Moses and the Bill of Rights

Last night at Faith of our Founders group (we study and discuss the Christian faith and actions of the founders) we sort of chuckled when we heard that tour guides tell people that the statue in the Supreme Court building is Moses with the Bill of Rights. I checked this on Google, and found another account of this from Religious News Service which gives some background. Of course, rather than seeing what is plainly the message of the sculpture, the guides use information that is unattributed. It’s like the Jefferson fathering children with a slave story—there are no male descendants of Jefferson from which to get a DNA sample, but the lie of a scoundrel and convict is used as a source, and a modern writer (Ellis) who lied even about his own history as a war veteran. Whether witnessing about the truth of the cross and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ or the truth of the faith of the founders, some of us will meet people who chose darkness and misinformation. Don’t be discouraged, continue with the truth.

When the Supreme Court justices consider whether the Ten Commandments should be displayed on government property, they will do so under the watchful eyes of Moses.

The Jewish lawgiver is depicted several times in the stone and marble edifice that is the Supreme Court building, and so are the Ten Commandments. In sculpture, Moses sits as the prominent figure atop the building's east side, holding two tablets representing the Ten Commandments. And on the wall directly behind the chief justice's chair, an allegorical "Majesty of Law" places his muscular left arm on a tablet depicting the Roman numerals I through X.

Believers are convinced those are indeed the commandments given to Moses as described in the biblical Book of Exodus. Others [including staff] say the 10 numbers represent the Bill of Rights.

Link

New taxes under Obamacare (as known a year ago)

Increase Hospital Insurance (HI) portion of the payroll tax from 2.9 percent to 3.8 percent for couples earning more than $250,000 a year ($200,000 for single filers). 2013, $210 billion

Apply the 3.8 percent HI tax to investment income for couples earning more than $250,000 a year $200,000 for single filers) for the first time. 2013, Included in the above $210 billion

Mandate for individuals to buy health insurance and employers to offer it to their workers. 2014, $65 billion

Annual fee on health insurance providers based on each individual company’s share of the total market. 2014, $60 billion

40 percent excise tax on “Cadillac” health insurance for plans costing more than $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families. 2018, $32 billion

Impose an annual fee on manufacturers and importers of branded drugs based on each individual company’s share of the total market. 2011, $27 billion

Exclusion of unprocessed fuels from the existing cellulosic biofuel producer credit. 2010, $24 billion

2.3 percent excise tax on manufacturers and importers of certain medical devices. 2013, $20 billion

Higher corporate taxes through stricter enforcement by requiring them to report more information on their business activities. 2012, $17 billion

Raise the 7.5 percent AGI floor on medical expenses deduction to 10 percent. 2013, $15 billion

Limit the amount taxpayers can deposit in fl exible spending accounts (FSAs) to $2,500 a year. 2014, $13 billion

Reduce the number of medical products taxpayers can purchase using funds they put aside in health savings accounts (HSAs) and FSAs. 2011, $5 billion

Eliminate the corporate deduction for prescription expenses for retirees. 2013, $4.5 billion

Increase corporate taxes by making it more diffi cult for businesses to engage in business activities that reduce their tax liability. 2010, $4.5 billion

10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning services. 2010, $2.7 billion

Increased penalty for purchasing disallowed products with HSAs to 20 percent. 2011, $1.4 billion

Increase taxes on health insurance companies by limiting the amount of compensation paid to certain
employees they can deduct from their taxes. 2013, $0.6 billion

Repeal special deduction for Blue Cross/Blue Shield organizations. 2010, $0.4 billion

TOTAL REVENUE RAISED $503 billion

Table 1, Web Memo, Heritage

But stay tuned. New things come out every day as people read the bill.

Why is Fluke paying $3,000 for birth control? She isn't.

Why would a 30 year old Georgetown university (Jesuit school) law student spend $3,000 a year for birth control pills*? Here's a list of pharmacies where she can get it for $9/mo. 2 lattes. Obviously, she is a plant and a hoax selected by radicals, put out there by Democrat cafeteria Catholics like Pelosi and Biden who are more loyal to Obama's statism than they are to the values and morals they profess to believe and the Constitution they are supposed to uphold.

Here's the list.

*Oral contraceptives are hormonal preparations that may contain combinations of the hormones estrogen and progestin or progestin alone. Combinations of estrogen and progestin prevent pregnancy by inhibiting the release of the hormones luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) from the pituitary gland in the brain. LH and FSH play key roles in the development of the egg and preparation of the lining of the uterus for implantation of the embryo. Progestin also makes the uterine mucus that surrounds the egg more difficult for sperm to penetrate and, therefore, for fertilization to take place. In some women, progestin inhibits ovulation (release of the egg).

The combination estrogen-progestin is, or was before 2002, given to older menopausal women as "hormone replacement therapy." When health problems turned up, most women were taken off HRT. Why is it OK for younger women, even teen-agers, but dangerous for older?

The Case Against Obamacare

In November 2011, The Heritage Foundation Web Memo 3053 by Nina Owcharenko outlined the case against Obamacare, in Repealing Obamacare and Getting Health Care Right . In summary, without the most recent February disaster known as the HHS Mandate which hits at the First Amendment rights to religious freedom:

Individual Mandate: Obamacare includes a requirement that everyone buy government-approved health insurance or face a penalty. This mandate is unconstitutional and violates personal liberty.

Employer Mandate: Obamacare includes a requirement that employers with 50 or more employees provide government-approved health insurance or face a fine. This mandate will hit workers through lower wages and fewer jobs, shareholders through lower profits, and consumers through higher prices.

Health Care Subsidies: Obamacare spends more than $400 billion in the first 10 years to subsidize health insurance offered through government-designed exchanges. The design of these subsidies reinforces the current inequities in the tax code and creates new ones that will discourage work and encourage employers to discontinue offering health insurance.

Medicaid Expansion: Obamacare requires states to expand an already broken Medicaid program that is squeezing state budgets and providing poor-quality care. More than half of the reduction in uninsured under Obamacare comes from expanding this failing welfare program.

Medicare Cuts: Obamacare cuts more than $500 billion from Medicare—not to shore up Medicare’s long-term solvency, but to pay for new spending in Medicaid and new health care subsidies. These payment cuts are unsustainable and will jeopardize seniors’ access to care and services.

Independent Payment Advisory Board: Obamacare puts in place an unelected board to reduce payments to Medicare providers. These major payment decisions will ultimately impact seniors’ ability to access care and services.

CLASS Act: Obamacare creates a new long-term care entitlement program for all Americans. The program is actuarially unsound and fiscally irresponsible. Its flawed design has led the Administration to put its implementation on hold.

New Taxes: Obamacare includes more than $500 billion in new taxes. Many of these new taxes will be passed on to consumers in higher prices, while others will lead to higher tax rates on work and investment and discourage economic growth.

Government Regulation and Benefit Mandates: Obamacare adds layers of regulation and benefit mandates on insurers and the insurance market and on employer health plans. Together, these provisions will increase costs, destabilize the market, and reduce consumer choice.

Summary with hot links

Using different words, titles, and scare quotes to tell the same story

Two sources, the Washington Times and Nature Magazine, both covered the case of Michael Mann and Climategate by Virginia's Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Mann, formerly of the University of Virginia, now at Pennsylvania State University, created the hockey stick graph which was published in Nature. Notice how differently the two sources cover a Virginia Supreme Court decision. Both articles say Mann has been cleared of academic misconduct, but that's not what this case is about--it's about misuse of state funds and Cuccinelli's authority to investigate.

Va. Supreme Court denies Cuccinelli’s bid for climatologist’s emails
The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday rejected a bid by Virginia Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II to acquire records about a former University of Virginia climatologist. Mr. Cuccinelli, under the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, issued two civil investigative demands (CID), akin to subpoenas, in 2010 seeking records related to Michael Mann, who is associated with the infamous “hockey stick” global warming graph charting a rapid rise in the temperature of the earth’s surface during the 20th century. . . the Virginia Supreme Court in a Friday opinion concluded that Mr. Cuccinelli does not have the authority to issue the demands to the University of Virginia at all.
Radio column, Washington Times

Virginia high court rejects case against Mann
The Virgina Supreme Court on Friday tossed out an investigation by the state’s conservative attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, into Michael Mann, the former University of Virginia climatologist whose work on the now-famous hockey-stick graph (originally published in Nature) has become a lightning rod for climate skeptics as well as the subject of a new book. . . In a dense and conflicted 26-page ruling (pdf) . . . Virginia’s high court ruled that the university is not a “person” and thus is not subject to Cuccinelli’s demands under the state’s Fraud Against Taxpayers Act.
Nature blog

First, notice the difference in headlines--in one the court denies bid to emails, in the other it rejects case against Mann. In the one sympathetic to Cuccinelli, his surname is used, and in the one sympathetic to Mann, his surname is used.

1) rejected a bid to acquire records or tossed out an investigation

2) Virginia Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II or state’s conservative attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli

3) Michael Mann, who is associated with the infamous “hockey stick” global warming graph or Michael Mann, the former University of Virginia climatologist whose work on the now-famous hockey-stick graph. . .

4) The Virginia Supreme Court concluded that Mr. Cuccinelli does not have the authority to issue the demands to the University of Virginia at all or Virginia’s high court ruled that the university is not a “person” and thus is not subject to Cuccinelli’s demands

A mother's arms reach around the world

Gary's foundation

Ohio probing adoption agency after rape charges

Certainly hope they are looking into taking the man's agency approval (ACTION approved in Ohio for fostering since 2005) now that he's been charged with raping the boys he'd been approved to adopt. Seems there should be some other serious charges.

Ohio probing adoption agency after rape charges

Hating Breitbart

"It is sad that to be a left-winger is to be a hatemonger, but the death of conservative media activist Andrew Breitbart has certainly brought out those true colors of the left. The giddiness displayed and cheering indulged by America’s leftists over the fact that Mr. Breitbart died late Wednesday night has been shrill, disgusting, and suffused with the lamentable inhumanity so commonly found in the hearts of leftists everywhere.

It should be no surprise that left-wingers are prone to authoritarian regimes and acts of genocide."

Warner Todd Huston

To see any of Breitbart's websites, click here.

Diversity in Hollywood

During Hollywood's silent screen era Japanese screen star Sessue Hayakawa rivaled Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and John Barrymore in popularity with film audiences. Hayakawa was one of the highest paid Hollywood stars of his time, making over $5,000 a week in 1915, then $2 million a year through his own production company in 1920s. He was handsome and flamboyant and gave some of Hollywood's legendary parties. Hayakawa was also Paramount's first choice for the role of The Sheik that launched Rudolph Valentino's career in 1918.

Not bad for a student from Japan who stumbled into acting during a vacation. in Los Angeles.

Rest of the story.

The Joseph Ellis fabrication of George Washington

Why Time Magazine would use a liar and known character assassin to write about George Washington for a special edition, I don't know. . . Oh, wait, I think I do. Because Washinton stood for something. Have you checked his piece for original sources? Ellis was exposed 8 years ago as a fraud. What's up at Time? When he tried to trash Thomas Jefferson with the Hemings story in the 1990s, he was trying to shore up William Jefferson Clinton, as "see everyone does it." With Washington, I think he's trying to discredit all patriots, and shore up President Obama. Mt. Holyoke suspended him for a year. It was far too little. I have the pb edition of his "Founding Brothers" (written before his lies were exposed), so it will go in the trash, not even to the library book sale where it might mislead someone for fifty cents.

". . . consider how intellectually disabled a generation of students mentored by Mount Holyoke "presidential historian" Joseph Ellis must be, given his assertion in Time Magazine this week that "[Washington] began the political tradition that produced a Union victory in the Civil War, the Federal Reserve Board, Social Security, Medicare, and most recently, Obamacare. He had no patience in his own time with a states' rights interpretation of the Constitution and would have found the conservative agenda of the modern Republican Party and its Tea Party allies a repudiation of all he stood for."

Of course, Time's editors failed to issue a disclaimer noting that their esteemed source is a fraud and fabricator. In 2001, the Boston Globe revealed that Ellis had been telling his spellbound young students tall tales of his involvement in the civil rights movement in the South, of his valor as a combat platoon leader in Vietnam, and of his later activities as an intrepid anti-war leader at Yale. All lies."

"For years, Mount Holyoke professor Joseph Ellis had been regaling students, interviewers, and friends with gripping stories of his service in Vietnam. He claimed to have been a platoon leader and paratrooper with the 101st Airborne Division. He said he served in Saigon under Gen. William Westmoreland.

Ellis was recently forced to apologize for "having let stand" the "assumption" that he served in Vietnam. Ellis whiled away the Vietnam War in his college dorm room, presumably, like most academics, smoking pot, and listening to the Beatles' "White Album."

Among the "assumptions" Ellis had "let stand" was his claim that after witnessing the horror of Vietnam, he came home and enlisted in the anti-war movement. He also boasted of having helped David Halberstam with his 1972 best seller, The Best and the Brightest, by sharing his vivid recollections of Vietnam.

He had no involvement in the anti-war movement, and Halberstam says he's never talked to Ellis.

The fantasy life of this deskbound Walter Mitty didn't stop at Vietnam. He has also bragged about his work in the civil-rights movement. He claims that while on the Freedom Trail in Mississippi, he was the victim of racist Southern cops banging on his door late at night and following him in his car. He wistfully recalled his years as a high-school football star, describing to a reporter last year how he once scored the winning touchdown.

He wasn't in Mississippi, and his greatest moment on the football field involved a clarinet.

Between 'Nam flashbacks and Freedom Rider reunions, Ellis co-authored the groundbreaking 1998 report, "Jefferson Fathered Slave's Last Child." You may remember this report if you weren't on the moon when it was released. It was the Clinton flacks' giddiest "Gotcha!" moment. The report was unveiled to instant acclaim — as luck would have it — just weeks before the House impeachment vote.

Bill Clinton wasn't a pervert, liar, and felon after all! Rather, he was part of an honorable history of venerable men molesting the help. As report co-author Ellis put it: "It is as if Clinton had called one of the most respected character witnesses in all of U.S. history to testify that the primal urge has a most distinguished presidential pedigree." Ellis claimed the new testing proved "beyond any reasonable doubt that Jefferson had a long-term sexual relationship with his mulatto slave."

As the author of the award-winning American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson — and a Vietnam veteran — Ellis spoke with some authority on the matter. He dismissed the likely protestations from "die-hard Jefferson worshippers," proclaiming the debate over. "Now we know," he said.

Unfortunately, proof of a Jefferson-Hemings liaison was as fanciful as Professor Ellis's war service. Two months after the report's "findings" had been published in every news outlet where English is spoken, there was a slight correction. One of Ellis' co-authors, pathologist Eugene Foster, admitted to the British science journal Nature that they had not proved Thomas Jefferson fathered any children by Sally Hemings. What they meant to say was "Jefferson could have fathered the slave's last child." Just like Ellis could have served in Vietnam.

The scientists had compared the DNA from descendants of Hemings's last son to the DNA of descendants of one of Jefferson's paternal uncles. The report established only that some Jefferson male had fathered a child with Hemings.

That isn't as incriminating as it might sound. There were 25 Jefferson males with the same DNA alive when Hemings conceived her last son. Seven of them were at Monticello during the relevant time period. The report's title was a lie." Link

"I believe that the lies he told about himself and the way he told them changed the way he wrote history," Charles Hoffer wrote of Joseph Ellis.

Hoffer is kinder than I would be. Ellis is was and always will be a liar, and any school or publication that hires him to write or teach history is not worthy of my money or time.

Andrew Breitbart dead at 43

From Breitbart.com

With a terrible feeling of pain and loss we announce the passing of Andrew Breitbart.

Andrew passed away unexpectedly from natural causes shortly after midnight this morning in Los Angeles.

We have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a dear friend, a patriot and a happy warrior.

Andrew lived boldly, so that we more timid souls would dare to live freely and fully, and fight for the fragile liberty he showed us how to love.

Andrew recently wrote a new conclusion to his book, Righteous Indignation:
I love my job. I love fighting for what I believe in. I love having fun while doing it. I love reporting stories that the Complex refuses to report. I love fighting back, I love finding allies, and—famously—I enjoy making enemies.

Three years ago, I was mostly a behind-the-scenes guy who linked to stuff on a very popular website. I always wondered what it would be like to enter the public realm to fight for what I believe in. I’ve lost friends, perhaps dozens. But I’ve gained hundreds, thousands—who knows?—of allies. At the end of the day, I can look at myself in the mirror, and I sleep very well at night.
Andrew is at rest, yet the happy warrior lives on, in each of us.

In September I read his book, Righteous Indignation and wrote, "The Democrat Media Complex (DMC) is what Andrew Breitbart calls the unholy coalition of the Democratic Party, the Old Media (press, TV, Hollywood/pop culture) and increasingly the New Media (Salon.com, Huffington Post, Daily Koz, blogs, social networking, etc.). He was an unthinking Democrat until the Clarence Thomas Anita Hill hearings, and although he didn't change his politics, that's when he first realized that the Democrats controlled the media and the message. So how did a country with guaranteed freedom of speech and respect for western civilization come to be one where any speech that doesn't toe the party line is suspect and people in power are anti-capitalist?"
.

Arizona SB1070, Obama and Holder

Why is our President siding with Mexico against out own citizens?

Can you trust this poll?

“Poll after poll in recent months has indicated that Americans have a high level of concern over Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president, with one poll showing fully half of the nation wants Congress to investigate the question.”

I don’t know who they are polling, but I don’t believe Americans are that worried about Obama’s eligibility to be president. Do You? Even if I were concerned, I know nothing will come of it, and it’s better to put effort elsewhere if you believe, as I do, he’s a bad president. However, something is supposed to come out tomorrow from Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona. Source of story. I’m not holding my breath.

Reading Pearl Buck's Good Earth again--55 years later

I read several of Pearl Buck’s novels when I was in high school, so I probably read the Good Earth (1931) around 1956 or 1957. I don't recall that I ever saw the movie (1937). Although I couldn’t have told you the names of the characters or the plot, as I’m rereading it now for book club next Monday, each page seems familiar. Even after 5 pages, I was in awe of Buck's skill and sensitivity. What a masterful writer. As Hilary Spurling wrote:

“Buck is virtually forgotten today. She has no place in feminist mythology, and her novels have been effectively eliminated from the American literary map. In the People’s Republic of China her fiction remains unique because it accurately depicts the hard lives of an illiterate rural population ignored by the Chinese writers who were Buck’s contemporaries and subsequently obliterated from the record by Communist Party doctrine. “In China she is admired but not read,” ran a recent article in the New York Times, “and in America she is read but not admired.” Both views could do with reappraisal. “ Link

The story begins on Wang Lung's wedding day when he goes to The House of Hwang, a family of wealthy landowners to get his future wife, O-Lan, a slave. She was not pretty so she hadn't been defiled by the sons or male servants. O-Lan turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to him. Ms. Buck in describing Wang Lung as he encounters a revolutionary during the time the family has been wrenched off the beloved land by a famine, describes almost perfectly our own revolutionaries of today--The Occupiers:

“. . . proclaimed the young teacher, “and the murderous one who stabs you when you are dead and do not know it are the rich and the capitalists, who would stab you even after you are dead. You are poor and downtrodden and it is because the rich seize everything.”

Now that he was poor Wang Lung knew full well but he had heretofore blamed it on a heaven that would not rain in its season, or having rained, would continue to rain as though rain were an evil habit. . . Wang Lung grew bold and asked,

“Sir, is there any way whereby the rich who oppress us can make it rain so that I can work on the land?”

At this the young man turned on him with scorn and replied, “Now how ignorant you are, you who still wear your hair in a long tail! No one can make it rain when it will not, but what has this to do with us? If the rich would share with us what they have, rain or not would matter none, because we would all have money and food.”

A great shout went up from those who listened, but Wang Lung turned away unsatisfied.

Still, eventually Wang Lung the peasant through hard work and some stolen jewels becomes wealthy and greedy, buys the estate in which his wife was formerly a slave, and turns away from the wife who had helped him accomplish everything.

What is high school for?

"The Office of Diversity and Inclusion Bridge Program [at The Ohio State University] assists incoming freshman with transitioning from high school to college by providing academic enrichment coursework, campus involvement, community integration, and peer mentoring. The enrichment coursework includes English, research, mathematics, psychology, economics, and calculus lab. Students also participate in study skills, career, and personal development workshops."

In 1982, 30 years ago, I had a temporary contract at the OSU Libraries to work with freshmen and undergrads at what was then "West Campus." (I have pretty good research skills, but can find no record of this financial boondoggle on the internet. I may have to ask a retired colleague.) In those days, the "bridge" was real; a bus drove the young students across the river to a special campus with fine Soviet, cereal box architecture (west campus is still there but now is primarily administrative offices) which would be user friendly with advisors and grad instructors on hand to help them adjust and make it to the next year. There was even a library there called "the learning center" instead of "library." It was to make the transition easier, not just for minorities, but for freshmen who had poor skills in math and English and might need some extra help. There was even an English lab or rhetoric workshop (forgotten it's name) tucked away on another level of the West Campus Learning Center.

I think the state was proposing stricter standards for elementary and high schools, but apparently the university is still offering make-up work for the kids so that enrollment stats look better. The graduation rate from our big city high schools is poor. Don't know what the graduation rate is for a minority student who comes on campus as a freshman so unprepared for college level work, that the first year is spent catching up. Probably FERPA covers their tail on this.

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion complies with the rules set forth by the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) with regard to student personal and academic information. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Academic Advancement Services, utilizes the web based scheduling system, GradesFirst, to schedule retention counseling and tutoring appointments, track student participant’s academic progress, communicate with program participants, ODI staff and university professors, and generate program affiliated reports. AAS staff will utilize academic information acquired from The Ohio State University and program participants for these purposes. Student personal and academic information housed on Gradesfirst is secure and will not be shared outside of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

If anyone has some statistics on this, or even a web site I can link to about the old West Campus of the 1980s, I'd appreciate it.

List of those Occupying for the Spring

From the Occupy crowd's "The 99% Spring" website a list of the organizers and funders. There are others I'm sure. These are the people who want to destroy the United States. Notice the number of unions. Many are funded either directly or indirectly by George Soros/Tides Foundation. Others are so wealthy on the backs of their members, they don't need it, like the UAW or AFT. These are the folks who want $18/hour minimum wage, 6 weeks vacation, and retirement at 55. These people demand no-debt repayment and completely open borders. They want home-schooling to be illegal because indoctrinating your own children is dangerous--it should be up to the government to do that.

Jobs With Justice
United Auto Workers
National Peoples Action
National Domestic Workers Alliance
MoveOn.org
New Organizing Institute
Movement Strategy Center
The Other 98%
Service Employees International Union
Rebuild the Dream
UNITE-HERE
Greenpeace
Institute for Policy Studies
PICO National Network
New Bottom Line
United Steel Workers
Working Families Party
Communications Workers of America
United States Student Association
Rainforest Action Network
American Federation of Teachers
Leadership Center for the Common Good
UNITY
National Guestworker Alliance
350.org
The Ruckus Society
Citizen Engagement Lab
smartMeme Strategy & Training Project
Right to the City Alliance
Pushback Network
Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment
Progressive Democrats of America
Change to Win
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
Campaign for America’s Future
Fuse Washington
Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment
Citizen Action of New York
Engage
United Electrical Workers Union
National Day Laborers Organizing Network
Alliance for a Just Society
The Partnership for Working Families
United Students Against Sweatshops
Presente.org

Conflict resolution at UCLA

UCLA is launching a series of public lectures, academic courses and programs aimed at "fostering civil discourse" and the peaceful resolution of conflicts. In the midwest, things aren’t quite this obvious, but at least no one will be shouted down or chased off stage the way it’s done at some Ivy League schools. . . or wait. . . that did happen in 2010.

On one side is professor Saree Makdisi, a UCLA English professor, nephew of the infamous Edward Said, and a well-known anti-Israel ideologue who believes Israel should no longer exist as a Jewish state, and on the other professor David N. Myers, former director of the UCLA Center for Jewish Studies and current chair of the history department who argues that 'Statist Zionism,' or a Jewish state, should give way to a 'global Jewish collective,' that Israel should no longer exist as a Jewish state. So where are the two sides?

Looks like there won't be any conflicts to resolve after all, observes Campus Watch, a pro-Israel group. It’s just wonderful how academe solves problems.

Conflict resolution at UCLA

How 100 faculty handled the 2010 disruption of a speaker at Irvine (we were actually visiting there last spring—lovely campus)—sort of sounds like the faculty crowd defending the prostitute against the LaCrosse players at Duke:

“As faculty (David Myers was one) affiliated with Jewish Studies at the University of California, we are deeply distressed by the decision of the District Attorney in Orange County, California, to file criminal charges against Muslim students who disrupted Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren's speech on the UC Irvine campus last year. While we disagree with the students' decision to disrupt the speech, we do not believe such peaceful protest should give rise to criminal liability. The individual students and the Muslim Student Union were disciplined for this conduct by the University, including suspending the MSU from functioning as a student organization for a quarter. This is sufficient punishment. There is no need for further punitive measures, let alone criminal prosecution and criminal sanctions.”

Rethinking the Jewish Nation by David N. Myers.

Stop paying for abortions with my tax money

Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of abortions in the United States. A third of all abortions are performed on black women. Our tax dollars are supporting this killing industry.

(COLUMBUS, OH) - Today, Ohio Right to Life and its national and state partners will testify in support of House Bill 298, legislation that will direct tax dollars away from organizations such as Planned Parenthood. HB 298, sponsored by Representatives Kristina Roegner and Cliff Rosenberger, will prioritize public funding towards local health departments and community health centers to help low-income and poor women and their children. Joining Ohio Right to Life today are representatives from the Susan B. Anthony List and Texas Right to Life to advocate for the advancement of this legislation.

"The majority of Ohioans agree that taxpayer funding of the nation's largest abortion provider is inexcusable," said Mike Gonidakis, President of Ohio Right to Life. "Ohioan's tax dollars should be used as a responsible safety net to help low-income and poor women."

The abortion industry and their lobbyists will recklessly claim that women will be denied health care with the enactment of this legislation. In reality, there are over 130 health districts and over 160 community health centers in Ohio that provide family planning services as well as comprehensive primary care. Groups like Planned Parenthood are only attempting to protect the taxpayer money that they have received for decades.

"Ohio women deserve access to comprehensive health care, and they aren't going to find it at abortion-centered businesses like Planned Parenthood. Abortion is not health care, and Planned Parenthood is America's largest seller of abortions," said Hon. Marilyn Musgrave, Vice President of Government Affairs for the Susan B. Anthony List. "This common sense legislation improves the quality of health care for Ohio women by prioritizing family planning funding for entities that best serve women. We look forward to working with Representative Kristina Roegner and our friends at Ohio Right to Life to get this bill on the Governor's desk and signed into law."

The abortion industry repeatedly claims that without taxpayer funding for family planning, abortions will increase. However, since 1998, government funding and contracts to Planned Parenthood have almost doubled from $165 million per year to $363.3 million. During the same time period, abortions have increased at Planned Parenthood from 165,509 per year to 332,278.

Simply put, taxpayer funding of abortion providers and their affiliates has done nothing to help women and certainly not their unborn children. Ohio Right to Life, Feb. 28, 2012 mailing

After an abortion Planned Parenthood gives the former mother a strong dose of an antibiotic and 30 days of low dose contraceptives. The antibiotic interfers with the effectiveness of the contraceptive, and so in a few months, the woman, if sexually active, will be back and another life will be snuffed out. Half of the women who get abortions are already using some method of birth control. Abortions increase a woman's risk of breast cancer, and the birth control pills are carcinogens.

Stand Up for Religious Freedom

On March 23, 2012, concerned citizens in over 50 cities — including Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco — will gather at federal buildings for a rally with the theme, “Stand Up for Religious Freedom — Stop the HHS Mandate!”

Thousands of Americans of all faiths are expected to participate in these rallies, organized by Citizens for a Pro-Life Society and the Pro-Life Action League, to oppose the new mandate from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that requires all employers to provide free contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs through their health plans. Religious leaders and other public figures will speak out against the HHS Mandate.

Stand up for Religious Freedom

Not just breast cancer, but also mental health problems

Women don't have choices if they don't have information. They also don't have choices if mama is threatening to put her on the street, and the boyfriend is promising to leave her. Doctors can't do anything about mama or the creepy boyfriend, but they can let women know the mental health dangers of abortion.

"Women who have abortions are 81 percent more likely to experience subsequent mental health problems, according to a new study published by Britain’s Royal College of Psychiatrists. The greatest increases were seen in relation to suicidal behaviors and substance abuse.

The meta-analysis examined and combined results of 22 studies published between 1995 and 2009 and included data on 877,181 women from six countries. All 22 studies revealed higher rates of mental health problems associated with abortion for at least one symptom, and many for more than one symptom." Elliot Institute

Abortion and mental health: quantitative synthesis and analysis of research published 1995–2009, by Priscilla K. Coleman, The British Journal of Psychiatry (2011) 199: 180-186

This review offers the largest quantitative estimate of mental health risks associated with abortion available in the world literature. Calling into question the conclusions from traditional reviews, the results revealed a moderate to highly increased risk of mental health problems after abortion. Consistent with the tenets of evidence-based medicine, this information should inform the delivery of abortion services.

Santorum's economic plan

Although I realize that once a man gets into office, all the campaign glorious speeches go into the file, the promises made aren't kept, and the cronies and donors fill the czar and cabinet vacancies, let's look at what he says, and then take that apart instead of what the media filters say he said with snippets out of context:

Santorum's Economic Freedom Agenda
Wall Street Journal, Feb. 27, 2012

If he could even do these 3 things, it would be a start at saving America. But only baby steps. My generation is tired. The boomers have come to expect the good life. The gen-xers want more money to go to rock concerts performed by has-beens. Next-gen and Gen-Y are stumbling around paying off college loans.

1) "Unleash America's energy. I'll approve the Keystone Pipeline for jobs and energy security, and sign an order on day one unleashing America's domestic energy production, allowing states to choose where they want to explore for oil and natural gas and to set their own regulations for hydrofracking.

2) "Restore America's competitiveness. The corporate tax rate should be halved, to a flat rate of 7.5%. Corporations should be allowed to expense all business equipment and investment. Taxes on corporate earnings repatriated from overseas should be eliminated to bring home manufacturing. I'll take the lead on tort reform to lower costs to consumers."

3) "Repeal and replace ObamaCare. I'll submit legislation to repeal ObamaCare, and on day one issue an executive order ending related regulatory obligations on the states. I'll work with Congress to replace ObamaCare with competitive insurance choices to improve quality and limit the costs of health care, while protecting those with uninsurable health conditions."

The "rein in spending" promise--well, that's the one they all fail at. Too many people work for the government, plus millions in non-profits, churches and universities slurping at the grant trough. Their lobbyists would squeal like stuck pigs if their sector were cut. I just don't know if there is a way to reverse this form of indentured servitude. Most of the stuff I read is the medical and building sectors--and they are completely chained and stuck on the plantation. "Revive housing?" How does he think we got into this mess if not 40 years of government dabbling in and manipulating housing? On that one it's back to the drawing board!

Anyone else think it's possible?

Is it judgmental to defend the unborn?

Defending the moral right of the unborn to have a life is “judgmental,” according to some Christians. But judging that the government has the legal right to take their lives and not protect them in the same way it protects the more fortunate is not judgmental? Interesting concept. It’s the same one slave owners used in the 19th century for their personal property. Some think primarily the poor and uneducated have abortions. Not sure of the statistics on that, but I do know about 50% of the women having abortions were using birth control in some form when impregnated. Planned Parenthood helps with that failure.

Was listening to a testimony Saturday morning of a woman who as a teen had 5 legal abortions at Planned Parenthood. After the last one she hemorrhaged and went to the ER where they discovered half the baby was still there. The “doctor” had stopped in the middle of the abortion, demanded more money (because she was over 12 weeks) and then when the boyfriend (same guy for all pregnancies) paid up, continued, without anesthesia. It seems PP would give her both powerful antibiotics and low dose contraceptives after each abortion, so the “pill” didn’t work right, (http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/707926) so she kept getting pregnant, and killed 5 of her children. Needless to say, this woman is not afraid to name evil as evil. She started out her presentation with Reddy’s “I am woman hear me roar.”

I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin' arms across the land
But I'm still an embryo
With a long, long way to go
Until I make my brother understand

Oh, yes, I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to
I can face anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am womanOne of my compassionate Christian friends (who believes in the right to choose) commented, "She was a slow learner." Blaming the victim comes in all varieties. Multiply that contraceptive failure by the thousands of teens brought the PP clinics by their mothers or boyfriends.

Do it the USSR way

“Because in the United States of America, we are greater together than we are on our own (Applause). We’re better off when we keep that basic American promise that if you work hard, you can do well — you can raise a family, you can own a home, send your kids to college, put a little away for retirement — and that that promise is open to everybody. If you’re born into tough circumstances, we’re going to give you ladders to climb up into that middle class. And if you’re in that middle class, then we’re going to make sure that you’ve got the tools to, even in a changing world, have some security and some stability in your life.

That’s what we’re fighting for. That’s the choice in this election.” Obama in a campaign speech this week

Work as hard as you want making buggy whips or transcribing 11th century Latin poetry into Gaelic, and you still won’t make it financially in capitalist, free-market-decides America, but you just might scrape up enough to barely get by if Obama gives you enough government programs to feed, clothe, shelter, insure and provide walking around money. Meanwhile, his income varies between $2-$4 million annually because of book sales (with some pressure for government offices to sell them), real estate investments (the Chicago way) and other investments in capitalist enterprises.

To the poor he promises ladders, and to the middle class tools, security and stability. But nothing beyond that, because that would require taking risks, doing without, finding people who want to back you with venture capital or loans, and postponing expensive entertainments. A woman who doesn't speak English just dropped the newspaper at my door. Perhaps she has a kid in high school or college and wants him to have extra spending money. Or maybe she is wealthy beyond her wildest dreams back home where because she was a minority or a woman she couldn't even go to school, and she sends money home to her parents. She has a car; she's probably sharing an apartment with another family of her religious or ethnic group; she may even be using a few government programs, but she's got hustle, so if there were no programs, she'd still make it. I've seen her kind before. She will make it in America. And it won't be because of transfer of wealth.

Hot Chocolate

Is there any thing that tastes better on a cold windy day than a cup of hot chocolate? The other day I was at Giant Eagle and I saw the cutest display of little miniature glass bottles of chocolate milk--16 ounces costing $5.95! The bottles had a cute logo, and a tag attached--I think it said “organic,” but there was no information about where it was produced, and whether it was the cocoa that was organic or the sugar. Were the cows no-hormone? I have no idea, but $6.00 for 2 cups of chocolate milk?

I have before me a package of Nestle “Rich Milk Chocolate’ [flavor] hot cocoa mix . . . 10 envelopes for $.98. If I wanted to mix up something myself I could do it--it’s just been awhile--and it could by-pass the corn syrup solids, coconut oil, and guar gum. It has 80 calories.

So I looked up the “old fashioned” cocoa. Found one made with coffee creamer--hmmm, not so much. Then one made with an egg--256 calories!

Here’s one with 310 calories (maybe you could substitute milk for the half and half):

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup white sugar
1 pinch salt
1/3 cup boiling water
3 1/2 cups milk 3/4 teaspoon
vanilla extract
1/2 cup half-and-half cream

The Ghirardelli Cocoa can says, cocoa, sugar and milk. I think that’s how Mom did it.

The Hersey's website has what I think I remember.

2 tablespoons sugar or 2 tablespoons Splenda sugar substitute
2 -3 teaspoons Hershey's cocoa
1 dash salt
1 cup milk
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Who is contributing to whom?

Here’s some current information on how the PACs are raising money today. Obviously, labor is going heavily for Obama and Democratic causes. Then following is information on how the money flowed in 2008. I wonder if any of these firms have had second thoughts--probably not. Party support is about lobbying--and which party will give your industry a better break.

Be mindful of what businesses we patronize relative to their 2008 Election Cycle political donations, as reported by the Center for Responsive Politics. This shows both Democrat and Republican information!

Shopping
Price Club/Costco donated $225K, 99% went to Democrats
Rite Aid donated $517K, 60% went to Democrats
Magla Products (Stanley tools, Mr. Clean) donated $22K, 100% went to Democrats
Warnaco (undergarments) donated $55K, 73% went to Democrats
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia donated $153K, 99% went to Democrats
Estee Lauder donated $448K, 95% went to Democrats
Guess, Inc. donated $145K, 98% went to Democrats
Calvin Klein donated $78K, 100% went to Democrats
Liz Claiborne, Inc. donated $34K, 97% went to Democrats
Levi Straus donated $26K, 97% went to Democrats
Olan Mills donated $175K, 99% went to Democrats

WalMart donated $467K, 97% went to Republicans
K-Mart donated $524K, 86% went to Republicans
Home Depot donated $298K, 89% went to Republicans
Target donated $226K, 70% went to Republicans
3M Co. donated $281K, 87% went to Republicans
Hallmark Cards donated $319K, 92% went to Republicans
Amway donated $391K, 100% Republicans
Kohler Co. (plumbing fixtures) donated $283K, 100% Republicans
B.F. Goodrich (tires) donated $215K, 97% went to Republicans
Proctor & Gamble donated $243K, 79% went to Republicans

Hungry?
Sonic Corporation donated $83K, 98% went to Democrats
Triarc Companies (Arby's, T.J. Cinnamon's, Pasta Connections) donated $112K, 96% went to Democrats

Pilgrim's Pride Corp. (chicken) donated $366K, 100% went to Republicans
Outback Steakhouse donated $641K, 95% went to Republicans
Tricon Global Restaurants (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell) donated $133K, 87% went to Republicans
Brinker International (Maggiano's, Brinker Cafe, Chili's, On the Border, Macaroni Grill, Crazymel's, Corner Baker, EatZis) donated $242K, 83% went to Republicans
Waffle House donated $279K, 100% went to Republicans
McDonald's Corp. donated $197K, 86% went to Republicans
Darden Restaurants (Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Smokey Bones, Bahama Breeze) donated $121K, 89% went to Republicans
Heinz Republicans $64,000 Democrats $21,300 (John Kerry's wife's company)

Traveling and/or dining
Hyatt Corporation donated $187K of which 80% went to Democrats

Marriott International $323K, 81% went to Republicans
Holiday Inns donated $38K, 71% went to Republicans

CIA busy in Pakistan, cable reveals

For those Obama supporters who have denied the extent to which he has expanded the war into other Moslem countries in Asia, the middle-east and Africa, be sure to read today’s Washington Post.
“

The CIA has carried out dozens of drone strikes against Haqqani targets in Pakistan in recent years, while U.S. forces on the Afghan side of the border have killed or captured Haqqani fighters at a rapid pace — only to see the flow of militants subside temporarily and then resume.

“There’s no debate about the importance of going after Haqqani . . . and Taliban militants who launch attacks into Afghanistan,” one U.S. official said. “Support for this is universal.” "

The WaPo is careful not to give a date about when all this war against another Taliban branch began. Based on its long history of shoring up Obama, I think WaPo would have noted if it were Bush’s war—but maybe it really doesn’t know.

Escape from slavery

C. L. Bryant, the runaway slave.

The film’s central figure is Rev. C.L. Bryant, a self-professed “runaway slave. A former NAACP chapter president in Garland, TX, C.L. abandoned an organization he felt was more about political posturing, and less about civil rights. As a former Democratic Radical who escaped the bondage of Progressivism and denounced the shackles of entitlements, he has committed himself to helping others secure the blessings of liberty that are guaranteed by the Constitution with his new found conservative values.

Rev. Bryant takes viewers on an historic journey across America that traces the footsteps of runaway slaves who escaped along routes that became known as the Underground Railroad to freedom. But in the film, he travels a “new underground railroad” upon which Black Conservatives are speaking out against big government policies which have established a “new plantation” where “overseers” like the NAACP and so-called “civil rights” leaders keep the Black community 95 percent beholden to one political party.

Citing statistics that demonstrate increasingly high rates of abortion, crime, unemployment and single parent households in the black community, the film features interviews with politicians and everyday Americans including economist Thomas Sowell, Dr. Alveda King, U.S. Representative Allen West, GOP Presidential Candidate Herman Cain, activist Star Parker and many others. Images from national events in Washington, D.C. provide a shocking look into the mindset of the liberal left as they seek to oppress black Americans every day.Its underlying theme asks the questions: What does the black community have to show for its 95% support of the Democratic Party? Is it truly “free at last?”

From the web page

Dramatic increase in resistence to gonorrhea anti-microbials since 2006

The incidence of resistance of Gonorrhea to drugs has been soaring since 2006--and the nasty bug is becoming resistent to the antimicrobial agents.

It is time to sound the alarm. During the past 3 years, the wily gonococcus has become less susceptible to our last line of antimicrobial defense, threatening our ability to cure gonorrhea and prevent severe sequelae.

Gonorrhea is the second most commonly reported communicable disease in the United States, with an estimated incidence of more than 600,000 cases annually. It disproportionately affects vulnerable populations such as minorities who are marginalized because of race, ethnic group, or sexual orientation. Unfortunately, Neisseria gonorrhoeae has always readily developed resistance to antimicrobial agents: it became resistant to sulfanilamide in the 1940s, penicillins and tetracyclines . . .
NEJM Feb. 9, 2012

The popularized accounts of this report didn't note that the increase is primarily among gay men.

The official report in NEJM first had the obligatory blame whitey and homophobia, 1) "minorities who are marginalized because of race, ethnic group, or sexual orientation, 2) hand out more condoms, more lectures, and more testing, 3) develop new drugs and tests, and 4) develop a vaccine.

Smack down from Alan Dershowitz

Two Soros beneficiaries and Obama water carriers get a smack down from Alan Dershowitz.

“Media Matters and Center for American Progress are two extremely left-bigoted groups that are so virulently anti-Israel and anti-supporters of Israel that they’ve gone over the line from anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism,” Dershowitz said. ”They now use the term ‘Israel firsters,’ the way anti-Catholic bigots used to use the term ‘Vatican firsters’ or ‘Irish firsters,’ as if to suggest Americans who support Israel have dual loyalty. This false charge goes back to the Bible — goes back to the Book of Esther, goes back thousands of years. It was one of Hitler’s justifications for killing the Jews: ‘Dual loyalty, they’re not good Germans, they’re not good Americans,’ whatever it is.”

Dershowitz has been vocal against Media Matters in recent days, making that charge of anti-Semitism. However, his classification of the Center for American Progress as borderline “anti-Semitic” is noteworthy because both Media Matters and the Center for Progress have received money directly from billionaire left-wing financier George Soros, who has faced similar charges in the past."

"The daily battle is waged in Media Matters’ emails, on CAP’s blogs, Middle East Progress and ThinkProgress and most of all on Twitter, where a Media Mattters official, MJ Rosenberg, regularly heaps vitriol on those who disagree as “Iraq war neocon liar” (the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg) or having “dual loyalties” to the U.S. and Israel (the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin). And while the Center for American Progress tends to walk a more careful line, warm words for Israel can be hard to find on its blogs." Weekly Standard

ThinkProgress, the Center for American Progress’ blog, is run by Faiz Shakir, who also serves as the organization’s vice president. The ThinkProgress blog has become extreme even by CAP standards, forcing Ken Gude, CAP’s national security director, to attempt to distance his center’s policy arm from its blogs. In a post jointly co-authored by Faiz Shakir and Ken Gude, the two men denied that their work was anti-Semitic, but avoided similarly ruling out that their work was anti-Israel, probably because such an assertion would have simply been unsupportable.

CAP and its various affiliated blogs have taken an enthusiastically uncritical approach to the Islamist Arab Spring and a hostile, critical approach to the State of Israel. At the ThinkProgress blog, Matt Duss described Israel’s border controls with Hamas-run Gaza as a “moral abomination” and compared the deaths of Islamist radicals who attempted to murder Israeli soldiers to the murders of Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner in the South during the Civil Rights movement. Front Page

Mid-Ohio Food Bank and Upper Arlington Public Library

The cover of the slick PR magazine for the Upper Arlington Public Library shows two staffers, a stack of packaged food and boxes, plus a banner in the background about "Donate food and reduce fine" with a logo of Mid-Ohio Food Bank. I couldn't find an article in the magazine to go with the cover so I googled it. The January 31, 2011 issue of This Week Community Newspaper Upper Arlington explained it: one Saturday afternoon from 1-5 p.m. library patrons could donate one non-perishable item and get $1.00 off their fine. Other people could donate too. I wonder about the time and effort to do this. And then, did the people just pay off the rest of their fines, was that the point? If you donate a 79 cent can of beans and get $1.00 off the fine--and you spent time and gas money to get to the library, how does that work out? Or do you just take something out of the cupboard you weren't going to use anyway, like past due date noodles from Israel or canned mushrooms from China? I've worked at the food pantry, and really, the odd things people donate. . .

I have several problems with this gimmick for paying fines. First of all, the Mid-Ohio Food Bank is primarily tax supported--either by USDA food directly, by farm produce supported by the USDA, by direct payments from the federal government, by direct payments from the state government which probably dipped into a federal grant, through tax deductions given to businesses, or by donations from foundations which receive their money from gifts which are tax deductible. Second, the public libraries are also supported by local taxes. Third, the mission of the public library, a tax supported institution, is not to support other tax supported institutions. It has a very specific purpose in the community that no one else, no other organization can do. It should not be teaching people to read--the public schools do that; it should not be offering craft classes, hobbies, and art classes and other lyceum type programs--there are other community and private groups that do that.

If you can't make your case for being an outstanding library without this type of "volunteer" for the community poor, then hire a new PR staffer, or revise your fine schedule.

That reminds me, I have an overdue book. Crazy love by Francis Chan. It's a Christian book--a very rare find at the Upper Arlington Public Library. Take your food items to the collection box at your church. This is one area where I favor separation of church and state.

Unemployment could rise again

"Unemployment could rise back to 9 percent of the U.S. population in February, according to a Gallup survey released Tuesday, painting a grim picture for the Obama administration, which had been temporarily buoyed by promising jobs figures at the end of January." The Hill

Now, why would that be happening since things looked good in January?

1) Killing Keystone pipeline RealClearPolitics

2) The new budget is about as transparently, blatantly anti-economy as we could ask for with higher taxes. Wall Street Journal

3) The HHS Mandate on "reproductive health" which doesn't reproduce and isn't very healthy is an obvious buy off of his support among radical, anti-life feminists, and the phony "compromise" just made the President look "compromised" after it was learned his only advisors were the pro-abortion crowd. Faith and Family

And that's just in recent weeks. The only American enjoying the good life these days is Mrs. Obama, now on her 12th vacation. No wonder she left town.

Capitalism, Corporatism, Socialism and Fascism

"Capitalism is (or was) an “economic system in which capital was privately owned and traded; owners of capital got to judge how best to use it, and could draw on the foresight and creative ideas of entrepreneurs and innovative thinkers.” The main dynamic of the market system is the relationship between the producer and the consumer. Corporatism, by contrast, brings to the fore the role of the “managerial state,” in which the government takes on an increasingly larger task in telling producers what they should produce and consumers what they should consume. This can be done in many ways, some more implicit and others more aggressive. Corporatism is distinct from socialism, because under corporatism the means of production (capital) remain in private hands. But the private firms are not simply free to respond to market signals. Instead, under a corporatist structure, the government directs firms in the ways in which they should employ their resources, sometimes through moral suasion, but more often through regulation, tax policy, and legal directives. Fascism, which uses coercion, bullying, and demagoguery to control private firms, is an extreme form of corporatism."

From Corrupted Capitalism and the Housing Crisis by Jordan Ballor, Acton Commentary, Feb. 15, 2012

Could this be the new Pruitt Igoe?

In the area Hatert, at the edge of the city of Nijmegen, Netherlands, the housing corporations Portaal and Talis organize a great renewal operation. Most of the current housing does not comply with contemporary standards or needs a substantial make over.

72 apartments and a healthcare center. The irregularly shaped balconies project from each corner of the 13-storey-high tower, which was recently completed by Rotterdam studio 24H architecture. “We had a flower in mind,” says Boris Zeisser of 24H. “The balconies were designed to look like white petals and an overall organic shape was intended to evoke the image of a white rose.”

So it was with the public housing/renewal projects of the 1940s and 1950s in the United States. One of the most famous, Pruitt-Igoe of St. Louis came down in the 1970s. They had become cesspools and slum housing, festering towers of crime. Ironically, Pruitt Igoe was designed my Minoro Yamasaki, designer of the World Trade Center. Now a new film on The Pruitt-Igoe Myth "argues that the dysfunctions that prompted the Pruitt-Igoe demolition were not inevitable—that crime, violence, and vandalism were products of a negligent maintenance regime, poor financing, and poor design, as well as what New School urban studies professor Joseph Heathcott, an interviewee, characterizes as the use of public housing as a means of “planned segregation.” Freidrichs’s film is a well-crafted mix of retrospective interviews of residents and archival footage from local news sources." Howard Hosack of City Journal says the documentary is a victim of myths of its own. The fact is, the government is no better landlord than it is a step father, and the public housing actually hurt the people it intended to help. Because of preference given to single parents, fathers voluntarily left their families so they would qualify for the new housing, thus in the grand government tradition, making matters worse. ". . . blacks were robbed of the opportunity to advance through their own efforts, to build assets, and to forge communities. They—and Americans generally—continue to pay a steep price for ill-conceived projects such as Pruitt-Igoe."

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: an Urban History – Film Trailer from the Pruitt-Igoe Myth on Vimeo.

People have problems with freedom

The lastest hoopla and disinformation from the left (Planned Parenthood, Democratic operatives, main stream media) demonstrates that some people have problems with the freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment--protecting the right to freedom of religion and freedom of expression from government interference. [Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.] From the beginning of recorded time the individual has tried to get out from under the authority of the tribal leader, the dictator or the King. Finally in the 18th century civilization made it to that point where the people set up a government which guaranteed all sorts of liberties to be free of government control, like speech, religion, private property, a jury trial, the right to bear arms, etc., and now we've got misinformed yahoos who are trying to drag us back to the dark ages of serfdom and slavery. They are willing to throw it away for a roll in the hay (Obama's contraceptive compromise).

What Obama is trying to do to the Catholic Church by requiring it insure its employees for birth control, sterilization and abortifacients is nothing other than an attempt to take out the only institution in the United States big enough, and organized enough to stand up to him. God knows (no pun intended) the Protestants are too fractured and struggling with in-fighting to ever take a stand for religious freedom and morality. The Catholics have been led by the nose by their liberal wing for years, and they even helped Obamacare get passed, but they seem to have awakened from a deep sleep. The church, both Lutheran and Catholic, didn't stand up to the government of the National Socialists in Germany in the 1930s. By the time the cathedrals were being decorated with Nazi banners, it was too late.



Without subtitles

Percent voting by race and age

The latest Pew Report points out some problems with the American voting system, but this graph from the Census Bureau show that among young voters (18-24), percentage of black voters has been surpassing white since the 2000 presidential election. And it was very close in 1996. In 2008 the percent of all-blacks voting (slightly over 60%) exceded all-whites for the first time.

Very interesting graphs at the Census Bureau web site, Historical Time Series Tables.

Obama and Medical Marijuana

From Rolling Stone:

“Back when he was running for president in 2008, Barack Obama insisted that medical marijuana was an issue best left to state and local governments. “I’m not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue,” he vowed, promising an end to the Bush administration’s high-profile raids on providers of medical pot, which is legal in 16 states and the District of Columbia.

But over the past year, the Obama administration has quietly unleashed a multi­agency crackdown on medical cannabis that goes far beyond anything undertaken by George W. Bush. The feds are busting growers who operate in full compliance with state laws, vowing to seize the property of anyone who dares to even rent to legal pot dispensaries, and threatening to imprison state employees responsible for regulating medical marijuana. With more than 100 raids on pot dispensaries during his first three years, Obama is now on pace to exceed Bush’s record for medical-marijuana busts. “There’s no question that Obama’s the worst president on medical marijuana,” says Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project. “He’s gone from first to worst.””

I’ve leaned toward legalizing medical marijuana for the seriously ill for years. The stats for deaths and ER visits for legal, prescribed pain killers is horrific—especially since the drug coverage under Medicare. There are 1.2 million emergency room visits a year and a 98.4% increase since 2004. Sales of opioids in 2010 were 4 times greater than 1999. (JAMA Jan. 4, 2012) At least I haven’t heard of too many deaths from medical marijuana. Any one else?

Global warming skeptics don't deny science

"The skeptic view is that science education vis a vis climate and other environmental matters tends to be shallow, or one-sided, or politicized — in other words broken in some way and needing repair. In this way, most every prominent skeptic that works even a bit in the science/data end of things believes him or herself to be supporting, helping, and fixing science. In fact, many skeptics believe that the continued positive reception of catastrophic global warming theory is a function of the general scientific illiteracy of Americans and points to a need for more and better science education."

The Heartland so-called smoking gun

I could never get my mind wrapped around this one. It was no secret that Heartland didn't promote a lot of the man made climate change stuff, so what "strategy" was to be exposed? Anyway, the exposed document was apparently a phony.

Inaccurate, Costly, and Inefficient

New Pew Report is evidence that America’s voter registration system needs an upgrade

• Approximately 24 million—one of
  every eight—voter registrations in the
  United States are no longer valid or
  are significantly inaccurate.
  
  
• More than 1.8 million deceased
  individuals are listed as voters.
  
  
• Approximately 2.75 million people
  have registrations in more than one
  state.
  
  
• Researchers estimate at least
  51 million eligible U.S. citizens are
  unregistered, or more than 24 percent of
  the eligible population.

Read report here.

Inappropriate cleavage in the workplace

I had an eye popping experience at the city building last week. A female employee with 4 inches of cleavage and low cut t-shirt was sitting in a chair waiting on people who were standing behind the counter looking down practically to her navel. The African man next to me, probably a Muslim, finally went out to wait in the hall for his wife who was talking to the buxom employee rather than violate her with his eyes. Cover up ladies. You look ridiculous. I was embarrassed for her and our culture which creates such exhibitionism and then whines about sexism and women disrespected on the job. Save it for a party or the special man in your life. Any guy you attract dressed like that probably isn't going to be a good catch.

The way we dress has a huge effect on the way we perceive ourselves, and on the way we're perceived. Sadly, the two don't always match up.

My star candidate in the sexy dress, for example, may have looked in her mirror that morning and seen 'confident, individual, fashionable'. I saw 'bimbo, trying too hard, someone who doesn't have the sense to dress for the context in which she's going to be seen'.
Read more

The other female employee in the front office was wearing faded jeans and a hoody sweatshirt. She looked ready to go out and cheer on her grandchildren's soccer team, but at least she was covered up.

When I was a zygote

Even when I was a single cell, a zygote, everything about me was already determined in that little data set--my gender, eye and hair color, body build, intelligence and personality. All I needed was oxygen and nutrients to thrive, which I received from my busy mother who was chasing 2 toddlers--but I wasn't my mother and I wasn't my father, I was something unique and special, and not an extention or an appendage of their bodies, even though I would be a little bit like both of them. I continued to need oxygen and nutrition after I was outside Mom's womb, and which I still need and depend on from other people right up to today. I couldn't possibly survive alone in this world and neither can you. No one had the moral right to take my life then regardless of what ancient customs or modern laws such as were invented in 1973 that say otherwise, and you still don't now.

Santorum and Romney tax plans, similarities and differences

Mitt Romney has proposed permanently extending the 2001-03 tax cuts, eliminating taxation of investment income of most individual taxpayers, reducing the corporate income tax, eliminating the estate tax, and repealing the taxes enacted in 2010’s health reform legislation. . . The Romney plan would lower federal tax liability by $600 billion in calendar year 2015 compared with current law, roughly a 16 percent cut in total projected revenue.

Rick Santorum has proposed permanently extending the 2001-10 tax cuts and further reducing individual income taxes; cutting the corporate income tax rate in half; eliminating the estate tax; and repealing the alternative minimum tax and the taxes enacted in 2010’s health reform legislation. . . The Santorum plan would lower federal tax liability by about $1.3 trillion in calendar year 2015 compared with current law, roughly a 40 percent cut in total projected revenue.

More information at The Tax Policy Center of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution.

The U.S. still needs immigrants because our schools aren’t cutting it!

Alexander Boldyrev and colleagues at Utah State University, Logan, working with Lai-Sheng Wang and colleagues at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island have synthesized a planar boron compound that has the highest coordination number of any flat molecule, squeezing ten spoke-like bonds to boron atoms into a wheel. This astounding feat of engineering not only breaks previous records for such compounds but offers new insights into bonding, coordination and the development of boron chemistry. (Alchemist Newsletter)

Naturalized U.S. citizen Alexander Boldyrev, professor of Theoretical Computational Chemistry at University of Utah, Salt Lake City did his undergraduate and master’s level work at Novosibirsky University and PhD at Moscow State University, and his Dr. Science (highest degree in USSR) at Institute of Chemical Physics, USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow, in 1987.

Lai Sheng Wang received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Wuhan University in 1982 and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1990. His current Vita shows 322 publications where he is the first author.

My new Macy's credit card

Today I got my new Macy's card attached to a bright red and white "Congratulations" letter--enclosed with 4 pages of tiny print with a very nasty tone. “The following terms apply to both your store account purchases and American Express account purchases. It seems there’s an entity behind all this called “Department Stores National Bank” which is known as “we”, “us”, and “our”, and I‘m “you“ and “your.”

“Payments in excess of the Minimum Payment Due will be applied in accordance with law, and payments less than the Minimum Payment Due and credits will be applied at our discretion.”

Returns and credits are not applied toward your minimum payment due. Oops. I mean--Minimum Payment Due with capital letters.

“The late payment fee for each billing cycle bill be $25; or $35 for any additional past due payment during the next six billing cycles after a past due payment.” Huh?

“We may add a returned check fee for a returned payment--electronic debit, payment check, or similar payment instrument which is returned unpaid. We may add this fee the firs time your payment is returned, even if it is not returned upon resubmission. The fee will be $25; or $35 or any additional returned payment during the next six billing cycles . . . But will not exceed that permitted by law.” Woot!

You could do a telephone transfer from a deposit account, but “we” will charge a Pay-by-Phone Fee for each such transfer. . .but “we” won’t tell how much that is unless you request this optional payment service.

If for some reason you want copies of your statements, then “we” will charge you $3.00 PER ITEM--

And if you die, and “we” fail to receive Minimum Payment Due “we” can declare the entire unpaid balance in your Account due and payable (paraphrase).

We can change any thing we want in this agreement--we’ll mail you the changes but only if you’ve first notified us you are moving (paraphrase).

We can assign any information you gave us to open this account to anyone we damn well please (I’m paraphrasing), and don’t come whining to us if you think we made a mistake, contact the Credit Bureau Dispute Verification, etc. Mason, OH.

And you realize all this is done from South Dakota. What?

You are only half way down the first page, and can’t even grasp was #19 says.

On to the next section:

The annual percentage rate description is so arcane, you can’t understand it, but it is calculated at 24.50% which corresponds to a Daily Periodic Rate of .06712%. But that could increase. . .

“We” can terminate the use of your Account without giving you notice in advance. . .

Then in the last third of the 2nd page is “Your Billing Rights,” in which we tell you what we will do if you think there is an error. (paraphrase)

Then the next document is about how we share your information.

Everyone we do business with; everything you do or any information you gave us.

Most Americans still pro-life

"By a 24 percent margin, 61-37 percent, Americans take the pro-life view that abortions should either be legal under no circumstances or legal only under a few circumstances. Although Gallup doesn’t specify those “few” circumstances, polling data has consistently shown that, when asked about cases such as rape, incest, or the life of the mother, a majority of Americans want all or almost all abortions made illegal — leaving only life of the mother or rape and incest as the exceptions.

“Americans are rather conservative in their stance on abortion, with 61% now preferring that abortion be legal in only a few circumstances or no circumstances. By contrast, 37% want abortion legal in all or most circumstances,” Gallup analyst Lydia Saad writes. “Over the past two decades, Americans have consistently leaned toward believing abortion should be legal in only a few or no circumstances, although less so in the mid-1990s than since about 1997, when combined support for these has averaged close to 60%.”

In fact, Gallup polling shows that, since 1994, a majority of Americans have held a pro-life view wanting all or almost all abortions made illegal — and that pro-life view has strengthened with an average of 60 percent of Americans saying that over the years." Gallup Poll

The 37% who want abortion legal in all cases (like President Obama whose views are the most extreme of any American politician extending to a born alive infant who was intended for death) may be your health insurance company or that of an organization you are supporting. Ask. Demand a change.

Shocking revelations--corruption in government!

"Overall, the [Washington] Post found that $3.9 billion in federal grants and financing flowed to 21 companies backed by firms with connections to five Obama administration staffers and advisers. ... White House officials stress that staffers and advisers with venture capital ties did not make funding decisions related to these companies. But e-mails released in a congressional probe of Obama’s clean-tech program show that staff and advisers with links to venture firms informally advocated for some of those companies." Washington Post

Add that to the insider trading scandal and the need to even pass the STOCK Act, and you've got a pretty good idea why the general public is apathetic about changing things in Washington. Also shows why so many votes are for sale, and why dead people still vote.

Don't look for help from certain Lutherans

Today I was chatting with a Catholic lobbyist about the HHS Mandate. I told him I didn't think he'd see much support for the Bishops from the Lutherans. I explained that I checked with Lutheran Social Services about its health insurance for employees, and found out that yes, it does cover abortions in employees' health insurance. He seemed surprised, because many Protestant groups have come forward to support them. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America--UALC's former synod--and LSS are doing much worse than Obama's mandate! If they step up now, they'll be total hypocrites.

I told the Vice President (of the local LSS) that I would not be contributing to Lutheran Social Services any longer and reminded her that over a third of abortions are for black women.

If the mandate were only about extending contraception coverage, exempting religious institutions would be obvious. But it's more than that. It is about bringing institutions thought to be retrograde to heel, and discrediting their morality. It is kulturkampf disguised as public health.
Read more.

Missouri Synod Lutheran is more Christ-like and Biblical in its response and may remember what happened when the German state socialists (Nazi) took over the church in the 1930s.

Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran statement.

“The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod clearly understands and teaches that Jesus has directed his followers to ‘give to Caesar what is Caesar’s’ (Mark 12:17) and that secular government is used by God for the good of all society. Christian citizens recognize their responsibility to pay taxes, support the government, obey its laws, and pray for its leaders. While it is not normally within the sphere of the church to become involved in secular politics, we do recognize that individual Christians have a responsibility to exercise their rights as citizens, to express their beliefs, and to encourage the government to act in the best interest of society.

“Therefore, we encourage all of our members, as Christian citizens, to express their convictions boldly and to urge the government to be faithful in carrying out its primary responsibility to protect and preserve life. We also encourage our members, as many others in various denominations and church bodies have done, to recognize and speak out against this clear threat to the blessing of religious liberty American citizens have enjoyed since the founding of the nation.

“We also confess and affirm that if the government directs us to do something in clear violation of the will of God, ‘we must obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29).”

Millstone Award 2011--STARS

The recipient of this year's Millstone Award was Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood in Albany, New York, which hired teens for $75 biweekly to "peer-educate" other teens on the benefits of unfettered sex and abortion. As part of the interview process for its STARS (Seriously Talking about Responsible Sex) program, applicants were required to attend a homosexual parade. The program was paid for with taxpayer dollars.

The organization’s Facebook page tells teens, “When you join us for the clinic, don’t forget to grab a S.T.A.R.S. bag, which includes free male and female condoms, dental dams, lube, instructions for use, and information on services.” STARS employees promote a wide variety of contraceptives, including the IUD, the Ring, condoms, foam, the diaphragm, the birth control pill, and Plan B. In another STARS video a teen counselor tells a worried teen that while the Morning After pill is available in pharmacies, “you can get it at Planned Parenthood for less money, or even free.”

The 2010 winner of the Millstone was Sr. Donna Quinn, O.P., the abortion mill escort. So what exactly is the Millstone Award? The Millstone Award is given to those who commit public scandal undermining the the health and welfare of children and young people. "Millstone Award® is a registered trademark used for Promoting Public Awareness of the Need For Protection of Children By Discouraging Unhealthy, Illegal, Unnatural and Immoral Behaviors That Place Children At Risk and owned by Woman's Christian Temperance Union."

If you hate Cheney's, let's talk about Clinton's heart instead

Michelle Malkin writes:

Two years ago this month, as public debate over Obamacare raged, former President Bill Clinton rushed to the hospital because of a heart condition. He immediately underwent a procedure to place two stents in one of his coronary arteries. It was a timely reminder about the dangers of stifling private-sector medical innovation. No one listened.

Stents don’t grow on trees. They were not created, developed, marketed or sold by government bureaucrats and lawmakers. One of the nation’s top stent manufacturers, Boston Scientific, warned at the time that Obamacare’s punitive medical device tax would lead to worker losses and research cuts. The 2.3 percent excise tax, the company said, “would be very damaging to Boston Scientific, and the medical device industry as a whole. In a nutshell, it would raise costs and lead to significant job losses. It does not address the quality of care but the political scorecard of savings.”

Read the whole article, Taxing medical progress to death.

The Foster Friess frenzy

The people who covered for a philandering golfer, various horny presidents and governors, and innumerable bisexual hunky celebrities, now have their collective panties in a knot over an innocent joke (and I think clever in its message) of Foster Friess, a wealthy supporter of Rick Santorum. Really? They just look silly. These people wink at wardrobe malfunctions that millions see, a soaring out of wedlock birth rate (43% of births in my county), push contraceptives for young teens knowing their health risks, and don't bat an eyelash at Obama's born alive abortion beliefs. And they can't take a joke about how to say No? It is such a phony way to go after Santorum you wonder how these people can sleep at night. It convinces me that the lefties are totally humorless--if a Republican told a plumber's crack joke they'd probably think he was ridiculing drug addicts.

Where are the charities that Pelosi and other pols (or Andrea Mitchell for that matter) who have become rich with insider trading and real estate deals at the tax payers' expense? Of the top ten wealthiest in Congress, I think 7 are Democrats. Take a look at what the Friess family does.

Last week my joke at the Conservative Political Action Conference generated laughter and media attention. Today on Andrea Mitchell’s show, my aspirin joke bombed as many didn’t recognize it as a joke but thought it was my prescription for today’s birth control practices. In fact, the only positive comments I got were from folks who remembered it from 50 years back. Birth control pills weren’t yet available, so everyone laughed at the silliness on how an aspirin could become a birth control pill.

After listening to the segment tonight, I can understand how I confused people with the way I worded the joke and their taking offense is very understandable. To all those who took my joke as modern day approach I deeply apologize and seek your forgiveness. My wife constantly tells me I need new material—she understood the joke but didn’t like it anyway—so I will keep that old one in the past where it belongs.

I am a big fan of the ancient Jewish scripture which says “God works everything for good for those that love Him and are called to His purpose.” So maybe the good to come from the high profile reaction is a better understanding of Rick Santorum. He publicly stated he would not ban contraception; he has said if he were a member of a state legislature which introduced such a bill, he would vote against it; and he has incurred the wrath of his more conservative friends for voting to fund contraception to fight AIDS in Africa.

The good that has come out of this (God has his ways) is that now millions know who Foster Friess is and the good work he is doing around the world to save lives. I'm just sorry both Friess and Santorum didn't call out the press on their hypocrisy.