of their skin color will not be called "hate crimes," even though that too happens. The President can refer to business men as "fat cat bankers" or Boston police as "stupid" even though he should know from history the first conjures an image of rich Jews and the second the working class Irish. Be assured, he will not be charged with a hate crime, no matter how often he alludes to wealthy white people as being evil and encourages groups like ACORN or SEIU to threaten them with physical harm.

This act was H.B. 1913 when it passed the house in 2009, and included about 30 protected sexual proclivities as "life style choices," such as asphyxophilia - sexual gratification derived from activities that involve oxygen deprivation through hanging, strangulation, or other means; coprophilia - sexual arousal associated with feces; gerontosexuality - distinct preference for sexual relationships primarily or exclusively with an elderly partner; pedophilia - Sexual activity with a prepubescent child; urophilia - sexual arousal associated with urine, and maybe 25 others. I'm not sure all those got included in the appropriations bill.

Really, someone drunk in a bar could tell a really smarmy joke expecting to get a laugh about the ex-Governor of California and his Guatemalan mistress and someone might call the police because it was a hate crime--intended to hurt or lead to violence of a protected class--Hispanic mistresses. When bizarre expansions of federal control and power can't pass the smell test (or the House), they can slip in as an appropriation--like this one.

Arkansas man first convicted under hate crime law | Arkansas Blog

They could wait no longer

Yesterday a very wet, soggy landscape designer came to the door and introduced himself (I didn't recognize him) as the one we'd hired to cut, trim and replant our patio "garden." Rain or not, they had to do it. So here it is, with my new cheapy cell phone photo option I just learned to use today.

Looks like some azeala plants, a boxwood or two, the old dying evergreens were taken out, the stone wall rebuilt, some weeds pulled and mulch applied.

New Pro-Life Web Site Links Girl Scouts With Planned Parenthood

Oh no. Not the Girl Scouts! I guess as abortions started to drop off, PP needed to start recruiting.

New Pro-Life Web Site Links Girl Scouts With Planned Parenthood | LifeNews.com

Why some guys 40+ aren't married

Good essay, but this was in the comments:

. . . people who put a highest priority on family life tend to seek out opportunities to make a family for themselves as soon as possible, and this is especially true of women. A man who waits until he is 40 to start seriously looking for a wife has to contend with the fact that most of the women who make the best wives and mothers were looking for a mate sometime in their 20′s, and they’ve had ample time to find one.

Why I’m Glad I Haven’t Gotten Married….Yet | Right Wing News

More on the campaign trail--domestic energy

Perhaps totally uninformed voters might fall for this.

I am directing the Department of Interior to conduct annual lease sales in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, while respecting sensitive areas, and to speed up the evaluation of oil and gas resources in the mid and south Atlantic. We plan to lease new areas in the Gulf of Mexico as well, and work to create new incentives for industry to develop their unused leases both on and offshore.

More holes than my 10 year old athletic socks.

» Meet Obama’s New Energy Plan, Same as The Old Plan - Big Government

Kind of makes me think of charging us $50 for the new "energy efficient" lightbulbs while taking the old ones off the market. How many presidents does it take to screw Americans for energy. Just one.

Pelosi's district getting health care waivers

And much more than their share. Isn't that strange? Such a large percentage of waivers go to one Congresswoman's district? I wonder how that happens?

Of the 204 new Obamacare waivers President Barack Obama’s administration approved in April, 38 are for fancy eateries, hip nightclubs and decadent hotels in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s Northern California district.

That’s in addition to the 27 new waivers for health care or drug companies and the 31 new union waivers Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services approved.

Pelosi’s district secured almost 20 percent of the latest issuance of waivers nationwide, and the companies that won them didn’t have much in common with companies throughout the rest of the country that have received Obamacare waivers.

Health Care Law | San Francisco | Nancy Pelosi | The Daily Caller

Not much of a celebrity watcher

Today was the first I'd heard of Arnold the RINO's love child by a 20 year staff member of the household. When I browsed through Google, I see Maria and he had had a rather public split--he's ego-driven, obsessed with power, yada, yada, and she's left behind, and so forth. Maybe so. But I hadn't heard anything--sitting here in rainy central Ohio, and rarely turning on the TV. But the nasty, nasty remarks people leave on celebrity websites are just amazing. Sicko comes to mind, actually.

Update: Friday: As more disgusting details roll out, even the media appears shocked. What is it now, Governors 4 and Golfers 1?

Two's enough

I've now sampled two of the cookies I'm supposed to take to our Spring farewell English conversation group this afternoon. It started out to be Snickerdoodles, then I noticed an option that used 4 oz. of cream cheese and a cup of dried cranberries, which I just happened to have on hand, so they morphed into that. Then for the last nine, I added about 1/3 cup of walnuts. Now I've tried one of each and have declared them suitable for people learning English.

Photo from Real Mom Kitchen, which also has the recipe.

Did You Know--Lancelot Andrewes

The overseer and key translator of the King James Version of the Bible which celebrates its 400th anniversary this year was Lancelot Andrewes, one of the most brilliant linguists that ever lived. He spoke 15 modern languages and 6 ancient and had a photographic memory. He was a man of intense piety and spent 5 hours every morning in prayer. From Christian History, Issue 100.

Glenn Beck plans Jersualem courage rally | The Jewish Chronicle

Glenn Beck is interviewing the Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat on his program tonight. (Between crime and terror, Jerusalem is safer than most American cities, Barkat says.) He's planning a rally similar to the 8-28 event, which was hugely successful, and comedians, unionists and politicians tried to imitate, but failed. They must be wetting themselves over this one.

Glenn Beck plans Jersualem courage rally | The Jewish Chronicle

Yesterday was Sunday: Where was your Commander-in-Chief?

"At any given moment Obama is either organizing, Alinsky'izing, or golfing." This President out does all his predecessors in finding ways to unwind and ignore what's going on in the world. Maybe he's tense? Not up to the job? Lazy? Scared? I read somewhere that the only bump he got for bumping off Osama, was with Democrat women! I thought they were behind him (on the golf course and basketball court) no matter what, cheering him on.

American Thinker Blog: Yesterday was Sunday: Where was your Commander-in-Chief?

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

Today I began the morning with a 7 a.m. prayer time in the sanctuary, then church at 8:15 at Lytham Road, then over to Mill Run where I attended the 9:30 service, the coffee chat time with friends, then took dinner to my friend Eleanor who lives near by MR. Home then for a nap, and at 4 p.m. attended the spring concert by the choir and hand bell choir at Lytham Road.

Putting a stop to my student loan calls

Lately, we've been getting robo calls about student loans. We don't have any, of course. Neither one of us ever borrowed money from the federal government to attend college. In fact, the Department of Education didn't exist when we were in college--it's a boondoggle of a more recent era--Carter, I believe.

So I looked them up, but didn't find a way to send an e-mail without providing all sorts of personal information. These days you don't even know if a website is for real and might be stealing your information. So I phoned instead, and the first thing when I got through press one for English, and thank you for waiting all lines are busy now, was a request for my social security number and zip code, which I provided. Then the nice young lady told me I wasn't in her database. So I told her that was why I was calling. When I gave her my husband's name, she said it was him and not me they were trying to reach. I told her he was 73 and also had never had a college loan (have you noticed how college costs have increased with the availability of loans?)

So she assured me the calls would stop. I think there's an angry, stood up first wife trying to find this same guy who's delinquent on his student loan.

The price of pop corn

I finally saw The King's Speech at the $1 theater yesterday afternoon. What a terrific movie. But why is a small popcorn $5.25 if the ticket to get in is $1.50? So I passed on that treat. Didn't I read that theaters make more on food than on tickets?

Even at home I've gone to popping up a few tablespoons in a pan rather than doing the prepackaged in the microwave. Cheaper and fewer unknown, unpronounceable elements. It's the difference between a minute and 3 minutes.

So I asked Google--why does movie popcorn cost so much? And Stanford University has researched this:

Research from Stanford Graduate School of Business and the University of California, Santa Cruz suggests that there is a method to theaters’ madness—and one that in fact benefits the viewing public. By charging high prices on concessions, exhibition houses are able to keep ticket prices lower, which allows more people to enjoy the silver-screen experience.

So I guess it's OK--I can enjoy a cheap movie because some people don't care if they pay $5-$7 for pop corn. It seems that the big buyers of popcorn will come to see anything--it's those of us who only go to the movies occasionally and are more discriminating about the movies, that refuse to pay those outrageous prices. Also, if I'd gone to the movie with a group, rather than alone, statistically, there was a better chance I'd buy food.

Who knew?

Also, some people don't care about the calories. Popcorn is really a low calorie snack, unless you eat a large movie container with butter, which racks up to about 1200 calories. The Nannies are urging labeling of buttered popcorn at movies, as though the general public can't tell it has more calories than carrot and celery sticks (which would make too much noise in a theater, betcha).

Anyway, a great move, and I'm glad I went, with or without popcorn. Go see it if you haven't. It's more fun in a theate than at home on the couch.

I love a bargain

This morning I visited the new Volunteers of America Thrift Store on Henderson Road. I found a nice t-shirt from Talbot's and in walking to the back of the store to look at books, I found a pair of slacks that matched the t-shirt (things are arranged by color in this store). The book I bought is Gutenberg's Gift by Nancy Willard, illustrated by Bryan Leister. But the "paper engineer" is Bruce Foster. Here's a video of him explaining the book process.

History lessons for liberals

Who is teaching history to those under 50? Like President Obama? George Will points out some glaring deficiencies in the understanding of our country--even by our President who seems to believe that historically, Texas was a Republican state and that "fundamentally" means anything Obmama wants it to mean.

Liberals think Medicare and Social Security as they exist are “fundamental” to the nation’s identity. But liberals think the Constitution — which the Framers meant to be fundamental, meaning constituting, law — should be construed as a “living” document, continually evolving to take different meanings under whatever liberals consider new social imperatives.

History lessons for Obama and other liberals - The Washington Post

Hispandering--Obama on the campaign trail with amnesty

Amnesty: IRCA was its name during the Reagan years. Republicans rose up against President Bush when he tried it--and his was a bid for Hispanic votes too.

On November 6, 1986, after thirty-four years with no new major immigration legislation and a six-year effort to send an acceptable bill through both houses of Congress, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA; PL 99-603) was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. IRCA tried to resolve the following problems:

•Jobs lost by citizens and taken by illegal aliens, with resulting lower wages paid to illegal aliens
•Costs of services and welfare for illegal aliens and their low tax payments
•Exploitation of illegal aliens
•Social fragmentation of local communities
•The need to reestablish the power of law and the principle of U.S. sovereignty

To control illegal immigration IRCA adopted three major strategies:

•Legalization of a portion of the undocumented population (aliens in the country without legal papers), thereby reducing the number of aliens illegally resident in the United States
•Sanctions against employers who knowingly hired illegal aliens
•Additional border enforcement to impede further unlawful entries

Read more:

So did IRCA work? No, especially not the improved border patrol that was promised. But through familial chains (each amnestied family member bringing in other family members--parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, etc.), it exacerbated the problem. So instead of 3 million, we have 11 million, although no one knows for sure. The media will only report the sob stories of children brought into the country and now graduating from high school with the U.S. the only country they have known. Hispanics (a made up word) now outnumber African Americans as our largest minority, and their leaders are becoming more militant and anarchist each day, wiping out the gains made by other minorities.

LA RAZA DEMANDS oBAMA'S HEALTH REFORM PLAN COVER ILLEGAL ALIENS

Rep. Gutierrez Demands Amnesty Through Executive Order Will Obama comply with his demands? - Yahoo! Answers

Radical California Latino Lawmaker Pushes Amnesty, and Freebies for Illegal Aliens | UNCOVERAGE.net

Complete text of President Obama’s immigration speech in El Paso | Texas on the Potomac | a Chron.com blog

The speech of the President in El Paso in tone and text, was one of the worst I've ever heard--sarcastic, whiny, insulting, and degrading to all.

Just as we have hard ship cases on other laws, for instance for refugees, I'm sure something can be done here--take some of the legal resources currently used by Holder and Obama to take apart our system, and focus them on anchor baby high school graduates who are at risk of having their parents deported.

I'm all for immigration--my ancestors were immigrants in the 1730s. There were rules and procedures then, too. Had to swear allegiance to the King of England. But no more amnesty for those who came here illegally, or were brought in illegally by coyotes, their own parents, some trafficking in persons plan or the Mexican mafia drug cartel. Let Mexico clean up its own country, close its own poverty gap, and arrest its own criminals. The stipends that U.S. illegals send home is floating Mexico's economy, delaying its economic growth.

Mexico's immigration and citizenship rules are much stricter than the U.S. Let's take a look at how they do it.

Income sources for wealthy retirees

The problem with Obama's desire to raise taxes is it is a job killer and a way to punish the successful--the dream of all socialists/marxists who want the power of the purse over everyone, not just the poor. I've never been in the top quintile of income, but I have roamed around the other four. And I've had a good life. The bottom quintile was when I was a married college student in 1961 living in an apartment with no car, and a job translating Russian medical journals, warming up baby bottles and changing diapers, and using a wringer washer 3 flights down that took quarters. The fourth quintile was when we were "DINKS" double-income-no-kids after the children left home in the late 80s, early 90s when I was an Associate Professor and my husband was a partner in a small architectural firm. Now we're both retired, and probably hovering between second and third.

But there are definitely wealthy retirees. Among people in the highest quintile who are technically "retired," 43.7% of their income comes from wages, salaries and self employment. Only 18.7% of their income in that group comes from private pensions, IRAs, annuities, etc. So when Obama is successful in raising taxes by scolding Americans about being stingy and greedy, this is the group who can afford to just stop earning income. That means zip, nada zilch to your state government coffers too. Now that's a huge problem, because unlike the feds, the state governments can't just print more money. They are obligated by law to stay on budget. Raising taxes collects less money for the government--especially from rich people who either can take their business off shore, hire a smart tax lawyer or just stop earning until somebody wises up after the next election.

But it's also a big problem for the government to be taking in a lot as it did during the Bush tax cut years, because politicians, whether Democrat or Republican, just salivate when they see those numbers, so instead of paying down the debt, they just increase the government programs.

Source for figures (not opinion) "Income of the Aged Chartbook, 2008," issued by the Social Security Administration, although I can't find a picture that exactly matches those--this one is close.

Detroit is Functionally Illiterate

Over 50 years of Democrats' stranglehold on the city, and 47% of adults in Detroit are illiterate. That means they can't read, or don't care about the report that says "Detroit spent $15,945 per pupil for the 2010-2011 school year. By comparison, the average per pupil expenditure during the 2007-2008 school year nationally was $10,259."

And look folks, it's certainly not the Teachers' fault--and their union will tell you so.

"The Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT), however, is adamant that the problem actually lies with the city’s failure to effectively enforce school attendance.

“I don’t think that that the teachers’ union has a responsibility for making sure that adults can read,” DFT president Keith Johnson told TheDC."

Detroit | Functionally Illiterate | National Institute for Literacy | The Daily Caller

The Report

Conspiracy Theories by Cass Sunstein, Adrian Vermeule

Media Matters thinks it's a Glenn Beck conspiracy theory to believe Cass Sunstein is dangerous. He is an Obama czar married to one of Obama's top advisors, Samantha Power (he dumped his live-in Chicago lawyer girl friend of many years who helped his career and who believed his drivel that marriage wasn't for him to marry and procreate with the half-his-age, sexy babe). She's the one who advised Obama about Libya. Now, how is that working out? So what are we to make of Sunstein's theories on conspiracy theories--that the federal government needs to infiltrate groups and put a stop to them with misinformation and co-option? Does Donald Trump come to mind? Read his paper and see if you aren't worried that he has both Obama's large ears. His and Samantha's.

SSRN-Conspiracy Theories by Cass Sunstein, Adrian Vermeule

Threats against trains in the U.S.

I'm a little surprised that the threats against trains by al-qaeda haven't been taken more seriously. I haven't been on Amtrack since 2003, but because they come into the central city of every major metropolitan area, and there was nothing in the way of security checks that I could see in Chicago or LA, at least not like the airports, it would seem to be prudent to heed their warnings. Maybe things have changed in 7 years.

Evidence collected from Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan indicates that Al Qaeda considered launching a terrorist strike against America's rail system, U.S. officials said Thursday, though there was no sign of concrete plans to carry out an attack.

The plot was "aspirational," said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.

Al Qaeda plot: Osama bin Laden raid reveals evidence of terrorist plot against U.S. rail system - Los Angeles Times

Ohio Alerted Of al-Qaeda Railroad Threat | WBNS-10TV, Central Ohio News

A rather odd, quiet Mother's Day

On April 30 I began having back spasms after a little weed pulling at our lake home. I didn't feel much until I sat down on our soft couch and tried to get up. It was the worst I've ever had--like labor pains only in my back. I've never been this old or this heavy, so I suspect that might have something to do with it. But by Tuesday after ice packs, Advil and switching to a heating pad, I was able to get around. By Friday I was able to drive, and we had plans for church with our daughter, and then lunch at our son's home in Canal Winchester. On Saturday I began having some vertigo and thought I might have the flu, but took some Dramamine (for my ears and motion sickness) and cancelled the holiday plans. Because I wasn't going to do anything that required sitting or moving around, my husband headed for the lake to mow the lawn and do general yard clean up because he's heading for Haiti soon and won't be able to get to it. So. . . I spent Mother's Day alone, in a back brace, but with my new and wonderful . . ThermiPaq which my daughter gave me as a Mother's Day gift, beautifully wrapped with a card. You can either put them (she gave me 2, one large, one small) in the freezer for icing an injury, or the microwave for stiffness, cramps or muscle pain. Love it! I think this is a practical gift, and one I'll continue to use.

I did go to exercise class today, but mainly walked for 45 minutes rather than do the weight lifting and crunches. Baby steps, baby steps. Easy does it.

Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti: Bin Laden's trusted courier Asharq Alawsat Newspaper (English)

According to Noman Bin Osman: "Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, the Al Qaeda courier who unwittingly led US intelligence to Bin Laden's hideout, was a man of Pakistani descent born in Kuwait, . . . a trusted aide and confidant of a number of senior Al Qaeda leadership, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Farah al-Libi, and Abdul Hadi al-Iraqi. . . and he and his brother were killed in the US attack on the Bin Laden residential compound in the affluent town of Abbottabad in Pakistan. . . . He was "transferring messages between Osama Bin Laden and senior Al Qaeda leadership located throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan." More.

Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti: Bin Laden's trusted courier Asharq Alawsat Newspaper (English)

College Assistance Migrant Program (Camp) -College Grants In Ohio

I hope this is a machine translation from Spanish into English. If not, the writer needs to return to 5th grade immediately and see if he can pass English composition.

"While looking around the Internet, I decided to see the Ohio factor of Education online to muse what kind of attainments and grant programs that the state education agency offered considering its high drill graduates, and I came up with approximately five scholarships offered at the Ohio element of Education’s website. The official website address is located at ode.state.oh.us, where you obligation also obtain information on grants that are offered through the Ohio measure of Education for continuing education, adult education, besides college grants in Ohio."

College Assistance Migrant Program (Camp) -College Grants In Ohio | currencytradingtoday.com

These scholarships are only for agricultural workers (migrants), so I think that eliminates landscapers, fry cooks, roofers, and day care workers. And probably legal residents and citizens.

Time to Celebrate?

"No doubt, very few of those who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 anticipated that the high point of his administration would be the extra-judicial killing of a terrorist leader by a team of Navy SEALs. This, as our involvement in Iraq winds down on the Bush administration's timetable, the war in Afghanistan has been stepped up, and a third conflict in Libya has been commenced. But for the Democrats, any port in a storm: they are happy to celebrate victories wherever they can find them."

Power Line - Time to Celebrate?

New photo for ALA's banned book week (BBW)

Eventually, when the noise dies down about the May 1 killing of Osama bin Laden, and leftists and anarchists in ALA get some composure, maybe they could use this photo in their next BBW poster?

Banned books are not banned at all, so it is a big hoax--maybe to draw people to the American Library Association site, or to make librarians look good, protecting your freedoms. Frankly, I complained about the children's librarian reading aloud "Little Black Sambo" at UAPL when my children were little back in the 1970s. Wouldn't you? According to library stats, a complaint equals a ban. Everything from Huckleberry Finn to Harry Potter are on the ALA's list--and when was the last time you couldn't get them from a public library? And just try to get the "young adult" title about a transgendered werewolf 12 year old who murders her/his step mother because she turned down oral sex. It won't happen--i.e., it won't be removed from the shelf. But it might make the list!

Banned Books Week doesn't roll around until the fall, but stay alert. I'm sure they will have resurrected OBL by then, and the U.S. will be the worst of the worst for taking out this murderer, not just of Americans, but of thousands of Muslims also.

Of course, not buying Christian or Conservative titles is definitely NOT BANNING. I've been told that, too. It just means not many people want to read them. Just remember this tip. Banning begins with the book budget, not with your complaints.

Healthcare Costlier All Around for Afib Patients - in Clinical Context, Strokes from MedPage Today

I had no idea that A-fib was so expensive! Atrial fibrillation patients are generally sicker than those who don't have atrial fibrillation which apparently accounts for the higher costs. According to this article

Treating patients with atrial fibrillation costs the U.S. an estimated $26 billion more per year than treating patients who don't have the condition, researchers reported after extrapolating 2008 data for 2010.

Total direct medical costs were estimated to be 73% higher in atrial fibrillation patients than in matched control subjects, representing a net incremental cost of $8,705 per patient per year, according to Michael H. Kim, MD, from Northwestern University in Chicago, and colleagues.

The estimated annual cost included $6 billion related directly to atrial fibrillation, $9.9 billion for cardiovascular risk factors or disease, and $10.1 billion for noncardiovascular medical problems, according to the study published online in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

Medical News: Healthcare Costlier All Around for Afib Patients - in Clinical Context, Strokes from MedPage Today

Torturing the Truth at Duke Divinity

You really wonder why this guy doesn't find a country and university cushy position more to his liking. He thinks it's torture of a different kind to live and work here! Poor cry baby. I wonder what the women in his life think about women's freedom under Sharia law?

"Being a Muslim in the United States is another form of torture, a psychological torture, an emotional torture, and it's just getting worse," [Abdulla Antepli first Muslim chaplin at Duke University] he declared at the "Toward a Moral Consensus against Torture" conference at Duke University on March 25-26. The conference attracted approximately 100 left-wing academics, theologians, and members of the local activist community for some old-fashioned America-bashing.

Antepli revealed that this so-called "torture" is not the result of overt acts directed at him, but comes from his perception that many Americans are antagonistic to Muslims and expect Muslims "to prove our loyalty to this land." Such demands to "prove that we belong" stem from a "great level of arrogance," he added.

Antepli's condemnation of America did not stop there. He claimed that our government's use of torture (if that is what we have indeed been doing) is merely a "symptom of a larger pathological issue." American society, he contended, has been suffering from a "psychological, spiritual, moral disease."

No mention was made about how Islamic societies compare in this regard. If America is a "sick" society -- and Islamic societies are healthy -- then why are Muslims flocking to our shores in large numbers?

American Thinker: Torturing the Truth at Duke Divinity

How have Christians fared in Turkey? Turkey is the birthplace and home of Christianity, the ecumentical councils where the faith was hammered out, home of the Revelations John received from Christ, location of the largest Christian church in the ancient world, now converted to a mosque. When we visited the ruins in Turkey our guide reported less than 1% of the population are Christians and they are tightly controlled.

Yes, this cleric does indeed know how to torture the truth, and shame on Duke for hiring him to preach his blather and nastiness to minds of mush. But Duke Divinity School was founded by the United Methodists who have seriously strayed since the glory days of Wesley and the Great Awakenings in the United States. Duke needs an "awakening."

Let's add wife and child abuse to bin Laden's list of crimes

One of the versions that has come out about the May 1 raid is that one of his favorite wives was with him, that he married her when she was 15 (had to divorce one of the others) and that she hadn't left the compound in 6 years. Sounds like a Muslim to me!

"A wise friend of mine once opined that Islam's entire quarrel with the West rests on its fear that Western values will undermine Islam's control over its women and, with that, its control over the men who benefit from a system that subjugates one half of the population to the control of the other half. There's a great deal of truth in that observation.

Unlike most other conflicts, Islam's quarrel with the West does not revolve around borders, water supplies, or economic control over assets. Instead, it focuses on culture -- and the heart of the Islamic cultural difference with the West, at least in the Muslim mind, is Islam's statist determination to erase a woman's individuality through control over her sexuality.

In the Muslim world, women are viewed as temptresses, and men as feeble creatures incapable of resisting feminine wiles. The only way to control the anarchy that this perceived sexual imbalance creates is for the State -- and remember that Islam and the State are indistinguishable from each other -- to exert total dominion over the women within its reach.

The best way to regulate women is to remove them entirely from view. Islam has traditionally relied upon harems to isolate women from view (and, not coincidentally, from the body politic). This practice is still used in Saudi Arabia, where women may not leave the home unless they are accompanied by a male family member."

And then on to Leftist values and sexuality in the same Bookworm essay:

"The relentless Leftist obsession with homosexuality and variations on traditional sexual gender roles is deeply embedded in the Obama administration. Last year, a vigilant blogger exposed the fact that Kevin Jennings, Obama's "Safe Schools Czar," as part of his leadership role in the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network ("GLSEN"), aggressively promoted child pornography in the classroom. GLSEN's actions had nothing to do with creating a safe, non-discriminatory environment for young people with different sexual orientations and everything to do with using the government (i.e., public schools) to inculcate in children the notion that their bodies have no boundaries. A body with no boundaries, of course, is a body that can easily be decoupled from the individual's control and then ceded to the state."

American Thinker: Sex and State Power

Obama killed Osama and we got the 72 versions

That I saw on a t-shirt (on-line), so I can't credit--didn't notice who was selling it. But the versions we've been getting from the White House came from a reader JJ at Bookworm, a conservative site.

----------

1) There was a firefight.
2) There was no firefight.
3) Bin Laden was “resisting.”
4) Bin Laden wasn’t armed. (Makes the concept of “resisting” interesting.)
[4.a) And the newest one: the SEALS thought bin Laden was reaching for a weapon.]
5) He used his wife as a shield.
6) His wife was killed too.
7) He didn’t use his wife as a shield. She ran at a SEAL who shot her in the leg, but she’s fine.
8 ) Some other woman — the maid? — was used as a shield. By somebody. Downstairs.
9) That other woman — downstairs — was killed.
10) Maybe not. She was killed unless she wasn’t — and who was she, anyway?
11) Bin Laden’s son was killed.
12) Unless it was some other guy.
13) Bin Laden’s daughter saw him get killed. She’s undoubtedly traumatized, poor dear.
14) They were going to capture Bin Laden until the problem with the helicopter, which was:

A) It had mechanical trouble
B) It did a hard landing
C) It crashed
D) It clipped a wall with a tail rotor, effectively a crash

15.) They were never going to try to capture him; it was always a kill mission.
16.) No, it wasn’t.
17) The chopper blew up.
18) The SEALs blew it up.
19.) Panetta said yesterday the world needed proof and the photo would be released.
20.) Obama said today in an interview he taped with Steve Kroft for “60 Minutes” to be broadcast Sunday that it won’t be released. It’s too gruesome, would offend Muslim sensibilities (something he worries about a lot — I personally do not give a warm fart on a wet Wednesday about Muslim sensibilities), and how would Americans feel if Muslims released pictures of dead Americans?
21.) Kroft — who’s not a total idiot — pointed out that ever since “Black Hawk Down” days, Muslims have been doing precisely that, filming American bodies being dragged through the streets, filming Daniel Pearl’s head being cut off, filming any and everything.
22) Obama gets pissed at CBS, the tape gets cleaned up, that question disappears. (Inside info.)
23.) We got a “treasure trove” of stuff from hard drives, etc.
24.) There were no phone lines, and no internet access at the “mansion,” they didn’t even have TV — what “treasure trove?”
25.) There is obviously in the pictures of the place a large satellite dish. I guess they used it for making salads.
26.) And now, just today: apparently the idea was to capture him, but only if he was naked. There was a suspicion he might be wearing a suicide bomber type explosive vest, or belt. So if he’s not naked and you can’t see if he has a vest on or not – shoot him.

The idiot Carney — they actually managed to find someone who makes Gibbs look good — is currently twisting himself into knots trying to explain why the photograph that the whole world was expecting isn’t going to be released. (Obviously the thing to do is get Trump on the case, he’ll force Obama to release it.)

The military did great, the administration — or whatever that bunch is, kind of like “The Little Rascals” — have managed to turn it into spaghetti. The story has changed so many times in the course of a mere three days it’s a joke — the world would be better off if Panetta had left the little shitwit on the golf course.

---------

You've got to feel just a little bit sorry for Carney. I'll bet Gibbsy is soooo glad to have left that job! And don't you just love the photoshopped version of the Fergie daughter hat?

Dear 16 year old me

May is Melanoma Awareness Month and The David Cornfield Melanoma Fund (DCMF) has starting the month off with a powerful new awareness video.

The video, titled "Dear 16-year-old Me", was created to promote awareness and education of this potentially fatal disease, particularly among teenagers and young adults.

The video features real Canadians and Americans talking to their 16-year-old selves, warning them about sun-safety.

Send it to a teenager who loves the sun.

Environmental Citizenship goal seems to be global citizenship

English 597.03 / Geography 597.03 at The Ohio State University:
Get past the jargon, and you’ll see the point of the course is to convince brains of mush young students that they are citizens of the globe (i.e., not of a nation or territory) and to qualify OSU for more federal grant money.

It began innocently in 2009 as a campus "conversation," but will extend much further: “In response to President Gee’s signing of the University President’s Climate Commitment [Scarlet, Gray and Green] last April (2008), the [Humanities] Institute initiated a campus-wide conversation about environmental citizenship, drawing together faculty, staff and students interested in advancing the discussion of sustainability and environmental values at the university. The initiative seeks broad-based involvement [and probably federal grant money] aimed at raising environmental awareness and embedding concepts and practices more deeply in the fabric of university life.”

Since it’s tough to get natural resources, energy, architecture, biology, and agriculture into an English curriculum, just merge English (reading and writing) into geography.

English 597.03 / Geography 597.03 offers students an opportunity to reflect on the skills and knowledge needed to act responsibly as environmental citizens. We will focus on "reading" and "writing" the environment (i.e., learning, on the one hand, how to interpret the physical, social, and cultural forces that shape environments, and on the other hand, various ways of playing an active role in shaping environments).

English/Geography 597.03 will involve reading and student-led discussion, weekly "lab" sessions (e.g., film screenings, guest speakers, field trips), and a group-authored Green Paper.

We will highlight change over time, including past relations of culture and environment, present issues, and possible futures—in other words, we will strive to place the present moment in historical perspective. We'll also focus on variation and linkages across space, tying local issues into
progressively larger contexts. The course will be explicitly iinterdisciplinary, examining concepts from the natural science (e.g., natural history; cycles of matter and energy; land forms and climate dynamics), social sciences (e.g., patterns of human impacts on nature, social relations that shaped human impacts, and possible future directions), and the arts and humanities (e.g., cultural conceptions of nature, relationship between conceptions and actions, the role of representation in shaping environments and our relationships to them). The course will also explicitly acknowledge the expertise and experience of environmental actors beyond academia such as environmental organizations.

Students will write a “Credo” (define environmental citizenship in your own terms, reflect on experiences that have shaped your attitudes toward environmental citizenship and your knowledge of environmental issues, and evaluate how you enact your own conception of environmental citizenship) and a “green paper” (put forward propositions for discussion and debate, outline options available for addressing an environmental issue of their choosing, the background information needed to evaluate those options, and the values relevant to choosing among those options).

The Obama Doctrine: Kill don't capture?

Without the ground work of the Bush years, there would have been no Navy Seal operation taking out Osama on May 1, however, John Yoo's point in the WSJ is interesting, isn't it? Osama bin Laden could have easily been taken alive. But if you kill the opponent, then you don't have to mess with those pesky ethical issues of interogation and imprisonment--those things about which Obama so vehemently criticized President Bush.

"Over the past two years, congressional pressure and the demands of the real world have forced Mr. Obama to give up his law-enforcement approach to terrorism. Thanks to congressional funding riders, Gitmo remains open and terrorist detainees there cannot be brought to the United States. Attorney General Holder has finally dropped his ill-conceived plan to prosecute al Qaeda leaders in Manhattan, and he has now restarted the military commissions devised by the Bush administration.

The repatriation of Gitmo detainees has also ceased, again due to congressional pressure. Mr. Obama's advisers have even publicly reaffirmed his authority to capture or kill terrorists as enemy combatants. Drone attacks have more than tripled.

Mr. Obama's policies now differ from their Bush counterparts mainly on the issue of interrogation. As Sunday's operation put so vividly on display, Mr. Obama would rather kill al Qaeda leaders—whether by drones or special ops teams—than wade through the difficult questions raised by their detention. This may have dissuaded Mr. Obama from sending a more robust force to attempt a capture."

John Yoo: From Guantanamo to Abbottabad - WSJ.com

The Obamacare slush fund for CBS and Washington Post

We were probably in California when this story came out and I was on my Spring blogging break. While checking to see if WaPo or NYT covered the Obama transparency hearings (couldn't find that they did), I came across one more hole in the credibility bucket of the mainstream media.

Two mainstream news organizations are receiving hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars from Obamacare’s Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP) — a $5 billion grant program that’s doling out cash to companies, states and labor unions in what the Obama administration considers an effort to pay for health insurance for early retirees. The Washington Post Company raked in $573,217 in taxpayer subsidies and CBS Corporation secured $722,388 worth of Americans’ money.

“It is fine with me if they continue covering the ObamaCare debate,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, in an e-mail to The Daily Caller. “When NBC used to cover energy issues, they identified themselves as a subsidiary of General Electric. CBS and Washington Post just have to disclose that they are subsidiaries of the Obama Administration.”

The ERRP, which Republicans call a slush fund, provides taxpayer money to Obama administration-selected states, companies and labor unions with already-in-place early retiree health insurance programs, and aims to make certain that their employees who retire early still have health insurance coverage before they reach Medicare eligibility age. Almost $2 billion of the $5 billion fund, which was supposed to last until 2014, has already been distributed to corporations. New projections expect the funding to run out before the end of 2012, if not sooner.

The source is Common American Journal, a news aggregate which seems to carry stories from all political points of view, but I haven't investigated it in depth, so I'm not necessarily recommending it as a regular read. Looks like ERRP is worth keeping an eye on; I don't recall that early retirements have been covered in the past by federal tax dollars. But then, we're in a new ballgame with this administration. His dirty tricks make Nixon look like the PTA president and his spending makes George W. Bush look like Calvin Coolidge.

Free Medical Books for doctors

Here's sort of an interesting site. I looked at the 2010 The Word Brain which is free and downloadable information on how to learn a foreign language. I didn't print it, and he's not too hopeful about older people learning, but he does say that the reason it is easy for children is because that's all they're doing--acquiring language. He also says that alcohol and drugs are death for learning languages (this book is intended for young doctors, remember), and that some day future studies might show that participation in social networks is inversely correlated with success at school and university!

Free Medical Books | by Amedeo.com